Appointments, honors and activities
April 19, 2013
• Appointments and promotions:
- Chad Krockover has been appointed director of development in the College of Technology, effective April 8. Previously, Krockover was a sales consultant for Reinhart Foodservice-Chicago Division. He earned his bachelor's degree in restaurant, hotel, institutional and tourism management from Purdue in 1995 and an MBA from Krannert School of Management in 2006.
• Faculty and staff honors:
- Thomas M. Talavage, a professor of biomedical engineering and electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University, has been selected to be part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Concussion Task Force. Talavage is an expert in functional neuroimaging and co-director of the Purdue MRI Facility. The committee will begin meeting this month to study issues surrounding sports concussions in student athletes.
- Hong Z. Tan, a Purdue University professor of electrical and computer engineering, has been accepted as a Fellow for the Executive Leadership in Academic Technology and Engineering (ELATE at Drexel®) Program at Drexel University. ELATE at Drexel is a core program of the International Center for Executive Leadership in Academics within the Institute for Women's Health and Leadership at the Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia. The second incoming class for ELATE at Drexel includes 19 experienced and diverse women faculty in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Each was nominated by her dean or provost. More information about the ELATE curriculum, faculty and participants, is available at www.drexel.edu/engineering/ELATE.
• Alumni honors:
- Purdue University's School of Civil Engineering has named the recipients of this year's Alumni Achievement Awards. The recipients are James V. Bonta, who earned a doctorate in 1986; C. Michael Byers, a bachelor's and master's degree in civil engineering in 1976 and 1977, respectively; Frederick A. Herget, bachelor's and master's degree in civil engineering in 1980 and 1982; Scott E. Rouse, bachelor's and master's degree in 1980 and 1981; and Huel-Sheng Tsay, doctorate in 1985. Selections for the awards are made by a senior faculty committee and approved by the entire civil engineering faculty. The awards are based on career achievements and contributions to the civil engineering profession. More information about the awards is available at https://engineering.purdue.edu/CE/People/Alumni/CEAAA.
• Student honors:
- A team of Purdue University engineering students and their instructor have secured a spot in this year's Cornell Cup, a national design competition. It will be held in May at Walt Disney World and will give teams the opportunity to win up to $10,000. The Purdue students, four seniors in electrical and computer engineering, are Yi Zhou, Zuguang Xiao, Ross Ragsdale and Aashish Raj Simha. They will be among U.S. engineering students from 18 institutions throughout the country demonstrating their creations, from leaf-raking robots and water purification systems to brain-controlled health care devices. The Purdue team earned a spot in the competition for a concept called Table-It, a collaborative and portable conference workstation. The group's adviser is Mark C. Johnson, director of Instructional Laboratories in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
- Sharon L. Smith, a senior in the College of Education, has received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) to Colombia. Smith, from Hope, Ind., will graduate in May. She has majored in elementary education and Spanish. She will be in Colombia for about 10 months and will teach at Universidad Católica de Colombia in Bogotá. She also will help start English clubs. Through ETA, the Fulbright Fellowship program provides assistance to non-native English speakers who are teaching English. ETA participants also serve as cultural ambassadors for the United States.