Shaler and Stith Named Alumni Fellows

6 July 2006— Robert C. Shaler, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and director of Penn State's newly formed forensic-science program, and James H. Stith, vice president of the Physics Resources Center for the American Institute of Physics, were among those honored with the Penn State Alumni Association's 2005 Alumni Fellow Award. Established in 1973, the award, which is a lifelong title conferred upon its recipients, is the most prestigious honor given by the association. The awards are administered in cooperation with the academic colleges and are presented annually to alumni who have demonstrated excellence in their chosen professions.

Robert C. Shaler

In 1977, Robert Shaler conducted a study on the individualization of bloodstain evidence that led to the development of a bloodstain-analysis system that was used as the standard in forensic laboratories until the early 1990's. He worked as a criminalist at the Pittsburgh and Allegheny County Crime Lab from 1970 to 1975 and was a research director there in 1974 and 1975. He was director of forensic science at the Aerospace Corporation in Washington, DC, in 1977 and 1978. He joined the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York City in 1978, where he served as director of serology until 1986. From 1987 to 1989, he was director of Forensic-Science Technical Support, Training, and Business Development at Lifecodes Corporation in New York-the nation's first forensic-DNA laboratory. From 1990 to 2005, he was director of the Department of Forensic Biology at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York City, where he performed or directed forensic biological analyses for all homicide investigations until 2005. In the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001, he implemented a DNA-testing strategy that was key to the identification of 1,592 of the 2,749 people who perished there.

Prior to joining Penn State in 2005, Shaler was an adjunct associate professor of pathology and forensic medicine at the New York University School of Medicine from 1978 to 2005 and an adjunct professor and adjunct associate professor at the City University of New York from 1993 to 1995. He has held several positions at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was an instructor of forensic chemistry and a research assistant professor of chemistry from 1974 to 1977, a clinical assistant professor from 1973 to 1975, and an assistant professor of medicinal chemistry in the School of Pharmacy from 1970 to 1973. He also had been a research associate in the School of Medicine from 1968 to 1970.

Shaler earned an associate's degree at Valley Forge Military Junior College in 1962 and a bachelor's degree in chemistry at Franklin and Marshall College in 1964. He earned his master's and doctoral degrees in biochemistry at Penn State in 1966 and 1968, respectively. In 2003, he received an honorary doctoral degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Shaler is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the New York Academy of Science, the Northeast Association of Forensic Scientists, and the New Jersey Society for Forensic Scientists.

He has served on the editorial review board of the American Journal of Forensic Pathology and Medicine and was an ad hoc member of the review board of the New England Journal of Medicine. He was a member and chair of the NYS Crime Laboratory Advisory Committee and a member of the American Bar Association Task Force on Biological Evidence. Shaler also has been an expert guest commentator for Court TV. Penn State's Graduate School Alumni Society selected him as the first recipient of the GSAS Humanitarian Award in spring 2005 for his humanitarian service to the people of New York City following the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.

James H. Stith

James H. Stith directs a broad portfolio of programs and services that include magazine publishing, media and government relations, education and student services, statistical research, career services, and the history center of the American Institute of Physics . Throughout his career, he has been an advocate for programs that ensure ethnic and gender diversity in the sciences. An internationally known physicist and leading authority on physics education, he serves on numerous National and International Advisory Boards. His extensive work with the National Research Council resulted in Science Standards (K-12), the first time national guidelines were established by which exemplary teaching, effective assessment, and student knowledge may be measured.

A retired colonel, Stith spent 21 years on the faculty at West Point and was the first African American in its history to be named to the tenured faculty. He also has been professor of physics at Ohio State University, a visiting associate professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy, and visiting scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Stith earned bachelor's and master's degrees in physics at Virginia State University in 1963 and 1964, respectively. He earned a doctoral degree in physics from Penn State in 1972. He is past president of the American Association of Physics Teachers and the National Society of Black Physicists. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a fellow of the American Physical Society. He received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Virginia State University. He has been listed in American Men and Women of Science, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, Who's Who in Science and Technology, Contemporary Outstanding Black Scientists, Outstanding Young Men of America, and Who's Who in Society.

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