Kao received the award for being the first to show directly that a particular gene, called the "S gene," alone controls whether a plant is able to fertilize itself or whether it will reject its own pollen (Science Journal vol 11, no 2, pp 3-4).
He received a B.S. degree in chemistry from the National Taiwan University in 1973 and three degrees from Yale University: a M. S. in chemistry in 1976, a M. Phil. in chemistry 1977, and a Ph.D. degree in physical biochemistry in 1980. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Roche Institute of Molecular Biology from 1980 to 1981 and a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University from 1982 to 1984, where he became a research associate in 1985. He joined the Penn State faculty in 1986.
Wolszczan was honored for his discovery and confirmation of the existence of the first planets identified outside our solar system, which he discovered orbiting a millisecond pulsar located in the constellation Virgo (Science Journal vol 12, no 1, pp 3-4).
He received a M. Sc degree in astronomy in 1969 and a Ph. D. degree in astronomy in 1975, both from Nicholas Copernicus University in Poland. He was a visiting scientist at the Max-Planck Institut fur Radioastronomie in 1973 and an assistant and associate professor at Copernicus from 1974 to 1979. From 1979 to 1982 he was a research associate at the Polish Academy of Sciences Copernicus Astronomical Center, then returned to the Max-Planck Institut in 1982 as a visiting professor. From 1983 to 1992 he was a member of the research faculty of the Cornell University National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center at Arecibo Observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. He joined the Penn State faculty in 1992.
Stephen J. Benkovic, Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry and Holder
of the Eberly Family Chair in Chemistry, has been elected to the Institute
of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Eminent scientists and
physicians are elected to the institute based on their professional achievements
and a demonstrated concern and involvement with problems and issues that
affect public health.
Benkovic is known for his biochemistry research, especially his work on the mechanisms of enzymic reactions. His research has led to the development of a new generation of antifolates for cancer therapy, to an understanding of how the HIV-1 virus develops mutations that contribute to its resistance to AIDS drugs, to insights into how the protein machinery for DNA replication is organized, and to the creation of catalytic antibodies for potential medical applications.
He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is now one of three Penn State faculty members to have been elected to the institute, which was established in 1970. The others are Howard E. Morgan, Evan Pugh Professor Emeritus of Medicine, and William S. Pierce, Evan Pugh Professor of Surgery.
Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao, Holder of the Eberly Family Chair in
Statistics and Director of the Center for Multivariate Analysis, has been
elected to the National Academy of Sciences. A pioneer in the fields of
statistics and probability, Rao was elected by the academy in recognition
of his significant contributions to science. "He has made outstanding contributions
to virtually all important topics in theoretical and applied statistics,"
says James Rosenberger, professor and head of the Department of Statistics.
"In every standard introductory course in mathematical statistics, students
learn about the Cramer-Rao Inequality and the Rao-Blackwell Theorem--fundamental
tools that help statisticians evaluate appropriate statistical methods."
He earned a M. A. degree in mathematics in 1940 at Andhra University in India, a M. A. degree in statistics in 1943 at Calcutta University in India, a Ph. D. degree in statistics in 1948 at Cambridge University, and a Sc. D. degree in statistics in 1965 at Cambridge University. He holds 17 honorary degrees from universities in Canada, Finland, Greece, India, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, the Russian Federation, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States.
Rao came to the United States in 1978 after serving as director of the Indian Statistical Institute, where he had held various research and administrative positions since 1944. In 1982 he established the Center for Multivariate Analysis at the University of Pittsburgh, where he continues as adjunct professor. He accepted the Eberly Family Chair in Statistics at Penn State in 1988.
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has awarded 1995 Sloan Research Fellowships
to four Penn State faculty members: Curt Cutler, assistant professor of
physics; Victor Nistor, assistant professor of mathematics; Jorge Pullin,
assistant professor of physics; and Paul S. Weiss, assistant professor
of chemistry. They are among 100 in the United States and Canada to receive
the award this year. The foundation awards research fellowships to faculty
in the United States and Canada who are in the early stages of their research
careers and who have exceptional promise to contribute to the advancement
of knowledge in physics, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, neuroscience,
or economics.
Curt Cutler, a researcher in the Center for Gravitational Physics and Geometry, has research interests in general relativity and relativistic astrophysics and, according to Howard Grotch, professor and head of the Department of Physics, has become a leader in the field of theoretical gravitational wave research. Grotch says Cutler's research is at the forefront of the effort to measure, for the first time, the radiation produced by the force of gravity.
"I am focusing on theoretical questions relating to LIGO, the 4-kilometer gravitational-wave detector now under construction," Cutler says. His research also involves what he calls more "conventional" astrophysics, in which he is calculating the properties of waves in the very thin, liquid "ocean" that covers the surface of neutron stars. "I am trying to see whether observed oscillations in the X-rays emitted by neutron stars arise due to waves on a star's ocean," he says.
Victor Nistor is "one of the best mathematicians of his age group," according to Douglas N. Arnold, professor and acting head of the Department of Mathematics. Nistor's research involves the application of analysis techniques such as cyclic cohomology, the main tool in noncommutative geometry, to research areas in geometry, physics, and the representation theory of groups. "I view noncommutative geometry as a way to bring a unifying perspective on several domains of mathematics," Nistor says. On the subject of teaching, Nistor says "I have a strong belief that mathematics is not only for geniuses. If students are convinced that they can understand mathematics, they will perform better."
Jorge Pullin, a researcher in the Penn State Center for Gravitational Physics and Geometry, has made important contributions to two very different fields of research: quantum gravity and gravitational wave astrophysics, according to Howard Grotch, professor and head of the Department of Physics. Among his contributions, he uncovered the previously unrecognized connection between knot theory and quantum gravity, which led to a new way of connecting quantum gravity, topological field theories, and knot theory. This work was instrumental in the development of the quantum representation for gravity and gauge fields known as the extended loop representation. "Currently I am involved in fully developing this representation," Pullin says. He also has developed a system of relatively simple computations with which to predict efficiently how much gravitational radiation is produced by the collision of two neutron stars or black holes (Science Journal vol 12, no 1, p 8).
Paul S. Weiss is an international leader in the fields of analytical and physical chemistry, surface chemistry and physics, and materials science, according to Steven M. Weinreb, professor and head of the Department of Chemistry. Weiss has set up a scanning tunneling microscopy lab that Weinreb says is "unique and unparalleled," in which he "has produced both scientifically interesting and technologically important conclusions to research questions that, in some cases, have remained unanswered for decades."
According to Weinreb, the first microscope Weiss built for his laboratory is likely the finest scanning tunneling microscope (STM) in the world. Another microscope in the Weiss lab is one that he invented, a tunable alternating current STM (ACSTM). Weinreb says it is the only instrument in the world that can record chemically specific atomic resolution images and spectra on insulator surfaces.
Karl T. Mueller, assistant professor of chemistry, Victor Nistor,
associate professor of mathematics, and Pavel A. Pevzner, associate professor
of computer science and engineering, have received the National Science
Foundation Young Investigator Award. The award's five years of funding
at $25,000 per year plus matching funds of up to $37,500 to match per year
is designed to encourage excellence in research and teaching.
Mueller conducts research on the molecular structure and chemistry of solid materials using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. He has been directly involved in two major developments that have made it possible to obtain direct knowledge of local molecular structure and topology. His long-range research goals are to develop better NMR techniques and "to understand macroscopic behavior based on the local structure as determined by NMR so that we may contribute to improvements of optical or electronic properties in glasses and catalytic behavior in zeolites."
Nistor's research centers on operator algebras, an area in the intersection of analysis and algebra that is important in the application of mathematics. His current research goals include the application of analysis, especially index theory and cyclic cohomology, to geometry, physics and representation theory of groups. In his research program, he will use as tools, techniques and mathematical arguments that he recently developed that have led him to several advances, reported in a series of widely praised scholarly papers, in index theory and cyclic cohomology.
Pevzner brings the tools of computer science to bear on the problems of molecular biology in his research program. He plans to work on algorithms and software to aid in resolving problems in three major areas of computational molecular biology: DNA sequencing, DNA physical mapping and DNA sequence comparison. He also closely collaborates with the biotechnology industry in developing DNA chips for sequencing and medical diagnostics.
Michael J. Natan, assistant professor of chemistry, has received
the Beckman Young Investigator Award. The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation
gives the award to promote research in chemistry and the life sciences
by researchers in the first three years as independent researchers at a
nonprofit institution and to foster the invention of methods, instruments,
and materials that will open new avenues of research. The award includes
a two-year grant of $200,000, which Natan says he plans to use to continue
his research in the self-assembly of colloidal gold particles. These particles
form macroscopic surfaces that are useful in bioorganic chemistry, bioanalytical
chemistry, and nonlinear optics.
Dima Grigoriev, professor of computer science and engineering, has
received a Max Planck Research Award from the Max Planck Society and the
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany.
The award includes a three-year, DM100,000 grant for project-oriented joint research. It recognizes internationally known scholars for their outstanding research achievements and is designed to develop long-term partnerships between German institutions and other institutions elsewhere in the world.
Grigoriev, who specializes in complexity in computer algebra, received one of only two such awards offered this year. He plans to use the award to work with Fredrich Hirzebruch of the Max-Planck-Institut fr Mathematik in Bonn, Germany.
Xumu Zhang, assistant professor of chemistry, is one of ten chemical
scientists nationwide to receive the Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty
Award.
Established by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation in 1979, the award carries a $25,000 unrestricted grant designed to provide research support for new faculty members at the start of their research and teaching careers.
Zhang says he intends to use this award to further his research in transition-metal catalysts for asymmetric synthesis in organic chemistry that is "highly interdisciplinary, involving biomimetic chemistry, organic stereochemistry, organometallic chemistry, and inorganic transition-metal chemistry." His research involves the development of novel transition-metal-based catalysts for organic transformations in the synthesis of both right-handed and left-handed materials. "Biological activities of many pharmaceuticals, fragrances, food additives, and agrochemicals-and physical properties of some electronic and optical devices-often depend on their molecular asymmetry," Zhang explains. He hopes to contribute to advances in transition-metal-catalyzed asymmetric synthesis, which he predicts will have profound impacts in the chemical industry and in other areas.
Andrew Clark, professor of biology, and C.R. Rao, Holder of the
Eberly Family Chair in Statistics and Director of the Center for Multivariate
Analysis, have been awarded the distinction of Fellow of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science. "Drs. Clark and Rao have made outstanding
contributions to scientific research and the education of future generations
of scientists," says Dean Gregory L. Geoffroy. "The AAAS Fellows award
is an indication of the high regard that scientists nationwide have for
these two distinguished Penn State faculty."
Andrew G. Clark , a population genetics researcher, has made both experimental and theoretical contributions to the understanding of the genetic basis of evolutionary change. He is a coauthor with Daniel Hartl of Principles of Population Genetics, a leading textbook, and has authored or coauthored more than 80 research publications. He is the associate editor of two scholarly journals: Genetics and Evolution. "He is one of the few in this field who has successfully merged into one cohesive research program such specialties as theoretical population genetics, experimental population genetics, and molecular genetics," said Dr. Linda Maxson, former head of the Department of Biology.
C. R. Rao has made many pioneering contributions to theoretical and applied statistics and probability theory during his 50-year career. Some of the statistical techniques that bear his name are: Fisher-Rao and Rao-Blackwell theorems, Cramer-Rao inequality, Rao's score, F and U-Tests, and Rao's distance and quadratic entropy, and g-inverse of matrices. He is the author or coauthor of 12 books and more than 250 research papers published in journals. Rao has been awarded medals by the American Statistical Association, Bose Institute, the Royal Statistical Society and the Indian National Science Academy. He has 17 honorary doctorates from universities worldwide. "Dr. Rao is without a doubt one of the top three to five statisticians worldwide," said James L. Rosenberger, professor and head of the Department of Statistics.
Joab Thomas, professor of biology and president of Penn State, is
the namesake given to a fossil pollen by Al Traverse, professor of palynology
and biology. Traverse, who discovered the fossil Cyrillaceaepollenites
joabthomasii in 1951, did not name it until he listed it as a new species
recently in a paper published in the Review of Paleobotany and Palynology.
Traverse worked on this taxon as a graduate student and subsequently Thomas
referenced Traverse's work in his own graduate dissertation. "Dr. Thomas
is the principal authority in the world on the particular family of shrub
that relates to this fossil pollen specimen," Traverse says.
Robert W. Fedorchak, coordinator for undergraduate academic support
services for the Eberly College of Science, has been named the first to
receive the PennState Excellence in Advising award for professional guidance.
The award recognizes excellence in advising, academic and career guidance
and assistance in decision making and goal setting.
Fedorchak became coordinator of the Division of Undergraduate Studies Program for the Eberly College of Science in 1988. For almost three years, he was the only staff member in the college's undergraduate Academic Advising Center. Based on his success, the advising center was expanded in 1991 and Fedorchak became coordinator of the college's undergraduate academic support services. He regularly assists more than two hundred students in the science major, other students in the college who need more specialized support, and young people in high school interested in the college's programs. He advises the Eberly College of Science Student Council and chairs the monthly meetings of the Student Executive Association, which is made up of the presidents of the college's 16 undergraduate student groups. He also runs programs for other academic and administrative units, such as the Multicultural Resource Center.
"He has a way of making everyone who walks through his door feel important," says Mary Buzzard, former president of the Eberly College of Science Student Council. "I derive an enormous amount of satisfaction from helping students realize the maximum benefit possible from the opportunities available at the University," Fedorchak says. "My reward is their success."