Appointments, honors and activities
May 15, 2015
• Faculty and staff honors:
- Ruth A. Streveler, an associate professor in Purdue University's School of Engineering Education, has been named a fellow by the American Society for Engineering Education. She is among 11 engineering and engineering technology educators who will be honored with the distinction during the organization's annual conference, June 15-17 in Seattle. The ASEE said in a statement that the Fellow designation is conferred "upon an ASEE member with outstanding and extraordinary qualifications, significant experience in engineering or engineering technology education or allied field, and contributions to ASEE."
- Two Purdue University faculty members have been named fellows by ELATE at Drexel, a program of the International Center for Executive Leadership in Academics within the Institute for Women's Health and Leadership at Drexel University College of Medicine. Receiving the honor are Monica Cardella, an associate professor in the School of Engineering Education, and Yuehwern Yih, a professor in the School of Industrial Engineering. They are among 31 women faculty from 22 institutions across the country selection for the 2015-16 class of fellows. Each was nominated by her dean or provost and will contribute to institutional initiatives as she expands her leadership skills. More information about ELATE at Drexel is available at http://www.drexel.edu/engineering/ELATE.
- A research team from Purdue University is one of five finalists in a U.S. Food and Drug Administration competition seeking revolutionary improvements in the speed of the FDA's detection methods for salmonella in fresh produce. Finalists for the 2014 FDA Food Safety Challenge were announced on May 11. The finalists will each receive $20,000 and will now refine their concepts with coaching and mentorship from FDA experts in food safety and pathogen testing. The Purdue team is led by Michael Ladisch, distinguished professor of agricultural and biological engineering, and is made up of research scientist Eduardo Ximenes; senior research engineer Kirk Foster; graduate student Seockmo Ku; research assistant professor Amanda Deering; and laboratory technician Thomas Kreke. The Purdue team was selected for its research to develop a method for concentrating salmonella to detectable levels using automated microfiltration. Ladisch also is a member of another team made up of researchers from Purdue and the University of Illinois to develop a portable system for detection of foodborne pathogens in microfluidic biochips. The other members are Rashid Bashir, a professor from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Purdue professor Arun Bunhia; and graduate student Carlos Duarte-Guevara and postdoctoral researcher Eric Salm, both from the University of Illinois. The teams will present their improved concepts to judges on July 7. The competition offers a total prize purse of $500,000.
- Nadia E. Brown, an assistant professor in political science and African American studies, received two awards for her book "Sisters in the Statehouse: Black women and Legislative Decision Making." The awards are the DuBois Book Award from the National Conference of Black Political Scientists and the 2015 Anna Julia Cooper Best Publication Award from the Association for the Study of Black Women in Politics. More information about Brown's book is available in a news release
- Stacey Connaughton, an associate professor in the Brian Lamb School of Communication, director of the Purdue Peace Project, is the inaugural recipient of the Humanitarian Award of the Lafayette chapter of the Association for Women in Communications for her work with the Purdue Peace Project in Liberia on Ebola awareness. She was honored on April 21 at the association's annual spring luncheon.
- Steve Wilson, professor in the Brian Lamb School of Communication, has been selected as a fellow of the International Communication Association in recognition of his distinguished scholarly contributions. Recipients are chosen based on their documented record of scholarly achievement, service to the association and socially or professionally significant service to business, government or education.
- The Purdue University Retirees Association has presented its $2,500 PURA Activities and Opportunity Fund grant to Kenneth Ferraro, director of the Center on Aging and the Life Course and Distinguished Professor of Sociology, and Jane Kirkpatrick, head of the School of Nursing and associate dean in the College of Health and Human Sciences. The grant is in support of the center's upcoming symposium, "Optimizing Functional Ability in Later Life," which will be held in October.
