Awards
Penn State Intercom......January 16, 2003

University receives awards in recycling challenge

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recognized the University's recycling efforts as DEP concluded its RUSH to Recycle Challenge.

DEP Secretary David E. Hess announced the winners.

Penn State University Park won first place for Most Overall Recyclable Material, a special honorable mentions category, collected during the entire challenge period. More than 429 tons, or 859,040 pounds, were collected at University Park as part of the challenge.

In the category of Existing Recycling Programs, the Wilkes-Barre campus won third place for Highest Total Average Pounds per Students Adjusted collected for the entire period including baseline. That campus had a total of 34.39 average pounds per students adjusted.

Also in the category of Existing Recycling Programs, Wilkes-Barre and Harrisburg campuses received honorable mentions for Greatest Percentage Increase over Baseline. Wilkes-Barre campus saw a 40 percent increase and Harrisburg campus had a 9 percent increase over baseline.

Penn State was one of 19 Pennsylvania colleges and universities to participate in the Oct. 7 to Nov. 30 competition.

Abrams receives Black Award for his research

Marc Abrams, professor of forest ecology and tree physiology in the School of Forest Resources, has received the 2002 Alex and Jessie C. Black Award for Excellence in Research.

The honor, which is given by the College of Agricultural Sciences and includes a $1,000 cash award and a plaque, recognizes significant accomplishments in agricultural research at Penn State.

Abrams' research program deals with broad-scale temporal and spatial changes in forests of the eastern United States. This has been accomplished using a unique 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 over the last 200 to 300 years and may change in the future.

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