Summer 2001 -- Vol. 18, No. 2

HONORIS CAUSA

Cosgrove Named President of American Society of Plant Physiologists

Daniel Cosgrove, Distinguished Professor of Biology, has been elected president of the American Society of Plant Physiologists. He was elected by his peers in the 6,000-member group and took office in October after serving one year as President-Elect.

Cosgrove’s research focuses on expansins, which are proteins that allow plant cell walls to grow while maintaining their rigidity. The discovery of expansins by his research group in 1992 increased the understanding of the molecular biochemistry and biophysics of cell growth. Since that discovery, he and his colleagues have determined that plants have many expansin genes with diverse roles. By isolating and characterizing the genes that control expression of expansins in a cell, Cosgrove’s laboratory helps explain how plants control their growth under a variety of conditions and how they adapt to environmental stresses.

Cosgrove was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1993. He has earned numerous awards, including the Alexander von Humboldt Research Award in 1996, the Penn State Faculty Scholar Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Life Sciences in 1996, the Charles A. Shull Award for Outstanding Investigations in Plant Physiology in 1991, Fulbright Travel Awards to Israel and the United Kingdom in 1990, and a John S. Guggenheim Fellowship in 1989.

After joining the Penn State faculty as an assistant professor in 1983, Cosgrove was named associate professor in 1987, professor in 1991, and distinguished professor in 2000. He earned his doctoral degree in biological sciences at Stanford University in 1980 and his bachelor’s degree in botany at the University of Massachusetts in 1974.

Professor of Molecular Biology Earns Teaching Award

J. Greg Ferry, the Stanley Person Professor of Molecular Biology, has been selected to receive the 2001 Graduate Microbiology Teaching Award from the American Society for Microbiology (ASM).

The award, which includes a monetary prize and a commemorative plaque, recognizes distinguished teaching and mentoring of students at the graduate and post-graduate level, plus their encouragement to attain subsequent achievements. A member of the Penn State faculty since 1995, Ferry received the award during the ASM General Meeting Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C. At that time, he presented a lecture titled “Methanogenesis: A Student Playground.”

“I have always approached research by considering the student first, asking which projects provide the best training opportunities,” Ferry said. “I have found this approach to be productive, and now to be honored as a mentor and teacher is ‘icing on the cake.’ The award is in large part a tribute to my past and present students and the nurturing environment provided by the department and college.”

Prior to joining the Penn State faculty, Ferry was an associate professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. During his distinguished career, he has earned numerous awards and honors. In just the past five years, he has been invited to present more than 30 lectures and seminars.

He was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 1992. He received his doctoral degree in microbiology and biochemistry from the University of Illinois in 1974 and his bachelor’s degree in agronomy and soil microbiology from the University of Georgia in 1968.

Jester Earns Award for Undergraduate Teaching

Fay Jester, instructor of mathematics, has received this year’s Mary Lister McCammon Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching, presented by the Department of Mathematics. The annual award, established to honor Mary McCammon, professor emerita of mathematics who taught more than 40 years at Penn State, honors an outstanding mathematics teacher who works primarily with freshmen and sophomores.

Gary Mullen, professor and head of the Department of Mathematics, presented the award and a monetary prize during a departmental meeting. Jester, a mathematics instructor at Penn State since 1980, has a distinguished record of service to mathematics education. She served as coordinator of all precalculus courses for the department from 1998 to 2000, academic coordinator for Penn State’s College Assistance Migrant Program from 1993 to 1995, and director of the Penn State Regional Upward Bound Math and Science Center from 1991 to 1993. She worked with the Developmental Year Program, both as an instructor and mathematics coordinator, for many years, and has taught at Rockview State Correctional Institution for Penn State Continuing Education.

Rao Receives India's Second-Highest Civilian Honor

Calyampudi R. Rao, Holder of the Eberly Family Chair in Statistics and director of the Center for Multivariate Analysis, has been given an award titled Padma Vibhushan—the second-highest civilian honor bestowed by the country of India for outstanding contributions to engineering, science, and statistics.

Indian officials announced the country’s civilian awards 25 January 2001 on the eve of the country’s Republic Day festivities. Along with Rao, the honorees included economist John Kenneth Galbraith, a former U.S. Ambassador to India.

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 mathematician, researcher, scientist, and teacher. 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 at most universities throughout the world.

He has received numerous awards and medals for his pioneering contributions to statistics, including the Wilks Medal from the American Statistical Association, the Guy Medal in Silver of the Royal Statistical Society of England, the Megnadh Saha Medal of the Indian National Science Academy, and the Mahalanobis Centenary Gold Medal of the Indian Science Congress. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and recipient of 23 honorary doctoral degrees from universities in 14 countries around the world.

Rao has been a member of the Penn State faculty since 1988. He earned a doctoral degree from Cambridge University, on the basis of published work in statistics, in 1965. He earned his initial doctoral degree in statistics from Cambridge University in 1948. He earned a master’s degree in statistics from Calcutta University in India in 1943 and a master’s in mathematics from Andhra University in India in 1940. In both instances he graduated first in his class.

Gonzalez Selected 2001 Women in Physics Lecturer, Receives Fellowship

Gabriela Gonzalez, assistant professor of physics, has been selected by the Australian Institute of Physics (AIP) as its Women in Physics Lecturer for 2001.

The AIP’s International Women in Physics Lecture Series was instituted to celebrate the contribution of women to advances in physics. Accordingly, a woman who has made a significant contribution in a field of physics has been selected each year since 1997 to give at least one lecture in a venue arranged by each participating branch of the AIP. The lectures are intended to be of interest to an audience of non-specialists in physics and are expected to increase awareness among students and their families of the possibilities offered by the continuing study of physics.

Gonzalez hopes to visit several universities and high schools throughout Australia as part of the lecture series.

In addition, Gonzalez has been awarded a 2001 Career Enhancement Fellowship for Junior Faculty in Underrepresented Groups from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, which administers the program funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The award, designed to assist talented junior faculty to pursue scholarly research and writing over a period of one year so they can attain tenure, includes a monetary stipend as well as a stipend for research, travel, and publication.

Gonzalez, whose experimental research focuses on gravity, gravitational waves, and gravitational-wave detection, has been a member of the Penn State faculty since 1997. Prior to her arrival at the University, she was a staff scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory project. She earned her doctoral degree in physics at Syracuse University in 1995 and her bachelor’s in physics at the University of Cordoba in Argentina in 1988.

Sokol Earns Award for Distinguished Teaching

Paul Sokol, professor of physics, has been selected as a recipient of the 2001 Milton S. Eisenhower Award for Distinguished Teaching at Penn State.

Since joining the University faculty as an associate professor in 1988, Sokol has been an active and respected educator and researcher. He has worked to incorporate modern teaching techniques, improve understanding and retention of complex physics topics, and personalize the educational experience for students. He has been directly involved with revamping general education and lower-level physics courses, giving them a more modern approach through the use of computer-based laboratories and new technologies. Along with his teaching and research, he has conducted numerous science demonstrations at local schools and for charitable organizations such as Special Olympics. He also has served as a judge for the Pennsylvania Science and Humanities Symposium for high school students.

In July 2000, Sokol and Milton Cole, professor of physics, launched an “Ask Prof. Science” Web site (http://askprofscience.psu.edu) designed to offer answers to individual questions about science and engineering submitted by those who visit the site.

More than 40 Penn State faculty members participate in the project. Such creative academic pursuits have earned Sokol the Provost’s Award for Collaborative Instruction and Curricular Innovation three times.

“Developing materials and techniques to involve and motivate students has provided an enjoyable challenge,” Sokol said. “With the incorporation of technology and the elimination of repetitive tasks, we have created more hands-on activities and labs.”

The Milton S. Eisenhower Award for Distinguished Teaching, established in 1992, is given in recognition of outstanding teaching at Penn State. Recipients must be tenured faculty, employed as a full-time member of the faculty for a minimum of five years, and have undergraduate teaching as a major portion of their assignment. Milton S. Eisenhower was president of Penn State from 1950 to 1956.

Higson Recognized for Teaching Excellence

Nigel Higson, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics, was one of four Penn State professors honored with the 2001 George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching. The award, named after Penn State’s seventh president, was established in 1989 as a continuation of the AMOCO Foundation Award. It honors excellence in teaching at the undergraduate level.

Higson, a member of the Department of Mathematics since 1989, has combined a career as an outstanding research mathematician with that of educator. A recipient of the Eberly College of Science's C.I. Noll Teaching Award, Higson is recognized as an excellent teacher.

He is known for his rare ability to think on his feet and great use of analogies and examples, which reflect his engaging sense of humor. In fact, his students have created a Web site devoted to “Nigelisms.” In regard to his teaching style, Higson says that “nothing is more central to good teaching than enthusiasm, respect and concern for the students and careful preparation.”

He received his bachelor’s degree in 1982, master’s in 1983, and doctorate in 1986 in mathematics, all from Dalhousie University in Canada.

Katok Honored for Graduate Teaching

Anatole Katok, Raymond N. Shibley Professor of Mathematics, has received the Graduate Faculty Teaching Award. The award honors tenured faculty members who have excelled both in teaching at the graduate level and in supervising thesis work of graduate students.

A teacher at Penn State since 1990, Katok has been adviser to nine successful doctoral candidates, six who now hold academic appointments, and is currently advising four more. Among the Ph.D. candidates whom he advised before coming to Penn State are well-known mathematicians holding full professorships at the universities of Michigan, Maryland, Penn State and Moscow State University.

Katok played a key role in organizing Penn State’s Mathematical Advanced Study Semester (MASS) program, which assembles undergraduate math majors from all over the country for a one semester special lecture series. Many of these students have gone on to excellent graduate schools. In collaboration with Tufts University professor Boris Hasselblatt, a former student, Katok wrote the monograph, “Introduction to the Modern Theory of Dynamical Systems,” which has seen five reprints in less than five years.

Walker Accepts Position on Board of Carnegie Museum

Alan Walker, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Biology, has accepted an invitation to join the board of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, one of the nation’s leading research museums. The offer was extended by Frank Brooks Robinson Sr., chair of the museum’s trustees.

One of the most accomplished and renowned paleoanthropologists in the world, Walker has made many important discoveries during the past three decades at paleontological digs in Africa with his collaborators Richard and Meave Leakey. Among the most famous were hominid specimens known as “The Black Skull” and the “Turkana Boy” skeleton. Among his numerous discoveries and insights, Walker pioneered the use of electron microscopes to study microwear on teeth to gain an understanding of the diet and eating habits of our ancestors.

He has been a member of the Penn State faculty since 1995. Prior to that he was a professor at Johns Hopkins University from 1978 to 1995 and an associate professor at Harvard University from 1974 to 1978.

He earned his doctoral degree in anatomy and paleontology at the University of London in 1967 and his bachelor’s degree in natural sciences at Cambridge University in 1962.

Honoris Causa (part 1)

Back to Science Journal Summer 2001 Index

Penn State Home Page | Eberly College of Science | Find a Person | Locate a Building | Search | Site Index

Students | Alumni | Visitors | Researchers | Faculty and Staff | Postdoctoral Fellows | Corporate Interests
Academic Programs | Research | Dean's Office | Development and Alumni Relations | News and Events | Directory

This page was last updated on 25 July 2001

If you would like to communicate with the keepers of the Eberly College of Science Web server, send electronic mail to: science-web@thunder.science.psu.edu
Technology Webmaster: Joseph K. Carlson < jkc3@psu.edu >
Content Webmaster: Barbara Kennedy < science@psu.edu >