Purdue trustees ratify faculty positions; award posthumous promotion; approve new master's program, resolutions of appreciation

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue University Board of Trustees on Friday (Oct. 1) ratified four professor positions, awarded a posthumous faculty promotion and approved a new master’s degree program and resolutions of appreciation for friends of the university.

The four newly ratified professors are:

* Pavlos Vlachos, who was named the St. Vincent Health Professor of Healthcare Engineering in the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering.

* David M. Umulis, who was named the Dane A. Miller Head of Biomedical Engineering.

* Mario Crucini, who was named the Jerry and Rosie Semler Chair in Economics.

* Harm HogenEsch, who was named a Distinguished Professor of Immunopathology.

Vlachos, a professor of mechanical engineering, has served as director of the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering since February. Over the last four years, he has actively participated in research and program development to drive RCHE’s mission to improve health care delivery and outcomes. From 2018 to 2019, Vlachos served as a President’s Fellow in the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research and Partnerships, where he worked to develop interdisciplinary research opportunities in health and life sciences. He is internationally recognized for his leading research in biofluids and biomechanics, specializing in measurement science and noninvasive diagnostics for biomedical and clinical applications. Vlachos has published 150 journal papers, 129 peer-reviewed conference papers and 159 conference extended or short abstracts. He has eight patents, five of which are licensed to companies, and 31 intellectual property disclosures. His honors include being named a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 2020 and a University Faculty Fellow at Purdue in 2015, among others.

Umulis leads the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering to advance discovery and translation research in biomedical imaging, instrumentation and devices, computational biomedicine, and engineered biomaterials. He joined the Purdue faculty in 2008 and is regarded as an impactful research leader, a gifted teacher, a widely respected mentor to young faculty colleagues and an administrator with a proven track record. His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Showalter Foundation, among others. Umulis serves on numerous grant review panels and boards, including the European Science Foundation, and as a standing member on the NIH Development 1 study section. Before those assignments, Umulis served on over 15 government review panels at the NIH, and he currently serves as associate editor of the field-leading journal PLoS Computational Biology. Umulis is a member of Purdue’s Teaching Academy, and he has received the outstanding teacher award in agricultural and biological engineering, the Teaching for Tomorrow Award, the 2011 Richard L. Kohls Early Career Award and the 2021 Henry T. Yang Award for Leadership in Service from Purdue’s College of Engineering.

Crucini came to the Krannert School of Management in August from Vanderbilt University, where he had served as professor of economics since 2012. He has made a number of contributions to the field of international macroeconomics, and his work has led to a better understanding of the determinants of international business cycles, deviations from the law of one price, the macroeconomic effects of tariff protection, the effectiveness of fiscal stimulus and the health and economic trade-offs of stay-at-home orders during the COVID pandemic. Crucini is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and managing director of the Center for International Price Research. He currently serves as associate editor of the Journal of Monetary Economics and in the past has served as editor and associate editor for a number of top general interest and field journals, including the Journal of International Economics, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking and the Canadian Journal of Economics. Crucini served on the National Science Foundation Economics Program Review Panel from 2003 to 2005 and as president of the International Finance and Economics Society from 2013 to 2014.

HogenEsch, who came to Purdue in 1993, is a veterinary immunologist and pathologist and a world-renowned expert in vaccinology and allergic skin disease. He is highly recognized for his research on the development of vaccines, with special expertise in the use of adjuvants to enhance the immune response. His contributions to science have benefited both human and animal health. .  HogenEsch has published 148 research articles and 20 book chapters. He has served as advisor for 11 graduate students and 11 postdoctoral fellows, while also contributing to the training of over 70 graduate students as a member of graduate advisory committees in departments across campus. HogenEsch has been an active member in national veterinary organizations, served on editorial boards of immunology and pathology journals, and as a grant reviewer for the National Institutes of Health and other granting agencies. He has served as department head of the Department of Comparative Pathobiology for eight years and is in his 13th year as associate dean for research and graduate programs.

Trustees awarded a posthumous promotion to Chunhua Zhang, associate professor of botany and plant pathology. A passionate, talented and productive researcher, she joined the Purdue faculty in 2016 as the university’s first hire in the Center for Plant Biology, part of the Purdue Moves: Plant Science 1.0 initiative. Zhang was preparing her case for promotion to associate professor with tenure this fall when she died May 15. Among the guidelines for posthumous promotion are five or more years at Purdue in tenure-track rank.

In other action, the board approved a Master of Science degree in athletic training from the College of Health and Human Sciences on the West Lafayette campus starting fall 2022. This program will continue to build on the leadership of the Department of Health and Kinesiology in preparing and placing students into careers of health and fitness on a state, regional and national level. It will prepare students to enter the workforce providing clinical leadership, while advancing the knowledge of health, exercise and human performance, and improving the quality of life for active individuals across the life span.

An approval process for emeriti faculty also was ratified at the meeting.

Additionally, the board approved resolutions of appreciation for those who recently contributed $1 million or more to the university. Those are Bruce and Elizabeth White, to support the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management; Peter Gallios, to support Purdue University; Robert Cromwell, to support Purdue University; Howard Atlas, to support university initiatives; Katharine Crook, to support the College of Agriculture and Purdue Polytechnic Institute; Jane and Sam Ogrizovich, to support the College of Agriculture and the College of Health and Human Sciences; Ravi and Eleanor Talwar, to support the School of Industrial Engineering; Wu-Huang “Mike” Yang and Li-Jung Cheng, to support the College of Pharmacy; and an anonymous gift, to support the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering and Intercollegiate Athletics.

In recognizing these donors, trustees further approved the naming of the Atlas Family Marketplace at the Purdue Memorial Union, the White Lodging-J.W. Marriott Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, the Roger C. Stewart Leadership and Professional Development Department within the Division of Student Life –to honor the generosity of alumnus Roger C. Stewart – and the Joe and Lisa Shetterley Innovation Laboratory in Hampton Hall of Civil Engineering.

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Sources: Jay Akridge

April Headdy

Pavlos Vlachos

David M. Umulis

Mario Crucini

Harm HogenEsch