McCarl and Mohr Receive Distinguished Service Awards

Richard McCarl and Philip Mohr were named the recipients of the 2005 Eberly College of Science Distinguished Service Award. The award was established in 1979 to recognize individuals who have made exceptional leadership and service contributions to the college.

Richard McCarl is a professor emeritus of biochemistry. He joined the Penn State faculty in 1961 as an assistant professor, was promoted to associate professor in 1969, and was named professor in 1974. He served as associate dean of the Penn State Graduate School from 1982 until 1991 and was director of Penn State's Intercollege Research Program from 1985 until 1991. He retired with the title professor emeritus in 1991.

McCarl was a science teacher at the Cochranton High School and at the Dayton Junior High School between 1950 and 1955. He also served in the United State Navy from 1945 to 1946, and continued to serve in the United State Naval Reserves until 1958. His service to Penn State included participation on numerous committees, including the Laboratory Animal Advisory Committee, the Committee on Academic Dishonesty, the Biomedical Review Committee, the University Isotopes Committee, the Faculty Rights and Responsibility Committee, and the Teacher Certification Committee for Students Majoring in Science, as well as many others. He was a member of the Penn State University Senate and the University Faculty Senate Council. He supervised more than 20 master's and doctoral theses and mentored countless undergraduate students.

During his tenure at Penn State, McCarl's research interests included lipid and carbohydrate metabolism in cell and tissue cultures; fatty-acid oxidation by beating rat heart cells; myofibrillar proteins, with a special interest in biosynthesis and degradation of cardiac myosin; the use of beating cultured rat heart cells in the study of anesthetic depression of rate and intensity of beating; and the use of heart cells in culture as an alternate model for drug testing. In 1995, he was elected to the State College Borough Council-a position he held for almost a decade. As a member of the council, he also was a member of the Centre Region Council of Governments. He now serves on the Board of Directors of the State College Area Family YMCA.

McCarl received master's and doctoral degrees in agricultural and biological chemistry in 1958 and 1961, respectively. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Tissue Culture Association, the scientific research society Sigma Xi, and the honorary chemical society Phi Lambda Upsilon.

Philip Mohr is affiliate professor of microbiology and director of the undergraduate programs in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He joined Penn State in 1976 as a lecturer in microbiology, became an affiliate assistant professor in 1982, was promoted to affiliate associate professor in 1990, and was promoted to affiliate professor in 1998.

Mohr's service to the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology includes membership on the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, the Undergraduate Affairs Committee, the Computer Facilities Committee; and involvement with peer teaching evaluation, departmental strategic planning, and service as a mentor for junior faculty. At the university and college level, he has served as a member of the University Hearing Board, the Eberly College of Science Courses of Study Committee, the Health Sciences Preprofessional Evaluation Committee, the Health Professions Advisory Committee, and the Undergraduate Education Advisory Committee. He also serves as a Penn State University Marshal, is the faculty advisor for the Penn State student chapter of the American Society for Microbiology, and was involved in the creation of the new forensic science major in the Eberly College of Science. Recognized for his excellence in teaching, he is a former recipient of the Tershak Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award.

Mohr is a member of the American Society of Microbiology, the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science, the Pennsylvania Society for Clinical Laboratory Science, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He earned a bachelor's degree in biology at Muhlenberg College in 1967, and earned master's and doctoral degrees in biology at Lehigh University in 1969 and 1976, respectively.

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