June 14, 2019

Purdue trustees approve named and distinguished faculty, posthumous degree

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Purdue University Board of Trustees on Friday (June 14) ratified seven named and distinguished faculty positions, approved the appointment of the executive vice president for research and partnerships and awarded a posthumous bachelor’s degree to a former IUPUI student. Trustees also issued resolutions of appreciation for friends of the university, including two whose names will be added to campus facilities.

The seven newly ratified named faculty members are:

  • David Hummels, who was named a Distinguished Professor of Economics.
  • Mohit Tawarmalani, who was named the Allison and Nancy Schleicher Chair in Management.
  • Annabelle Feng, who was named the John and Donna Krenicki Chair in Operations Management.
  • Antonio Bobet, who was named the Edgar B. and Hedwig M. Olson Professor in Civil Engineering.
  • Jan Olek, who was named the James H. and Carol H. Cure Professor in Civil Engineering.
  • Dimitrios Peroulis, who was named the Michael and Katherine Birck Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

• Jean-Christophe (Chris) Rochet, who was named the John and Donna Krenicki Director of the Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience.

David Hummels David Hummels
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Hummels is the Dr. Samuel R. Allen Dean of the Krannert School of Management and a renowned and highly cited scholar in the field of international economics. He has published four books and more than 40 research articles in major economic journals on topics that include offshoring, product differentiation, barriers to trade and the broader impacts of aviation, infrastructure and trade facilitation on trade and economic development. His work has been cited more than 15,000 times by other scholars, with four articles cited more than 1,000 times each. He is widely consulted for his expertise and currently serves as a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, an associate editor of the Journal of International Economics and an associate director of the Forum for Research on Empirical International Trade. Previously, Hummels has consulted and studied at a wide variety of central banks, development banks and policy institutes around the world. A gifted educator, he has won multiple teaching awards at the undergraduate and graduate level.

Mohit Tawarmalani Mohit Tawarmalani
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Tawarmalani is one of the world’s leading experts on optimization, particularly mixed integer nonlinear programming, with applications in engineering design, economics, network interdiction and business problems. In his 18 years at Purdue, he has co-authored a book on global optimization algorithms, co-authored a software package widely used for global optimization (BARON), served on the editorial boards of several major academic journals and received multiple awards and fellowships in recognition of his research.

Annabelle Feng Annabelle Feng
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Feng is an award-winning researcher, instructor and mentor. Her work has made a profound scholarly impact in the areas of stochastic inventory and pricing management and contracting in supply chains, and she regularly gives back to the operations management profession, holding several leadership positions within the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS), including her current appointment as a board member.

Antonio Bobet Antonio Bobet
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Bobet is a globally leading authority on rock mechanics and rock engineering. His research has been widely supported by industry, state and federal funding sources, resulting in nearly 150 peer-reviewed publications on topics that include hydraulic fracturing and induced seismicity, seismic design of tunnels, risk evaluation and mitigation of geostructures and the stability of lunar lava flows. He is a member of the Geotechnical Advisory Board (GAB) of the Panama Canal and is a prolific and award-winning mentor, having advised nearly 30 master's and doctoral students and involving more than 20 undergraduate students in his research. 

Jan Olek Jan Olek
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Olek earned a Ph.D. in civil engineering from Purdue in 1987 and joined the Purdue faculty in 1994. Today, he studies the performance of concrete and asphalt in transportation infrastructure applications, and his standard-setting work has resulted in specifications adopted by the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Indiana Department of Transportation and numerous industry applications. A native of Poland, he is an associate member of the Civil Engineering Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences and is a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute.

Dimitrios Peroulis Dimitrios Peroulis
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Peroulis joined Purdue in 2003 as an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and served from 2014-17 as the director of graduate admissions for the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering as well as the deputy director of the Birck Nanotechnology Center. In April 2019, he was selected as the head of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is a global leader in the field of microelectromechanical systems — or MEMS — for radio frequency applications and sensors, and his research has led to innovative designs suitable for use in harsh environments with extreme temperatures or corrosive fluids where no electronic solutions are available. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, is a prolific researcher with more than 380 published journal and conference papers, and has received multiple recognitions for his teaching and research, including the 2019 Tatsuo Itoh Award and the 2014 Outstanding Young Engineer Award, both from the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society; the 2010 Charles B. Murphy award; and his 2013 induction into the Book of Great Teachers at Purdue.

Chris Rochet Chris Rochet
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Rochet, a professor of medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology, has been a member of the Purdue faculty since 2002. In January 2019, he was named the director of the Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience, founded in 2016 to leverage Purdue’s strengths in science and engineering relevant to neuroscience and part of Purdue Life Sciences, an ambitious campus-wide initiative to amplify Purdue’s existing strengths in the life sciences backed by a $250 million investment from the university. An internationally recognized neuroscientist, Rochet specializes in studying central nervous system disorders, including Parkinson’s disease. His seminal studies have yielded new insights into genetic and chemical suppressors of neurodegeneration, and have earned him such awards as a spot on the list of top 10 drug discoveries of 2017 by the publication Technology Networks.

Theresa Mayer Theresa Mayer
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In addition, the board approved the recently announced appointment of Purdue alumna Theresa Stellwag Mayer as executive vice president for research and partnerships.

Trustees also awarded a posthumous Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry to Scott Joseph Foster, a student in the Purdue School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Deceased students who have earned at least 85% of their credit-hour requirements and satisfied most of the requirements for a major may be nominated for a posthumous degree.

In other action, the board approved resolutions of appreciation for outgoing student trustee Daniel Romary; Suresh Garimella, executive vice president for research and partnerships; Simon Rhodes, dean of the Purdue School of Science at IUPUI; and those who recently have contributed $1 million or more to the university. Friends of the university include the Dudley Family Foundation, to support the College of Engineering and the Purdue Polytechnic Institute; Anonymous, to support the School of Mechanical Engineering; John and Donna Krenicki, to support the Krannert School of Management; Gary and Susan Dernlan, to support Construction and Engineering Management; Anonymous, to support the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering; Nick Edison, to support the College of Science; Kevin and Suzanne Kahn, to support the College of Science; Carolyn Quinn, to support the College of Science; Byron and Carolyn Harrod, to support the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering and Intercollegiate Athletics; Kimberly and Gregory Wasson, to support the College of Pharmacy; Nancy Fey, to support the College of Pharmacy; J. Douglas and Catherine Field, to support the School of Mechanical Engineering and Purdue Bands and Orchestras; and Robert and Lisa Walsh, to support the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering.

In recognizing these donors, trustees further approved the naming of Dudley Hall in the Engineering and Polytechnic Gateway, expected to open in 2022, and the John and Donna Krenicki Center for Business Analytics and Machine Learning in the Krannert School of Management. 

Sources: David Hummels, hummelsd@purdue.edu

Mohit Tawarmalani, mtawarma@purdue.edu

Annabelle Feng, annabellefeng@purdue.edu

Antonio Bobet, bobet@purdue.edu

Jan Olek, olek@purdue.edu

Dimitrios Peroulis, dperouli@purdue.edu

Chris Rochet, jrochet@purdue.edu

Jay T. Akridge, akridge@purdue.edu

Amy Noah, arnoah@purdue.edu

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