Appointments, honors and activities

October 5, 2012  


Appointments and promotions:

- Cornelius Bynum, an associate professor of history, has been named the associate director of African American Studies and Research Center in the College of Liberal Arts.

- Mark Tilton, an associate professor of political science, has been named the director of Asian Studies in the College of Liberal Arts.

Faculty and staff honors:

- Tammy Loew, health advocacy coordinator for the Purdue Student Health Center, was awarded the William Bailey Prevention Leadership award at the Indiana Annual Recovery Month Symposium in Indianapolis. IN-ARMS gives this award annually to one person statewide.  Individuals chosen exhibit innovation, provide state or local leadership, promote unique funding ideas and have a personal commitment to prevention. Among other efforts, Loew formed the Campus Bar Coalition, which addresses alcohol issues. 

Alumni honors:

- Keith Krach, chairman of the Purdue Board of Trustees, is the recipient of the Mortar Board Alumni Achievement Award, an honor for Mortar Board alumni who are outstanding in their professional lives or who have contributed to local, national or international communities. Krach, who earned his bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Purdue in 1979 and also earned an MBA from Harvard in 1981, was appointed to the Purdue Board of Trustees in 2007. He was elected chairman by his fellow trustees in 2009. He is chairman and CEO of DocuSign and chairman of the board of Angie's List. Previously, he worked at GM's Cadillac Division, the New York Treasurer's Office and GM's technical center before being named as GM's youngest-ever vice president at 26. After 10 years with GM, Krach joined the founding team of Rasna Corp. as chief operating officer and went on to become the first entrepreneur-in-residence at Benchmark Capital. In 1996 he co-founded Ariba and served as CEO and chairman of the board for seven years. Mortar Board is a national honor society that recognizes college seniors for outstanding achievement in scholarship, leadership and service.

Student honors:

- Five students from Purdue's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program presented their research at the annual Semiconductor Research Corp. TECHCON conference in September in Austin, Texas. The conference is designed to further growth and success in the semiconductor industry. The students are Armando Ramirez, electrical and computer engineering; Christopher Robinson, mechanical engineering; Eli Fisher, electrical and computer engineering; Heather Robinson, chemical engineering; and Mathew Polek, nuclear engineering and physics. Adam Hunkler, mechanical engineering, also attended the conference as did Niklas Elmqvist, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering.

- An all-woman team from Purdue University won the third annual Stryker Engineering Challenge, Sept. 27-28 at the Stryker Medical Division of Stryker Corp. in Portage, Mich. Team members were Bakytgul Khaday, Gwenlynn Schroeder, Sarah Small and Rachel Lindsay. The challenge asked the teams to tackle five robotic tasks that simulate real-life medical needs. They ranged from transferring an automobile accident victim up a steep incline to assisting with emergency surgical procedures. Khaday and Schroeder are electrical engineering technology majors, and Small and Lindsay are mechanical engineering majors. Each team member won an iPad3 and a chance to interview for a summer internship with Stryker. The Purdue group competed against teams from the University of Michigan, University of Notre Dame, Michigan State University, University of Illinois, and Western Michigan University. Team advisers were Jerry Matthews, director of the Office for Industrial Experience in the School of Mechanical Engineering, and Neal Widmer, a professor of electrical and computer engineering technology in the College of Technology.

- Operation Diploma has invited Purdue's Student Veterans Organization to compete in the SVO Hall of Fame Competition, which will take place Oct. 27 at the NCAA Hall of Champions in downtown Indianapolis. The event is the culmination of seven previously-held grant competitions sponsored by Operation Diploma. Created in 2009, these events were called the Operation Diploma SVO Organizational Plan Competitions. They allowed SVOs to compete for up to $2,000 each to increase programming and generate awareness for student service members and veterans on their campuses. The event is open to the public, and more information can be found at https://mfri.purdue.edu/view-event.aspx?e=30&l=42

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