New Faculty

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Science Journal, Spring 1999 -- Vol 16, No. 1

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Anne Milasincic Andrews, assistant professor of chemistry

Anne Andrews is a bioanalytical chemist who studies the neurochemistry of the brain.  Using genetically altered mice and neurotoxologic agents as model systems, she conducts studies on monoamine neurotransmitters using analytical techniques such as in vivo microdialysis.  She also uses voltammetry and brain imaging techniques including autoradiography and immunohistochemistry.  Andrews also is developing new methods for dynamic in vivo analysis.  "Our primary aim is to increase our understanding of the role of serotonin in neuropsychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative processes," she says.

Andrews earned a bachelor's degree in science at Penn State in 1985 and a doctoral degree in chemistry at American University in 1993.  She was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health from 1993 until the spring of 1998, when she joined the faculty at Penn State.
 

Eva S. Anton's research goal is to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the cellular organization of the brain's cerebral cortex, which must be organized into precise layers of distinct neuron cell types for normal cognitive function.  A major focus of his work is the role of radial glial cells--the supporting cells of the developing brain--during this process.  Anton is interested in two questions in particular: 1) What are the glial mechanisms that guide neurons to appropriate locations in the developing cerebral cortex?, and 2) What are the signals that regulate radial-glial-cell development and differentiation?  "Elucidation of such mechanisms will provide an understanding of the basic rules guiding the emergence of the functional organization of the cerebral cortex," he says.

Anton earned a bachelor's degree in biology at St. Olaf College in 1987 and a doctoral degree in neurobiology at Duke University in 1994.  He was a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University from 1994 until the spring of 1998, when he joined the faculty at Penn State.
 

Andrew Belmonte is interested in the dynamics of things--such as the interactions and effects of fluid swirls, for example, or the generation of patterns in homogeneous chemical reactions.  Using the mathematics department's W. G. Pritchard Fluid Mechanics Laboratory to perform experiments that yield quantitative measurements, Belmonte hopes to either confirm or defeat existing models of fluid swirls or chemical patterns, or to develop new models where none are available.  His past work has included the study of turbulence in soap films, rotating chemical spirals, and the fluttering fall of paper.  "Experimental science and mathematics grew up together, with each one stimulating the other to go further," Belmonte says.  Currently he is studying the dynamics of flow in complex fluids, the motion of reaction waves in different chemical systems, and the hydrodynamics of swimming and flying.

Belmonte earned a bachelor's degree with honors in physics at the University of Chicago in 1988, and both a master's degree in 1991 and doctoral degree in 1994 in physics at Princeton University.  He held a National Science Foundation International Postdoctoral Fellowship and a Chateaubriand Fellowship at the National Center for Scientific Research in France from 1994 to 1996, then held a postdoctoral position at the University of Pittsburgh from 1996 to 1998.  He joined the Penn State faculty in the fall of 1998.
 
 

Francesca Chiaromonte investigates methods to simplify the representation and analysis of high-dimensional data sets while preserving relevant information.  She focuses on dimension-reduction and graphical exploration--methods of key importance in a variety of applications ranging from the study of stock-market prices as a function of a large number of variables, to the investigation of consumption patterns, to the structural analysis of large experiments in the physical sciences.  Chiaromonte also is interested in "micro-founded" or "agent-based" simulation models, in the statistical issues related to their exploration by computer experiments, and in their calibration on real data.  These models are used to study the dynamics properties of large systems composed of smaller interacting units, and are of increasing interest in areas as diverse as sociology, economics, and biology.  In collaboration with economists, she has developed an agent-based model to investigate the effects of endogenous technical innovation, as well as a model to investigate decentralized trading in financial assets.

Chiaromonte earned a Laurea degree in statistics and economic sciences at the University of Rome "La Sapienza" (Italy) in 1990.  She then moved to the United States, where she earned a doctoral degree in statistics at the University of Minnesota in 1996.  She was a research scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria from 1996 to the fall of 1998, when she joined the faculty at Penn State.
 
 

Claude dePamphilis is a plant evolutionary biologist who is interested in the processes and patterns of evolution of both molecules and organisms.  His main research focus is the phylogeny, biology, and evolution of molecules in parasitic plants that use specially modified roots to extract water, minerals, and fixed carbon from a host plant.  "These plants are of interest as organisms with complex adaptations for feeding upon other plants," says dePamphilis.  "Some have become highly destructive weeds affecting important crop plants and some have completely lost their ability to photosynthesize."  He says these plants provide a powerful system for investigating the effects of such drastic adaptations on the evolution and function of genes and genomes.

DePamphilis earned a bachelor's degree at Oberlin College in 1977, and both a master's degree in 1982 and a doctoral degree in 1988 at the University of Georgia.  He was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan from 1988 to 1989 and a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Indiana University from 1989 to 1990.  He became an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University in 1991 and also was the principal investigator at the Vanderbilt University Molecular Evolution Laboratory in 1997 and 1998.  He joined the faculty at Penn State in the fall of 1998.
 
 

Michael Eides has broad interests in different branches of theoretical particle physics and atomic physics.  He has made important contributions to the theory of quantum chromodynamics, which focuses on the strong interactions among the fundamental constituents of matter, known as quarks.  His other well-known works deal with two-dimensional field theories and supersymmetric quantum mechanics.  He was one of the pioneers of the string field theory, which treats elementary particles as extended one-dimensional string-like objects rather than as dimensionless points, and he also developed a quantum-field-theory description of strings.  Recently, his main interests have concentrated on the theory of high-order corrections to the energy levels in light one-electron atoms such as hydrogen, muonium, and positronium.  He recently has developed new theoretical approaches to certain calculations in quantum electrodynamics--the theory describing all electromagnetic interactions--that dramatically improve the accuracy of theoretical predictions.

Eides earned a master's degree in theoretical physics, summa cum laude, in 1971 and a doctoral degree in theoretical and mathematical physics in 1977 at the Leningrad State University in Russia. He received a Habilitation degree in theoretical physics at the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute in 1992.  He joined the D. I.  Mendeleev Institute of Metrology in Russia in 1974 as a junior researcher, later becoming a senior then leading researcher there.  In 1989, Eides joined the Russian Academy of Sciences, where in 1993 he became head of the electroweak theory group at its Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute as well as a visiting professor at Penn State.  He joined the Penn State faculty as a senior scientist and professor of physics in the spring of 1998.
 
 

Michael Eracleous's primary research interest involves two kinds of accretion-powered astrophysical systems: supermassive black holes that are swallowing gas and stars in the centers of galaxies, and binary star systems in which the tug of gravity rips material away from one of the stars and causes it to flow onto its more massive companion.  "I am particularly interested in both observing and modeling the geometry and dynamics of the hot, innermost parts of the accretion flow in active galactic nuclei and cataclysmic variables, which are the largest and smallest examples of these systems," Eracleous explains.  "Cataclysmic variables, which typically involve just two stars, are reasonably well understood and can serve as a source of inspiration in the effort to understand more complicated systems such as active galactic nuclei," he adds.  Eracleous observes these systems at optical wavelengths with telescopes on Earth--including Penn State's Hobby-Eberly Telescope--at ultraviolet wavelengths with the Hubble Space Telescope, and at X-ray wavelengths using data from other space-based observatories operated by NASA.

Eracleous earned a bachelor of science degree with honors at the Imperial College of the University of London (England) in 1987.  He then earned a master of arts degree in 1989, a master of philosophy degree in 1990, and a doctoral degree in 1992, all in physics at Columbia University.  He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Space Telescope Science Institute from 1992 to 1995 and held a Hubble Fellowship at the University of California at Berkeley from 1995 to 1998.  He joined the faculty at Penn State in the fall of 1998.
 
 

Lee Samuel Finn's research includes gravitational-wave physics, astronomy, and data analysis for gravitational-wave detection.  He has shown how observations of inspiraling binary stars from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) can reveal important information about the mass of black holes and neutron stars, as well as information about the age and size of the universe.  Finn currently is studying how discrete sources of gravitational radiation can overlap to produce a stochastic, or random, gravitational-wave signal; how LIGO observations of a stochastic gravitational-wave background can be used to determine the background's spectrum; what observations of a stochastic background arising from unresolved close white-dwarf binaries in the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) can say about their progenitor systems; and how LIGO instrument changes will affect the observations that can be made with this detector.  Finn also is studying the development of data-analysis techniques for gravitational waves using the data streams from several detectors.

Finn received a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1982, and both a master's degree in 1983 and doctoral degree in 1987 in physics from the California Institute of Technology.  He was a research associate from 1987 to 1991 at Cornell University and a member and visiting postdoctoral fellow from 1988 to 1989 at the University of California at Santa Barbara Institute for Theoretical Physics.  He joined Northwestern University as an assistant professor in 1991, becoming associate professor there in 1996.  He was an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow from 1992 to 1994 and a visiting scholar at the California Institute of Technology from 1997 until he joined the Penn State faculty in the fall of 1998.
 
 

Gabriela González says her research involves the detection of gravitational waves, which she describes as "a new and exciting field."  She explains, "Although Einstein's Theory of Relativity clearly predicts the presence of gravitational waves, no laboratory has been able to detect them because the amplitude of these kind of waves is so miniscule."  González and other scientists are working together on the National Science Foundation's Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) project to focus their efforts on detecting gravity waves resulting from some of the most interesting systems in the universe.  They hope to detect gravity waves predicted to result from violent astronomical events involving both large masses and large accelerations, such as collisions between neutron stars and black holes, supernovae explosions, or the formations of black holes.  The new detectors being built will be large optical interferometers capable of unprecedented precision.  The observatory consists of five miles of vacuum tubes in an L-shape, with mirrors hanging at the end of the tubes, with which scientists expect to detect gravity waves by measuring motions just fractions of the diameter of a proton.

González earned a Licenciada degree in physics at the Córdoba University in Argentina in 1988, and both a master's degree in 1993 and a doctoral degree in 1995 in physics at Syracuse University.  She was a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1995 until she joined the faculty at Penn State in the spring of 1998.
 
 

Jainendra Jain is a condensed-matter theorist who is interested in the physics of low-dimensional systems, especially those states in which electrons behave in unexpected ways.  The major focus of his research has been in the field of the quantum Hall effect, which is a phenomenon that concerns the state of electrons at the interface of two semiconductors exposed to a strong magnetic field.  The effect attracted the attention of the physics community when its Hall resistance was found to be quantized, with its value depending only on universal constants, independent of sample parameters, dirt, and other details.  "It was clear that some fundamental principals were at work here," Jain says.  He has proposed that the experiments indicated the existence of a new kind of particle in these systems, which he has named "composite fermions."  Jain says, "The theory's numerous dramatic predictions have been verified in many experiments and exact numerical studies."  He has been involved in many of these tests and in developing and extending the composite-fermion theory.

Jain earned a bachelor's degree at Rajasthan University in India in 1979, a master's degree at the Indian Institute of Technology in 1981, and a doctoral degree at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook in 1985.  He was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Maryland from 1986 to 1988 and an associate research scientist at Yale University from 1988 to 1989.  He was an assistant professor of physics at SUNY from 1989 to 1993, becoming an associate professor in 1993 and a professor in 1997.  He joined the Penn State faculty in the fall of 1998 as Penn State's first Erwin W. Mueller Professor of Physics.
 
 

A. Daniel Jones uses a variety of mass-spectrometry techniques to discover new proteins and to investigate the functional consequences when proteins undergo chemical modifications.  His research interests focus on the development of methods for electrospray ionization and matrix-assisted laser-desorption ionization to identify and quantify structural modifications important in toxicology and environmental chemistry.  He recently used mass spectrometry as the central approach in the design of selective inhibitors of an enzyme that is over expressed in tumors resistant to chemotherapy drugs.  He also plans to use mass spectrometry to probe effects of protein modification on protein folding and structure in various diseases--particularly those arising from exposure to environmental pollutants--and to identify reagents that can be used to isolate molecular markers of disease.

Jones earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry at Harvey Mudd College in 1976 and a doctoral degree in chemistry at Penn State in 1984.  He was an assistant research spectroscopist and acting director of the Facility for Advanced Instrumentation at the University of California at Davis from 1984 to 1989, then was director and academic administrator at the facility from 1989 to 1998.  He also was an assistant adjunct professor at the University of California at Davis School of Veterinary Medicine from 1990 to 1993.  He joined the Department of Chemistry at Penn State in the spring of 1998.
 
 

Yong-Baek Kim's research is in the field of theoretical condensed-matter physics.  His interests include two-dimensional interacting electrons in very high magnetic fields, known as the quantum Hall effect; two-dimensional metal-insulator transition in the presence of interaction and disorder; high-temperature superconductivity; and transport properties of other transition-metal oxides.  "I also have been working on a theory to describe strongly-interacting electrons that cannot be described by the conventional weak-coupling approach," he says.

Kim earned a bachelor of science degree at Seoul National University (Korea) in 1989 and a master's degree at Pohang University of Science and Technology (Korea).  He then earned a doctoral degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1995.  Kim was a postdoctoral member of the technical staff at Bell Laboratories of Lucent Technologies from 1995 until the spring of 1998, when he joined the Penn State faculty.
 
 

Chun Liu's primary areas of interest are partial differential equations and calculus of variations and their applications, particularly those arising from materials science.  One of his current research interests concerns the mathematical modeling of the molecular configurations of different liquid-crystal materials, both in static and dynamic states.  Liu also studies the growth of grains--areas within a material where the molecules form a single-crystal lattice structure.  His research includes the evolution of grain boundaries, especially those involving triple junctions.  Understanding such structures is important for understanding the properties of materials such as metals, ceramics, and thin films.  Liu also is interested in regularity theory in both partial differential equations and calculus of variations.  The theory is useful in estimating, for example, singular sets of the solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations that describe conservation of momentum for the motion of isotropic and viscous fluids.

Liu earned a bachelor's degree at Fudan University (China) in 1987, a master's degree at Duke University in 1991, and a doctoral degree at New York University in 1995.  He was a postdoctoral associate from 1995 to 1996 and a Richard Duffin Visiting Assistant Professor from 1996 to 1997 at Carnegie-Mellon University.  He was an assistant professor at the University of Georgia from 1997 until joining the Penn State faculty in the fall of 1998.
 

Bernhard Lüscher's research is focused on specific receptors in the brain whose proper regulation is critical for maintaining normal brain function and mental health.  These proteins, the so-called type-A receptors for g-aminobutyric acid (GABA-A), also are targets for therapeutically important benzodiazepines drugs used in the treatment of central-nervous-system diseases such as epilepsy and anxiety disorders.  The long-term objective of Lüscher's research is to understand the molecular mechanisms that regulate the function of these receptors, with particular reference to their role in anxiety disorders.

"GABA-A receptors play a pivotal role in the central nervous system, and modulation of their function can enhance or inhibit a wide variety of central-nervous-system states, including vigilance, anxiety, epileptic activity, and memory," Lüscher explains.  "Mechanisms that underlie the physiological regulation of GABA-A receptors are therefore extremely important, but to date they are only poorly understood," he says.  "Our research employs an interdisciplinary approach to help to understand fundamental mechanisms that are essential for normal brain physiology and relevant in neurological and mental disorders."

Lüscher earned a diploma in natural sciences in 1983 at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and a doctoral degree in molecular biology in 1987 at the University of Zurich (Switzerland).  He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California at Berkeley from 1987 to 1990 and a group leader at the University of Zurich from 1990 until 1999.  He joined the Penn State faculty in the spring of 1999.
 

Hong Ma's research focuses on understanding the genetic mechanisms that control cell differentiation during both flower and pollen development.  Ma has isolated a number of different mutant plant strains that are abnormal during late flower and plant development; in particular, several mutants with defects during meiosis.  He plans to use these strains in research designed to identify and characterize genes that are important during the late stages of a plant's development.

After attending the University of Science and Technology of China from 1978 to 1979, Ma earned a bachelor's degree, summa cum laude, at Temple University in 1983, and a doctoral degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988.  He was a postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology from 1988 to 1990.  He joined the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory as a staff investigator in 1990, became senior staff investigator in 1992, then was an associate investigator until the fall of 1998, when he joined the Penn State faculty.
 

Pamela J. Mitchell employs a variety of molecular genetic tools to study gene expression during embryo development in mice and fruit-flies (Drosophila).  "In recent years, transgenic techniques in the mouse and Drosophila have revolutionized studies of developmental biology by providing the means to study functions of individual genes and their regulatory regions in the developing organism," Mitchell explains. "It is now evident that the basic molecular machinery of development is highly conserved between mice and Drosophila, and that families of evolutionarily conserved transcription factors play central roles in animal embrygenesis."

Much of Mitchell's research has focused on transcription factor AP-2, a regulatory protein that her lab has shown to be essential for the normal development of the mouse nervous system, head, and limbs.  Her lab recently identified the Drosophila homolog of AP-2 (DAP-2) to complement these studies in an invertebrate model system.  "My long-range goal is to use complementary approaches in Drosophila and mouse to better define the specific cell lineages where AP-2 is important and to outline the gene-expression programs where AP-2 functions in these lineages," Mitchell says.  In addition to providing new insights into animal development and evolution, Mitchell's research ultimately may contribute to the understanding of cancer.  "Aberrant regulation of AP-2 has been associated with various cancers, including breast and ovarian cancers and melanomas," she explains.

Mitchell earned a bachelor of arts degree in biology with a minor in chemistry, cum laude, at Rhode Island College in 1975.  She earned a master of philosophy degree, a master of arts degree, and then a doctoral degree in biological sciences at Columbia University in 1985.  She was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California at Berkeley from 1986 to 1990.  Mitchell joined the University of Zurich (Switzerland) in 1990 as an independent group leader at the Institute of Molecular Biology and in 1995 became independent group leader at the Institute of Pharmacology.  She joined the Penn State faculty in the spring of 1999.
 

Florence Newberger studies geometry and pure dynamical systems, a field in mathematics that involves the iteration of transformations of spaces.  "For example, repeatedly rotating a circle by a fixed amount provides a series of transformations of that space," she explains.  Newberger is interested in how much the points of a space are rearranged by repeating the transformation.  She says, "One beauty of dynamical systems is that there is a wide variety of interesting spaces and transformations available in pure mathematics.  Plus, the work is interesting both to other dynamicists and to researchers who study the underlying spaces."

Her research in the geometry of spaces concerns the way spaces are shaped.  "To contribute to the geometric understanding of spaces, I use a dynamical-systems approach to study geometric spaces together with the transformation made by traveling along the trajectories of shortest distance in the space," she explains.  Her recent work describes the mixing properties of this type of transformation for a particular class of spaces.

Newberger earned both a bachelor of science degree in earth sciences and a bachelor of arts degree with honors in mathematics at the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1992.  She earned a doctoral degree in mathematics at the University of Maryland at College Park in 1998.  She joined the Penn State faculty as the Chowla Research Assistant Professor in Mathematics in the fall of 1998.
 

Davis Ng's research program focuses on how secretory proteins are manufactured in the cell.  "We are studying the mechanisms by which cells deal with aberrant proteins because defects in this process are the basis of numerous human diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Cystic Fibrosis," Ng explains.  Using a combination of genetic and biochemical approaches, Ng's lab has identified many new genes required for the proper processing of secretory proteins and has discovered a novel mechanism used by cells to detoxify the effects of aberrant proteins.  "We are hopeful that our research will help lead to novel therapies to combat these devastating diseases, which affect millions of people annually," he says.

Ng earned a bachelor's degree in molecular biology at the University of California at Berkeley in 1984 and a doctoral degree in molecular and cell biology at Northwestern University in 1991.  He held a Public Health Services National Research Service Award Postdoctoral Fellowship from 1991 to 1994 and a Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship from the American Heart Association from 1994 to 1996 at the University of California at San Francisco, then continued his postdoctoral research there until joining the Penn State faculty in the spring of 1998.
 

Blake R. Peterson's research focuses on the design and discovery of synthetic molecules that influence protein function.  He uses techniques in the fields of bioorganic chemistry, synthetic organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, and molecular biology to identify synthetic molecules with potential medical applications.  "A major emphasis of our research is the discovery of novel anticancer agents," Peterson says.  Using both combinatorial chemistry and rational design strategies, he seeks to identify molecules that penetrate cell membranes and halt cancer growth by blocking specific protein-protein interactions.  In addition, Peterson is synthesizing and evaluating novel estrogen antagonists in an effort to discover highly potent anticancer agents.

Peterson earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry at the University of Nevada at Reno in 1990 and a doctoral degree in chemistry at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1994.  He was a Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Cancer Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University from 1994 until he joined the Penn State faculty in the fall of 1998.
 

John Roe's research focuses on connections between the very-large-scale and the very-small-scale structure of mathematical spaces.  "Any student of calculus knows that some parts of mathematics become simpler if viewed through a microscope," explains Roe.  "Now, we are beginning to realize that there are worthwhile simplifications to be made by looking through the wrong end of a telescope."  Roe says that small-scale structure usually is more computable while large-scale structure is more stable, and therefore more useful.  To relate the two kinds of structures he uses a mathematical technique known as assembly, which was developed by Paul Baum and Nigel Higson, both professors of mathematics at Penn State, and their colleague in Paris, Alain Connes.  "The key problem," says Roe, "is to understand when the assembly process can be reversed."

Roe earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics at Cambridge University (England) in 1980 and a doctoral degree in mathematics at the University of Oxford (England) in 1984.  He was a junior research fellow at the University of Oxford from 1984 to 1986; a visiting fellow at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, California, in 1985; an Ulam Research Professor of Mathematics at the University of Colorado in 1995; and a Fellow and tutor in mathematics at the University of Oxford from 1986 to 1998.  He joined the Penn State faculty in the fall of 1998.
 

Steinn Sigurdsson's research interests include a number of topics in astrophysics, including the structure and dynamical evolution of stellar systems; compact objects such as black holes, neutron stars, and pulsars; the formation and evolution of galaxies and clusters; gravitational-radiation sources; planet formation; computational dynamics; and parallel-computing techniques.  Sigurdsson says, "I have a broad background in theoretical physics and am interested in extending the topics I work on by cooperating with investigators in other fields of research."

Sigurdsson earned a bachelor's degree in mathematical physics with honors first class in 1986 at the University of Sussex in England and both a master's degree in 1988 and a doctoral degree in 1991 in physics at the California Institute of Technology.  He was a visiting research fellow at the University of California at Santa Cruz from 1991 to 1994.  He joined Cambridge University in England as a Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council Research Fellow, then was a European Union Marie Curie Individual Research Fellow there from 1996 to 1998.  He joined the Penn State faculty in the fall of 1998.
 

Song Tan is interested in how gene regulation works in human cells.  He uses X-ray crystallography to determine the structures of gene regulatory complexes, including those containing both protein and DNA.  Determining such three-dimensional structures requires using biochemical methods to purify and characterize the macromolecules before crystallization, and it also requires using biophysical methods to collect and process data from these crystals.  The result is a complete picture of the protein and DNA molecules--information that is essential for understanding how these molecules do their job.  Tan is particularly interested in how macromolecules assemble themselves into gene-regulatory complexes to control transcription, one of the critical steps in the proper functioning of a cell.  When such control mechanisms fail to work properly, the cell can multiply uncontrollably and result in a cancerous growth.  Tan says, "I hope my investigations will provide the necessary framework to help tackle human diseases."

Tan earned a bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, in physics at Cornell University in 1985 and was awarded a Marshall Scholarship to study molecular biology at the University of Cambridge in England, culminating in a doctoral degree in 1989.  He joined the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology as a postdoctoral fellow in 1989, becoming a project leader in 1992.  He joined the faculty at Penn State in the fall of 1998.  Tan now serves as a member of the selection committee for Marshall and Rhodes scholarships at Penn State.

Ingrid Van Keilegom is developing improved statistical methods for analyzing data that are subject to "random right censoring," which she explains occurs when an event takes place before the event of interest occurs.  "Censoring often occurs in medical studies that focus on the survival time of patients receiving a certain treatment and in industrial studies that focus on the lifetime of a certain machine," she explains.  "Only a lower bound for the survival time is known in such studies, so the data are called right censored," she adds.  She focuses her work on regression models--a statistical technique widely used for determining the functional relationship between correlated variables.

Van Keilegom earned a licentiate degree in mathematical sciences at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) in 1993 and both a master's degree in biostatistics and a doctoral degree in statistics at the University of Limburg (Belgium) in 1998.  She joined the Penn State faculty in the fall of 1998.
 

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