Purdue Notebook

November 4, 2005

Faculty and staff honors

– The Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture recognized former department head Bruno C. Moser by naming a distinguished professorship in his honor. Moser served as department head from the mid 1970s to 1996. Under his leadership, the department hired its first plant molecular biologists. The Bruno C. Moser distinguished professorship will be held by a plant molecular biologist.

– Rashid Bashir, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, has been selected as one of four finalists for the 2005 Small Times Magazine Best of Small Tech Innovator Award. The awards were announced during the NanoCommerce & SEMI NanoForum trade show in Chicago, Nov. 1-3. The awards finalists and winners are listed in the November/December issue of Small Times magazine, as well as on the SmallTimes.com Web site. The awards honor leading companies and researchers in the fields of microtechnology and nanotechnology. Winners and finalists were named in the categories of product, company, business leader, researcher, innovator and advocate.

Alumni honors

– Kenya Davis-Hayes has been named a distinguished alumna of Campbell University's Department of Government, History and Justice. Davis-Hayes, an assistant professor of history at California Baptist University in Riversdale, earned a doctor of philosophy in American studies and history from Purdue in 2005. Hayes received a bachelor's degree in education with a concentration in American history in 1998 from Campbell and went on to earn a master of education in curriculum and instruction in secondary social studies education in 2000. Hayes also served as a visiting instructor at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind., and at Campbell University, in Buies Creek, N.C. In 2001, she received the Purdue Literary Award in children's literature for her book "Little E and the Red-Hatted Man."

Student honors

– Members of Purdue University's Army ROTC finished second in the ninth annual Brigade Ranger Challenge competition held Oct. 21-23 at Camp Atterbury, Ind. The members were Stephen Kempf, a junior in mechanical engineering technology from Indianapolis; Chris Cain, a freshman in engineering from Noblesville, Ind.; William Drinkwater, a graduate student in history from Arlington, Va.; Bret Sullenger, a freshman in undergraduate studies from Lubbock, Texas; and Ben Birtles, a junior in aviation technology from Bedford, Ind. After training five mornings a week since the beginning of the semester, the team brought home its best finish since 1999. The challenges included the one-rope bridge, an Army physical fitness test, an obstacle course, a Humvee pull, night land navigation, first aid litter carry, weapon assembly and disassembly, and a 10K road march with 35-pound backpacks. The group is led by Cadet Peter Van Howe.

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