Purdue trustees ratify eight named faculty, two named spaces

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Purdue University Board of Trustees on Friday (Oct. 12) ratified eight named faculty positions and the recent appointments of the university’s executive vice president for communication and vice president for human resources. Trustees also issued a resolution of appreciation for friends of the university, including two whose names will be added to campus facilities.

The eight newly ratified named faculty members are:

* Hua Hua Chang, who was named the Charles R. Hicks Professor in Education.

* Julio Ramirez  and Amit Varma, who were named the Karl H. Kettelhut Professors in Civil Engineering.

* Chad Jafvert, who was named the Lyles Family Professor in the Lyles School of Civil Engineering.

* Ayman Habib, who was named the Thomas A. Page Professor of Civil Engineering.

* Ernest Blatchley, who was named the Lee A. Rieth Professor in Environmental Engineering.

* Mara Faccio, who was ratified as the Duke Realty Chair in Finance.

* Eric Munson, who was named the Dane O. Kildsig Chair in Industrial and Physical Pharmacy.

Chang comes to Purdue from the University of Illinois, where he held professorships in educational psychology, psychology and statistics. Chang is a Fulbright Scholar, an elected fellow of the American Educational Research Association and editor-in-chief of Applied Psychological Measurement, and previously served as president of the Psychometric Society. Chang’s research record includes more than 70 publications in the areas of foundational aspects of psychometric methodology, such as computerized adaptive assessment, cognitive diagnosis and adaptive testing to adaptive learning. The Hicks professorship was created by David Nichols, one of Charles Hicks’ doctoral students, in appreciation of his dedication to scholarship and his love of teaching.

Ramirez joined the Purdue faculty as a visiting professor in 1983 and has since held positions as assistant, associate and full professor of civil engineering, in addition to serving as the principal investigator and chief officer for the George E. Brown Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering simulation (NEES) from 2010 through 2015. He is currently the director of the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) Network Coordination Office (NCO) Center, focused on multi-hazard research.

Varma is a premier scholar and researcher in the field of structural engineering and is a leader in large-scale experimental research, numerical simulation and development of design methods for steel and composite structures (buildings, bridges, and industrial plants) subjected to extreme loads and hazards including earthquakes, fires and impactive loading. He joined Purdue in 2004, and since 2017, has served as the director of the Robert L. and Terry L. Bowen Laboratory for Large-Scale Civil Engineering Research.

Jafvert joined the Purdue faculty in 1991 after spending six years as a researcher at the U.S. EPA’s Environmental Research Laboratory in Athens, Georgia. A professor of civil engineering and environmental and ecological engineering, he has dedicated his research and scholarship to advancing fundamental understanding of water chemistry, including the transformation and fate of hazardous chemicals in the aquatic environment.

Habib is a leading international researcher in geomatics, especially within photogrammetric and LiDAR mapping. He joined Purdue as a professor of civil engineering in 2014 and currently serves as the co-director of the Civil Engineering Center for Applications of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for a Sustainable Environment (CE-CAUSE) in the Lyles School of Civil Engineering and associate director of the Joint Transportation Research Program.

Blatchley came to Purdue in 1988 and today is a professor of civil engineering and environmental and ecological engineering. He has earned international renown for his scholarship in civil and environmental engineering, especially related to photochemical reactor theory and disinfection byproduct formation and control, with applications in drinking water treatment, wastewater treatment and swimming pool chemistry.

Faccio joined the Purdue faculty in 2007 and previously held the Hanna Chair in Entrepreneurship. She is an expert in corporate finance and political connections and has received the prestigious William F. Sharpe Award for Scholarship in Financial Research. The Duke Realty Chair in Finance was established in 2004 by a longtime supporter of the university.

Munson joined Purdue in September 2018 as head of the Department of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy in the College of Pharmacy. He is considered a world expert in the characterization of pharmaceutical solids using a variety of analytical techniques, with an emphasis on solid-state NMR spectroscopy.

Trustees also ratified the recent appointment of Dan Hasler as executive vice president for communication and Bill Bell as vice president for human resources.

In other action, trustees approved a resolution of appreciation for those who recently have contributed $1 million or more to the university. Friends include Roger C. Stewart, to support Purdue University; Ron and Bonnie Gruchalski, to support the College of Veterinary Medicine; Kevin and Dianne McCarter, to support Purdue University; Robert T. Henson, to support the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering; Dr. Kathryn MacFarlane and Ned Philips, to support the College of Pharmacy; Elliott K. Stava, to support the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Anonymous, to support Krannert School of Management.

In recognizing these donors, trustees also approved the naming of the Gerald and Nanette Lyles Corridor in Rawls Hall and the Wing Chan Café in the STEM teaching lab building, which is currently under construction on the West Lafayette campus. 

Sources: Amy Noah, arnoah@purdue.edu

Hua Hua Chang, chang606@purdue.edu

Julio Ramirez, ramirez@purdue.edu

Amit Varma, ahvarma@purdue.edu

Chad Jafvert, jafvert@purdue.edu

Ayman Habib, ahabib@purdue.edu

Ernest Blatchley, blatch@purdue.edu

Mara Faccio, mfaccio@purdue.edu

Eric Munson, munsone@purdue.edu