Purdue honors alumni from College of Science

The alumni will be honored for their contributions and leadership within their professions. Receiving awards are:

* Millicent Goldschmidt of Houston, who is a professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and an adjunct professor of microbiology at the Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. In 2005, she received an Exceptional Achievement Award from the Center for Food and Safety and Applied Nutrition of the Food and Drug Administration for her contributions to the field of public health. The American Society for Microbiology awarded her a Certificate of Lifetime Achievement in 2004 and named an annual lecture after her. Goldschmidt earned her master's degree in biological sciences in 1950 and her doctorate in 1953.

* Barbara Reed of Ann Arbor, Mich., who is a professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School. She has received the Walter Kemp Award from the American Academy of Family Physicians and serves on the National Institutes of Health Study Sections on Infectious Disease, Reproductive Health, Asthma, and Pulmonary Epidemiology and on Health of the Population. She holds a medical doctorate from the Washington University School of Medicine and a master's degree in public health from the University of Utah School of Medicine. Reed earned her bachelor's degree in biological sciences in 1975.

* Jonathon Amy of West Lafayette, Ind., who received the Chemical Instrumentation Award from the American Chemical Society in recognition of his contributions to mass spectrometry, electron spectroscopy, chromatography and nuclear magnetic resonance. He also has received the George Award for outstanding service to the community, and Purdue's Amy-Mellon lectureship was established by faculty to offer students personal encounters with some of the pioneers of the field of analytical chemistry. He is a former director of the chemistry department's instrumentation facility and has worked with manufacturers including Fisher, Hewlett-Packard and IBM. Amy earned his master's degree in chemistry in 1950 and his doctorate in 1955.

* Barbara A. Burke of Brea, Calif., who is a professor of chemistry and the director of the science educational enhancement services program at California Polytechnic University, Pomona. She is a member of National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Opportunities for Visionary Academics Leadership Team, which works to improve science and mathematics education of pre-service teachers through collaboration of faculty in colleges of science and education. She also developed and edits The Journal of Chemical Education's online column "Biographical Sketches of Famous Chemists" and was chair of the editorial committee for the "Favorite Demonstration" column in The Journal of College Science Teaching. Burke earned her doctorate in chemistry in 1970.

* Pedro A. Rodriguez of Sanibel, Fla., who developed instrumentation and approaches to understand the role key organic compounds play in a variety of substances for The Proctor and Gamble Company. He is well known for his work to understand olfaction and its application to the delivery of perfumes. He was an adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Chemistry at Xavier University. He is a former member of the American Chemical Society and the organizing committee of the Ohio Valley Chromatography Symposium. He also was inducted into the Victor Mills Society, created at Proctor and Gamble to honor the company's top technologists. He graduated from the Universidad Central de Venezuela. Rodriguez earned his doctorate in chemistry in 1968.

* Ronald E. Shoup of Lafayette, Ind., who is president of Contract Research Services and is vice president for research and a member of the board of directors of Bioanalytical Systems Inc. His work includes the development and testing of sensitive analytical instrumentation for commercialization. He is a member of the Purdue Department of Chemistry's external advisory board, the Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry, the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and the Drug Information Association. Shoup earned his bachelor's degree in math and chemistry in 1974 and a doctorate in chemistry in 1980.

* Zhong-Yin Zhang of Carmel, Ind., who is a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He develops novel biochemical, chemical, proteomic and cellular approaches to study the physiological functions of protein tyrosine phosphatases in signaling pathways inside the cell. He received postdoctoral training at the Upjohn Company in Kalamazoo, Mich., and the University of Michigan. Zhang earned his doctorate in chemistry in 1990.

* Virginia Ayres of Okemos, Mich., who is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Michigan State University. She studies nanobiology and nanoelectronics and scanning probe microscopies. She has received two NASA Faculty Fellowship Awards, two National Science Foundation Outstanding Performance Awards and two international awards from the Japan Society for Promotion of Science and from Tokyo Institute of Technology for research and education in Japan. She holds bachelor's degrees in physics and biophysics from Johns Hopkins University. Ayres earned her doctorate in physics in 1985.

* John Parker of Naperville, Ill., who is vice president of Cabot Microelectronics. He has contributed to the commercialization of emerging nanotechnologies and worked in entrepreneurial development. He received the 1998 Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Research Directors Association, and the 1995 R&D 100 Award presented by R&D Magazine. He holds nine U.S. and international patents and co-founded Nanophase Technologies Corp., where he also served as chief scientist and vice president of technology and manufacturing. He also worked for Argonne National Laboratory, Cirqon Technologies Corp. and Cabot. He holds a bachelor's degree in physics from Northeastern Illinois University. Parker earned his doctorate in physics in 1988.

* James Vickers of San Jose, Calif., who is chief technology officer and founder of T-Metrics. He studied semiconductor surface physics and atmospheric physics, and worked on the design and launch of a satellite, as well as launching four sounding rockets. He worked for AT&T Bell Laboratories before co-founding Optonics, a company that designed and produced a picosecond-timing diagnostic tool used to debug complex integrated circuits. He is currently pursuing a second startup company with a fellow Purdue physics graduate. He holds a doctorate in physics from the University of California at Berkeley. Vickers earned his bachelor's degree in physics in 1986.

Outstanding alumni from the departments of Computer Science, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Statistics and from the Actuarial Science program will be honored at events that will be held in March 2007.

Writer: Elizabeth Gardner, (765) 494-2081, ekgardner@purdue.edu

Sources: Kimberly Vestal, coordinator of Donor Relations, (765) 496-2025, vestalk@purdue.edu

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

Note to Journalists: Complete recipient biographies and publication-quality photographs are available online.

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