SCIENCE@PURDUE VOL III ISSUE 5 MAY 2004

A monthly E-newsletter from the Dean's office in the School of Science at Purdue University, Mathematical Sciences Building, 150 North University Street, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2067. To contact us send email to news@science.purdue.edu.

ALUMNI NEWS CALLOUT--SEND YOUR NEWS TO SHARE WITH OTHER SCIENCE ALUMNI! WE ARE ESPECIALLY SEEKING PROFESSIONAL NEWS, PERSONAL MILESTONES, AND FAMILY NEWS. SEND ITEMS TO NEWS@SCIENCE.PURDUE.EDU. THESE ITEMS WILL APPEAR IN A FUTURE ISSUE OF THE SCHOOL OF SCIENCE MAGAZINE, THE SEQUEL.

IN THIS ISSUE

1. PHYSICISTS HELP CONSTRUCT TELESCOPE

2. PURDUE TO PROVIDE WEATHER DATA TO NATION

3. NANO-TUBES AID ARTIFICIAL JOINTS

4. CELL GROWTH MAY BE KEY IN STOPPING CANCER

5. VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH APPOINTED

6. PURDUE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NAMES NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

7. NEW DEAN FOR LIBRARIES

8. 2004-05 TUITION INCREASE

9. PURDUE RANKS SECOND IN SURVEY OF UNWIRED CAMPUSES

10. REGNIER NAMED DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR

11. KONIECZNY RECEIVES MURPHY AWARD

12. GELVIN GARNERS MCCOY AWARD

13. TRUSTEES APPROVE FACULTY PROMOTIONS

14. SIMONSEN RECOGNIZED FOR TEACHING

15. BIOLOGY STUDENT RECEIVES RESEARCH AWARD

16. SPAFFORD TO SERVE ON FBI COMPUTER FORENSICS ADVISORY BOARD

17. MATHUR APPOINTED ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR GRADUATE EDUCATION

18. AMBASSADORS CHOSEN FOR 2004-2005

19. CALENDAR

20. RESEARCH FUNDING REPORT

SCIENCE NEWS AND RESEARCH

1. PURDUE PHYSICISTS HELP CONSTRUCT A TELESCOPE FOR BLACK HOLES AND PULSARS: A trio of Purdue University physicists makes key contributions to a new telescope designed to study some of the most exotic and energetic objects in the universe, from quasars and supernova remnants to the massive black holes at the centers of galaxies. http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html3month/2004/040407.Finley.veritas.html

2. PURDUE TO PROVIDE HIGH-RESOLUTION WEATHER DATA TO THE NATION: Purdue has been selected to be one of the country's four top-level distributors of advanced weather data, making the university a national resource for meteorologists, hydrologists, aviators and disaster management teams. Citing Purdue's experience with both atmospheric science and handling large data sets, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has chosen the university to distribute advanced Next Generation Radar data on rainfall and wind. http://news.uns.purdue.edu/html4ever/2004/040420.Huber.radar.html

3. NANO-TUBES OFFER PROMISE FOR ARTIFICIAL JOINTS: Tiny "nanotubes" that assemble themselves using the same chemistry as DNA could be ideal for creating better artificial joints and other body implants. Researchers at Purdue University, the University of Alberta and Canada's National Institute for Nanotechnology have discovered that bone cells called osteoblasts attach better to nanotube-coated titanium than they do to conventional titanium used to make artificial joints. http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/2004/040409.Webster.rosette.html

4. CELL GROWTH MAY BE KEY IN STOPPING CANCER: Halting the development of certain cancers may be possible with therapy based on recent Purdue University research. Research investigating a single molecule that influences cell growth has provided new insight into the chain of events that make some cancer cells divide uncontrollably, which may eventually help to stop cancer in its tracks. http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/2004/040328.Henriksen.ras.html

PURDUE NEWS

5. TOP ENGINEER AND EDUCATOR NAMED TO VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH POST: Fawwaz T. Ulaby, vice president for research at the University of Michigan, has been named vice president for research and University Distinguished Professor at Purdue University, effective by Sept. 1, pending approval by the Purdue Board of Trustees. http://news.uns.purdue.edu/html3month/2004/040415.Ulaby.vpresearch.html

6. PURDUE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NAMES NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: The Purdue Alumni Association board of directors announces J. Todd Coleman will serve as the next executive director. Coleman, the current executive director of the University of Missouri Alumni Association, will take office on July 1, said Tamara Morse, president of the Purdue Alumni Association's board of directors. Coleman will replace Lawrence S. Preo, who is taking early retirement after 16 years with the association. http://news.uns.purdue.edu/html3month/2004/040420.Coleman.paa.html

7. NEW DEAN OF LIBRARIES NAMED: James L. Mullins, associate director for administration of the libraries at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been named dean of Purdue University Libraries. http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html3month/2004/040413.Mason.library.html

8. BOARD OF TRUSTEES AUTHORIZE 4% TUITION INCREASE: The Purdue University Board of Trustees voted to authorize its Executive Committee to take final action on a 2004-05 budget plan that would increase basic fees on the West Lafayette campus by 4 percent a year for full-time students from Indiana. http://news.uns.purdue.edu/html3month/2004/040409.BOT.budget.html

9. PURDUE RANKS SECOND IN SURVEY OF UNWIRED CAMPUSES: Intel ranks Purdue University No. 2 nationwide in its second annual "Most Unwired College Campuses" survey, released April 6. The survey ranks 100 colleges and universities across the country, drawing on such factors as the number of wireless hotspots, percentage of campus covered by wireless technology, number of undergraduates, number of computers, and the computer-to-student ratio. Wireless usage on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus increased 200 percent over last year. Each day, more than 2,000 unique users access the wireless system on the West Lafayette campus. http://www.itap.purdue.edu/newsroom/news.cfm?newsID=316

SCIENCE PEOPLE NEWS

10. FRED REGNIER NAMED DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR: Fred Regnier, professor of chemistry, has been a world leader in analytical chemistry and biochemistry for several decades and for his efforts in proteomics, and his pioneering field of categorizing protein function. http://news.uns.purdue.edu/html3month/2004/040409.BOT.academic.html

11. STEPHEN KONIECZNY RECEIVES THE MURPHY AWARD: Stephen Konieczny, professor of biological sciences, is one of six exceptional undergraduate teachers to be recognized with the Murphy award. He is known internationally for pioneering research on the gene regulation underlying muscle development and differentiation. http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html3month/2004/040416.Murphy.convo.html

12. STANTON GELVIN HONORED WITH THE MCCOY AWARD: Stanton Gelvin, professor of biological sciences, was named the winner of university's Herbert Newby McCoy Award for his achievements in the field of DNA transfer from the soil bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens to plant genomes. http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html3month/2004/040416.Gelvin.McCoy.html

13. FACULTY PROMOTIONS IN THE SCHOOL OF SCIENCE: TO PROFESSOR: Chong Gu, statistics; Peter J. Hollenbeck, biological sciences; M. Daniel Raftery, chemistry. TO ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR: Donatella Garofalo, mathematics; Sunil K. Prabhakar, computer science; Paul G. Wenthold, chemistry. http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html3month/2004/040412.BOT.promotions.html

14. KATY SIMONSEN,statistics, is the recipient of the School of Science Faculty Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Teaching by an Assistant Professor.

15. BIOLOGY STUDENT RECEIVES RESEARCH AWARD: Matthew Clifton, a doctoral candidate in Purdue University's Department of Biology, has received a Student Research Achievement Award from the Biophysical Society. This competitive event was conducted during the society's 48th annual meeting on Feb. 14-18 in Baltimore. Judges from each of the society's subgroups and the education committee selected 16 winners from the 101 student entries.

16. SPAFFORD TO SERVE ON FBI COMPUTER FORENSICS ADVISORY BOARD: Professor Eugene Spafford, Professor of Computer Science and Executive Director of CERIAS (Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security) has been selected to represent Indiana Governor Joe Kernan on the National Steering Committee of an inter-governmental advisory board that provides advice and recommendations to the Federal Bureau of Investigation leadership on a range of issues surrounding the Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory Program (RCFL). http://www.science.purdue.edu/ENews/spafford041404.html

17. ADYITA MATHUR APPOINTED ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR GRADUATE EDUCATION: Professor Aditya Mathur of the Department of Computer Sciences will assume the role of Associate Dean of Graduate Education in the School of Science, effective August 16, 2004. http://www.science.purdue.edu/ENews/assocdean042804.html

18. SCIENCE AMBASSADORS CHOSEN FOR 2004-2005 ACADEMIC YEAR: A School of Science Ambassador is a unique and outstanding individual who expresses and demonstrates Purdue's quality education to potential students, their parents, alumni and friends of the School of Science and Purdue. This one-on-one input from a Science Ambassador provides a science student's view of the curriculum, facilities, extra-curricular activities, and campus life that they experience as a student at Purdue. http://www.science.purdue.edu/Ambassadors/

19. CALENDAR

SPRING DEAN'S LEADERSHIP COUNCIL, MAY 6 & 7, 2004, http://www.science.purdue.edu/AboutUs/DLC/

SCHOOL OF SCIENCE COMMENCEMENT AND GRADUATE SEND OFF RECEPTION, MAY 15, 2004

LIPMAN-FEST, A CONFERENCE IN HONOR OF THE 65TH BIRTHDAY OF JOSEPH LIPMAN (MIDWEST COMMUTATIVE ALGEBRA AND GEOMETRY MEETING) MAY 17-21, 2004 http://www.math.purdue.edu/lipman-fest

SOLID STATE CHEMISTRY AND ITS APPLICATION TO HYBRID MATERIALS AND NANOSTRUCTURES: A seminar honoring Professor C.N.R. Rao, June 3, 2004. http://www.chem.purdue.edu/twic/raosymposium.pdf

THE 2ND SYMPOSIUM ON ANALYSIS AND PDEs: June 7-10, 2004 http://www.math.purdue.edu/~danielli/symposium.html

COMPUTER SCIENCE SUMMER CAMPS IN JUNE: http://www2.cs.purdue.edu/outreach/camp2004.htm

PURDUE DAY IN CHICAGO: JULY 24, 2004

SCIENCESCAPE 2004: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, JULY 25--JULY 31, 2004: http://www.science.purdue.edu/WISP/ScienceScape/

PURDUE DAY AT THE INDIANA STATE FAIR: AUGUST 18, 2004

SCHOOL OF SCIENCE ALUMNI BOARD MEETING: OCTOBER 15, 2004

HOMECOMING: OCTOBER 16, 2004

FALL DEAN'S LEADERSHIP COUNCIL MEETING, October 21-22, 2004

PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL ANNUAL WEEKEND: OCTOBER 22-23, 2004

20. APRIL RESEARCH FUNDING REPORT

S. R. Bell, Mathematics, from National Science Foundation, $70,002, June 1, 2003 through May 31, 2005, "Complexity in Complex Analysis."

J. Chen, Biological Sciences, from PHS-NIH National Institute of General Medical Science, $271,010, April 1, 2004 through March 31, 2005, "Structure and Mechanism of the ABC Maltose Transporter."

R. G. Cooks, Chemistry, from Office of Naval Research, $106,000, July 15, 2002 through July 14, 2005, "Construction, Evaluation and Simulation of Ion Motion in a Kingdom Trap Mass Spectrometer."

R. G. Cooks, Chemistry, from Civilian Res. & Development Foundation, $12,400, March 19, 2004 through December 19, 2004, "Implementation of New Separation, Ionization and Data Processing Methods on a Miniature Cylindrical Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer for Chemical Warfare Agent and Explosive Detection."

W. A. Cramer, Biological Sciences, from PHS-NIH National Institute of General Medical Science, $35,069, December 1, 2003 through November 30, 2004, "Receptor-Mediated Colicin Import."

M. D. Dadarlat, Mathematics, from National Science Foundation, $82,466, June 1, 2002 through May 31, 2005, "C*-Algebras, K-Theory and Groups."

A. Eremenko, Mathematics, from National Science Foundation, $52,856, June 1, 2001 through May 31, 2005, "Geometric Theory of Meromorphic Functions."

J. P. Finley, Physics, from Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, $300,570, July 1, 2000 through April 30, 2004, "VERITAS: Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System."

D. E. Granger, Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, from National Science Foundation, $50,000, February 1, 2001 through January 31, 2005, "CAREER: Using Caves in Tectonic and Climatic Geomorphology."

S. Kais, Chemistry, from National Science Foundation, $92,000, April 1, 2002 through March 31, 2005, "Scaling Theory for Electronic Structure."

H. I. Kenttamaa, Chemistry, from PHS-NIH National Institute of General Medical Science, $98,763, February 1, 2004 through January 31, 2005, "Mass Spectrometry Studies on Radical Reactions of DNA."

S. F. Konieczny, Biological Sciences, from National Institutes of Health, $292,883, March 1, 2004 through February 28, 2005, "Pancreas Transcription Factors and Cancer Model Systems."

J. Lipman, Mathematics, from National Security Agency, $30,000, February 2, 2004 through February 1, 2005, "Residues and Duality on Formal Schemes."

M. A. Lipton and J. A. Chmielewski, Chemistry, from National Science Foundation, $64,600, April 1, 2004 through March 31, 2005, "Research Experience for Undergraduates in Chemical Biology."

P. S. Low, Chemistry, from National Institutes of Health, $249,375, April 1, 2004 through March 31, 2005, "Tumor Specific Targeting of Folate-Derivatized Drug."

D. W. Margerum, Chemistry, from National Science Foundation, $164,000, March 15, 2002 through February 28, 2005, "Kinetics and Mechanisms of Rapid Reactions in Solution."

D. Novikov and A. Gabrielov, Mathematics, from National Science Foundation, $44,000, June 15, 2002 through May 31, 2005, "Effective Non-Oscillation of Solutions of Fuchsian Systems of Differential Equations and Abelian Integrals."

K. Park, Computer Science, from Electronics Telecommunications Res Institute, $64,932, November 15, 2002 through December 31, 2004, "Research on Distributed Packet Filtering Technique for Network Resource Depletion Prevention."

P. V. Ramachandran, Chemistry, from Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis, $52,374, February 1, 2004 through January 31, 2005, "Schiff Based Synthons in Amino-Acid Chemistry."

M. G. Rossmann, Biological Sciences, from Cornell University, $123,000, February 1, 2004 through January 31, 2005, "Parvovirus Structure, Capsid Assembly and Receptors."

A. C. Sa Barreto, Mathematics, from National Science Foundation, $45,000, June 1, 2002 through May 31, 2005, "Research on Wave Equations and Scattering Theory."

D. A. Sanders, Biological Sciences, from National Science Foundation, $100,000, March 15, 2000 through February 28, 2005, "CAREER: the Evolution of Phosphoryl Transfer and Protein Sequence Analysis."

F. Shahidi, Mathematics, from National Science Foundation, $93,203, June 1, 2002 through May 31, 2005, "Automorphic L-Functions and Langlands Functoriality."

P. B. Shepson, Chemistry, from National Science Foundation, $88,473, February 1, 2003 through January 31, 2005, "Studies of the Fluxes of Atmospheric Organic Nitrogen Compounds to a Forest Environment."

G. J. Simpson, Chemistry, from National Science Foundation, $186,000, August 1, 2003 through July 31, 2005, "Second Harmonic Ellipsometry and Spectroscopy of Biological Interfaces."

C. J. Staiger and D. W. McCurdy, Biological Sciences, from National Science Foundation, $120,000, April 1, 2002 through March 31, 2005, "Molecular Genetic and Biochemical Analysis of the Fimbrin Gene Family from Arabidopsis."

W. Sun, Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, from National Science Foundation, $69,999, March 15, 2004 through February 28, 2005, "Numerical Study of Biomass Burning Aerosols in Southeast Asia: Smoke Assessment (Base-Asia)."

W. Szpankowski and A. Y. Grama, Computer Science, from PHS-NIH National Institute of General Medical Science, $221,346, May 15, 2004 through April 30, 2005, "Algebraic, Combinatorial and Probabilistic Methods for Biological Sequences."

B. Ulrich and W. J. Heinzer, Mathematics, from National Science Foundation, $25,000, April 1, 2004 through March 31, 2005, "Midwest Commutative Algebra and Geometry Meeting: A Conference in Honor of Joseph Lipman."

W. J. Zinsmeister, Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, from National Science Foundation, $138,380, May 1, 2004 through April 30, 2006, "Collaborative Research: A Fully Geographically and Stratigraphically Resolved Crataceous - Tertiary Biostratigraphic Database from Seymour Island, Antarctica."