Bob Yantosca
Software Engineer
Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling Group
Harvard University

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About Me

Thumbs up at the Roman Forum (2001)

My family can trace its roots back to the province of Avellino, Italy, about 70 miles east of Naples. My dad's family (the Iantoscas & Rappas) came from the village of Montefalcione and settled in Revere MA in the late 1880's. My mom's family (the Belmontes and Minichiellos) came from the very small town of Melito Irpino, and eventually emigrated to East Boston MA, one of Boston's historically Italian neighborhoods.

An interesting side note...the name Yantosca is actually a misspelling, as there is no letter Y in the Italian alphabet. A mistake was probably made on the immigration documents when my dad's father came to the United States. For whatever reason they didn't bother to change it back, so the name stuck.

Growing up, I used to live in my maternal grandparents' house in the Orient Heights section of East Boston — we lived on the 2nd floor and my grandparents lived on the first floor. At home I heard Italian (or at least Neapolitan Dialect) spoken every day, and I learned a lot by osmosis. Today I enjoy practicing my conversational Italian (I'm not fluent yet but I'm getting better at it all the time). My family has always striven to keep several of the old Italian traditions alive, especially during the holidays, so I've always felt a strong connection to the past.

Playing guitar

I've been working at Harvard since 1996. Before that I attended Boston University (graduate school), CWRU (undergrad), BC High (high school) and St. Lazarus School (grade school). My original plan was to obtain a Ph.D. in Astronomy, but after a very circituous (and often unpleasant) path through Astronomy, Space Physics and Physics Education, I finally arrived at Harvard as a Software Engineer.

When I'm not working, I spend a lot of time honing my acoustic guitar skills. I've been taking lessons for several years with Sam Davis of Cambridge MA, who is the high guru of all things six-stringed. My biggest musical influences have been mostly from 60's and 70's rock, including the Kinks, the Who, the Rolling Stones, the Byrds, Bob Dylan, the Monkees, and Elvis Costello, among others.

Stairway street in Bellagio, Italy

I'm also a great fan of Neapolitan music. Many of the most recognizeable and well-loved Italian songs (such as O Sole Mio, Torna A Surriento, and Santa Lucia) are actually not written in Italian but in the Neapolitan Dialect, the language of my grandparents. Recently, I've been trying to teach myself the Neapolitan Dialect by listening to songs and then looking up their lyrics on the Internet. My favorite Neapolitan singers are Renato Carosone, Aurelio Fierro, Carlo Buti, Sergio Bruni, Renzo Arbore, and Peppino di Capri.

I love to travel in my spare time. I've been fortunate enough to have visited Italy three times the last few years. In May 2001, I spent a week in Rome and a week in Milan and the Lakes region, which was an absolutely a phenomenal trip. Prior to that, I toured Sicily in 1997, visiting the beautiful cities of Siracusa, Taormina, Palermo, and Agrigento. I hope to be able to return to Italy, perhaps Naples, in 2003. I've also made several trips to New York (all 5 boroughs!), Cleveland, Chicago, Washington DC, Houston TX, and Fort Myers, FL. Be sure to visit my Photo Album to see the pictures.

In the fall & winter, I spend a lot of time following pro football (Go Patriots!). My family does a big football pool (just for fun!) which gives me something to agonize over for about 21 weeks.In the summer it's baseball season (Go Red Sox!).

http://people.seas.harvard.edu/~yantosca/about.html