Appointments
Penn State Intercom......October
11 , 2001
Forest
ecology professor
has been named Steimer professor
Marc Abrams, professor
of forest ecology and tree physiology in the School of Forest Resources,
has been named 
the
Nancy and John Steimer professor of agriculture in the College of Agricultural
Sciences.
The professorship was endowed in 1989 to support the acquisition of equipment, scholarly travel, graduate assistants and other activities related to a designated professor's academic program.
Abrams joined the college faculty in 1982. His research program deals with broad-scale temporal and spatial changes in forests of the eastern United States. This has been accomplished using a multidisciplinary approach, including the fields of community ecology, disturbance ecology, historical ecology, dendroecology (tree-ring analysis) and tree physiology.
His work focuses on understanding how stresses such as drought, climate change, fire suppression and land-use alter forests. Abrams and his collaborators have contributed significantly to the understanding of how forests in the eastern United States have changed during the last 200 to 300 years and may change in the future. The professorship will provide the opportunity for Abrams to continue his work.
Abrams did forest ecology research and taught during a sabbatical in Japan in 1997. He was the recipient of the Hokkaido (Japan) Guest Researcher Award.
Abrams received
a bachelor's degree in biology in 1976 from State University of New York
at Binghamton. He earned his master's degree in forestry in 1979 and his
doctorate in forestry in 1982 from Michigan State University.
Richard
J. Koubek named head
of Industrial Engineering
Richard J. Koubek has
been named head of the Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial
and 
Manufacturing
Engineering.
Before joining the University, Koubek was professor and chair of biomedical, industrial and human factors engineering at Wright State University. He also was associate dean for research and graduate studies for the Wright State College of Engineering and Computer Science.
Koubek's research experience focuses on usability, human aspects of manufacturing and human-computer interaction.
He received a bachelor of arts in theology and chemistry from Oral Roberts University and a bachelor of arts in psychology and human factors from Northeastern Illinois University. He earned a master of science degree and a doctorate in industrial engineering at Purdue University.
Koubek has
recently co-edited two textbooks: Design of Computing Systems: Cognitive
Considerations and Design of Computing Systems: Social and Ergonomic
Considerations.
Debora
Cheney appointed
to post of Foster Librarian
Debora Cheney, head of the Social Sciences Library at University Park, was recently named the Foster Librarian.
In her new position, Cheney will provide library services tailored to communications students and faculty. She will continue as head of the Social Sciences Library, with communications as her subject area of specialization.
Lawrence Foster, a 1948 graduate of Penn State, and his wife, Ellen Foster, a 1949 graduate, gave a $1 million gift to the University to create endowed positions in the University Libraries -- the Larry and Ellen Foster Communications Librarian Endowment -- and also in the College of Communications. The goal is to facilitate collaboration between the two entities.