Summer 2000 -- Vol. 17, No. 1

HONORIS CAUSA

Desjarlais and Li Receive Early Career Development Award

Qi Li, assistant professor of physics, and John Desjarlais, assistant professor of chemistry, have received Faculty Early Career Development Awards (CAREER) from the National Science Foundation.

The awards, which the agency describes as its highest for new faculty, provides four years of funding to stimulate the early development of academic careers in science and engineering and to support the critical roles played by faculty members in integrating research and education.

Qi Li's award will support her research on a project titled "Spin-Injection in Heterostructures of Perovskite Oxides."  Her research involves the physics and application of ultrathin films and superlattices of ferromagnetic oxides, which she describes as having a "colossal magnetoresistance effect," and high-temperature superconductors.  "I have recently observed some anomalous magnetoresistance effects in ultrathin magnetic films that have potential applications in magnetic recording heads and sensors," she says.  Some of her specific interests include the study of the origin of novel magnetoresistance effects and two-dimensional behaviors in superconductors.

The CAREER Award also will support Li's research with a technique called spin injection to study the characteristics of spin-dependent properties in metal oxides, particularly in superconductors, in which magnetic spin is suggested to play an important role but cannot easily be studied.

Li says this research will have a direct impact on recent efforts to develop new types of high-performance electronic devices called "spintronics."

In addition, the award will support educational activities that foster integration of research and teaching.

Li received the Petroleum Research Foundation Starter Award in 1997.

John Desjarlais' research focuses on the relationship between an amino-acid sequence and its three-dimensional structure.

It involves the design of proteins--the construction of amino-acid sequences that encode information for the folding of a protein into a precise pattern.

Using a combination of computational and experimental techniques, he is analyzing the qualities of amino-acid sequences that determine a natural protein's specific structure.

This effort is designed to eventually enable him to synthesize novel proteins with desired structures.

"We have recently shown that we can design sequences that look like members of natural protein families that have similar structure.  We are now working to produce our proteins in the lab to characterize their properties," Desjarlais said.  "Ultimately, one can imagine designing proteins that can be used as catalysts, therapeutics, or biological tools."

Schafer Selected for Early Careers in Prevention Science Award

Joseph Schafer, associate professor of statistics and an associate of the Methodology Center in the College of Health and Human Development, has been selected by the Board of Directors of the Society for Prevention to receive the Early Careers in Prevention Science Award.

The award is being made in recognition of Schafer's significant contributions to solving missing-data problems in the field of prevention research.

He is the principal investigator of a study examining "Missing-Data Methods for Substance-Use Surveys," which is a component of a Center of Methodology grant titled, "Center for the Study of Prevention through Innovative Methodology." The grant is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Washington, D.C.

Crespi Honored with Downsbrough Faculty Development Professorship in Physics

Vincent H. Crespi, assistant professor of physics, has been named Penn State's first Downsbrough Professor of Physics.

Crespi, who joined the Penn State faculty in the fall of 1997, is a theoretical physicist whose research is aimed at developing a broad framework of knowledge in condensed-matter physics of materials.  His current focus is on novel semiconductors, structural energies of materials, electron transport, and superconductivity.  A critical aspect of his research strategy is close collaboration with experimentalists.  Among the applications he is interested in are carbon-tubule-based nanodevices, one billionth of a meter in size.  He is studying their synthesis, mechanical properties, and electronic structures, including certain mechanical deformations that have a powerful influence on their electronic properties.  His other research topics include carbon nanotubes, designed to optimize storage of hydrogen, which could supply fuel to nonpolluting vehicles powered by fuel cells.

The Downsbrough Career Development Professorship, supported by a commitment from George and Margaret Downsbrough, was created in 1996 to provide critical financial support and encouragement for faculty starting their academic careers in the Department of Physics in the Eberly College of Science.  The award provides recognition of a faculty member's current achievements and potential to achieve eminence.  George Downsbrough, retired president of HRB Singer Corporation, and Margaret Downsbrough, are longtime residents of State College and friends and benefactors of Penn State, including the Eberly College of Science.

Sloan Foundation Names Belmonte and Dolgopyat Fellows

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has selected Andrew Belmonte, assistant professor of mathematics, and Dmitry Dolgopyat, assistant professor of mathematics, as Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellows.

The foundation awards 100 fellowships annually 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 chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, or physics.

Andrew Belmonte studies the dynamics of complex fluids such as polymer liquids and the generation of patterns in chemical reactions in the William G. Pritchard Fluid Mechanics Laboratory at Penn State.  He focuses specifically on systems in which there is no single agreed-upon equation to describe the behavior.  By performing experimental studies on these systems and developing equations that model them, Belmonte hopes to discern which models are appropriate, while also gaining an understanding of the phenomenon in mathematical terms.

Dmitry Dolgopyat studies how complex systems change over time.  The behavior of systems can be seen as either regular, such as the motion of planets, or chaotic, such as the motion of a hurricane.  Dolgopyat says most complex systems can be viewed as a composite of regular and chaotic systems.  His mathematical models interpret data based on the effects of a small change in the initial conditions by analyzing changes within this composite structure.

The object of Dolgopyat's research is to define techniques for choosing analytical methods to analyze these systems by determining which parameters are most important for defining the motion.

Strickman Receives Humboldt Award

Mark Strikman, professor of physics, has received the Humboldt Research Award for Senior U.S. Scientists from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Bonn, Germany.

The award includes a monetary grant and support for research at German universities of the recipient's choice for a period of one year.

Strikman was selected to receive the honor in recognition of his research achievements in investigating the interactions of high-energy particles with hadrons and nuclei.

These achievements include theoretical predictions of a number of new effects that were observed at HERA--the high-energy electron-nucleon collider in Hamburg, Germany--and the development of the theoretical foundations for the studies of high-energy collisions of electrons and nuclei.

Strikman is a theoretical physicist whose research focuses on processes of high-energy collisions of electrons and protons with protons and atomic nuclei.

Data obtained about the energy and momentum-transfer dependence of these collisions help to resolve the fine details of nucleon and nuclear structure.

Predictions based on Strikman's mathematical models of novel collisions involving large transfers of energy and momentum have been confirmed at high-energy accelerators around the world, including HERA.

By application of the ideas of high-energy elementary-particle physics, Strikman has been able to describe the role of short-range forces in these high-energy processes.

He collaborates extensively with experimentalists studying these nuclear processes at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Thomas Jefferson National Acceleration Facility, and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, and diffractive processes at DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron) in Hamburg, Germany.

The Humboldt Foundation presents up to 150 Research Awards annually to "foreign scholars whose academic qualifications enjoy international recognition.  The object is to pay tribute to academic accomplishments of award winners and to foster long-term cooperation between foreign and German researchers."

Rao Honored With International Conference and Indian National Award, and Awarded Two Honorary Degrees and Prize for Innovation

Calyampudi R. Rao, Holder of the Eberly Family Chair in Statistics and director of the Center for Multivariate Analysis, has been honored with an international conference, titled "Statistics: Reflections on the Past, Visions for the Future," on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

A group of 34 speakers presented lectures and about 75 registered participants presented papers during the conference.

Also, Rao has been honored by the Government of India as the namesake for a National Award to be presented to the country's most outstanding young statisticians.

The Department of Statistics and Program Implementation, under the Ministry of Planning, provided the rare honor by creating awards in memory of P.V. Sukhatme and in honor of C.R. Rao, two of the country's most reknowned statisticians.  The National Award in honor of C.R. Rao, given every other year, includes a monetary grant for outstanding work done during the preceding three years in any field of statistics.

Rao also received the 2000 Emanuel and Carol Parzen Prize for Statistical Innovation.  The prize, presented by the Department of Statistics at Texas A&M University, recognizes Rao "for outstanding distinction and eminence in research on the theory of statistics, in applications of statistical models in diverse fields, in providing international leadership for 55 years in directing statistical research centers, in continuing impact through his vision and effectiveness as a scholar and teacher, and in extensive service to American and international society.

In addition, Rao has received honorary doctorates from Athens University of Economics in Greece and Kent State University.

Rao is internationally acknowledged as one of the pioneers who laid the foundation of modern statistics, as well as one of the world's top five statisticians with multifaceted distinctions as a scientist, teacher, mathematician, and researcher.  His pioneering contributions to mathematics and statistical theory and applications have become part of graduate and postgraduate courses in statistics, econometrics, electrical engineering, and many other disciplines in most universities throughout the world.

He has received 23 honorary doctorates from universities in 14 countries across the world.  He has authored or coauthored 14 books and more than 300 scientific papers.

Workman Appointed Paul Berg Professor of Biochemistry

Jerry L. Workman, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and associate investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has been named the Paul Berg Professor of Biochemistry at Penn State.

Workman, who joined the Penn State faculty in 1992, conducts research about the central process in gene regulation--how teams of molecules function as chromosome-remodeling machines that unlock the cell's genetic codes.  "Gene activation is a factor in diseases involving cancers, hormones, and viruses, and we are starting to get a much more detailed understanding of how this important process works," Workman says.

Protein molecules activate genes, sections of DNA that contain the cell's genetic instructions, by copying their code.

The cell then uses that copied code as a template for making whatever protein the gene is designed to produce.  "Each cell turns on only the particular genes it needs for whatever function it needs to perform," Workman says.

Studies in Workman's lab analyze protein complexes from yeast and human cells that modify the chromosome's rope-like molecules of DNA tangled up with proteins, which are the gene-containing structures in a cell's nucleus.  "We expect our work to render new insights into the development of cancers and other human diseases that result from aberrant gene expression," Workman says.

His ongoing research has revealed protein molecules previously unknown to be involved in gene expression plus other dynamics among the protein molecules, which work together as a team to activate genes.

"He is one of the most active, highly visible life scientists at Penn State," said Robert Schlegel, professor and head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.  "There can be no doubt he is a scientist of the highest caliber who is most deserving of the honor of becoming the Paul Berg Professor."

The appointment as Paul Berg Professor of Biochemistry provides Workman with an annual monetary endowment.

The professorship was created in 1987 by an anonymous donor in honor of Paul Berg, a 1948 Penn State graduate who was named a Distinguished Alumnus in 1974 and earned the Nobel Prize in 1980 for developing a method to map the structure and function of DNA.

Among his many awards, Workman was named Penn State's first associate investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 1997.  He remains the only University faculty member to be so honored.  As an associate investigator for the institute, he maintains his faculty appointment at Penn State while his laboratory serves as part of the institute.

He was chosen as a Stohlman Scholar by the Leukemia Society of America in 1998, but declined the award in order to return extra research funds to the Leukemia Society.

He received a Leukemia Society of America Scholars Award in 1993, and held a Leukemia Society of America Special Fellowship from 1989 to 1992.  He currently serves on the Leukemia Society Grants Review Panel.

He has served the National Institutes of Health Reviewers Reserve in several capacities from 1993 to present.

He was awarded an Honorary Lifetime Membership in the Japanese Biochemical Society in 1997.

He also is a member of the American Society for Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  He is an editor for the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology.

Robinett Honored With Atherton Award

Richard Robinett, professor of physics, has been honored with the Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching.

The award, named after Penn State's seventh president, was established in 1989 and honors excellence in teaching at the undergraduate level.

Robinett is an innovative, caring teacher with a great sense of humor, according to students.  He was one of the first at Penn State to introduce computer exercises in upper-division courses and collaborative-learning techniques in a large lecture course.  He also initiated, developed, organized, and taught a popular freshman seminar course in physics.  While he requires much work from the students, Robinett believes in organizing his materials carefully and conveying information to students in a fun and informative way.

He makes physics relevant to his students' daily lives by explaining the concepts of physics in terms of their impact on the real world.

He has published a book titled Quantum Mechanics: Classical Results, Modern Systems, and Visualized Examples that provides a complete overview of the key concepts of nonrelativistic quantum theory at the undergraduate level.

Also, Robinett has been appointed to a three-year term as associate editor of the American Journal of Physics.

Matthews Named Fellow by AAAS

C. Robert Matthews, the Eberly Family Professor of Biotechnology and professor of chemistry, has been honored with the rank of Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

A primary focus of Matthews' research has been structural changes in biological molecules in solution; particularly, the mechanisms by which proteins fold into unique conformations.  He also has conducted studies on the effects of single amino-acid substitutions on the folding process.

He explains his goal is to understand how the sequence of a protein determines its three-dimensional structure because the development of such a folding code would enhance the understanding of DNA sequences.

The AAAS selects as Fellows members whose "efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished."  Founded in 1848, the AAAS is the world's largest federation of scientists with more than 138,000 members.  The association publishes the journal Science.

Putt Rewarded With Support Staff Award

Debra Putt, staff assistant in the Department of Biology, has been rewarded with the University's Support Staff Award.  A University employee for 10 years, she has served as a secretary to three department heads and is credited with reorganizing the collection of annual faculty activity reports in the Department of Biology.  As department head secretary, she publishes a department newsletter and is responsible for coordinating the collection and compilation of faculty promotion and tenure materials.

Putt has been active in a wide range of department, college, and University committees.  She was a member of the Eberly College of Science Quality Circle on Faculty Recruitment in 1988, the University Task Force on the Future of Benefits from 1994 to 1998, and the Eberly College of Science Staff Advisory Committee from 1994 to 1998, serving as chair in 1996 and again in 1998.

She has been a member of Penn State Educational Office Professionals since 1989, serving as the group's president from 1993 to 1995 and as secretary from 1991 to 1993.

Eberly College Staff Members Honored

Eileen McConnell, staff assistant; Mary Anne Raymond, administrative assistant; and Linda Zellers, staff assistant, have been recognized for their contributions to the Eberly College of Science.

Eileen McConnell, staff assistant VII in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, has received the college's first Staff Excellence Award.  She was selected to receive the award in recognition of her "service above and beyond her job duties, presentation of an agreeable and positive attitude, dedication in carrying out her job enthusiastically and with integrity, displaying creative problem-solving skills, exhibition of the ability to make the best of any situation or circumstance, portrayal of good supervisory skills, and demonstration of outstanding leadership and/or teamwork."  McConnell has worked for the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology since 1982.

Mary Anne Raymond, administrative assistant III in the Department of Mathematics, has received the college's first Staff Achievement Award.  She was honored for her "extraordinary ability to maintain a high level of excellence in her duties and yet continue to represent the department, college, and University by serving on committees," according to the selection committee, as well as for "her service to community groups including the Parent/Teacher Organization and the Girl Scouts."

Linda Zellers, staff assistant VI in the Office of the Associate Dean, has received the Staff Innovation Award.  She was recognized for her "hard work in designing an electronic system for students to submit their choice of major, which not only reduces the amount of paperwork but also demonstrates the possibility of reduced errors in a procedure that affects many students."

Candidates nominated for these awards also were recognized with certificates during the Staff Recognition Reception.  Staff members who have received a Certificate of Innovation include: Karen Brewster, staff assistant VII, Department of Physics; Lisa Dibert, staff assistant VI, Department of Mathematics; and in the Department of Chemistry, Evelyn Bradley, information technology associate, Eric Younken, senior research instrumentation aide, and Craig Haynal, manager of network and information systems (Network Upgrade Team).

Staff members who have received a Certificate of Excellence include: John Cryder, chemistry demonstration specialist, Department of Chemistry; Andy Danko, prep technician, Department of Physics; Lisa Dibert, staff assistant VI, Department of Mathematics; Gary Field, information technology associate, Department of Statistics; Robert Poorman, retired maintenance supervisor, Department of Chemistry; and Hope Shaffer, staff assistant V, Dean's Office.

Staff members who have received a Certificate of Achievement include: Dana Coval, staff assistant VII, Department of Chemistry; Debra Putt, staff assistant VII, Department of Biology; and Janet (Sally) Roberts, staff assistant VI, Department of Physics.

Honoris Causa (part 1)
Honoris Causa (part 2)

Back to Science Journal Summer 2000 Index

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