Purdue trustees approve 4 new professorships, vice president and chancellor appointments, management agreement
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue University board of trustees on Friday (June 20) honored four faculty members with distinguished and named professorships and ratified the appointments of the vice president for research at West Lafayette and the vice chancellor for academic affairs at the Calumet campus.Trustees also approved an Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne management agreement and resolutions of appreciation to two retiring vice presidents.
Stanton B. Gelvin was appointed the H. Edwin Umbarger Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences, Scott A. McLuckey was appointed the John A. Leighty Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Jayathi Y. Murthy was appointed the Robert V. Adams Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Yung C. Shin was named the Donald A. and Nancy C. Roach Professor of Advanced Manufacturing.
The appointments bring the university's total of named and distinguished professors to 157.
"The strength of Purdue is defined by the strength of our faculty. I am very proud to add these outstanding faculty to our growing list of named and distinguished professors, as they represent the best and brightest of Purdue," said Provost William R. "Randy" Woodson. "They have risen to the top of their fields and bring tremendous recognition to Purdue through their teaching and scholarship."
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Gelvin's research focuses on how a soil bacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, genetically engineers plants. Many genetically engineered crop plants with desirable traits, such as disease resistance, herbicide tolerance and enhanced nutritional value, were generated using Agrobacterium. Gelvin conducts both basic science research on the mechanism by which this bacterium transfers DNA to plants and additionally works with agricultural biotechnology companies to improve the genetic engineering of crops, including those important to Indiana's economy.
Gelvin, who joined the Purdue faculty in 1981, is currently an associate editor on the editorial board for Plant Methods and is on the Biotechnology Research and Development Corp. scientific advisory board. He was a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator, a Herbert Newby McCoy recipient and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. He received his bachelor's degree from Columbia University, a master of philosophy degree from Yale University, and his doctoral degree in biological sciences from the University of California, San Diego.
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McLuckey joined the Purdue faculty in 2000 and is a professor of analytical chemistry. His research group is focusing on new developments in mass spectrometry instrumentation that will change the way complex biological mixtures are analyzed. Current areas of interest include the rapid identification and characterization of proteins, DNA and RNA in complex mixtures.
He has received a number of awards, including the 2008 Herbert Newby McCoy Award and the Anachem Award presented by the National Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies. McLuckey earned his bachelor's degree from Westminster College and his doctoral degree from Purdue.
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Murthy's research interests include computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer; finite volume methods and unstructured mesh techniques; numerical methods for radiative transport; reduced order modeling; numerical methods for multiphase flows; heat and mass transfer in micromanufacturing; microscale heat transfer; electronics cooling; and applications in aerospace, automotive, glass and chemical-process industries.
She received a bachelor's degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, a master's degree from Washington State University and a doctoral degree from the University of Minnesota.
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Shin, who joined the Purdue faculty in 1990, is a professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Center for Laser-based Manufacturing. Shin's research interests include laser-based manufacturing, intelligent and adaptive control, intelligent manufacturing systems, advanced machining processes, intelligent monitoring and diagnostics, and digital machining systems.
He earned a bachelor's degree from Seoul National, a master's degree from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and a doctoral degree from the University of Wisconsin. He received the Blackall Machine Tool and Gage Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 2007.
Trustees approved the previously announced appointment of Richard O. Buckius as the new vice president of research. Buckius, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is assistant director of the National Science Foundation's Directorate of Engineering and has a key role in setting the agenda for engineering research and education. He oversees the foundation's more than $600 million engineering and education budget.
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Buckius has led the National Science Foundation Directorate for Engineering since 2005 and has been director of the NSF's Division of Chemical and Transport Systems since 2004. He was head of the University of Illinois Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering from 1998-2004, the Richard W. Kritzer Professor from 1992-97 and associate vice chancellor for research from 1988-91.
Buckius received doctoral, master's and bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1975, 1973 and 1972, respectively.
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Trustees ratified the appointment of Ralph V. Rogers Jr. as the vice chancellor for academic affairs and professor of mechanical engineering with tenure at Purdue University Calumet. Rogers, who will start in his new position July 1, is currently the founding dean and professor in the College of Technology and Computer Science at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.
"Ralph brings a lot of enthusiasm, vision and energy to Purdue Calumet as the chief academic officer," said Purdue Calumet Chancellor Howard Cohen. "His background in higher and postsecondary education is a great fit on campus."
He received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1971 and master's degree in industrial and systems engineering in 1983, both from Ohio University. Rogers earned his doctoral degree in systems engineering from the University of Virginia in 1987.
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Trustees also passed resolutions of appreciation to Joseph L. Bennett, vice president for university relations, and Terry D. Strueh, vice president for governmental relations, and granted both administrators emeritus status.
Bennett will retire June 30 but has agreed to stay on while the university searches for his replacement.
He joined Purdue in 1981 as director of the Office of Public Information and then became director of university relations in 1985 when Purdue's central public relations and communications efforts were reorganized under his management. Bennett was appointed vice president in 1989.
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Strueh, who retired June 15, was the university's chief liaison with state and federal officials. He served as vice president for state relations from 1999-2001 when his responsibilities expanded to include greater emphasis on federal initiatives.
Strueh's Purdue career began with the Cooperative Extension Service from 1969-76. He served as director of agricultural services and regulation until 1992. He then served as director of state legislative services until 1996, when he was appointed assistant vice president for state relations, moving up to vice president for state relations in 1999. He currently serves as a member of the executive committee of the Midwest Higher Education Commission.
Also, trustees voted to approve the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne management and academic mission agreement, which runs for five years. Indiana University trustees are considering the same agreement at their June meeting.
Writer: Christy Jones, (765) 494-1089, christyjones@purdue.edu
Sources: Randy Woodson, (765) 494-9709, woodson@purdue.edu
Stanton B. Gelvin, (765) 494-4939, gelvin@bilbo.bio.purdue.edu
Scott A. McLuckey, (765) 494-5270, mcluckey@purdue.edu
Jayathi Y. Murthy, (765) 494-5701, jmurthy@purdue.edu
Yung C. Shin, (765) 4949775, shin@purdue.edu
Howard Cohen, (219) 989-2203, hcohen@calumet.purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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