August 26, 2016

Appointments, honors and activities

Faculty and staff honors:

- Gwen Pearson, outreach coordinator in the Department of Entomology, received the 2016 Entomological Foundation Medal of Honor in recognition of her education and outreach contributions, particularly as a leader in digital outreach via social media, to both traditional and non-traditional audiences. This is the highest honor bestowed by the foundation, and is "given only to those who have attained preeminence in the field through outstanding contributions." Pearson will be recognized next month at the 2016 International Congress of Entomology meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Alumni honors:

- The School of Mechanical Engineering will honor several alumni during its annual Outstanding Mechanical Engineer Awards dinner on Sept. 9. The awards this year cite 10 graduates who have demonstrated excellence in industry, academia, governmental service or other endeavors related to mechanical engineering. The award recognizes honorees who also have demonstrated character and leadership in their accomplishments. Since 1991, 261 alumni have been honored with the Outstanding Mechanical Engineer Award. Information on each of the award recipients is available at https://engineering.purdue.edu/ME/People/OME/index.htm.

Student honors:

A team of biomedical engineering students has won a first-place award for developing the concept for a "smart pill" designed to diagnose tuberculosis in children. Once swallowed, stomach acid would activate a compressed spring in the pill, creating a vacuum to suck in a sample of gastric acid. The pill would then reseal itself and pass through the digestive system to be retrieved and its contents tested for tuberculosis. The team members, who have recently graduated with bachelor's degrees, were Amelia Adelsperger, Jordan Addison, Amy Koester, Daniel Romano and Julia Swartzenberg. The adviser was Jackie Linnes, an assistant professor in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. The 2016 Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) Challenge first-place winners received a prize of $20,000. DEBUT is a biomedical engineering design competition for teams of undergraduate students, managed by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, part of the National Institutes of Health, and VentureWell, a nonprofit that fosters new ventures from an emerging generation of inventors and supports the ecosystems critical to their success. The prizes were awarded based on four criteria: the significance of the problem being addressed; the impact on clinical care; the innovation of the design; and the existence of a working prototype. A total of $75,000 in prizes will be awarded in a ceremony at the annual Biomedical Engineering Society conference in October. 

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