Appointments
Penn State Intercom......August
22, 2002
Biologist Cosgrove
appointed Eberly Family chair
Daniel Cosgrove, distinguished professor of biology and a member of the faculty since 1983, has been appointed as holder of the Eberly Family chair in biology.
The position is one of eight chairs established with $1 million endowments for each academic department in the Eberly College of Science by the Eberly Family Charitable Trust.
Cosgrove, who is past president of the American Society of Plant Physiologists, focuses his research on expansins, which are proteins that allow plant cell walls to grow while maintaining their rigidity. The discovery of expansins by his research group in 1992 increased the understanding of the molecular biochemistry and biophysics of cell growth.
Cosgrove joined the faculty as an assistant professor nearly 20 years ago and was named associate professor in 1987, professor in 1991 and distinguished professor in 2000.
Cosgrove has served as a visiting professor in Germany at the University of Göttingen and the Max-Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology. He earned his doctoral degree in biological sciences at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., in 1980 and his bachelor's degree in botany at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1974.
Dellasega appointed to
new humanities position
With
an interest in enhancing the relationship between medicine and the arts,
Cheryl A. Dellasega has been appointed to the Department of Humanities
in the College of Medicine at Hershey Medical Center. Dellasega is associate
professor of medicine and humanities and co-director of the Research Program,
Division of General Internal Medicine.
In her new role, Dellasega will stimulate focused development of arts-in-medicine initiatives at Hershey. She also will serve on the advisory board of the University's Arts and Health Outreach Initiative, representing the College of Medicine along with R. Kevin Grigsby, vice dean for faculty and administrative affairs.
Dellasega currently acts as faculty sponsor of the Healing Arts student interest group in the college, which examines the connection between arts and healing and uses arts modalities to enhance patient expression and coping.
A focus of Dellasega's research, publications and outreach is therapeutic writing to promote health and healing, including for cancer patients, incarcerated women, caregivers and individuals with Type 2 diabetes.
For information about arts in medicine at Hershey, call Dellasega at (717) 531-8161 or e-mail cdellasega@psu.edu.
Kinesiology professor appointed
to Center for Scientific Review
Mark L. Latash, professor of kinesiology, has been appointed to Biobehavioral and Behavioral Processes Study Section No. 7 within the National Institutes of Health's Center for Scientific Review. His appointment runs until June 30, 2006.
Study sections review research grant applications that have been submitted for consideration to the National Institutes of Health. Each study section typically reviews 50 to 100 applications that it receives from the Center for Scientific Review on the basis of each application's scientific focus. The study section to which Latash has been appointed reviews applications that address normal and disordered motor function, including speech and voice production, across the lifespan.
Latash's research, which integrates theory and methods from neurophysiology, psychology and engineering, has brought the theoretical notion of movement synergies to the forefront of the study of human motor control.
Latash has published six books, more than 20 book chapters and more than 100 journal articles, and he has been invited to present at numerous national and international meetings. He also initiated the publication of a new scientific journal, Motor Control, and currently serves as its editor-in-chief.
Latash, a member of the Society for Neuroscience and the American Society of Biomechanics, recently received the Evan G. and Helen G. Pattishall Outstanding Research Achievement Award from the College of Health and Human Development.
Director named to the
Office of Fellowships and Awards
Jeannie
McKenzie has been appointed director of the Office of Fellowships and
Awards in The Graduate School.
She is responsible for graduate student funding programs, both internal and external; for developing policy and awarding strategies; and for procurement of extramural funds that will support and enhance graduate education at the University.
McKenzie is a registered dietitian in the United States and Canada. Her research interest focused on children and nutrition, and in 1996, she co-authored "Guidelines for School Health Programs to Promote Lifelong Healthy Eating," which was published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. She also has co-written several journal articles, and has contributed to a number of research abstracts presented at professional meetings.
Before joining The Graduate School, McKenzie served in research-related positions at the University, most recently as the program coordinator for the Center for Locomotion Studies. Before that, she worked in the Gerontology Center as the site coordinator for the multi-centered NIH Clinical Trial, ACTIVE Project (Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly). Before that, she was the project manager for several research projects conducted by the Nutrition Center. McKenzie also held research positions at the University of Pittsburgh and served as the nutrition director of the University's Nutrition Lipid Program.
McKenzie holds master's and doctoral degrees in public health from the University of Pittsburgh and has a bachelor of home economics degree from the University of Manitoba.