November 13, 2009

Appointments, honors and activities

— The Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs has awarded medical research grants to two Purdue faculty members. Sophie Lelievre, an associate professor of basic medical sciences, and Laurie Parker, an assistant professor of medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology, both received individual grants of more than $110,000 from the Breast Cancer Research Program.

— Two members of Purdue's staff are participating in the 2009 Cliburn YouTube Amateurs Contest, an online contest for amateur classical pianists.  Dan Whiteley, the data steward for Student Services, and Greg Kostraba, program director for WBAA, are featured on the Van Cliborn Foundation channel on YouTube. The winner will be chosen from among 58 participants through e-mail ballots open to the public, which are available after signing the guestbook at https://www.cliburn.org/index.php?page=youtube_competition. Voting ends Nov. 24. The winner of the competition will receive automatic entry into the 2011 International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs in Fort Worth, Texas. Visit the following link to watch a video of their performance. https://www.youtube.com/user/VanCliburnFoundation#g/
c/5093B44F7AEC37D6  

— Doug Akers, Extension educator for agriculture and natural resources in Boone County, received the 2009 Agriculture Professional of the Year Award from the Boone County Chamber of Commerce. Akers was honored for his more than 25 years of service to farmers and the agriculture industry, including such programs as pesticide applicator training and estate planning workshops. Akers also oversees Boone County's Master Gardener program and has co-authored Purdue Extension publications on poultry and watershed conservation. Akers serves on the Boone Area Plan Commission.

• Notables:

— Purdue faculty member Rebecca Doerge and alumna Martina Bremer have co-authored a statistics reference guide for biologists. Doerge is a professor of statistics and agronomy at Purdue, and Bremer is an assistant professor of mathematics at San Jose State University. The book, "Statistics at the Bench: A Step-by-Step Handbook for Biologists," is due out in December from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. For more information, go to https://www.cshlpress.com/default.tpl?action=full&cart=125365826689372005&--eqskudatarq=683&newtitle=Statistics%20at%20the%20Bench%3A%20A%20Step-By-Step%20Handbook%20for%20Biologists  

• Student honors:

- A group of building construction management students recently won first place in the commercial division of the Associate Schools of Construction Student Competition, which took place Oct. 21-24. The team captain was Zeb Young, and team members included Branden Burke, David Thorp, Kyle Henry, Stacey Van Wagner and Andrew Talarek. Another group of Purdue students placed fourth in the competition's design build division. This was the first year a group had entered in this division. The team captain was Chris Palmer, and team members included Blair Neihouser, Kip Goulder, Mike Miller, Landon Young and Rick Guth.

— Pamela Johnson, a Hospitality and Tourism Management student from Merrillville, Ind., has been awarded the $2,500 Princess Cruises Scholarship by Tourism Cares. This is the second year Johnson has won a scholarship from Tourism Cares, a nonprofit organization that awards academic and professional development scholarships to hospitality and tourism students. Johnson, who expects to receive a bachelor's degree in May 2011, also is invited to attend the Tourism Cars Experience, the Industry Student Program at the National Tour Association's annual convention in November. 

— The Department of Communication's student-produced TV newsmagazine "Fast Track" is a College Production Plaque Winner in the College Student Production – Newscast category. The award was given by the Student Production Nomination from the Television Academy, the producers of the Chicago/Midwest Emmy Awards. More information is available at https://www.chicagoemmyonline.org/ "Fast Track" covers Purdue and local news each semester. Clinical assistant professor Patricia Saul Rochon is the "Fast Track" producer. 

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

To the News Service home page