Society Wrap-Up
Science Journal, Fall 1995 Vol 13, No. 1
Shirley Malcom, head of the Directorate for Education and Human Resources Programs of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Anthony Silvestri, vice president of Mobil Research & Development Corporation and General Manager for Environmental Health and Safety at Mobil Oil Corporation, have been named as recipients of the Penn State Alumni AssociationÕs 1995 Alumni Fellow Award. The award is the most prestigious honor given by the Penn State Alumni Association.
Malcom and Silvestri visited the Eberly College of Science in October to interact with students, faculty, and administrators throughout the University. They received their awards during receptions hosted by Penn State President Graham Spanier.
Shirley Malcom earned a bachelorÕs degree with distinction in zoology at the University of Washington in 1967, a masterÕs degree in zoology and animal behavior at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1968, and a doctoral degree in ecology from Penn State in 1974. She now serves as a member of the Eberly College of Science Minority Advisory Committee.
Throughout her career she has been a leader in national efforts to increase the representation of minority populations in the sciences. She was an assistant professor of biology and served as coordinator of the environmental studies program at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington from 1974 to 1975. From 1975 to 1977 she was a research assistant, staff associate, and project director of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Office of Opportunities in Science, where she was involved in a number of projects funded by the National Science Foundation, including an effort to develop an inventory of programs in science for minority students and the first conference on the status of minority women in science. From 1977 to 1979 she was program manager of the National Science Foundation Minority Institutions Science Improvement Program, where she participated in the evaluation of the scientific merit of proposed projects and administered grants for projects designed to improve the science, mathematics, and engineering capabilities of minority institutions.
From 1979 to 1989 she was program head of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Office of Opportunities in Science, where she administered programs concerned with increasing the numbers of minorities, people with disabilities, and women in science, engineering, and related fields; she worked to increase the visibility and improve the status of such individuals within the scientific community; and she strove to remove barriers to their full access to science and science-related careers. In this position, she developed the Linkages Program, a national outreach effort to connect community-based organizations and advocacy and youth-serving groups to local science resources. She became head of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Directorate for Education and Human Resources Programs in 1989. Among the directorate's responsibilities are the association's programs in education, activities for underrepresented groups, and public understanding of science and technology.
Anthony Silvestri received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Villanova University in 1958 and a doctoral degree in chemistry from Penn State in 1961. Upon leaving Penn State, he joined Mobil as a research chemist at the company's Paulsboro Research Laboratory in New Jersey.
During his career with Mobil, Silvestri has worked in the areas of catalysis, catalytic processing, the production of synthetic fuels, and the formulation of lubricants and fuels. Mobil promoted him to Manager of Analysis and Special Technology in 1973, to Manager of Catalysis Research at its Central Research Laboratory in 1975, to Manager of Process Research and Development at Paulsboro in 1977, to Manager of Planning Coordination in the Research and Engineering Planning Department at the company's New York offices in 1979, to Manager of the Process Research and Technical Service Division at Paulsboro in 1980, and to Manager of the Products Research and Technical Service Division at Paulsboro in 1984. He was named Vice-President of Mobil Research & Development Corporation and General Manager for Environmental Health and Safety at Mobil Oil Corporation in 1989.
The Alumni Fellow award, presented by the Penn State Alumni Association, is administered in cooperation with the academic units. The Board of Trustees has designated the title of Alumni Fellow as permanent and lifelong.
Suzanne Sinclair Grieb and Howard Grotch are the recipients of the 1995 Eberly College of Science Alumni Society Distinguished Service Award, the alumni society's highest honor.
Established in 1979, the Distinguished Service Award is presented annually to individuals who have made exceptional service and leadership contributions to the college and/or its alumni society.
Suzanne Sinclair Grieb,Ô93 LAS, assistant director of alumni relations, took her first position with the college in 1977, where she held various positions including staff assistant to the Associate Dean for Resident Instruction. Since 1984, she has held positions involving alumni relations, becoming the college's first full-time alumni-relations coordinator in 1985. In her current position, she directs the collegeÕs alumni-relations program and serves as the college liaison to the Eberly College of Science Alumni Society Board of Directors. In addition, she is responsible for the management and stewardship of the college's endowed funds. "Her tireless support of the society has been the single most important contributing factor leading to the success of every society program over the last decade," says Daniel J. Reilly, past president of the board of directors of the Eberly College of Science Alumni Society.
Grieb has served on a number of college and University committees, including the External Relations Continuous Quality Improvement Team. She currently is a member of the University Alumni Career Services Continuous Quality Improvement Team and is a volunteer and fund raiser for community organizations. She earned an associate degree with honors in liberal arts at Penn State in 1993.
Howard Grotch, professor and head of the Department of Physics, was honored for his outstanding leadership of the Department of Physics. He has been its head since 1988, during which time the department experienced an unprecedented growth in stature and visibility. Its research funding doubled under GrotchÕs leadership and the department also established a number of new facilities and educational enhancements for students. "Dr. Grotch has been successful in attracting outstanding new faculty to Penn State, and the department has improved tremendously under his leadership," says Gregory L. Geoffroy, dean of the Eberly College of Science. In addition, Grotch played a key role in the creation of two new interdisciplinary research centers: the Center for Gravitational Physics and Geometry and the Center for Material Physics.
Grotch has served on numerous committees within the department, the college, and the University, including the University Faculty Senate, the Graduate Council, and the advisory boards of the Applied Research Laboratory and the Materials Research Laboratory. He has served as chairman of the University Leadership Group and the Implementation Committee for Administrative Changes at the Materials Research Laboratory and as leader of the Continuous Quality Improvement Team on the Learning of Physics by Engineers.
Grotch graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in physics from the City College of New York in 1962 and earned a doctorate in physics at Cornell University in 1967. He began his career at Penn State as a research associate in 1967 and was promoted to instructor in 1968, to assistant professor in 1969, to associate professor and senior member of the graduate school faculty in 1973, and to professor in 1976.
From 1976 to 1977 he had a sabbatical at the University of Sussex and was awarded a NATOSenior Scientist Fellowship. He held visiting professorships at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in 1977 and 1980, at the Center for Nuclear Research in Marseille in 1979, and at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1985. During the spring of 1988 he was a member of the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He has given numerous invited seminars, colloquiums, and lectures at universities throughout the United States and in England, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, and Portugal.
Grotch is coauthor of the textbook, Physics for Science and Engineering, published in 1978 by Harper and Row. His research concerns the theoretical physics of bound states governed by quantum electrodynamics or quantum chromodynamics. He currently is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the American Association of Physics Teachers, and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
Peter Jurs, professor of chemistry, is the winner of the 1995 C. I. Noll Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Sponsored by the Eberly College of Science Student Council and Alumni Society, the award is the college's highest honor for undergraduate teaching. The winner is chosen by a committee of students and faculty from nominees suggested by students, faculty, and alumni.
Jurs has taught courses at PennState ranging throughout the chemistry curriculum. He is particularly well known for aggressively promoting a technique to free students from excessive note taking in the introductory chemistry course required of science, engineering, and related majors. Students consistently rate him among the University's most highly ranked teachers and comment on the clarity, organization, and interest of his lectures; on his relevant and interesting in-class demonstrations; and on his enthusiasm, humor, and commitment to students. Representative of student comments is the statement of one student that taking his class is "like having a really smart friend teaching you otherwise difficult material."
Jurs has been an active participant in the planning and implementation of change in the undergraduate chemistry program. These changes have included the creation of a resource center and tutoring room and the incorporation of organic chemistry as the lead topic in the required introductory chemistry course.
Jurs joined the Penn State faculty as an assistant professor of chemistry in 1969 and was promoted to associate professor in 1972 and to professor in 1978. He served the Department of Chemistry as assistant head for graduate education from 1987 to 1989 and was named assistant head for undergraduate education in July 1995. He has been a member of the University Faculty Senate since 1979 and now serves as its chair.
In his research, he applies computer methods to chemical and biological problems involving the relationship of a material's chemical structure to its physical and analytical properties. His work has applications in pharmaceuticals, herbicides, pesticides, and olfactory stimulants and could lead to an understanding of the toxic, mutagenic, or carcinogenic effects of many chemical compounds. He has mentored approximately forty M.S. and Ph.D. recipients and also has been a research advisor for several undergraduate students, three of whom have coauthored research publications with him.
He is the author or coauthor of approximately 200 scholarly publications, including a textbook titled Computer Software Applications in Chemistry, which is an outgrowth of one of the new courses he developed and taught at Penn State.
He was honored with the Merck Award for Faculty Development in 1970 and the American Chemical Society Award for Computers in Chemistry in 1990.