$500,000 Arjmand Gift Creates Entomology Professorship

2-20-97

University Park, Pa. -- A $500,000 gift from M. Michael and Mitra Arjmand, of State College, will create a new professorship in entomology named in honor of Dr. Ralph O. Mumma, Penn State Distinguished Professor of Environmental Quality.

The Ralph O. Mumma Professorship in Entomology will be based in the College of Agricultural Sciences in recognition of Michael Arjmand's continuing friendship with Mumma, who plans to retire in 1997. The distinguished professor was a mentor to Arjmand, now president of Centre Analytical Laboratories, during his master's and doctoral degree studies in entomology at Penn State in the 1970s, and later helped him move to America from his native Iran.

"I believe education to be the fundamental element of freedom, and what better way to make the point than to honor my own professor," Arjmand said. "I want to thank all the people who are involved in the fine profession of education for the sacrifices they make for the betterment of society. I particularly want to thank Penn State for providing me with an excellent education."

Arjmand was further assisted by Mumma in the creation of Centre Analytical Laboratories, which now employs nearly 60 people to perform chemical analyses for a number of environmental concerns, including testing residential drinking and waste water and helping create environmentally friendly pesticides.

"Although I consider mentoring part of my everyday job, I do look at Michael and his family almost as an adopted family," Mumma said. "I'm very taken by what he did to create this professorship in my name. I couldn't believe it at first -- I thought he was joking with me. What nicer way is there to honor a teacher?"

The Arjmand gift will supplement the Department of Entomology's normal support for the new professorship, which will open for possible hiring in the first half of 1997. The gift will be used for research, education and travel expenses, and stipends for graduate student assistance.

"This wonderful gift has already energized everyone in the department tremendously as we plan to welcome a new top scientist whose work could carry on, in part, the streams of research followed by Dr. Mumma," said Dr. James Frazier, professor and head of entomology for Penn State.

The department currently houses 19 tenure track and nearly 30 total faculty members. Mumma, a native of Mechanicsburg, did his undergraduate work at Juniata.

College and earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Penn State in 1960. He joined the Pesticide Research Laboratory at Penn State in 1966 and was the first faculty member of the College of Agricultural Sciences to be named a Distinguished Professor and to win the University-wide Howard B. Palmer Faculty Mentoring Award.

Mumma's research has focused on the fate of pesticides in the agro-ecosystem, the development of analytical methods to analyze for these agrochemicals, and, more recently, on plant mechanisms for resistance to insects. His lab has pioneered the development of immunoassays for agrochemical residues, which are now in commercial use. Many of his studies have involved other faculty collaborators. Mumma has published more than 240 articles during his 36 years at Penn State.

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Contact: Gary Cramer (814) 863-4512 (office) gwc104@psu.edu