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HONORIS CAUSA
Peter Mészáros, professor and head of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, is one of three astrophysicists awarded this year's Bruno Rossi Prize by the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society for their pioneering work on gamma-ray bursts--mysterious explosions from deep space that outshine the entire universe before rapidly fading away, sometimes in just a few seconds. "It is an honor and a pleasure to be involved in this endeavor with such valued and distinguished friends and colleagues," Mészáros says. "Gamma-ray bursts have been and remain a major puzzle, so the recent observational advances and their interplay with the work of many theorists have been very exciting. "But much remains unsolved, and new surprises can be expected from future missions." Gamma-ray bursts are among the most exciting topics in astrophysics. Most astronomers concede these bursts originate at cosmological distances billions of miles away--more distant, perhaps, than any light seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. Mészáros and his colleagues, Bohdan Paczynski of Princeton University and Sir Martin Rees of the Royal Observatories in England, were award the Rossi Prize for their development of theoretical models of gamma-ray bursts years before observational scientists had adequate tools to study the phenomena. The High Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society awards the Rossi Prize in recognition of significant contributions as well as recent and original work in high-energy astrophysics. The prize is named in honor of Bruno Rossi, an authority on cosmic rays whose experimental techniques gave birth to the field of X-ray astronomy. The prize includes a monetary grant and the honor of presenting the annual Rossi lecture at the 2001 meeting of the American Astronomical Society in San Diego, California. In addition, Mészáros has received the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship for 1999 to 2000. Mészáros' research interests involve theoretical issues in high-energy astrophysics and cosmology. Most recently, he has developed a cosmological-fireball-shock model of gamma-ray bursts--the most violent and energetic events known since the Big Bang--which now is widely used for interpreting the observational evidence for these bursts. Among his many research achievements, Mészáros predicted the properties of burst afterglows at X-ray and optical wavelengths, which now have been confirmed by recent observations.
Andrew G. Ewing, the J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Natural Sciences, professor of chemistry, adjunct professor of neuroscience and anatomy, and head of the Department of Chemistry, has received theSimon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship for 1999 to 2000. The fellowship will fund a submitted proposal titled "Single Cell Membrane Structure Following Exocytosis." Ewing is one of the world's foremost leaders in developing microscale techniques and tools for understanding fundamental processes within the brain's individual cells. His techniques for measuring chemicals in the brain have enabled scientists to study the excretion of single neurotransmitter molecules from single nerve cells--a fundamental process whose understanding neuroscientists declared to be a top priority for the Decade of the Brain during the 1990s. "The importance of this work is that it provides a means to compare molecular mechanisms of normal neuronal function to abnormal function associated with illness," Ewing says. He also earned the Benedetti-Pichler Award, and has been honored with the Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Field of Capillary Electrophoresis, a prize coveted in the field as its major award recognition. He was selected for the Benedetti-Pichler
Award because of his service in the field of analytical microchemistry,
including achievements in research and teaching. Ewing received the Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Field of Capillary Electrophoresis during the 10th annual Frederick Conference on Capillary Electrophoresis, one of the largest meetings of its kind in North America, in a special session held in his honor in Frederick, Maryland. Ewing presented an award address titled "Pushing the Limits of Capillary Electrophoresis: Small, Dynamic, and Cells." Among the accomplishments for which Ewing received the award is a detection method in capillary electrophoresis, originated by his research group, based on the movement of electrons into and out of molecules. Ewing's group also pushed the limits of capillary electrophoresis below the 10-micron limit--less than one-tenth the thickness of a human hair. In addition, they used soap-like (micellar) additives to separate neurotransmitters and developed the theory to explain electrosmotic flow control--a process in which a high voltage is applied to the outside of the capillary to change the flow of liquid on the inside. In recognition of his research contributions, Ewing also received the National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award in 1987, the Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award in 1989, the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in 1989, and a Swedish Medical Council Visiting Scientist Fellowship in 1991.
Nina Fedoroff, professor of biology, the Verne M. Willaman Chair in Life Sciences, director of the Life Sciences Consortium, and director of the Penn State Biotechnology Institute, has been nominated by President Clinton to serve as a member of the National Science Board (NSB). The NSB is composed of 24 part-time members selected on the basis of their eminence in science, engineering, education, or research management to direct the activities of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Members of the board are nominated for four-year terms by the president and confirmed by the Senate. "My areas of research, plant genetics and molecular biology, give me the background to deal with issues in plant-genetic and genomic research, as well as the genetic modification of plants, which are high priorities of the NSF right now," Fedoroff says. The NSF funds basic research in all of the fields not covered by the National Institutes of Health. "I would like to help assure that the NSF continues its strong plant-research programs because of their importance in assuring that the world's food supply is abundant, secure, and safe in the face of continued population growth." Fedoroff is perhaps best known for her research on the molecular biology of mobile genetic elements, also known as transposons, in plants and on the developmental regulation of gene expression. Among her accomplishments, she isolated and characterized the first complete maize transposable genetic element--research that provided the molecular basis for understanding unusual phenomena first described in maize by Nobel Laureate Barbara McClintock. Fedoroff later identified and studied the molecular mechanism of regulation of the maize suppressor-mutator element and also identified a unique regulatory protein encoded by this element. "The ultimate goal of my research is to identify and understand the function of genes that are important in plant development," Fedoroff says. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi honorary societies, the board of directors of the Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, and the International Advisory Board to the Englehardt Institute of Molecular Biology in Moscow. Other current members of the National Science Board who have a Penn State connection include Eamon M. Kelly, chair of the National Science Board, who was an assistant professor of finance at Penn State from 1965 to 1968 and is now president emeritus and professor in the Payson Center for International Development and Technology Transfer at Tulane University; Warren M. Washington, PhD '64 Mete, who is director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, climate and global dynamics division; and Joseph A. Miller, Jr., PhD '66 Chem and a Penn State Distinguished Alumnus and Alumni Fellow, who is a member of the National Research Council Center for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Education and the Senior Vice President for Research and Development and Chief Science and Technology Officer at DuPont.
Alan Walker, distinguished professor of anthropology and biology, has been named a Fellow of the British Royal Society. Founded in 1660, the Royal Society is an independent organization that serves as the United Kingdom's academy of science by advising the British government and promoting the natural and applied sciences both nationally and internationally. Election to the fellowship of the Royal Society is recognized worldwide as a sign of the highest regard in science. New Fellows must be proposed by at least six existing Fellows and then assessed by selection committees in each major field of science. Walker, who was honored for his distinguished contributions to the world's knowledge of human origins, is one of 42 Fellows elected this year. Walker is one of the world's foremost experts on the evolution of primates and humans. He has made many important discoveries during the past three decades at paleontological digs in Africa with his collaborators Richard and Meave Leakey, including a famous hominid specimen known as "The Black Skull." In 1995 he and Meave Leakey discovered the skeletal remains of a previously unknown species in the human lineage, which they named Australopithecus anamensis, that lived about 4 million years ago. Penn State now has four faculty members in the Royal Society: Walker; Roger Penrose, elected in 1972; Calyampudi R. Rao, elected in 1967; and Robert C. Vaughan, elected in 1990. Penrose is the Francis R. and Helen M. Pentz Distinguished Professor of Physics at Penn State and the Rouse Ball Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Oxford University in England. Rao is Holder of the Eberly Family Chair in Statistics and director of the Penn State Center for Multivariate Analysis. Vaughan is a professor of mathematics.
Roger Penrose, the Francis R. and Helen M. Pentz Distinguished Professor of Physics and Mathematics and a member of the Penn State Center for Gravitational Physics and Geometry, has been elected an Honorary Fellow of Britain's Institute of Physics. Penrose is a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences; a Fellow of the British Royal Society, the University College in London, and Wadham College at Oxford University; and an Honorary Fellow of St. John's College at Cambridge University in England. He has earned numerous awards and honors for his contributions to the fields of physics, astrophysics, and mathematics, including the Adams Prize of Cambridge University; the Dannie Heineman Prize of the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics; the First Prize of the Gravity Research Foundation; the Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society; the Royal Medal of the Royal Society; the Wolf Foundation Prize for Physics; the Dirac Prize and Medal of the British Institute of Physics; the Einstein Prize and Medal of the Albert Einstein Society; and the Naylor Prize of the London Mathematical Society. He has written several influential books on the relationship between consciousness, computing, and physics, for which he won the Science Book Prize from the Royal Institution and the Science Museum. He has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his contributions to science. Honorary Fellows are elected by the Institute of Physics to recognize their work in physics or another science, or for service to the institute. The number of Honorary Fellows cannot exceed 30.
Xumu Zhang, associate professor of chemistry, has been selected as a Guggenheim Fellow by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. According to the foundation, Guggenheim Fellows are selected on the basis of their unusually distinguished achievements and their exceptional promise for future accomplishments. Zhang was among 182 scientists, scholars, and artists selected from a pool of 2,927 applicants to receive the award in 2000. The award will provide support for Zhang's work with asymmetric catalysts designed to facilitate the development of efficient, high-yield processes for the manufacture of pharmaceutical compounds known as chiral drugs--a broad category of medications whose therapeutic effectiveness is dependent on the shape and configuration of a drug molecule in addition to its chemical composition. Though chemically identical, chiral molecules may take either of two mirror-image forms and are therefore said to be either "left-handed" or "right-handed," depending upon the configuration of the molecule in space. The effectiveness of pharmaceuticals often is based on the precise matching
of the drug molecule with the structure of receptors inside the body.
Among the goals of Zhang's research are to understand the factors that control the formation of these molecules and to develop catalytic techniques for producing them in quantities sufficient for industrial applications in the agrochemical, electronics, food-additive, fragrance, and pharmaceutical industries. Techniques for producing useful molecular configurations have the ability to increase the efficiency and lower the cost of the manufacturing process. In 1998, Penn State signed a license with Catalytica Pharmaceuticals, Inc., giving the corporation exclusive worldwide rights to some components of the University's patented work in asymmetric catalysts as developed by Zhang's research. These patents were sublicensed nonexclusively to Pfizer to make chiral pharmaceutical products. The development agreement includes ongoing sponsorship of Zhang's laboratory by Catalytica in these areas. Zhang also is working with E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Company to apply his chiral technology to agricultural products. Other sponsors of Zhang's research include the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Department of the Navy. In 1998, Zhang received the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award and in 1994 the New Faculty Award, both from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. In 1996, he was honored with the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award and the DuPont Young Faculty Award.
Nigel Higson, distinguished professor of Mathematics, is the winner of the 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 the nominees suggested by students, faculty, and alumni. The award includes a monetary grant and the inscription of Higson's name on a plaque alongside previous C. I. Noll Award winners. Higson donated the monetary award to the Mary Lister McCammon Scholarship in Mathematics, saying he wanted to express his "appreciation for Mary McCammon's accomplishments as long-time head of the undergraduate mathematics program." Higson has been teaching mathematics at Penn State since 1989. He has consistently received extremely high evaluations from his graduate and undergraduate students. Typical student comments refer to his ability to explain complex subjects clearly, his enthusiasm and sense of humor, and his willingness to work with students outside class time and on the Internet. "In addition to being a highly talented and original mathematician, Nigel Higson is an outstanding teacher. He has a quite stunning ability to think on his feet, developing analogies and examples that reflect an engaging sense of humor," says George E. Andrews, Evan Pugh Professor of Mathematics. "Many excellent mathematicians have struggled with the challenge of communicating effectively with students. Nigel shows us the way it should be done."
Ken Ono, the Louis A. Martarano Professor of Mathematics, has been selected for the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)--the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. Government on scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers. Ono is the first Penn State faculty member to receive the award since its inception in 1996. The award, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and earmarked for scientists and engineers early in their careers who show exceptional leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge, includes a five-year monetary grant. "The award means the availability of more resources for research--in terms of computers, travel, and visits to Penn State by renowned mathematicians," Ono says. "This honor also allows me to provide many opportunities for postdoctoral students, graduate students, undergraduates, and even high-school students through outreach programs." "These are the 'Golden Globe Awards' for the Albert Einsteins and Marie Curies of tomorrow--our nation's most promising science and engineering educators," NSF director Rita Colwell said. According to the NSF, awardees are selected because of their exemplary research accomplishments and their special commitment to the integration of research and education. Ono became eligible for the PECASE award after receiving a Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) last year. According to the most recent statistics, for 1998, CAREER awardees were selected from more than 1,600 applicants and PECASE awardees from more than 1,100. Among this year's PECASE awardees, Ono was the only mathematician. Earlier, Ono was distinguished as Penn State's first Louis Martarano Professor of Mathematics. The Louis Martarano Career Development Professorship, supported by a gift from Louis Martarano, was created in 1998 to provide critical financial support and encouragement for faculty starting their academic careers in the Eberly College of Science. In addition to providing recognition for the current achievements of the award recipients, this professorship demonstrates belief in their potential to achieve eminence in their fields. "I am delighted to have the support of the Martarano Professorship," Ono says. "It will help me provide support for the graduate students and postdocs who are vital to my program." Louis Martarano, the former director of project finance for Merrill Lynch International, graduated from Penn State with a B.S. in Chemistry in 1976. He currently serves on the Eberly College of Science B.S./M.BA. Program Advisory Panel and the Science Campaign Committee. In addittion, Ono has been awarded a five-year Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. One of 24 awarded nationwide annually, the fellowship provides unrestricted funds to young faculty members in science and engineering who have demonstrated unusual creative ability in research. Ono's primary field of interest is number theory. His research concerns the theory of partitions, which is the study of how whole numbers are expressed as sums of other numbers. His recent work on partitions has led to surprising new perspectives on the deeper structure of connections between partitions and complicated abstract objects in other areas of mathematics. In many cases, Ono has made these complicated theoretical constructions more explicit by using partitions. For example, he has used his work on partitions to devise a new method for studying points on elliptic curves, one of the main objects in the recently celebrated proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, which for 350 years was the world's most famous unsolved mathematical problem. Ono says he intends to use the fellowship to support postdoctoral fellows who are working with him on his research projects in number theory. In addition, he plans to initiate a "distinguished visitor" program in number theory. Ono was named a NSF Postdoctoral Fellow in 1995 and a National Security Agency Young Investigator in 1997. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation fellowships were established in 1988 to develop future scientific leaders, to further the work of the nation's most promising young scientists and engineers, to encourage networking among these researchers, and to support efforts to attract talented graduate students into university research in the United States.
Honoris Causa
continued (part 2) Back to Science Journal Summer 2000 Index
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Mészáros
Awarded Rossi Prize, Named 
Ewing
Named Simon Guggenheim Fellow, Receives Two Awards for Outstanding Research
Fedoroff
Nominated for Science Board
Walker
Named a Fellow of the British Royal Society
Penrose
Named Honorary Fellow of Britain's Institute of Physics
Zhang
Named Simon Guggenheim Fellow
Higson
Earns Noll Award for Teaching
Ono
Selected for Presidential Award, Appointed Louis Martarano Professor,
and Awarded Packard Fellowship