Purdue Notebook
May 5,2006
Appointments and promotions
—Alicia Pilon has been named director of development for the School of Mechanical Engineering. For the past two years, she has been the director of major gifts for the College of Engineering. Pilon received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1993.
Faculty and staff honors
— A paper written by three Purdue University researchers received the Best Paper Award at the 25th Conference on Computer Communications of the IEEE Communications Society, held April 25 in Barcelona, Spain. The paper, "Delay and Capacity Trade-offs in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks: A Global Perspective," was chosen from more than 1,400 papers submitted. Ness Shroff, professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of Purdue's Center for Wireless Systems and Applications; Gaurav Sharma, graduate teaching assistant in electrical and computer engineering; and Ravi Mazumdar, former Purdue professor and now a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Waterloo; authored the paper. The paper presented research on the fundamental relationship between mobile wireless networks.— William C. Oakes, Engineering Projects in Community Service director and associate professor of engineering, will receive a national award from Campus Compact, an organization of university presidents and college deans that helps students learn about citizenship through community-service opportunities. Oakes received the 2006 Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service Learning. The $2,000 award recognizes Oakes' work to weave volunteerism into engineering class curricula. Oakes will receive his award during the Educators for Community Engagement Conference, which will take place June 14-17 at the University of Wisconsin. The award is named in honor of Thomas Ehrlich, former chair of the Campus Compact board of directors and president emeritus of Indiana University.
— Jon D. Fricker, a professor in civil engineering, received the 2006 Harland Bartholomew Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers in Reston, Va. He received the award for his contributions to the field of urban planning and transportation development. Fricker earned a bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and master's and doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University, all in civil engineering. He came to Purdue in 1980. His teaching and research interests are in transportation planning, public mass transportation and urban planning. Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers represents more than 139,000 civil engineers worldwide and is the nation's oldest national engineering society.
— Thomas Broden, associate professor of foreign languages and literatures, received a career achievement award from the French government, which named him a knight (a chevalier) in the Order of the Palmes Académiques. Richard Barbeyron, the French consul from Chicago, presented Broden with his award on April 27. Broden is an expert in 20th century French literature and culture. He also studies the cultural context of fashion and the role of clothing in literature and society. Instituted by Napoleon in 1808, the Palmes Académiques are the oldest of the civil honors conferred in France. The distinction is awarded to teachers and scholars who make an exceptional contribution to promoting French culture throughout the world.
—Bert Rockman, professor and head of the Department of Political Science, is the recipient of the Herbert A. Simon Award, which honors the economics Nobel Prize winner. The award is given by the Midwest Political Science Association and recognizes Rockman's lifelong contributions to the scientific study of bureaucracy. Rockman received the award at the Midwest Political Science Association meeting in Chicago on April 22. The title of his Simon lecture was "Organizational Attention Deficit Disorder: The Sorting of Organizational Priorities."
— Doug Hurt, professor and chair of the Department of History, has received the Plains Humanities Alliance Digital Research fellowship for 2006-07. The honor is in recognition of his project "The Home Front in the Great Plains During World War II, 1939-1945," which involves the development of an interdisciplinary Web site that will focus on the Great Plains' homefront during World War II. The online aspect of the project will coordinated with the Plains Humanities Alliance in cooperation with the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities at the University of Nebraska.
Alumni honors
— Five new members of the Dean's Advisory Council in Purdue University's College of Liberal Arts were appointed this spring. They will serve on a 17-member board of volunteer alumni that advises the liberal arts dean on issues involving strategic planning, alumni support, development, curriculum and student recruitment.The new members are:
Lalita Amos, Indianapolis, a 1985 alumna with a bachelor's degree in psychological sciences. She is currently the president of Total Team Solutions, an Indianapolis-based company that specializes in executive coaching and strategic planning for small- to medium-sized businesses. Prior to starting Total Team Solutions, she served as a Human Resources Coordinator for R.R Donnelley & Sons Co.
Stephen Brewer, West Lafayette, Ind., who earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 1970. He most recently served as assistant treasurer for the Great Lakes Chemical Corp., and he currently teaches a class in entrepreneurship at Purdue's Krannert School of Management. Prior to his tenure at Great Lakes Chemical, he served as assistant to the International Treasurer for Pfizer Corp. and as the controller for telecommunication products at Corning Inc.
Barbara Frye, who earned a bachelor's degree in communication in 1972. She works as a television consultant with Marian, Iowa-based Frank N. Magid Associates, a leader in research-based consultation. Magid Associates applies rigorous research methods available to study behaviors, attitudes and intentions of television audiences and has provided strategic insight and direction for clients in 37 countries around the world.
Andrew Maner, Washington D.C., who earned a bachelor's degree in communication in 1991. Maner currently works in private consulting and most recently served as chief financial officer for the United States Department of Homeland Security. While at the department, Maner was responsible for all budget, finance and accounting, as well as strategic planning and evaluation. He also served as liaison for the Government Accountability Office.
Bill Wilson earned a bachelor's degree in political science and government in 1992. He is a relationship manager at First National Bank of Las Vegas. He also is an active member of Purdue Alumni Recruiting for Tomorrow in Las Vegas.
Student honors
— The Committee for the Education of Teaching Assistants honored 125 graduate student teaching assistants at A Celebration of Graduate Student Teaching banquet. The 2006 Graduate School Excellence in Teaching Awards were given to Muthukumar Balasubramaniam, of Tirupur, India, who studies botany and plant pathology; Anne Ottenbreit-Leftwich, of Dearborn, Mich., who studies curriculum and instruction; Melissa J. Buehler, of Decatur, Ga., who studies political science; and Stacey L. Smith, of Hays, Kan., who studies hospitality and tourism management.— Yen Yu, a graduate research assistant in aeronautics and astronautics, received the Zonta International Amelia Earhart Fellowship award for the 2006-07 academic year. Yu, from Taiwan, earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Purdue's School of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2003 and 2005, respectively. She is a doctoral candidate in Purdue's School of Engineering. Her research focus is in rocket propulsion. The Zonta International Amelia Earhart Fellowship was established in 1938 and provides funds to women for graduate study in aerospace-related science and engineering. Earhart was a member of Zonta, a worldwide service organization of business and professional executives dedicated to advancing the status of women worldwide. The program has awarded more than $5.7 million for about 1,122 fellowships to women from 57 countries.
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