Eberly College of Science Honors Four With Distinguished Service Awards

Douglas Arnold	John Lowe
Nicholas Pelick	Thomas Reissmann

Two graduates of the Eberly College of Science and two professors from the college have been named as recipients of the Eberly College of Science Alumni Society Distinguished Service Award. The award is the society's highest honor.

Awards for Douglas Arnold, distinguished professor of mathematics; John Lowe, professor emeritus of chemistry; Nicholas Pelick, co-founder of Supelco Inc.; and Thomas Reissmann, a retired chemist with three degrees from Penn State; will be conferred during a 6 October 2000 reception at the Nittany Lion Inn.

Established in 1979, the Distinguished Service Award is presented annually to individuals who have made exceptional leadership and service contributions to the college over a sustained period of time. Past recipients of the award have included active and retired faculty and administrative staff, alumni, and friends of the college.

Douglas Arnold has consistently distinguished himself for his research, service, and teaching as a faculty member of the Eberly College of Science since 1991. He was appointed distinguished professor in 1995. He ranks as an international leader in numerical analysis and his research has had a major impact on structural engineering computation, computational fluid dynamics, and computational gravitational physics. His work has been continuously funded by the National Science Foundation for 20 years and has helped lead to safer engineering design for automobiles and buildings. In 1996, he was awarded the University's George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has taught a range of courses, from freshman calculus to advanced graduate courses, and has been a leader in implementing technology in the classroom. In 1998, he was awarded the Teresa Cohen Award, the biennial service award presented by the Department of Mathematics. He has served on numerous committees and as interim department head. In addition, he is one of the principal investigators for the department's Vertical Integration of Research and Education in the Mathematical Sciences (VIGRE) program.

John Lowe, professor emeritus of chemistry, has served the University for 34 years as an educator, researcher, adviser, and administrator. His research areas include quantum chemical studies of molecular conformation, chemisorption, catalysis, and cancer-causing compounds. Seven doctoral and two master's-degree students completed their studies under his direction. He has taught more than 20 courses since coming to the University, and has been the adviser for more than 100 students who majored in chemistry. His commitment as a teacher and adviser is reflected by numerous awards, including the Undergraduate Student Government Teaching Award in 1984, the AMOCO Foundation Outstanding Teaching Award in 1985, and the C.I. Noll teaching Award in 1991. In 1993, he was appointed as Penn State's Alumni Teaching Fellow, which includes the opportunity to assist in efforts to improve teaching practices across the University. In that position and in general, he has coordinated efforts to introduce freshmen seminars and to update general-education courses within the curricula of the Department of Mathematics. In 1998, he was one of the first Schreyer Honors College Faculty Fellows. In 2000, he was named the first recipient of the Schreyer Honors College Excellence in Advising Award as well as the recipient of the Eberly College of Science Alumni Society C.I. Noll Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Nicholas Pelick, '59 B.S. ABCh, '64 M.S. Bioch, co-founded Supelco Inc., a Centre-County-based business that manufactures chromatography chemicals and products, in 1966. He served in various executive positions with the firm until 1991. In 1992, he helped organize Agrotech Inc., which converts vegetable-oil waste products into fertilizer for commercial use, in Sherman, Texas. He and his wife, Gelsa, have provided support for a distinguished biochemist at Penn State with the endowment of the Nicholas and Gelsa Pelick Family Chair in Science. He is volunteer chair of the Eberly College of Science fund-raising committee for the University's Grand Destiny campaign. He serves on various boards for the University and is director of Mellon Bank Central N.A. He received an Alumni Fellow award from the Eberly College of Science in 1991. In addition, he received the A. Richard Baldwin Distinguished Service Award, the American Chemical Society's highest professional recognition, in 1988, and recognition from the American Oil Chemists' Society in 1997.

Thomas Reissmann, '42 B.S. CCh, '47 M.S. Chem, '49 Ph.D Chem, spent 25 years in research and development as a chemist at Ethicon. His specialties there were the research and development of collagen-based medical materials and packaging, and sterilization of medical products. He started the quality-assurance function at the company and in 1982 retired as assistant to the corporate director for quality assurance. After his retirement, he served ten years as a consultant in the areas of chemical process and product development. He also has a long history of service to the University. In 1954, he was appointed to the Penn State Alumni Council and in 1968 he became a member of the executive committee of the northern New Jersey chapter of the alumni association. In 1976, he was part of an alumni-association committee that started the first alumni admissions team to assist with the recruitment of out-of-state students to Penn State. In 1985, he as named outstanding alumni admissions volunteer of the year and was honored with the creation of the Thomas L. Reissmann Award for outstanding alumni admissions volunteers. He was elected to the Eberly College of Science Alumni Society in 1988 and was the group's president from 1995 to 1997. His two children, Alan and Elizabeth, graduated from Penn State with degrees in recreation and parks and pre-law, respectively. Tom is an emeritus member of the American Chemical Society. He also holds memberships in the Society for Quality Assurance, the New York Academy of Science, and the American Leather Chemists Society.

< S W S >

Penn State Home Page | Eberly College of Science | Find a Person | Locate a Building | Search | Site Index

Students | Alumni | Visitors | Researchers | Faculty and Staff | Postdoctoral Fellows | Corporate Interests
Academic Programs | Research | Dean's Office | Development and Alumni Relations | News and Events | Directory

This page was last updated on 12 October 2000

If you would like to communicate with the keepers of the Eberly College of Science Web server, send electronic mail to: science-web@thunder.science.psu.edu
Technology Webmaster: Joseph K. Carlson < jkc3@psu.edu >
Content Webmaster: Barbara Kennedy < science@psu.edu >