Robert L. Berger
Patricia A. Blasko
Gregory L. Geoffroy
Joseph T. Keiser
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Robert L. Berger, Patricia A. Blasko, Gregory L. Geoffroy and Joseph T. Keiser are the recipients of the 1998 Eberly College of Science Alumni Society Distinguished Service Award, the society's highest honor.
Established in 1979, the Distinguished Service Award is presented annually to individuals who have made exceptional service and leadership contributions to the college or its alumni society.
* Berger, who earned a master's degree in 1953 and a Ph.D. in 1956 from Penn State, both in physics, has worked to increase the visibility of the University and the Eberly College by helping students from the college acquire cooperative education positions at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health and at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. He has held senior-level positions in both organizations.
Berger is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society. He has published more than 100 research papers.
* Blasko, administrative assistant in the Eberly College Department of Physics, has served the college for more than 40 years. In her current position, which she has held since 1981, Blasko supervises the physics department's administrative office and oversees staff members who run the laboratories and computer operations.
Blasko began her career at Penn State in 1955 as a clerical assistant in the arts and science extension office and worked her way to her current position.
* Geoffroy was dean of the Eberly College from 1989 to 1997. He is currently vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Maryland, where he served as interim president from June 1 through Sept. 15. Geoffroy implemented numerous initiatives while dean of the Eberly College that have strengthened the quality of instruction and research in the sciences at Penn State.
Geoffroy began his academic career in 1974 at Penn State as an assistant professor of chemistry. He was promoted to associate professor in 1978 and to professor in 1982. In 1988, he was appointed chair of the Department of Chemistry, and one year later became dean of the Eberly College of Science. During his time at Penn State, Geoffroy established a research and teaching program in the area of organometallic chemistry.
In addition to his university appointments, Geoffroy has served as a consultant to the Union Carbide Corp. and ARCO Chemical and on various editorial boards and committees. He has published more than 200 research articles in refereed journals and co-authored a book. He has been honored for his accomplishments with various fellowships and awards. He is a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
* Keiser is director of Penn State's General Chemistry Laboratories. Since arriving at Penn State in 1991, he has been a leader in the complete revision of the General Chemistry Laboratory Program and has instituted an intensive training program for teaching assistants. Keiser also has participated in the design and development of Penn State's Chemistry Resource Center, of which he is co-director.
Before coming to Penn State, Keiser held positions in the Pfizer Chemical Corp. and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. He also was an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Richmond and a visiting assistant professor of chemistry at Virginia Commonwealth University. He has received fellowships from the National Research Council and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration-American Society for Engineering Education, in addition to two Teaching Effectiveness Grants from the University of Rhode Island.
Penn State's Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program
(PENNTAP) was among 43 organizations honored recently with a Governor's
Award for Environmental Excellence.
PENNTAP also earned a citation on behalf of Pennsylvania's House of Representatives in honor of its leadership in environmental activities.
PENNTAP serves the entire Commonwealth with a network of technical specialists who help Pennsylvania business and industry improve competitiveness by providing free scientific and technological assistance and information to help resolve specific technical questions or problems.
Three PENNTAP staff environmental specialists help Pennsylvania companies adopt strategies to reduce wastes, emissions and environmental impacts. Of the more than 800 requests for assistance PENNTAP received in 1997, 25 percent were related to environmental improvements, an increase of 20 percent since 1996.
The total economic benefit of PENNTAP's environmental assistance program to the participating companies was $2.3 million in 1997, up from $1.2 million in 1996.
PENNTAP is a partnership among Penn State, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and the U.S. Economic Development Administration.
More information about the Governor's Award is available at the Department of Environmental Protection's Web site at: http://www.dep.state.pa.us.
Cheng Dong, associate professor of bioengineering and engineering science and mechanics, has received a First Independent Research Support and Transition Award from the National Institutes of Health. The award is designed to provide research support for new biomedical and behavioral science investigators to establish his or her own research program and make significant and innovative contributions to laboratory or clinical research.
The major focus of Dong's research is to explain biomechanical and biophysical aspects of cellular structure that affect function of the circulatory system.
Dong's award-supported research will concentrate on "Signal Transduction and Motility in Tumor Cell Migration."
Two College of Engineering faculty members have received grants from the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development Program. The program is designed to help scientists and engineers develop their research and teaching simultaneously as their careers get under way.
The winners are Francesco Costanzo, assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics, and Chao-Yang Wang, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. Each faculty member will receive $200,000 over four years.
Costanzo's research interests include continuum thermodynamics; time dependent fracture and damage mechanics of composites; micromechanics and homogenization of inelastic composites; computational mechanics; thermodynamics of interfaces; and large deformations. Costanzo's NSF research will focus on "Sculptured Thin Films: Non-Linear Nanomechanics and Homogenization for a New Class of Engineered Thin Composites with Evolving Nanostructures." It is funded through March 2002.
Wang's research focuses on the field of thermal science with two primary thrusts: multiphase flow and the thermodynamics of batteries. Wang's NSF research will focus on "Transport Phenomena in Solidification of Functionally Graded Materials" and is funded until March 1999.
The Quarterly Recognition Award winners have been announced for the 12
Commonwealth College
campuses. This award, instituted by Joseph C. Strasser, dean of the Commonwealth
College, and sponsored by the Commonwealth College, honors faculty, staff,
technical support individuals or students who have made the greatest contribution
to the campus and/or community during the previous three months.
The 12 recipients for the second quarter of this year are: Richard Barrett, instructor of business at Penn State Delaware County; Glenn Beech, acting director of Student Affairs at Penn State McKeesport; Michael Conway, supervisor, safety and police services at Penn State Hazleton; Kathie Flanagan-Herstek, advising program coordinator at Penn State Wilkes-Barre; Patricia Hollinger, outreach coordinator at Penn State New Kensington; Michael Labalokie, lecturer in business at Penn State Mont Alto; Cheryl Lartz, undergraduate computer science student at Penn State York; Richard Lenzi, director of business and finance at Penn State Shenango; Roxanne Masisak, staff assistant, registrar's office at Penn State DuBois; Theodore Mellors, program coordinator in continuing education at Penn State Fayette; Nellie Palumbo, janitorial worker at Penn State Worthington Scranton; and Daniel Pinchot, university relations associate at Penn State Beaver.
Chuntao (Chris) Wu, associate professor of mathematics at Penn State Beaver, was recently awarded a $64,328 National Science Foundation grant for his project titled "Mathematical Problems in Percolation and Ising Models." The three-year grant runs through July 30, 2001.
One aspect of Wu's research is contact processes and percolation, which are mathematical models allowing the study of how epidemics spread through a population, the destruction of forests by wildfire and other similar events.
Another aspect of Wu's research will involve the study of the Ising model for ferromagnets, which involves magnetic field and temperature variables.
Connie Boob, staff assistant in the Department of Chemistry, is the recipient of the 1998 Eberly College of Science Staff Innovation Award.
Boob was selected for initiating an open-house weekend for graduate recruiting in the Department of Chemistry. According to Steven Weinreb, interim dean of the Eberly College of Science, Boob has greatly improved the chemistry department's graduate recruitment efforts.
Boob has been with the Department of Chemistry since 1990 and has held a variety of administrative positions. In her current position, which she has held since May 1997, Boob oversees the operations of the Undergraduate Programs Office and its staff. She also has worked in the chemistry department's Graduate Programs Office and served as a secretary to numerous chemistry faculty members. From 1981 through 1988, Boob worked in Seattle for WarnCOM Inc., an automotive accessory manufacturer. In the 1970s, Boob worked in the College of the Liberal Arts in the Department of Political Science and in the Slavic and Soviet Language and Area Center.
The Staff Innovation Award is intended to recognize and reward an employee or team of employees whose innovative ideas, suggestions or work procedures result in a more time-efficient or cost-effective method of accomplishing work responsibilities.