August 22, 2008
Appointments, honors and activities
• Appointments and promotions:
— Professor of agricultural economics John Lee will join the Center for the Environment as associate director for economics and policy. In this three-year position, he will work to develop interdisciplinary research proposals on environmental issues, especially in the areas of agriculture and conservation. One of his projects entails the relocation of wildlife out of newly developed areas in Panama, where large tracts of rainforest are being cleared for housing and to expand the country's canal. Other projects will have more local objectives, such as searching for least cost means of improving water quality.
— Kristen Ziese will begin duties as director of development for the College of Technology on Sept. 1. Ziese previously worked in institutional advancement and marketing at Saint Joseph's College as director of capital gifts. She is from Rensselaer, Ind.
— David Lasater is a new director of advancement for student services. Lasater most recently served as special assistant to President France A. Córdova. Before that, he was the director of development for the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering.
— Annette Lamb is a new director of development for student services. A Purdue alumna, Lamb most recently served as the director of development for the Black Cultural Center and Purdue President's Council.
— Chris Myers is a new director of development for the Purdue President's Council. A Purdue alumnus, Myers previously worked as director of creative media and marketing at Greater Things Enterprises in Jupiter, Fla. He is from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
• Campus activities:
— The Purdue Alumni Student Experience will hold a networking event and dinner for Purdue Alumni Student Experience students and alumni on Sept. 4. The event will begin at 6 p.m. at the Shively Stadium Club in Ross-Ade Pavilion. Alumni are encouraged to attend. There is no charge for Purdue Alumni Student Experience students or Alumni Leaders Conference attendees, but non-Alumni Leaders Conference attendees will be charged $20. For information or to register, visit https://www.purduealum.org/Events/NetworkingDinner/
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— The newly selected members of the Purdue "All-American" Marching Band will perform together for the first time at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (Aug. 23) at the band's drill field on Third Street across from Shreve Hall. The 340 members of the group were selected Friday (Aug. 22) from a pool of more than 450 following a weeklong band camp.
— Approximately 100 student leaders attended the ninth annual Student Leaders Retreat Aug. 20-22 at Camp Tecumseh in Brookston, Ind. The Office of the Dean of Students sponsored the retreat, which is held to educate students about the components of leadership and provide strategies for practicing good leadership techniques within their own student organizations. As part of the week, a panel of campus administrators was held and Purdue President France A. Córdova spoke to the students.
• Faculty and staff honors:
— Larry Huggins of the College of Engineering has been given the Massey-Ferguson Educational Award by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. The award honors dedication to teaching agricultural engineering. Huggins was recognized for contributions to agricultural and biological engineering through teaching, mentoring, administration, extension and research. He retired in 2004 as associate dean in the College of Engineering but continues to serve as adviser to the dean of engineering.
— Todd Wetzel, director of Purdue Convocations, was named co-chair of the Midwest Arts Conference, a conference for the industry that presents performing arts. Held in Kansas City, Mo., Sept. 17-20, the conference serves a 15-state region by bringing together performing artists, artist managers/agents, performing arts presenters and service organizations for booking and professional development opportunities.
— Arun Ghosh, professor of organic and medicinal chemistry, has been selected as the recipient of the 2008 Robert M. Scarborough Memorial Award from the Division of Medicinal Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. The award recognizes scientists under the age of 50 with documented success in the discovery of pharmaceutical entities and/or a substantial body of significant research contributions in medicinal chemistry. Nominees are expected to have demonstrated creativity and insight in medicinal chemistry and/or biology and employ pragmatic, empirical problem solving skills.
• Student honors:
— Purdue biomedical engineering graduate students Meggie Grafton and Mike Zordan received top awards for their research posters during the recent XXIV International Congress of the International Society for Analytical Cytometry in Budapest, Hungary. Grafton won an Outstanding Poster Award for her poster "Microfabrication of a Two-Stage BioMEMS Cell Sorter." She also was a finalist for the President's Award for Excellence. Zordan won an Outstanding Poster Award for his poster, "A novel multiplatform method for the clonal isolation of rare cancer cells." Both are research students studying under biomedical engineering professor James F. Leary, whose laboratory is in Discovery Park's Bindley Bioscience Center.
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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