Agronomy professor named interim dean of Purdue's Graduate School

Cindy Nakatsu

Nakatsu will succeed John Contreni, who on May 16 was named dean of the College of Liberal Arts.

"Dr. Nakatsu's service to the university as graduate chair in agronomy and as a member of the Graduate Council has given her an inside look at how the Graduate School reaches every school and college on campus," said Provost Sally Mason. "She has shown leadership in many other ways, such as serving on the university faculty senate and the faculty affairs committee, and I'm grateful to her for helping us make a smooth transition as Dr. Contreni moves to his new post in liberal arts."

Mason said a national search for the new Graduate School dean would begin later this year.

Nakatsu's area of expertise is microbial ecology, with a focus on the conditions under which bacteria can help get rid of harmful contaminants in the environment. Examples of projects involve metal- and/or hydrocarbon-contaminated sites, wastewater treatment facilities, stream and lake water exposed to urban and rural inputs, and agricultural fields subjected to different farming practices. Her research spans many areas, such as cleaning toxins from Superfund sites and diet's effect on microbes in the gastrointestinal system.

In 1996 and 2001 Nakatsu was a visiting scholar for the Agency of Industrial Science and Technology Foreign Research Invitation Award in Ibaraki, Japan. She also was a visiting research scientist in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Bergen, Norway.

A Purdue Research Faculty Scholar, she also was awarded the Office of Economic Co-Operation and Development's Travel Award for Research in Sustainable Agriculture and Dow Elanco's Young Investigator's Award.

Nakatsu, who joined the Purdue faculty in 1995, earned her bachelor's degree in biology in 1978 and her master's degree in botany in 1983, both from the University of Toronto. She received her doctorate in microbiology from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, in 1993.

Contreni was dean of the Graduate School since 2004 after serving as interim dean from 2002-04.

Since its inception in 1929, the Purdue University Graduate School has conferred more than 58,000 master's degrees and 20,000 doctoral degrees. Purdue offers master's and doctoral degrees in more than 70 areas, including 10 interdisciplinary programs.

Writer: Maggie Morris, (765) 494-2432, maggiemorris@purdue.edu

Sources: Sally Mason, (765) 494-9709, sfmason@purdue.edu

Cindy Nakatsu, (765) 496-2997, cnakatsu@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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