Message from the Dean

Feature Story

• Swift Observatory Makes Penn State the Center of the Universe

• Countdown to Swift's Launch: Reports from the Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Base about the launch of the Swift gamma-ray-burst observatory writen by Barbara K. Kennedy

• The Swift Mission
• Swift Launch Delayed
• Still on the Ground
• Swift Launch Again Ready to Go
• Swift Launch is Successful

Research Rundown

• New Penn State Computer Cluster Enables Researchers to Probe the Universe
• Most Precise Map of Matter in the Universe Revealed
• Small, Cold, and Hungry: Ultra-Small Microbes from Glacier-Ice Sample
• First Step Made Toward Comprehensive Use of Human Genome for Fighting Disease
• “X-ray Champagne Flow” Uncorked in Horseshoe Nebula
• Chandra Looks Over a Cosmic Four-Leaf Clover
• New Theoretical Foundation for Analyzing Development of Ecological Communities
• Team Including Penn State Researchers Announces Completed Gene Sequencing of Laboratory Rat
• Research Reveals Halogen Characteristics of Cluster of Metal Atoms
• Hobby-Eberly Telescope Witnesses Vaporizing of a Cometlike Body
• Making Black Holes Go ‘Round on the Computer
• Scientists Discover Where Snakes Lived When They Evolved into Limbless Creatures
• Genetic Barrier to Self-Pollination Identified
• Research Reveals Role of Gene in Infertility
• Sloan Digital Sky Survey Supports Dark Energy as the Primary Constituent of theUniverse
• Mirages in the Sky Probe Dark Matter in the Universe
• Major Flares Are Predictable on Far-Away Stars
• Vulnerability of Power Grid Centers on Key Junctions
• Discoveries Reveal That Gene Regulation Is Bipolar
• Infant Galaxies Discovered in Nearby Galaxy Group
• Titan, a Moon of Saturn, Casts Revealing Shadow
• What Lies Beneath: Chandra Image Released

Faces of Penn State

• Daniel Cosgrove
• Andrew Ewing
• Peter Hudson
• Yakov Pesin

The Next Generation
• Danielle Perry
• Robyn Smith

Honoris Causa

• Chan and Katok Elected Members of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Booker Receives PECASE award from President Bush
• Brandt Receives Pierce Prize
• Team Receives $1-Million Grant for Nanowires Research
• Ma Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship
• Rao Recognized for Scientific Impact; Has New Research Institute Named in His Honor
• Allara Receives Honorary Doctorate in Sweden
• Weiss Recognized for Teaching Excellence
• Albert, Keating, and Yee Receive Sloan Fellowships
• Wolszczan Receives Award from Polish American Congress
• Peterson Receives Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award

New Department Head

• Ayusman Sen Named Head of Department of Chemistry

New Faculty

• Reka Z. Albert, assistant professor of physics
• Alberto Bressan, professor of mathematics
• John Clemens, assistant professor of mathematics
• Arthur Lesk, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology
• Anna Mazzucato, assistant professor of mathematics
• Katsuhiko Murakami, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology
• Alexander Nabutovsky, professor of mathematics
• Alexei Novikov, assistant professor of mathematics
• Regina Rotman, assistant professor of mathematics
• Omri Sarig, assistant professor of mathematics
• Wen Shen, assistant professor of mathematics
• Ae Ja Yee, assistant professor of mathematics

• Cahill Promoted to University Leadership Gifts Director
• College Celebrates Science Complex Completion
• Honorary Alumni Award
• Distinguished Alumni Awards
• Trustee Scholarship Program Off to a Strong Start
• Annual Millennium Society Event “Takes the Cake”
• Alumni Notes
• Obituaries
• In Memoriam: Robert Eberly