Appointments, honors and activities

August 31, 2012  


Appointments and promotions:

- Howard Zelaznik, professor of health and kinesiology, has been appointed the associate vice president for research in the Office of the Vice President for Research, effective Sept. 1. Immediately prior to this appointment, he served as associate dean for research and graduate programs in the College of Health and Human Sciences. Zelaznik, whose research and expertise focuses on human motor control and behavior, has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

- Dorothy Teegarden, professor of Nutrition Science, has been named the new associate dean for research and graduate programs in the College of Health and Human Sciences. Her appointment also is effective Sept. 1. Teegarden's research focuses on nutrition and cancer, specifically the role Vitamin D plays in prevention.

• Campus activities:

- Volunteers are sought for the Purdue Boilermakers Half Marathon and 5K, to be held on the morning of Oct. 20. Individuals or groups are asked to help with directing runners on the course, registration, water stations, and duties at the start and finish lines. Volunteers will receive a free T-shirt and refreshments. Individuals willing to volunteer should visit the event's website, http://www.purduehalf.com/. Groups of five or more people willing to help should email volunteer@purduehalf.com. The event helps support the Purdue Athlete Life Success  Program.

Faculty and staff honors:

- Gregory Shaver, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, have received the SAE International Max Bentele Award for Engine Technology Innovation. SAE International is a global association of more than 133,000 engineers and related technical experts in the aerospace, automotive and commercial-vehicle industries. Established in 2001, the award recognizes an SAE International member whose work has furthered innovation in the manufacture, design and improvement of engine technology for ground, air or space vehicles.

- The American Chemical Society named Joseph Francisco, P.V. Ramachandran and Marcy Towns fellows in recognition of their outstanding accomplishments in chemistry and important contributions to the society. Francisco, the William E. Moore Distinguished Professor of Chemistry; Ramachandran, a professor of chemistry; and Towns, a professor of chemical education, received a certificate and lapel pin during a ceremony on Aug. 20 at the national meeting and exposition. 

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress and is the world's largest scientific society. The American Chemical Society named 96 scientists fellows this year.

- Chris Andronicos, an assistant professor of earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences, has been named interim president of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, or SACNAS.

Andronicos has parents from the Sioux and Tiwas tribes and has been a member of SACNAS since college. The organization fosters science interest in students from the college level to the professorate. Purdue University has an active SACNAS chapter that has won several awards.

Andronicos was on the board of directors before he was elected interim president. He will remain president for the rest of the year. Andronicos' research involves the study of the origin of the oceanic and continental crust in western Canada as well as monitoring rock formations in the mountains of Oman.

Student honors:

- Joseph Wurm, large credit strategic account manager at John Deere Canada, received the Capstone Project Founder's Cup award during his Aug. 4 graduation from the Purdue University-Indiana University MS-MBA in Food and Agribusiness Management program. The annual award recognizes the student who applies what they've learned in the MS-MBA program to develop the best solution to a problem or concern within their company. Wurm's project analyzed a major business opportunity being pursued by John Deere Canada. The company is implementing the recommendations of Wurm's report. Amie Thomas, director of sales and marketing at Dairy Marketing Services of Syracuse, N.Y., and Dan Nelson, director at Plant Sciences Inc. of Freedom, Calif., received honorable mentions for their capstone projects.

- Benjamin Rogers has been selected to receive a Baxter Young Investigator Award for Instrumental and Analytical Sciences. This award and program was developed to stimulate and reward research that can be directly used for critical care therapies and the development of medical products that save and sustain patients' lives. Rogers also received a top poster award at the High Performance Liquid Phase Separations Conference for his poster "Slip-flow in Colloidal Crystals for Utlra-efficient Chromatography." Rogers is a graduate student in the research group of Mary Wirth, the W. Brooks Fortune Distinguished Professor of Chemistry.

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