Penn Staters
Penn State Intercom......December 5, 2002

Jean-Marc Bollag, professor of soil biochemistry and director of the Environmental Resources Research Institute's Center for Bioremediation and Detoxification, recently visited several institutions in Japan on an award sponsored by the Japanese Society for the Progress of Science. While in Japan, Bollag presented three lectures: "Use of enzymes and plant tissues in bioremediation" at Kobe University; "Interactions between pesticides and humic materials as a technique for bioremediation" at Nagoya University; and "Oxidative coupling reactions leading to bound residues" at the National Institute for Resources and Environment in Tsukuba.

Mary I. Frecker, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, received the 2002 Freudenstein/General Motors Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Mechanisms Committee. The biennial award is presented to a young investigator who makes a significant contribution to the theory or practice of mechanisms. Frecker was recognized for "Topology Design of Multifunctional Compliant Mechanisms with Smart Material Actuation," a paper she coauthored with Randy S. Haluck, director of surgical simulation and minimally invasive surgery at Hershey Medical Center, and Ryan P. Dziedzic, mechanical engineering master's candidate.

Walter P. Kilareski, professor emeritus of civil engineering and member of the executive committee of the University's Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, was recently awarded the Governor's Highway Safety Award for development of the course, "Guidelines for Highway Incident Scene Safety and Traffic Control." The award, in the business leadership category, was presented during the annual Governor's Highway Safety Conference, sponsored by the state Department of Transportation, at Camp Hill.

Jeffrey "J.D." Mather, assistant professor of drafting and CAD technology in the School of Construction and Design Technologies at Pennsylvania College of Technology, will receive an Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology at the 14th International Conference on College Teaching, to be held next spring at Florida Community College, Jacksonville, Fla. The conference is sponsored by the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning and is attended by approximately 900 faculty members from colleges and universities around the world.

James F. Rooney, professor emeritus of sociology at the Penn State Harrisburg School of Behavioral Sciences and Education, made presentations at two professional conferences. "Effects of economic and legal control systems upon alcohol consumption patterns and cirrhosis death rates in the European Union" was presented to the Alcohol Epidemiological Symposium of the International Council on Alcohol and Addictions in Paris. "Informal social control systems of alcohol consumption in men's taverns in Spain" was presented to the Society for the Study of Social Problems in Chicago.

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