University News Service

Appointments, honors and activities

• Faculty and staff honors:

- President France A. Córdova received the Women in Space Science Award from the Adler Planetarium Women's Board Wednesday (May 2) in Chicago. The board presents the annual award to a leading female in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). The honoree spends the day with more than 200 young women from Chicago area schools and is recognized at a luncheon. By celebrating the achievements of women in science, the board seeks to inspire young women to pursue careers in these fields.

Córdova is a former NASA chief scientist and a Senate-confirmed member of the National Science Board. She was unanimously confirmed by Congress as a citizen member of the Smithsonian Institution Board of Regents and was recently elected chairperson for a three-year term.

She has served on the Fundamental Science Committee of the National Science and Technology Council and the President's National Medal of Science Committee and been involved with the National Science Foundation, the National Research Council, the National Academy of Sciences, and other nonprofit agencies devoted to the promotion of science.

The women's board is Adler Planetarium's lead partner in education, supporting the museum's education, research and advocacy missions. Since 2002, the board has provided essential support for the Adler's education programs.

- Five Purdue employees are among 30 Indiana farmers and agribusiness men and women selected for the Indiana Agricultural Leadership Program, sponsored by AgrIInstitute Inc. During the two-year program, class members will attend 12 seminars held throughout Indiana, travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with national leaders, and spend 10-14 days in a foreign country studying international issues. Class members from Purdue are Scott Gabbard, agriculture and natural resources Extension educator in Shelby County; Jeffrey Jones, 4-H youth development Extension educator in Marion County; Danica Kirkpatrick, engagement program manager for the College of Agriculture; Tamilee Nennich, assistant professor of animal sciences and Extension dairy specialist; and Jiqin Ni, assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering. Nearly 380 participants have graduated from program since it began in 1984. The nonprofit AgrIInstitute Inc. fosters leadership development and communication among diverse interests on agricultural, food and natural resources issues.

- Debra M. Sherman, director of the Life Science Microscopy Facility at Purdue University, has been elected a fellow of the Microscopy Society of America. She will be inducted during the group's annual meeting in August. Among her activities in the organization, Sherman developed a session on facility management during the 2000 Microscopy & Microanalysis annual meeting and organized the session each year through 2005. She continues to serve as a speaker at the annual meetings. The Microscopy Society of America is a nonprofit organization that promotes and advances techniques and applications of microscopy and microanalysis in relevant scientific disciplines. Sherman became director of the Life Science Microscopy Facility in 2002 after serving as interim director for four years. The facility provides Purdue researchers access to the latest electron microscopy instrumentation, and service, consultation and training to assist life scientists in obtaining their research objectives. Sherman was an electron microscopist and lab manager at Purdue from 1989 to 1998. She teaches graduate-level courses in scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, including principles and application.


• Notables:

- Purdue is one of the universities listed in "The Princeton Review's Guide to 322 Green Colleges: 2012 Edition." The guide profiles 322 institutions of higher education in the United States and Canada that demonstrate notable commitments to sustainability. Schools profiled were chosen based on a survey of hundreds of institutions The Princeton Review conducted in 2011 to tally "green rating" scores (scaled from 60 to 99). The 322 colleges and universities in the guide received scores of 83 or above in that assessment. The institutions were not ranked. For more on the guide, visit http://www.centerforgreenschools.org/greenguide


• Student honors:

- Nicholas Vargas, a doctoral student in sociology, has received the American Sociological Association Sociology of Religion Section's distinguished article award for 2012. Vargas, who is from Clearfield, Penn., will be recognized at the association's annual meeting in August in Denver.

- Purdue University's INhome solar house has won a Green Building Award from the National Association of Home Builders. INhome was named Project of the Year, Single-Family Concept and Research-Academic. The award, one of 11, was presented at the NABH National Green Building Conference April 30 in Nashville. INhome took second place among 20 teams competing last fall in the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon 2011. More than 200 students from Technology, Engineering, Liberal Arts, Agriculture, Krannert, and Health and Human Sciences were involved in designing, building and operating INhome. The two-bedroom house has been permanently placed in the Chatham Square development in Lafayette and is being offered for sale.