October 24, 2016

Lectures to celebrate 2016 McCoy and Bement awards

Renowned Purdue faculty members Arvind Varma and Jian-Kang Zhu will give free public lectures on Oct. 31 in Stewart Center's Fowler Hall to commemorate their selection as the 2016 recipients of two of Purdue's most prestigious awards for research and scholarship.

Varma, the R. Games Slayter Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and the former Cynthia Ihlenfeld Head of the School of Chemical Engineering, will deliver the Arden L. Bement Jr. Distinguished Lecture at 1:30 p.m. He is receiving the Arden L. Bement Jr. Award, the University's top honor in pure and applied science and engineering.

"Arvind's accomplishments within the field of chemical reaction engineering include 300 journal articles, five books in which he was either a co-author or co-editor, and research that has generated 10 patents, provisional patents and invention disclosures," says Suresh Garimella, executive vice president for research and partnerships and the Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering.

Varma also invented an award-winning new method to generate hydrogen for portable fuel cells, receiving a Technology and Innovation Award from IndustryWeek magazine in 2005.

"I feel privileged for having the opportunity to work with and influence the careers of so many great thinkers in chemical engineering," says Varma, who came to Purdue in 2004 from the University of Notre Dame. "I am deeply honored and want to thank Purdue for this recognition."

Zhu, Distinguished Professor of Plant Biology in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and professor of biochemistry, will deliver the 2016 Herbert Newby McCoy Distinguished Lecture at 3:30 p.m. He is receiving the 2016 Herbert Newby McCoy Award, the University's top research honor in the natural sciences.

"Jian-Kang is among the world's most highly cited biologists. His pioneering research has uncovered the signaling pathways that govern plant responses to environmental stress," Garimella says. "The scope of his research contributions on epigenetics and plant science has great potential to improve crop productivity and human health."

Among his accomplishments, Zhu has created novel technologies to manipulate gene expression in crop plants, permitting fundamental discovery in plant genetics to be implemented in crops. He is a pioneer in CRISPR-mediated manipulation of plant genes. The powerful gene-editing technology has permitted the plant genetic research community to manipulate genes outside model systems.

"It is gratifying to know that the Purdue community recognizes the important work in plant epigenetics by my team, which includes students and postdoctoral researchers," says Zhu, who arrived at Purdue in 2010. "I look forward to staying active in this research to help understand the epigenetic code of life for crop improvement and human health."

Receptions will follow each lecture in the Robert L. Ringel Gallery in Stewart Center.  

Writers: Emil Venere, venere@purdue.edu, and Keith Robinson, robins89@purdue.edu


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