science journal december 2013

December 2013

Investigating Biological Problems with Network-based Models

PG 4

Data-driven Assessments Lead the Way PG 12

Portrait of a Chemist: Stephen Benkovic PG 26

Millennium ScholarsBeginning with the End Goal in Mind PG 18

Table of C

ontents

Feature StorieS:

4 Investigating Biological Problems with Network-based Models

Understand how researchers in physics and biology are collaborating using network-based modeling to investigate highly complex biological systems.

12 Data-driven Assessments Lead the Way for Innovative Statistical Solutions for Research

Discover how the Department of Statistics is addressing the statistical needs of the University and beyond through research, collaboration, and education.

18 Millennium Scholars: Beginning with the End Goal in Mind

Learn about the Millennium Scholars, a group of academically talented science and engineering students who, as incoming freshmen, have committed to the pursuit of a doctoral degree.

26 Portrait of a Chemist: Stephen Benkovic Discover how a chemistry professor uncovers the clues to treating some of our

most troubling diseases in his quest to understand enzymes.

College NewS:Alumni Gift Enables Faculty to Share Teaching Strategies

Integrating Ethics into Undergraduate Curriculum

Joseph Dixon, in Memoriam

Penn State Mourns Thomas Wartik

Experience Outside the Classroom

Years of Service Recognition

Intellectual Property Focus

DepartMeNt NewS

FaCulty Spotlight:Faculty Awards and Honors

Faculty Promotions

New Faculty

StuDeNt Spotlight:Undergraduate Student Awards and Honors

Summer 2013 Commencement

Undergraduate Scientists

Above and Beyond: Focus on Graduate Students

outreaCh:Expanding Opportunities for Faculty and Students

aluMNi NewS: Seven Alumni Honored with Penn State’s Outstanding Science Alumni Award

Welcome to our Newest Alumni Board Members and Officers

Alumni Establish Endowment to Fund The Center of Excellence in Science Education

editor: Tara Immel

writers: Barbara Collins, Barbara Kennedy,

Sara LaJeunesse, Brenda Lucas, Joslyn

Neiderer, Star Sharp, Katrina Voss, Mary Beth

Williams, Michael Zeman. Special thanks to

all of our other contributors!

Design: Graphics & Design

printer: Watkins Printing

Tom Richardson Receives Alumni Fellow Award

Annual Benefactor’s Dinner

Eracleous and Fabbri Awarded 2013 C.I. Noll Award

Snapshot of Philanthropy

Retired Faculty Social and Luncheon

First Annual All-Science Tailgate Big Success

Honor Roll

Upcoming Events

Penn State Eberly College of Science22

Dear Friends of the College,

This fall has been another very good time in the Eberly College of Science. In addition to welcoming most of the 17 terrific new faculty recently hired across all disciplines of science, we welcomed another large and enthusiastic fresh-man class, with almost 950

students attending our freshman welcome day. Additionally, the college and University are deep in the planning stage for three renovation projects that will expand and dramatically improve under-graduate instructional laboratory space in Muel-ler, Whitmore, and South Frear laboratories, along with a companion project to complete the renova-tion of all of South Frear, including research labo-ratories. Furthermore, recent rankings of Penn State among research universities nationally and internationally have been very positive, with Penn State moving up from 46th to 37th in the U.S. News and World Report ranking of U.S. universities and moving up from 61st to 49th in the world in the re-cently published 2013-2014 Times Higher Educa-tion (UK) World University Rankings.

Despite the good news, we know that we cannot become complacent. If we’re not working to get bet-ter, we’re very likely to be slipping backwards. As part of a University-wide effort that will provide direction for the college and the University over the coming five years, we have begun working on a new strategic plan. With a new provost in place – Nicholas P. Jones joined Penn State as executive vice president and provost in July, coming from Johns Hopkins where he had been dean of engi-neering – and a new president of the University expected to be named soon, we will be in a new era with new opportunities. This is also a time of both serious challenges and great opportunities for higher education generally. The rising cost of high-er education is a serious challenge, and there have been many articles, editorials, and commentaries on the cost and value of higher education over the last year. Many of the pundits see online educa-

tion, an area of vigorous growth in the college and across Penn State, as a way to improve education and constrain costs.

One focus of the new strategic plan will be im-proving the undergraduate educational experience. We are already working to improve the sense of community in the college, working to provide bet-ter career information, offering more international educational opportunities, improving the math placement exams and process, and working with others across the University to greatly enhance general education. We are also considering more innovative opportunities for our undergraduates, such as a freshman research initiative aimed at getting all students in the college of science en-gaged in research right from the start of their col-lege careers. Such experiences have proven to have a strong impact on student retention and success.

Undergraduates are certainly not our only focus in the new strategic plan. For example, we have also been working diligently to improve the way that intellectual property is understood and handled. The proper handling of intellectual property is critical to getting the many discoveries and inventions coming from the college put to good use for the benefit of society. As you’ll read in the IP Focus article on page 42, beginning this fall, the college now requires all new graduate students and postdoctoral scholars to receive training in the recognition and development of intellectual property and technology transfer. Additionally, the college encourages all researchers to take advantage of the intellectual property and technology transfer training provided by the Office of Technology Management.

These are only a few initiatives that we will be developing and implementing in 2014 and beyond. I look forward to working with faculty, staff, stu-dents, alumni, and administration to make these plans and the continued progress of this wonderful college a reality.

Best wishes for a healthy and happy 2014!Sincerely,

Science Journal December 2013 3

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with Network-based

Network-based modeling is allowing scientists to understand how biological systems produce unexpected kinds of behavior. A network model provides a type of map that traces system interactions; it is a very powerful visualization and analysis tool.

Models


At Penn State, researchers are collaborating using network-based modeling to investigate highly complex biological systems.

Réka Albert, profes-sor of physics and biology, is considered one of the leaders and experts in the field of network theo-ry; she is also credited as being a major contributor to the development of the discipline. In 1999, while Albert was a Ph.D. candi-

date at the University of Notre Dame, she co-au-thored a paper with Albert-László Barabási that introduced the idea of scale-free networks and proposed the Barabási–Albert model, an algorithm for generating random scale-free net-works using a preferential attachment mecha-

réka albert

Models

SCieNCe JourNal December 2013 5

nism. Their work outlined that certain univer-sal rules govern the structure of all networks – whether they be social, technological, or bio-logical – and mathematically described these network structures. This work was a major con-tributor to the development of network science.

Despite Albert’s successful debut as a theo-rist, she realized that she wanted her models to be tested and applied to the understanding of biological systems. Albert came to Penn State to achieve a better understanding of the structure-function relationship of biological systems. The collaborative environment at Penn State gave her an avenue to pursue this goal. “For each of the systems I study I’m trying to find the math-ematical model that describes how the system changes over time. Our models incorporate the specific components and interactions of each sys-tem and use a parsimonious mathematical de-scription of their dynamics,” Albert said. Models are sets of assumptions about how something in nature works paired with algorithms that calculate the consequences of these assumptions. When creating a network model, each element of the system is represented as a network node, and its dynamic status is de-scribed by a state variable. The connection or relationship between two nodes is called an edge; through these edges the nodes affect each other’s state. After successfully describing the normal behavior of the modeled system, Albert uses algorithms to predict the system’s behav-ior in previously unexplored conditions and to find the alteration that leads to a desired be-havior. Her collaborators then test the model’s predictions by doing follow up experiments. In most cases, these experiments will validate the theoretical predictions; the results lead to im-

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ALBERT USES ALGORITHMS TO PREDICT THE

SYSTEM’S BEHAVIOR IN PREVIOUSLY UNExPLORED

CONDITIONS AND TO FIND THE ALTERATION THAT

LEADS TO A DESIRED BEHAVIOR.

provements in the model in cases that they do not validate.

Albert believes that collaboration is the key to moving forward in scientific thinking and in-vestigation. “Innovation often comes from con-necting seemingly disparate concepts and ideas. These connections are easier to make by a team of researchers who contribute their distinct ex-pertise to a common goal.” Albert’s specific ex-pertise in network analysis and network-based modeling contributed to an increased under-standing of plant signaling, the immune sys-tem, and ecological communities. “It is my hope that network thinking becomes widely accepted in life sciences and network-based modeling methods will enter the toolbox of life scientists,” Albert said.

In addition to Albert’s role as a physics fac-ulty member, she has an adjunct appointment

the Department of Biology. She is also affiliated with the College of Information Sciences and Technology, a faculty member of the Integrative Biosciences graduate program in bioinformatics and genomics, and has recently become affiliat-ed with the bioengineering graduate program. She is a member of the Center for Infections Disease Dynamics, and active in the Penn State Network Science Initiative. “All of these appoint-ments and affiliations allow me to break down perceived barriers, be involved in many differ-ent projects, and advise a variety of students in different majors. Our research is driven by an ongoing dialog between experimental measure-


grated projects that have both experimental and theoretical components,” Albert said. When a re-searcher is dealing with a biological system and feels that modeling would lend some insights into their work, Albert collaborates with them to discover a set of questions that can be ad-dressed by network-based methods. Currently, two of the group’s main projects focus on signal transduction networks in plants in collaboration with Sarah Assmann, Waller Professor of Bi-ology, and on the stability of mutualistic com-

ments and theoretical modeling. We build our models on the most salient features of a system, and use our results as predictions and guidance for future experiments. Our diverse, interdisci-plinary projects are characterized by the com-mon goal of identifying organizing principles of complex systems,” Albert said.

Albert leads a theoretical and computational biology group, which develops predictive models of biological systems. “We work in close collabo-ration with experimental laboratories on inte-

the SigNal traNSDuCtioN Network corresponding to abscisic acid induced closure as reconstructed by Song

Li, Sarah Assmann, and Réka Albert in 2006. The color of the nodes represents their function: enzymes are shown

in red, signal transduction proteins are green, membrane transport–related nodes are blue, and secondary

messengers and small molecules are orange. Small black filled circles represent theoretically inferred nodes that

mediate indirect regulatory interactions. Arrowheads represent activation, and flat tips indicate inhibition. Light

blue lines denote interactions derived from species other than Arabidopsis.


munities in collaboration with Katriona Shea, professor of biology.

One of Albert’s most extensive collaboration thus far has been with Assmann, whose re-search focuses on how and why the guard cells that control the pore size of leaves respond to en-vironmental change. Plants lose water and take in carbon dioxide through microscopic stomatal pores, which is regulated by a surrounding pair of guard cells. Plants have developed sophisti-cated signal transduction mechanisms to be able to respond to changes in environmental condi-tions; one mechanism is the closing of stomata in response to drought conditions to curb water loss. Plants respond to dry conditions by produc-ing the hormone abscisic acid (ABA), which in-hibits growth and promotes tolerance of abiotic stresses such as drought. Under dry conditions plants synthesize and redistribute ABA, which triggers a response in the guard cells causing the stoma to close thus conserving water.

Assmann’s guard cell work addresses drought as one of the greatest hindrances to crop growth and yield worldwide. “In developed countries, water for irrigation is becoming an increas-ingly scarce and expensive commodity. In less-er-developed countries, as well as in areas of developed countries that rely on rainfall as the primary source of water for crops, farmers and

karim osman, a junior biochemis-

try and molecular biology major

and mathematics minor, is work-

ing on updating the abisicic acid

(aba) guard cell signaling model

using data generated by the Sarah

assmann lab. “i decided to work on

this project since it seemed to be an

excellent opportunity to see how mathematical modeling

can be used to describe and solve biological problems,”

osman said.

while working on the aba guard cell singling model,

osman stated that the diversity and quantity of biochemi-

cal components involved in aba signaling has surprised

him thus far. the previous model, which his work is based

on, had 41 unique components. the model that is cur-

rently being developed has nearly double that number

of biochemical components. “one aspect of this project

that I find exciting is the way network theory can organize

information in a simple and intuitive theoretical framework

and simultaneously be a powerful method to find emer-

gent properties in biological systems,” he said.

osman became interested in biochemistry following

his participation in his high school’s Science olympiad

team. “i had the opportunity to participate in a protein

modeling event. this experience, and guidance from my

very supportive biology teacher, introduced me to the

more quantitative side of biology. after that becoming a

biochemistry major just naturally followed,” osman said.

working on the aba guard cell signaling project has

allowed him to work with both Sarah assmann, waller

professor of biology, and réka albert, professor of phys-

ics and biology. osman’s participation in this project has

inspired him to pursue graduate studies in computational

biology or bioinformatics in the future.

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Person-to-P

erson

thus consumers are at the mercy of the weather. Adverse weather conditions can lead to poor crop yields, which in turn lead to higher food prices, and, in some geographic regions, hunger, star-vation, and political instability,” Assmann said. Albert, Assmann, and Song Li, their co-advised graduate student who recently completed his Ph.D., synthesized experimental information on drought signaling to construct the signal trans-duction network of abscisic acid-induced stoma-

Sarah aSSMaNN

katrioNa Shea


tal closure and used it to model how a population of stomata reacts to ABA over a specific time period. “Initially we were surprised by the com-plexity and apparent redundancy of the network. The network model we constructed had a large number of seemingly independent pathways through which ABA can drive stomatal closure. When we perfected the dynamic model it became obvious to us that many of the processes needed to work together, it was not actually redundant,” Albert said.

This work was the first of its kind to capture the regulation of more than 40 identified net-work components and to agree with previous experimental results at both the pathway and whole-cell physiological levels. By simulating gene disruptions and pharmacological interven-tions, they found that the network was robust against significant possible perturbations. The analysis revealed novel predictions that the dis-

ruption of certain elements led to strong reduc-tion in ABA responsiveness, while disruption of other elements had little effect due to network robustness. The initial experimental analy-sis assessing ABA-induced stomatal closure in the presence of cytosolic pH clamp imposed by the weak acid butyrate was consistent with the model’s predictions.

This work has led to several investigations into ABA regulation of gene expression. The team, including Rui-Sheng Wang, a phys-ics postdoctoral scholar, analyzed data from global transcriptomes of guard cells generated with Affymetrix ATH1 microarrays and com-pared these results to ABA regulation of gene expression in leaves and other tissues. The team identified 1173 ABA-regulated genes of guard cells that share significant overlap with ABA-regulated genes of other tissues. They also identified a unique cis-acting motif associated with ABA-induction of gene expression specifi-cally in guard cells. Additionally, approximately 300 genes showing ABA regulation unique to this type of cell were newly uncovered by their study. Within the ABA-regulated gene set of guard cells, it was discovered that many of the genes known to encode ion transporters associ-ated with stomatal opening are down-regulated by ABA, providing one mechanism for long-term maintenance of stomatal closure during drought. They also found examples of both nega-tive and positive feedback in the transcriptional regulation by ABA of known ABA-signaling genes. The data provided evidence for cross-talk at the transcriptional level between ABA and another hormonal inhibitor of stomatal opening, methyl jasmonate. These predictions provide targets for future experimental analysis.

The results of their work has produced new insights into the biology of guard cells and revealed unique elements of ABA signaling and


Colin Campbell received his ph.D.

in physics at penn State and is

currently a postdoctoral scholar in

the Department of biology. Campbell

chose this unique path of study and

research in part by the environment

of interdisciplinary collaboration in

réka albert’s lab.

Campbell was initially introduced to albert’s work when

he came to penn State as part of the physics research

experience for undergraduates (reu) program. when he

came to penn State to begin his ph.D., he approached

albert about joining her lab.

in albert’s lab, Campbell worked on models of the

human immune system, and began collaborating with

his current co-postdoctoral advisor, katriona Shea, on

the structure and stability of ecological communities. it

seemed natural to continue his research by accepting a

postdoctoral position in Shea’s lab. the ongoing collabo-

ration has been productive; Campbell, Shea, and albert

recently received a grant from the National Science Foun-

dation to continue their work.

Campbell continues to collaborate with albert on

complex systems analysis in his work on the human

immune system, the stability of ecological communities,

and on mitigating the effects of network damage in

cellular regulatory networks. “In all of these cases, the first

step is to understand how system components interact

with one another, with the eventual goal of being able to

effectively predict and influence the system’s behavior,”

Campbell said.

Campbell frequently tells new graduate students not

to be afraid to explore different areas of scientific study.

“I had anticipated specializing in a more traditional area

of physics, but i am very happy that my career took the

direction that it did. i owe a lot to Dr. albert. beyond the

significant impact that a great advisor has on the scien-

tific development of a Ph.D. student, if it weren’t for her, I

doubt I’d be in the same field,” Campbell said.

Person-to-P

ersonregulation of gene expression in these cells. “We are in the process of redoing the whole ABA-induced closure model because dozens of new components were discovered, including new ABA receptor proteins. The model still needs to capture the previous knowledge it captured before but we expect that some of the open predictions will change. We have to understand that in its entirety to make more informed predictions of what will happen when we start to manipulate plant cells,” Albert said. The team is continuing their work with guard cells with the ultimate goal being the engineering of drought resistant crops.

The collaborative work by Albert, Assmann, and their team is utilizing network models to enhance crops’ water usage in the face of global climate change. Another key to crop growth and development are the insects that pollinate these plants. Some communities of plants and pollina-tors can become so dependent on a single or a few species that their community is vulnerable to collapse. The demise of one species can have a cascading effect on others in the community. For example, honeybees play a crucial role as plant pollinators for many food crops and have been on the decline for years for reasons that are still not fully understood. The decline of the honey-bees and other pollinators raise concerns about the stability of the entire ecosystem. The ability to predict the collapse of ecological communi-ties is a valuable tool due to global patterns of rapid species extinction. A team of researchers at Penn State, including Albert, Shea, Suann Yang, a biology postdoctoral scholar, and Colin Campell, a recent Ph.D. graduate in physics, created a novel network-based model of plant-pollinator community formation to investigate its stability during species elimination.

The researchers sought to establish why some plant-pollinator communities seem so depen-

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dent on just a few key species for survival. They constructed 1000 model networks, each contain-ing 50 hypothetical plant and 50 pollinator spe-cies whose physical characteristics and interac-tions were drawn from distributions reported in the literature. Each species population was modeled as either abundant or scarce. The team


then tested the model communities by randomly deleting some species. They found that with just a few extinctions, the populations could typical-ly adjust, but occasionally an entire community would collapse after the removal of just a few species. “In this work we are actually dealing with model networks, we don’t have enough real data on plants and pollinators in nature. What we do have is distributions that have come from papers that have large amounts of observational data. For this work we are generating a large number of model networks that are based on re-alistic properties so we have much better control over these networks. The real challenge is the interpretation, making the connections between the model and natural systems; every result we have gotten from this work thus far has been translatable,” Albert said.

In the case of the networks vulnerable to collapse, a strongly hierarchical structure or nestedness occurs. The central core of the com-munity is made up by a small group of closely related species. The combination of these two features, large nestedness and a small-intercon-nected core, results in a community that relies too heavily on a single species for survival. “The work that we are doing with Réka really shows how these communities work. It’s beautiful be-cause you can focus on an individual or the en-tire community. That’s why I think it’s so excit-

ing; it’s letting me do something that I couldn’t do with the methods that I already have,” Shea said. The team’s work is novel and can be ap-plied to many different ecosystems around the world. The ability to forecast community col-lapse is an increasing need as loss of the pol-linator population poses a major threat to the diversity and affordability of food crops world-wide. “We can look at our work and say, ‘this network property is really important for stabil-ity,’ but my lab actually does this sort of testing. So instead of attempting to make recommenda-tions on a purely theoretical basis the network is giving us targeted areas for experimentation,” Shea said. The team hopes that in the future the combination of their work with more net-work observations and more experimentation will help to influence policy makers with proven ideas on how to prevent or fix collapsing ecologi-cal systems.

Network theory tells scientists that sub-tle, seemingly unrelated changes to complex networks can trigger sudden and dramatic changes. The work of Albert and her collabora-tors continue to provide new insights into the biological systems that they are studying. Their novel work is ushering in a new climate of col-laborative investigation techniques embracing network modeling to help better understand biological systems.

aN exaMple iNteraCtioN Network between plants

(diamonds) and pollinators (circles). Interactions that

are beneficial for a species are indicated with an arrow,

while detrimental interactions are indicated with a

flat tip. If plant P3 is removed from the community, the

loss has a cascading effect, which results in the entire

community collapsing. CREDIT: Colin Campbell


Innovative Statistical Solutions for Research


Data-driven Assessments Lead the Way for

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12

Innovative Statistical Solutions for Research

Making sense of the data that scientists collect is often a challenging part of research. Scientists employ the use of statistics to analyze data and understand how it is meaningful.

The Department of Statistics has been address-ing the statistical needs of the University and industry for 45 years by providing innovative statistical methods for research; collaborating through two consulting centers; and expanding their educational reach by offering on-campus and online programs.

Statistics supports scientific research by dem-onstrating that conclusions are presented in an appropriate way and are supported by the data. “We not only care about what is true for a par-ticular dataset, we want to understand why a method works,” said David Hunter, professor of statistics and department head.

One type of data that has become increas-ingly valuable in aiding scientific study is digital imagery. The on-going and con-

tinual development of digital data in the form of imagery has presented a need for an automated tagging and cataloging system in order to opti-mize organization and retrieval of these images. The husband and wife team of James Wang, professor of information science and technology, and Jia Li, professor of statistics, have come

together across their respective disciplines to develop a computer system of image annota-tion, Automatic Linguistic Indexing of Pictures – Real Time (ALIPR). This system tags pictures with relevant key words using only pixel infor-mation. The automatic image-tagging system uses novel statistical methods and data mining to link an image’s characteristics with words. This system is fully automated and works at very high speeds.

For computers, identifying the content of an image with no related text is not an easy task. “Recognizing what an image is about seman-tically is one of the most difficult problems in artificial intelligence (AI). Objects in the real world are 3-D. When showing up in an image, they can vary vastly in color, shape, texture, size, and position; a computer usually has no prior knowledge about the variations,” said Li.

Wang and Li have designed a novel-clustering algorithm for objects represented by discrete distributions or bags of weighed vectors. This new algorithm, called discrete distributions (D2) clustering, minimizes the total within cluster distance. D2-clustering generalizes the K-Means algorithm for the data form of vectors to sets of weighted vectors. Although similar to K-Means, D2-clustering involves more sophis-ticated optimization techniques. The duo has

Jia li aND JaMeS waNg


also created a new mixture modeling method, the hypothetical local mapping (HLM) method, to build a probability measure on the space of discrete distributions. Every image is therefore characterized by a statistical distribution; the profiling model specifies a probability law for distributions directly.

Using these new techniques, the computer is trained as it comes across a new image. First, a signature is extracted for each image by analyz-ing two types of features, color and texture, which were chosen because they are relatively abundant in digi-tal photos. Both the color and texture portions of the signature are formu-lated as discrete distributions. After the two features are extracted through D2-clus-tering, the image forms a grid of feature vectors. The HLM method is applied, which produces a model about the concept contained in the image. The computer then assigns a textual description from its trained dictionary of semantic concepts.

Wang and Li are using their vision-process-ing algorithm to train the computer to recog-nize variations that come naturally to the hu-man eye. “Our basic approach is to take a large number of photos – we started with 60,000 pho-tos – and manually tag them with a variety of keywords that describe their contents. For ex-ample, we selected 100 photos of national parks and tagged them with the following keywords: national park, landscape, and tree. We then built a statistical model to teach the computer to recognize patterns in color and texture among these 100 photos and to assign our keywords to new photos that seem to contain national parks, landscapes, and/or trees. Eventually, we hope to reverse the process so that a person can use the keywords to search the Web for relevant im-ages,” Li said. The annotation is based only on

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the pixel information contained within the im-age. Every image is characterized by statistical distributions and the profiling model specifies the probability for distributions.

This advance in cataloging is vital in scien-tific study. “Without computer assistance, re-searchers have to manually classify images.

This process can be slow and fall behind the high throughput of new images,” said Li. The process that the pair developed averages about 1.4 seconds on a 3.0 GHz Intel processor and is the first to achieve a real-time accurate perfor-mance level. Wang and Li’s work is furthering the understanding of the potential of AI as well as a launching point for future technologies. Be-cause of the proprietary information contained in the ALIPR system, the duo has received a U.S. patent to protect their work.

While Li and Wang are pioneering a method to streamline data organization by pixel catalog-ing, another team of researchers at Penn State has developed a way to deal with vast amounts

of data in the study of the possible effects and risk factors of sustained climate change.

A collaborative team of researchers, led by Murali Haran, associate profes-sor of statistics, and Klaus

A TEAM OF RESEARCHERS AT PENN STATE

HAS DEVELOPED A WAY TO DEAL WITH VAST

AMOUNTS OF DATA IN THE STUDY OF THE

POSSIBLE EFFECTS AND RISK FACTORS OF

SUSTAINED CLIMATE CHANGE.

Murali haraN


Keller, associate professor of geosciences and director of a National Science Foundation-spon-sored research network on sustainable climate risk management (SCRiM), have been working on developing statistical methods for climate change, focusing on studies of the Atlantic Me-ridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and the Greenland ice sheet.

The AMOC is part of the global ocean con-veyor belt circulation that transfers heat be-tween low and high latitudes in the Atlantic basin. Researchers are concerned that continued climate change could cause a weakening of the AMOC that would result in considerable changes in temperature and precipitation patterns across the globe. “It is not enough to make a single ‘best’ prediction of future climate; it is also crucial to provide an estimate of the likelihood of various possible future climate outcomes,” said Haran. “This is because even relatively low probability outcomes may have a large impact on society and the global economy. Taking full advantage of available data in a statistically rigorous man-ner requires the development and implementa-tion of novel statistical methods and innovative computational strategies.”

AMOC projections rely on simulations from complex climate models. One of the main sourc-es of uncertainty in AMOC projections is the background ocean vertical diffusivity (Kv). Kv is an important model parameter that cannot be directly observed; this value is inferred by com-bining climate model outputs with observations gathered on the ocean through tracers. Ocean tracers are observations that provide informa-tion about the ocean transport process; these tracers are strongly affected by the value of Kv

and are used to infer the value of Kv. The obser-vations obtained by these tracers can number in the millions and are subject to measurement er-

ror; in many cases, they are irregularly distrib-uted over space.

In order to perform statistical inferences on climate systems, a relationship needs to be established between observations and climate parameters. In their approach, the researchers used a computer model emulator to provide approximate outputs at any parameter setting at a small fraction of the computational time and cost.

The researchers developed a novel approach for inferring climate parameters by combin-ing information from observations and climate model output while accounting for observa-tional error and model discrepancy. They used this approach to learn about the climate model parameter Kv and are able to use this param-eter to make predictions about the strength of the AMOC. The new approach is done in two-stages: in the first stage, a hierarchical model is used to connect the tracers. Kv is then inferred using this emulator and the observations in a Bayesian approach while accounting for obser-vational error and model discrepancy. In the second stage, kernel mixing and matrix identi-ties in a Gaussian process model are utilized to reduce the computational burdens. The result-ing inference about Kv can then be used to make projections about the future of the AMOC. “We found that the methods we developed were flexi-ble and allowed us to work with large data sets,” said K. Sham Bhat, a scientist at Los Alamos National Labs who worked on methods for the AMOC while he was a Ph.D. student in statis-tics at Penn State.

An important advantage to this approach is that it allows the modeling of relationships that are not easily captured otherwise. This method enables the use of exploratory data analysis and knowledge of changing relationships between


spatial fields at differing depths to determine a mean function that captures the non-linear re-lation between them. This allows for the devel-opment of more realistic models for regions in the ocean that have strikingly different climate properties. Delivering an early and accurate prediction of change in the AMOC may improve risk management strategies.

This work, which has appeared in and has been submitted to statistics and climate science journals, has involved graduate students who work at the interface of statistics, climate science, and computing, including Sham Bhat; Won Chang, a Ph.D. student in statistics; and Roman Olson, a graduate student in geosciences; and several other postdocs and graduate students. “It is absolutely essential to have long-term collaborations between climate scientists and statisticians, as well as researchers from other disciplines like meteorology, economics, and ethics,” said Haran. “I am grateful to the Eberly College of Science and Penn State for encouraging cross-disciplinary work and for providing the right environment for these types of collaborations.”

Collaborative scientific work is important to present the best and most complete picture of a body of research. Collaboration also increases the pace of research and encourages the devel-opment of innovate strategies and ideas. The Department of Statistics has two consulting centers available to help foster these types of collaborations: The Statistical Consulting Cen-ter and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Re-search Design (CTSI BERD) core. Both of these centers are available to provide statistical anal-ysis to aid in research being done throughout

Penn State, and in some cases, beyond the Uni-versity community.

The Statistical Consulting Center is an edu-cational service unit within the Eberly Col-lege of Science’s Department of Statistics. The mission of the Statistical Consulting Center is three-fold: to train graduate students to apply their statistical knowledge to solve real world problems and learn the communication skills necessary for interacting with scientists from other disciplines; provide statistical advice in the design and analysis of experiments for re-

searchers; and to uncover, or identify, unsolved statistical problems that stimulate new statisti-cal research.

Working at the consulting center is a key part of the graduate program. Students learn about the scientific or data problems, then make rec-ommendations on how the problem should be handled statistically. “The graduate students get to meet real clients with real research ques-tions,” said Maggie Niu, research associate and faculty consultant at the Statistical Consulting Center. This interaction enhances the students’ ability to communicate statistical knowledge to members of other disciplines who may not have the same level of understanding. This provides them with a useful skill that will serve them far beyond the University. “It’s a lot of work,

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IT IS IMPORTANT THAT RESEARCHERS STAY

AT THE FOREFRONT OF THIS SITUATION

TO DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF

HOW FAST THESE CHANGES ARE OR COULD

BE HAPPENING AND PROVIDE AN

ANALYSIS OF THE RISKS INVOLVED.


but when they leave the program they realize it’s a valuable part of their training if they are going into academics or industry,” said James Rosenberger, professor of statistics.

The CTSI BERD core at University Park provides students and researchers interested in health-related topics with collaborative opportunities and consultation in biostatistics and epidemiology. Areas of consultation include design and analysis strategies for research proposals; sample size and power calculations for research proposals; advice on the selection and implementation of appropriate statistical methods; and, statistical review of grant proposals, protocols, and manuscripts. Full-time faculty provide the consultations at CTSI BERD; services are only provided to members of the University community.

“One mission of Penn State is to improve the well-being and health of individuals and com-munities through integrated programs of teach-ing, research, and service. High quality clinical and translational research will lead to tangible health benefits that improve society. Centers like CTSI BERD support this research. It is very rewarding to work at the CTSI BERD cen-ter and to see statistics being put to use to ad-dress important health-related questions,” said Mosuk Chow, associate professor, senior re-search associate of statistics, and CTSI BERD director at University Park.

The consulting centers are increasing the reach of vital statistical collaborations across the University; however, there is also a need for skilled statisticians outside of the realm of high-er education and research. Organizations de-pend on the analysis and interpretation of data to help reduce risk. In response to this need, the Department of Statistics developed two courses of study through Penn State’s World Campus.

That led to the creation of the online graduate certificate in Applied Statistics, which was the first offering of its type by the Eberly College of Science. The success of the certificate program encouraged the department to create the online master of applied statistics degree, which began accepting applications in 2009. The program now accepts about 75 students each year.

“The key to the online programs’ success is access. The students can attend classes and complete the work on their own time,” said Rosenberger. Half of the students that complete the certificate program, which consists of 12 credit hours, go on to apply for the master’s degree, which consists of 30 credit hours of instruction; the certificate program hours can be applied towards the master’s degree. During the 2012-2013 academic, year there were 1,373 students enrolled for an online statistics course across the two programs.

“The majority of the students who enroll in the online programs are mid-career students; people who have jobs, families, and other obli-gations that would inhibit them from physically coming to campus to complete a traditional resi-dent program,” said Rosenberger. The students that seek out the online programs are dealing with data every day in their current positions.

“Most of the students in the program are highly motivated because they see the immedi-ate relevance of what they are learning in the context of their current jobs,” Rosenberger said.

Through the continued research efforts, a commitment to collaboration, and increased access to statistical learning through the online programs offered by World Campus, the statistical community at Penn State continues to promote an evolving learning environment that influences statisticians around the world.


Millennium Scholars:

Cover Story


Millennium Scholars:

A typical July day starts with breakfast at 6:30 a.m., includes eight hours of classwork, and ends with four hours of math recitation and study sessions before the students return to their dorm rooms at 11:00 p.m. The students move quickly as a group between classes, workshops and seminars – without cell phones, iPods, or laptops. They rush to be on time. They work, eat, and live together.

Meet the first cohort of Penn State Millennium Scholars, a group of aca-demically talented science and engi-neering students who, as incoming col-lege freshmen, have committed to the long-range pursuit of a research career and attainment of a doctoral degree. The six-week summer bridge program

Beginning with the End Goal in Mind

that begins the Penn State Millennium Scholars program is an intense boot camp experience for academic all-stars. It is designed to introduce the students to the academic and research environ-ment at Penn State, to build cohesion and community among the scholars, and to provide them with the coaching


and network that will help these high-achieving students reach new levels of excellence in sci-ence and engineering. The summer bridge pro-gram prepares them for college and beyond into graduate programs and their future careers.

The Eberly College of Science welcomed the first cohort of Millennium Scholars in June of this year. This group of talented and moti-vated students has a range of backgrounds and interests. In addition to a shared dedication to academic excellence in the classroom and lab, Millennium Scholars have also committed to working in an inclusive environment that en-courages participation by students from all backgrounds; thirteen of the Millennium Schol-ars are from traditionally under-represented minority groups. Of this first cohort comprised of twenty students, ten aspire to major in sci-ence. The students mostly call Pennsylvania home, but hail from as far away as Dallas and Fort Lauderdale. Every one of the students was a top academic performer in his or her high school classes and cultivated a focus on academ-ic excellence.

Building the ProgramThe Millennium Scholars program began as a collaborative project between the Eberly College of Science and the Penn State College of En-gineering, modeled after a similar program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) – the highly regarded Meyerhoff pro-gram, which over the last 25 years has gradu-ated over 800 students. Approximately 90% per-cent of the graduates of the Meyerhoff program continue their education in graduate school; 70% of those students are under-represented minorities. These results are a striking contrast to the national average graduation rate in sci-ence of less than 50%, and half that for students of color.

The Meyerhoff program is a national model and success story; Penn State has benefitted from a robust partnership with UMBC to build the Millennium Scholars program over the last year. The aim of the program at Penn State is to translate the core principles and program components to the much larger, more geographi-cally isolated and less diverse University Park campus. Combined with the core strengths of Penn State – world-class research and facilities,

Cover Story

“THIS PROGRAM EPITOMIZES WHAT

I WANT TO DO IN MY CAREER AND

WHAT I HOPE TO ACHIEVE. I AM SO

GRATEFUL THAT MILLENNIUM SCHOLARS

PROGRAM ExISTS BECAUSE IT HAS GIVEN

US COUNTLESS OPPORTUNITIES TO MEET

AND CONNECT WITH PEOPLE, A STRONG

SUPPORT SYSTEM OF FRIENDS, AND AN

INCREDIBLE ADVISING SYSTEM.”taylor SouCy, CheMiStry


along with outstanding faculty – the Millenni-um Scholars Program provides undergraduates with a truly exceptional opportunity.

As a Millennium Scholar, each student re-ceives a substantial scholarship of at least $15,000 annually. Research shows that fund-ing alone is insufficient to attain the high levels of achievement, graduation, and perseverance to graduate programs, which are aims of the program. The Millennium Scholars program is comprehensive in its approach to address the multivariate factors that can lead to disparities in participation and retention in science and en-gineering. A core component of the program is an integrated, hierarchical support network of peer mentors, advisors, faculty, and alumni. Students meet and interact with many individuals, start-ing during the summer bridge and throughout their college years, who provide coaching on all aspects of their college and career. The summer program also cultivates a strong sense of unity, or family belonging, among the students. Shed-ding the high school competition mentality, the Millennium Scholars learn the value of team-work and develop a shared expectation for group achievements. “Being in a small group with peo-ple that take education so seriously motivates

all of us to work harder, help each other, and achieve great things,” said Millennium Scholar Taylor Soucy.

The first Millennium Scholars cohort is a cohesive unit, and relies on each other as a com-munity of socially conscious scholars pursuing research careers in biochemistry and molecular biology, biology, chemistry, forensic science, and physics. They aim to participate in community service projects each semester, knowing that with the opportunity that they have been given comes the expectation that they will in turn impact their communities. Beginning with their fall semester, the Millennium Scholars work with the college’s Office of Outreach and Science Engagement to identify projects that link their interests in science with community engagement.

The Eberly College of Science is committed to preparing the scientific innovators of tomorrow. Through the establishment of the Millennium Scholars program, the college is demonstrating that academic excellence and scientific innova-tion is best achieved by ensuring diversity in thought and inclusive participation. Implemen-tation of the core principles of the Millennium Scholars program is already resulting in the

MS. SHARP OBTAINED HER B.S. IN BIOLOGY AND

M. S. IN CANCER BIOLOGY FROM TUSKEGEE

UNIVERSITY. BEFORE COMING TO PENN STATE,

SHARP WORKED IN SUMMER RESEARCH

INTERNSHIPS AT WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY,

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, OHIO STATE, AND

SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE, AND WORKED

ON TRANSLATION RESEARCH IN A RADIATION

ONCOLOGY LAB AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA.Starlette Sharp, DireCtor oF the MilleNNiuM SCholarS prograM


effusion of best prac-tices throughout the college. For example, in fall 2013, groups of stu-dents were ‘cohorted’ in groups of 25 by co-en-rolling them in at least two science classes, with the aim that they would form learning commu-nities. In another ex-ample, the “Learn to Learn” class that was developed for the summer bridge program was delivered in focused workshops for some of the freshman seminar courses in the college. In-structional practices will evolve, just as expec-tations and attitudes about women and minori-ties in science will rise; expectation is that over time there will be a college-wide impact that results more broadly in the improved retention and success of all students in science.

Summer Bridge ProgramSeven days a week for six weeks, starting immediately after high school graduation, is a lot to require of a new college student. Pulling together a meaningful program also requires

Cover Story

the teamwork of staff and faculty from four different colleges at Penn State. Components of the programming include enrollment in seven credits of coursework in mathematics and in educational psychology. The Millennium Scholars also participated in workshops in chemistry and engineering design to hone their problem solving skills and give them a jump-start on their fall semester coursework. Experts talked with the students about professional development and leadership, team building, and stewardship: they learned everything from elevator pitches to proper handshakes. A highlight of the summer was participation in the well-known World in Conversation program, which uses facilitated dialog to open conversation about emergent issues including race relations, gender equity, and international conflict. The students participated in dialogues with each other, and with individuals around the world via video feed to Afghanistan and Pakistan, to spark mindfulness about diversity and its central importance in scientific advancement and innovation.

Although the primary purpose of the sum-mer bridge program was to academically chal-lenge the students, the program also provided

“THE MILLENNIUM SCHOLARS

PROGRAM PROVIDES US

WITH OPPORTUNITIES AND

PRESENTATIONS THAT INSPIRE

ME TO REACH MY FULL

POTENTIAL. ”kaleb bogale, biology

THE MILLENNIUM SCHOLARS ALSO

PARTICIPATED IN WORKSHOPS IN

CHEMISTRY AND ENGINEERING

DESIGN TO HONE THEIR PROBLEM

SOLVING SKILLS AND GIVE THEM

A JUMP-START ON COURSEWORK

THEY HAVE IN THE FALL SEMESTER.


multiple opportunities to expand their thinking, explore new areas, and meet new people.

Most freshmen do not begin their academic career at Penn State with a working knowledge of the research facilities and laboratories on campus. Professor Squire Booker led the Mil-lennium Scholars’ “Introduction to Research” discussions during the summer bridge, giving them an inside look at how researchers think and what they do. These sessions were comple-mented by tours of the Materials Research In-stitute facilities in the brand new Millennium Science Complex, and research laboratories in chemistry, biochemistry, and physics. The stu-dents visited the Breazeale nuclear reactor and the Larson Institute’s Test Track. Additionally,

Penn State Science alumnus and businessman Rick Grazzini hosted the Millennium Schol-ars at his company, GardenGenetics, where they learned about the science, the start up, and the importance of intellectual property. By the end of the six weeks, each of the Millennium Scholars had a head start on where to go – and what to do – to identify faculty research men-tors for their undergraduate research projects.

One hot Saturday morning, the Millennium Scholars went to Penn State’s Stone Valley Vertical Adventures, which boasts one of the largest challenge courses on the east coast. The students donned helmets and safety gear, and climbed the nets to the 40-foot tall Odys-sey course. Teams of two to six students worked


together to navigate this high-ropes structure, and, in the process, they developed their prob-lem solving, teamwork, and communication skills. They built trust as they steadied each other while leaning, scrambling, and jumping from log to log, thirty feet in the air. Trium-phant, they flew down on the zip lines.

On another trip, after boarding buses at 5:00 a.m., the Millennium Scholars rode in the early morning hours to the National Institutes of Health. Despite the early morning departure, Millennium Scholar Kaleb Bogale calls the trip to NIH “the highlight of my summer.” The students toured the Clinical Center in Bethesda and talked with researchers working in the National Genome Research Institute. The trip culminated in a visit to the Clinical Movement Lab to learn about experiments that measure human movement data used to research a wide variety of movement disorders and diseases.

During a separate day trip to Baltimore, the students met their counterparts at UMBC, with whom they commiserated about the rigors of their summer bridge program and lack of sleep. It was an important opportunity that let the students feel a part of the larger community to which they now belonged, and to also hear from program alumni. Former UMBC Meyer-hoff Scholars, who are now at Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University, gave presentations on the importance of academic endurance, resilience, and the myriad benefits of program participation. Small group breakout sessions, facilitated by UMBC alumni volun-teers, encouraged the students to discuss issues and challenges, and to keep the focus on aim-ing high. The Millennium Scholars left feeling proud and purposeful – they knew that they are the first of many more cohorts of students that will come after them to Penn State.

Cover Story


“WE KNEW THERE WERE GOING TO BE LONG DAYS AND

CHALLENGES AHEAD, BUT THE SUMMER BRIDGE TRAINED

US TO BE DILIGENT AND PREPARED.” eMily CribaS, taylor CurtiS, rebeCCa pleSSel, ForeNSiCS

The end of the summer academic boot camp culminates with a celebration luncheon that officially inducts the students into the Millennium Scholars program. Plenary speaker and math faculty Nate Brown tells the students, “Every time I pushed you harder, you rose…and you kept rising to every challenge I gave you.” Joined by their parents, faculty, administrators, and staff from across campus, the students’ parents learn from the

Millennium Scholars what they accomplished in six short weeks and their aspirations for the coming months and years. There are hugs and tears – they have worked hard, slept little, and transformed into scholars who are focused on, and ready to work toward their goals. Together, as a group, they stand and say: “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life like a champion. Focus. Focus. Focus.”


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Portrait of a Chemist:

beNkoviC receiving his National Medal

of Science from President Obama in 2010.


A chemistry professor discovers the clues to treating some of our most troubling diseases in his quest to understand enzymes.

Our darkest thoughts often plague us during the solitary hours of the night. And so it was for Stephen Benkovic who found himself lying awake at 3:00 a.m. worried that he had missed something important in his experiment or – even worse – that he was headed down the wrong path altogether.

“My greatest fear is that I am completely wrong,” says Benkovic. “It’s a terrorizing thought, especially when you are discovering things people haven’t seen before.”

Benkovic, Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry and holder of the Eberly Family Chair in Chemistry at Penn State, is not the sort of person one would imagine would second-guess himself. After all, he’s what some might call a “superstar” scientist. For example, he is considered to be among the most prominent mechanistic enzymologists in the world; he is a winner of the National Medal of Science; and he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and

Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and the American Philosophical Society, among other honors. He is also a highly sought-after scientific consultant. In addition, he has advised over 100 graduate and postdoctoral students and maintains an entire floor of laboratories and offices in Wartik Laboratory.

But like all good scientists, Benkovic maintains a healthy dose of fear and concern about the quality of his work, a trait that he says helps ensure that the work is performed to the highest possible standard.

“I pride myself and our group on the fact that our work is done very well,” he says. “We check and re-check everything we do. So, even if other people argue about how we analyze or interpret our data, we at least know they can reproduce it. When it comes time to publish our results, we stand behind them.”

“Borderline” ResearchSince 1965, Benkovic’s research has been shap-ing the fields of chemistry and biochemistry. He says he owes much of his succes to the fact


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that his work has taken place at the borderline between the two disciplines. In fact, his ad-vice to the next generation of scientists is to avoid latching onto others’ areas of interest – what he calls “doing derivative work” – and instead “looking for new vistas.”

“Some of the more challeng-ing, but gratifying, science is done by people who are in two intersecting areas and find a boundary line that has all kinds of problems that have not been tackled,” he says.

Benkovic’s latest “border-line” research involves a multi-enzyme complex that he and his group discovered in 2008, called a purinosome. Using fluorescence imaging technol-ogy, in which fluorescent pro-teins are attached to molecules of interest and viewed under a special microscope, Benkovic and his colleagues were able to determine that the puri-nosome is composed of eight enzymes that come together with the purpose of creating purines, compounds that are involved in DNA replication and, therefore, cell replication.

“Cancer cells have very high demands for purines,” said Benkovic. “So we thought if we could find a way to disrupt the formation of the purinosome, it could become a potential new target for designing therapeutics for treating cancer that would be much more selective and would work at lower doses.”

In 2010, Benkovic is standing on a stage, having just received the National Medal of Sci-ence from President Barack Obama, who by the way, upon bestowing Benkovic with the pres-tigious honor clapped him on the shoulder and

in the 9th grade, Michelle Spiering wrote her english

term paper on the human genome project.

“i’ve always been interested in DNa,” says Spiering,

a research associate working in Stephen benkovic’s

laboratory. “i’m fascinated by how DNa is made and

why it works the way it does. It’s amazing that your entire

genome has to be replicated every time your cells

divide and that it happens so accurately and quickly.”

Spiering focuses her research on DNa replication in a model system called

bacteriophage t4, a type of bacteriophage that infects e. coli bacteria.

According to Spiering, the enzyme DNA polymerase moves along the two

strands of DNa, incorporating bases—akin to the rungs on a ladder—which

then attach to each other to form the DNa double helix.

“a long-standing question is how does lagging strand [DNa is made up of a

lagging strand and a leading strand] synthesis occur, because the lagging-

strand DNA is synthesized in short little fragments; the DNA polymerase stops

and starts over and over again,” says Spiering. “how does it know when to stop

and start a new fragment? i’m testing a new hypothesis that there is actually

something sitting on the DNa that causes the DNa polymerase to stop and start

again. i’m trying to show that when DNa polymerase runs into this roadblock—

which i think is an rNa primer—it comes off the DNa much faster than it would if

there wasn’t anything in front of it.”

to test her theory, Spiering is taking a piece of DNa, binding a polymerase to it,

and then either adding an rNa primer block or not. “the polymerase will move

one base at a time closer to the block, and if it hits the block, my theory is that

it falls off,” she says. “So i can then measure how much polymerase comes off

into solution.”

Spiering, who is conducting the work in collaboration with benkovic and others

in the lab, says her biggest hope is to see DNa polymerase replicating DNa in

real time.

“We’ve been building toward this goal using magnetic tweezer technology, and

we are entering the last stages of the project,” she says. “what we will actually

see through a microscope is not the DNa polymerase itself; rather we will see a

diffraction pattern around magnetic beads attached to the DNa. we should see

the diffraction pattern get bigger, then shrink, and then get bigger and shrink

again as the DNA is replicated. To think that pattern is the result of an enzyme

or whole complex of enzymes doing something to the DNA is mind boggling

because you can’t directly see the DNA or the enzymes; they’re too small. I

think we’re very close to achieving this goal.”

A F

ascination w

ith D

NA


said, “That medal looks good on you!” Next to Benkovic is another medal winner, a scientist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology named Susan Lindquist.

“We started talking about what she was do-ing, and I learned that she was working on one of the enzymes in the purinosome, but she was working on it from the point of view of how it’s important in neuron activity,” says Benkovic.

“Sue had discovered that HSP90 suppresses the so-called ‘deranged biochemistry’ that leads to certain neurodegenerative diseases, like Al-zheimer’s disease and age-related senility. So now it turns out that not only does the purino-some play a role in cancer proliferation, it also may be important in maintaining the normal operation of neurons.”

Benkovic adds, “Just a few days ago, Sue and I were talking on the phone and we discussed the possibility that maybe the purinosome has to be brought in at a certain time to keep the neuronal circuitry operating normally. We are excited because we don’t know where this will lead. In my career, I’ve learned that projects have multiple doors that often lead in directions you never expect.”

One of those directions came about as a result of a casual lunch with Katherine Schimmel, an art historian. The two began to discuss Re-naissance paintings and the often-asked ques-tion of their authenticity. Schimmel wondered if the aging of the oil component of the paints

might lead to various oxidation products that accumulated over time. So in collaboration with Schimmel and Nick Winograd, a leading mass spectroscopist at Penn State, Benkovic is ana-lyzing how the lipids in paint oils age over time.

“Our hope is that we will be able to date works of art in a manner analogous to how C14

is used to date fossils,” says Benkovic. “We run the risk of being very unpopular if we find some

Italian masterpiec-es are forgeries, but the challenge is too enticing to forgo.”

In addition, Ben-kovic is working with Tony Huang, associate professor

of bioengineering at Penn State, to use nanode-vices, called acoustic tweezers, to manipulate objects, including living materials such as blood cells and entire small organisms. The team test-ed the tweezers, which use sound waves to move objects, to trap and manipulate Caenorhabdi-tis elegans (C. elegans), a one-millimeter-long roundworm that is an important model system for studying diseases and development in hu-mans. According to Benkovic, acoustic twee-zers also are capable of precisely manipulating cellular-scale objects that are essential to many areas of fundamental biomedical research.

NOW IT TURNS OUT THAT NOT ONLY DOES THE

PURINOSOME PLAY A ROLE IN CANCER PROLIFERATION,

IT ALSO MAY BE IMPORTANT IN MAINTAINING THE

NORMAL OPERATION OF NEURONS.

Schematic of an acoustic

tweezers device.

CREDIT: xiaoyun Ding, Stephen J.

Benkovic, and Tony Jun Huang,

Penn State University.


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In his earlier work, Benkovic and his col-leagues discovered another way to manipulate tiny things – they used light to control certain proteins that catalyze biochemical reactions. In their experiment, the scientists designed a hy-brid protein by inserting a light-sensing protein from an oat plant into an enzyme from the bac-terium E. coli. After engineering the two compo-nents together, the researchers found that they could manipulate the enzyme’s activity by shin-ing a light on the light-sensing protein.

“The technology worked like a light switch,” says Benkovic. “When we shone a light on the light-sensing enzyme, its activity increased, and when we shut the light off, its activity decreased.”

The technology already is being used by phar-maceutical companies to investigate the pos-sibility of turning off the activities of disease-causing proteins in cells.

uSiNg light to CoNtrol proteiNS. The scientists

attached a light-sensing protein (sensor) from oat

plant to an enzyme from E. coli. When they shined

white light (stimulus) on the sensor, the enzyme’s

activity increased (output). Credit: Stephen J. Benkovic

A Chemist From the Get-GoWith almost five decades of research accom-plishments that are described as being highly original and of unusual breadth behind him and numerous cutting-edge projects on the docket, Benkovic is living his childhood dream. “I was a scientist from the get-go, which was really rath-er unusual because no one in my family was a scientist,” he says.

A third-generation American, Benkovic was raised by parents who, despite suffering from a lack of resources and opportunities as a result of the Great Depression, felt strongly about the im-portance of education. “We didn’t have comput-ers, of course, but we had a Book of Knowledge and Encyclopedia Britannicas, and my parents would read Shakespeare to me,” he says. “They really wanted my brother and I to have a chance to do something that circumstances and history blocked them from doing.”

Benkovic started doing chemistry in his fami-ly’s basement when he was in junior high school. “My parents were always concerned I’d burn

the house down,” he says. “I made bombs, rockets, mortars, whatever. One time I even drew the attention of the police!”After high school, Benkovic attended Le-

high University, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and English literature. He then went to Cornell University to pursue a Ph.D. degree. It was there that he married his wife Pat, whom he had met at Lehigh.

“Pat was a chemist by training, graduating from Chestnut Hill College,” says Benkovic. “She never got her Ph.D. degree; back then women were not really pushed to become educated beyond receiving a bachelor’s degree. But, alongside me, she has done enough work for ten Ph.D.s.”


Pat has assisted with many of the experi-ments for which Benkovic is famous and is the repository of many of the lab’s experimental techniques. The couple moved to Penn State in 1965.

“When we first started, biochemistry was just classifying the enzymes; we were learning that these enzymes were indeed proteins,” says Benkovic. “So our research started out with the investigation of individual enzymes. We then moved on to investigating enzymes in clusters and then to investigating enzymes in the cell.”

Where Benkovic has gone, others have fol-lowed, according to Craig Cameron, Eberly Chair in Biochemistry and Molecular Biol-ogy. “Steve is a pioneer,” says Cameron. “He not only benefits from existing technology, but

works with whomever he needs to to develop the technology necessary to answer the questions he poses. He asks important questions, comes up with the most insightful hypotheses, and is relentless in his pursuit of the answers to the questions he poses.”

Motivated By OutcomesFrom the time he first began to pursue an un-derstanding of enzymes, Benkovic has been captivated by the complexity of the mechanics of life. “As things start to unfold, it’s so beautifully complicated, so intricate, you just marvel at it,” he says. “For example, everything is interact-ing; there’s nothing that seems to be working by itself. You look at cells and everything is so complex and everything seems to count and you try to understand how it all goes together. It’s a great puzzle.”

Benkovic is particularly proud of the work he has done on DNA polymerase, an enzyme that is responsible for DNA replication. “DNA polymer-ases are absolutely amazing enzymes,” he says. “Here is a protein that makes a mistake once out of every 10 million times. And it copies 500 bases of DNA every second.” Using state of the art single molecule methods where the replica-tion by a single polymerase can be measured, his group in collaboration with the Croquette lab in Paris, has uncovered the steps the poly-merase executes to achieve such fidelity.

When Benkovic first began investigating the properties of a second enzyme, dihydrofolate re-ductase – a key target for anti-cancer and anti-bacterial drugs – most scientists believed that enzymatic catalysis took place at a very small part of an enzyme, called its active site. So when developing drugs against various diseases, they focused only on such sites. Both Benkovic and

beNkoviC aND

other MeMberS of

Benkovic’s research team

have studied the importance of “clamp loader”

enzymes and their activities during DNA replication.

In this image, the clamp loader is represented, for

illustrative purposes, by a hand, which is loading the

sliding clamp ring onto DNA. Credit: Stephen J. Benkovic


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a few others suspected that there must be some role for the remaining major part of the enzyme molecule. He and his colleagues started to gen-erate dihydrofolate reductase enzymes with mutations far from the active site that greatly altered the enzyme’s activity. In short, the en-tire protein dictated the enzyme’s properties possibly through coupled movements of various parts of the molecule.

“It became obvious that we needed to be thinking about developing drugs that work out-side the active site that could impede the motion of the enzyme,” he says.

As Benkovic fits together more and more pieces of the puzzle, he gets closer and closer to his goal of finding treatments for a range of diseases. Already his research has led to new drugs designed to treat diseases such as bacte-rial infections, HIV, and cancer.

For example, his California-based biophar-maceutical company, Anacor, is using his re-search results on the element boron to discover, develop, and commercialize novel small-mole-cule therapeutics to treat a variety of diseases. The choice of boron as an element in antifungal and antibacterial therapeutics derived from his research aimed at find-ing novel inhibitors of DNA methyltransferases in a collaborative proj-ect with Lucy Shapiro at Stanford University. Pharmaceutical compa-nies did not favor the in-corporation of boron into potential drug molecules, yet the Benkovic lab found such molecules were unusually potent in-hibitors and were unexpectedly nontoxic. One of the drugs Anacor has developed and is in the

process of commercializing has the potential to cure atopic dermatitis.

“Atopic dermatitis is a serious disease in young children,” says Benkovic. “It’s a rash from top to bottom that causes children to scratch themselves all the time. Our drug would be the

a key Step iN the CreatioN of adenine and guanine,

also called purines, are two of the four building blocks

that comprise DNA and are essential for cell replication.

This protein assembly called the purinosome forms

under conditions of purine starvation and can be

modulated by changing purine levels from purine

rich (A) to purine depleted (B) in the cell and by the

addition of exogenous factors such as kinase inhibitors

or effectors of GPCR activity. The ability to halt purine

synthesis could prove to be a valuable method for

treating cancer. Credit: Stephen J. Benkovic

PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES DID NOT FAVOR

THE INCORPORATION OF BORON INTO POTENTIAL

DRUG MOLECULES, YET THE BENKOVIC LAB FOUND

SUCH MOLECULES WERE UNUSUALLY POTENT

INHIBITORS AND WERE UNExPECTEDLY NONTOxIC.

first one that parents could feel they could use safely on their children because it does not have a steroidal component. If we are successful with this, I think that would be very satisfying.”


Stephen and Pat Benkovic.

The drug is now in Phase II clinical trials.Benkovic always has gained a great deal of

satisfaction from participating in the process of discovery. “It’s exciting to find a new phenom-enon that you didn’t even know was there and then try to figure out why it’s there and what it means in relationship to other phenomena that you know about,” he says. Yet, he adds, nowadays he is even more passionate about the outcome.

“We’re seeing great progress,” he says. “Ev-eryone now knows that cancer is a multi-factori-al disease and that it is also probably a personal disease in the sense that your lung cancer or prostate cancer or breast cancer is not quite the same as everybody else’s. We are learning that we can be much more specific about how to treat it, so rather than wipe out every cell, we can be selective because we have much more informa-tion about the pathways that are involved. We

A phosphorylation

cascade in signaling

networks . Credit: Stephen J. Benkovic

are discovering new biological targets for attack. It’s so exciting to be able to take results from the research I’ve been doing for so long and see it finally being transferred to human health.”

And that, says Benkovic, is the antidote to a sleepless night.


alumni gift enables Faculty to Share teaching Strategies

The Eberly College of Science is invested in increasing stu-dent understanding and reten-tion of scientific information. The Center for Excellence in Science Education (CESE) was founded in 2010 by the college to provide faculty and students with a collaborative educa-tional network that promotes excellence in science teach-ing and learning. CESE is a resource for faculty to learn about innovations in research-based educational principles, to improve their methods of communicating course con-tent, and to encourage higher student achievement.

CESE has received several contributions from donors and alumni; among the strongest supporters of the center are Susan (Mathematics ’66) and Cada (Education ’66) Grove. The Groves have been active supporters of the University, donating both time and money over the years. One of their

most recent contributions to the CESE was used to fund a series of faculty workshops aimed at sharing ideas, techniques, and proven methods to improve science education. The Groves believe that teaching is a skill that needs to be taught. “Subject mastery does not automatically mean that someone knows how to teach and communicate ideas to students,” Susan said. Cada added, “It’s not just about course development – it’s about how to convey the subject matter.”

The inaugural CESE Sum-mer Faculty Institute was held May 20-24, 2013. The

workshops were presented by five Penn State Science faculty and one invited speaker from St. Cloud Technical and Com-munity College in Minnesota. The presenters from Penn State included: Denise Woodward, lecturer of biology; Richard Cyr, professor of biology; Jennelle Malcos, lecturer of biology; Meredith Defelice, senior lecturer of biochemistry and molecular biology; and Eric Hudson, associate profes-sor of physics. This series of half-day workshops were aimed at sharing research-based prac-tices in science pedagogy with faculty to spark discussion, encourage collaboration, and

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Katherine Masters leads a “Just in Time” workshop.


further develop the science teaching community. Topics of the workshop included: new re-search on learning and how to apply it to the classroom, ac-tive learning, building learn-ing communities in mass lec-ture halls, using technology in the classroom, and improving learning assessments. “Sci-ence is moving at such a pace that it really requires lifetime learning to keep up. We have to establish and model that for our students,” said Jacque-line Bortiatynski, director of CESE and senior lecturer of chemistry.

While the majority of the 42-summer institute par-

ticipants were science faculty, there were also a few partici-pants from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs outside of the college. “It is extremely important that all of us are aware of initiatives and prac-tices across the University. Having the opportunity to build a larger community of practice was beneficial to all the participants. Everyone at the workshops was really interested in what we could provide for the students,” Bortiantynski said.

Right before the beginning of fall semester, CESE of-fered a series of “Just in Time” workshops to give educators ideas to enhance the start of the academic year. These workshops included: “Ele-ments of an Effective Sylla-bus,” presented by Katherine Masters, senior lecturer of chemistry; “Incivility in the Classroom,” presented by John Waters, lecturer of biology; and, “Get SMART: Design Learning Objectives for Your Course,” presented by Larkin Hood, instructional consultant at the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excel-lence, and Bortiantynski.

In the future, CESE plans to increase faculty engagement to foster a more interdisciplin-

ary environment across the STEM programs at Penn State. CESE will reoffer and revise programs when there is inter-est and welcomes feedback from faculty about scheduling and content of future workshops.

Looking for more in-depth information about any of the workshops? Be sure to check out the presentation notes from all past CESE workshops online at http://cese.science.psu.edu/.


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Although ethics in science education is imperative in a student’s future career, it is not something that is explicitly taught in many undergraduate science courses. While under-graduates may get a sample of ethical training in their lab courses, they often are not exposed to formal ethics education in technical science courses unless a faculty mem-ber decides to make it part of the curriculum.

Richard Frisque, professor of molecular virology, sought to increase ethical training for undergraduates by incorporating ethics into his MICRO411: Seminars in Microbiology course 25 years ago. Although Frisque had no formal training in ethics himself, he felt that it was necessary to provide such training to his students in order to prepare them for future careers in science. “Misconduct in universities came to be recognized as a serious problem in the 1980s; the national exposure to this problem raised significant

concerns within university labs and among researchers. I felt the need to do something at Penn State to educate and train students so that they had the skills to make good decisions as scientists,” Frisque said.

Frisque decided to teach through case studies in his first attempt at integrating ethics into his MICRO411 course. He shared short articles on ethical situations in science and microbiology; students responded positively and encouraged Frisque to continue the course to provide other students with the same experience. Although Frisque only taught the course for a few semesters, some of his colleagues in biochemistry and molecular biology took the cue and incorporated the ethical component as well when teaching MICRO411. The initial push to encourage other faculty to incorporate ethics into the undergraduate curriculum was successful; the course continues to be taught today and faculty continue to

include an ethics portion. Six years after teaching

his first undergraduate ethics course, Frisque received his first formal ethics training when he was selected to attend a weeklong course at the Illinois Institute of Technology. The training, which focused specifically on introducing ethics into technical undergraduate courses, required him to begin integrating ethics into a course at Penn State the very next semester. As a result, in 1995 he revamped BMB480: Tumor Viruses and Oncogenes, a course he had been teaching since 1985, by devoting two full class periods to discussing ethics topics in virology. In the course, students were presented with real-world cases of ethical misconduct and were taught how to approach and understand these ethical problems.

“We could use a lot more than two class periods per semester devoted to examining these ethical situations; stu-dents reacted very positively to

Integrating

Ethics into the Undergraduate Curriculum


the integration of ethics into the course and were actively engaged in the discussions,” Frisque said. This course also yielded success; Frisque con-tinues to teach the class and commits two class periods to teaching and discussing ethi-cal issues.

Because of the positive student and faculty reaction to the introduction of ethical components, in 2010, Nor-man Freed, former associate dean of undergraduate educa-tion, approached Frisque and encouraged him to connect with Nancy Tuana, director of the Rock Ethics Institute at Penn State, to develop train-ing for other science faculty. Together they developed a weeklong workshop, held over the summer, for Eberly Col-lege of Science faculty. The annual workshop, which began in 2011, invites one faculty member from each depart-ment, plus forensic science, for a total of eight faculty per year. The goal of the workshop is to provide faculty with the knowledge and skills needed to introduce research and professional ethics into their technical courses. It provides an overview of ethical frame-works, concepts, and prin-ciples, as well as techniques for identifying and addressing ethical issues.

Tracy Langkilde, associ-ate professor of biology, partici-pated in the training during summer 2012 to enhance the work she was already doing with ethics in her animal be-havior course. “Understanding one’s ethical responsibilities is a critical component of being a scientist, and researchers that study an animal’s behavior have additional important con-siderations,” Langkilde said.

Although she always incorporated a discussion of ethics into her course, she did not have a structured, systematic approach for doing so. “During the ethics workshop, I learned that there’s actually a framework we can use to systematically think about ethics and evaluate scenarios. I incorporated this into my animal behavior course in the spring and the students really liked this approach – having a framework helped them, and me, to identify ethically relevant facts, identify alternative courses of action, and evaluate the ethics of these. Understanding why we have the ethical beliefs we do, and how we can evaluate the ethics of our decisions, is as important in everyday life as it is in science,” Langkilde said.

Ben Lear, assistant professor of chemistry, took

the opportunity to participate in the ethics workshop this past summer even though he did not think that his research had much ethical relevance. “As an inorganic chemist I don’t often work with human subjects. Nor do I make new drugs, or work on the manufacture of weapons. As such, I do not often deal with the stickier ethical issues encountered in the sciences. At least that was my impression before my first day in the Rock Institute’s ethics workshop,” Lear said.

During the weeklong workshop, he learned about the subtle and complex ethical decisions that lie quietly below the surface of daily activities as scientists. “Although the University has clear legal guidelines regarding data ownership, legal and ethical considerations are not always identical,” Lear said.

The workshop opened Lear’s eyes to the ethical decisions that are a daily part of a scientist’s life and also ignited his desire to share what he learned with others. “Now when I teach freshmen chemistry, my students will be required to participate in discussions regarding data ownership. Besides providing me a platform to discuss ethics with my students, this


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will also provide them with a more personal connection to the scientific material that forms the core of the class. Besides positively affecting my understanding of ethics and the sciences, the Rock Ethics Institute’s summer workshop will be impacting the lives of 380 freshmen each semester,” Lear said.

Working together, Frisque and the faculty who have participated in the workshop

over the years, have infused ethics education for science undergraduates. Their dedication ensures that undergraduate courses will continue to integrate ethics into the curriculum. Dean Daniel Larson has made a commitment to continuing to evolve ethics education in the undergraduate curriculum. The current Eberly College of Science strategic plan emphasized the need for ethics

education and highlights how undergraduate education would be enhanced with the addition of ethical training. Penn State Science graduates will be even more prepared for their future careers as scientists when they are conversant in ethics and responsible conduct of research. The college plans to continue to support and expand these efforts in future years.

Joseph Dixon, 1919 to 2013

Joseph Dixon, professor emeritus of chemistry and

former head of the penn State university Department of

Chemistry, died on February 7, 2013 at the age of 93.

Dixon began his career in chemistry in 1937 as an

undergraduate student at penn State, receiving his

b.S. and M. S. degrees there before earning his ph.D.

degree in chemistry in 1946. he joined penn State as

a member of the chemistry faculty in 1955, attaining

the rank of professor in 1961. his research interests

included the study of compounds of organolithium and

organomagnesium, the structure of molecules, and the

physical properties of organic systems.

In M

emoriam

he was named assistant head of the department in

1967, and then he served as head of the department

from 1971 until his retirement on June 30, 1984. upon his

retirement, he was honored with the title of professor

emeritus of Chemistry in recognition of his superb

and transformative leadership in transitioning the

Department of Chemistry into a leading research

organization.

Donations in his memory may be made to the Joseph a.

Dixon endowment in Chemistry and should be mailed

to the Department of Chemistry, 104 Chemistry building,

university park, pa 16802.


Thomas Wartik, pro-fessor emeritus of chem-istry and dean emeritus of the Penn State Uni-versity Eberly College of Science, died on May 29, 2013, at Foxdale Village in State College at the age of 91.

Born October 1, 1921, in Cincinnati, Wartik began his career by grad-uating from the University of Cincinnati in 1943, doing research related to the Manhattan Project atomic-energy program at the Metal-lurgical Laboratory of the University of Chicago during the World War II and then earning a doctorate in chemistry at the University of Chi-cago in 1949.

In 1950, he became an assistant professor of chemistry at Penn State. He was promoted to associate professor in 1956 and to professor in 1961. He served as head of the Department of Chemistry from 1960 to 1971. He then served as dean of the college from 1971 until his retire-ment in 1984.

At the time of his retirement, when he was honored with the ranks of emeritus professor and emeritus dean, Penn State President Bryce Jordan honored Wartik for his “superb leader-ship and dedication to science.” Under Dean Wartik’s leadership, undergraduate enrollment in the college increased by 41 percent and sup-port for research grants and contracts increased from about $3 million to more than $15 million.

Thomas pictured in 1986.

Penn State Mourns Thomas Wartik, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and Dean Emeritus

Jordan said, “Penn State has the national sci-ence reputation that it does in large part because of Tom Wartik’s leadership in the areas of teach-ing and research.” Wartik also played a key role in attracting a $10-million gift from the Eberly Family that created an endowed chair in each of the college’s academic departments, a gift that Jordan predicted “will assure a very bright fu-ture for Penn State’s College of Science.”

In 1987, Penn State honored Wartik by nam-ing a large new research facility on the Universi-ty Park campus in his honor, Wartik Laboratory.

“Tom’s many capabilities were manifest in his enlightened leadership of chemistry and later as dean of the Eberly College of Science. Under his kind, gentle demeanor was a total, unflinch-ing commitment to high quality standards in teaching and research,” said Stephen Ben-kovic, Evan Pugh Professor and Eberly Chair in Chemistry.

A memorial service was held on Saturday, June 22, at Foxdale Village in State College. Me-morial gifts may be made to Penn State Eberly College of Science, 427 Thomas Building, Uni-versity Park, PA 16802. Please indicate “Thom-as Wartik” on the memo line of the check. Gifts may also be made online at www.givenow.psu.edu by checking the “Eberly College of Science” box and indicating that the gift is in memory of Thomas Wartik in the “other:” box.


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What are Eberly College of Science students planning to do after they graduate? How many students have a job offer? Where do they go to medical school? What increases the likelihood of student success after Penn State? Prospective students and their parents ask these common questions year after year; this year, the college is able to respond to them more accurately and supply data to support the responses.

In spring 2013, the college administered a survey to all science students graduating with an undergraduate degree to develop a better un-derstanding on what students plan to do post-graduation. The survey, which was designed to gather data on undergraduate student expe-riences, as well as document post-graduation goals and intentions, has enabled the college to accurately identify post-graduation plans for a majority of its undergraduates.

A condensed version of the survey was ad-ministered to all students in April at gradua-tion checkout; 92% of the graduating students completed the survey. This abridged version con-tained questions that were identified as the most important for assessing student activities and post-graduation plans. A full version was then administered to approximately half the graduat-ing class via e-mail, providing students with a two-month window to complete the survey.

From the data received from both college sur-veys, 52% of the graduating class reported that they planned to attend graduate or professional school. Another 8% had already secured a full-time job, and 30% were seeking full-time profes-sional employment. The remaining 10% of the

respondents planned on working for a non-prof-it, such as the Peace Corps, Teach for America, or had other plans.

Nearly 75% of the graduating class partici-pated in academic opportunities outside of the classroom, including undergraduate research, internships, externships, cooperative education, or study abroad experiences. These activities enabled students to utilize skills that they had learned during their coursework and apply them to real-world situations. The surveys suggest that students who participated in these academ-ic extra-curricular activities were more success-ful in being accepted into post-baccalaureate programs or securing full-time employment.

The results reinforce the message that stu-dents who choose to participate in activities outside the classroom are more successful in achieving their post-graduation goals. Because of this, the college is generating and implement-ing strategies to ensure that all science students gain experience through co-op, internship, and externship programs or study abroad opportuni-ties. Research shows that getting involved in re-search and other activities early in an academic career leads to higher retention and graduation rates in STEM and paves the way to better job prospects or post-baccalaureate options after leaving Penn State.

Experience Outside the Classroom Gives Undergrads an Edge


25+ years of Service:Michael AkritasHarry AllcockJames AndersonGeorge AndrewsG Jogesh BabuCarol BakerAugustin BanyagaPaul BaumPiotr Berman Robert BoorKenneth BrownDonald BryantDavid BurrowsAlbert CastlemanMoses ChanMilton ColeDaniel CosgroveDohn DunmireDaniel DurachkoEric FeigelsonKen FeldmanLynda FisherLuann FranklinRichard FrisqueMartin Furer Raymond FunkBarbara GarrisonSabrina GlasgowMurat GunaydinRebecca HalpennyRoss HardisonBeverly HazzardSteven HeppelmannTeh-Hui KaoValarie KelleyBarbara KennedyRobert KormanMelissa LachatLuen-Chau LiWen-Ching LiBruce LindsayJohn Lintner

Maria LongBruce LordCathy LutzDennis MarinceMark MaroncelliPrzemyslaw Maslak Andrea MastroJulian MaynardHenry McCoullumPeter MeszarosDouglas MillerWebb MillerChris MoyerGary Mullen Randi Neshteruk B Tracy NixonJohn NousekDavid O’NeillAdrian OcneanuAnthony OmeisTheresa PetersRonald PorterLawrence RamseyMary Anne Raymond Lisa ReiterRichard RobinettJames RosenbergerAyusman SenCarl SillmanAndrew StephensonMing TienChen-Pei TuChristopher UhlLeonid VasersteinSteven WeinrebRoy WillisNicholas WinogradEric YounkenJerie Zitek

25 years:Stephen Schaeffer

20 years:Abhay AshtekarSarah AssmanLeonid BerlyandPaula FarwellJoyce Greslick Lori LauckAmy LeddyThomas MalloukCheri McConnellVictor NistorJo SnyderYuriy Zarkhin

15 years:Andrew BelmonteSandra BerkeyEvelyn BradleyFrancesca ChiaromonteClaude DePamphilisMarcella FickesLee FinnRyan JabcoJainedra JainMark LeviChun LiuHong MaKathryn McClintockBarbara McGrathJennifer ParkesJohn RoeSteinn SigurdssonDonna SosnoskiSong Tan

10 years:Réka AlbertGretta Armstrong Alberto BressanStephanie GookinArthur LeskKateryna MakovaAnna Mazzucato

Katsuhiko MurakamiAnton NekrutenkoAlexei NovikovChris Palma Denise PattonWen ShenJennifer ShookChristopher StahlNatalie SummersonAdrian Weaver Andrew WiesnerElena YakhninaAe Ja YeeAndrew Youstic

5 years:Simon BlanfordDavid BoehrTomás Carlo-JoglarGong Chen Laurie DasherJohn GajewskiGarth GregorTara ImmelAmanda JonesCrystal KachikTodd LaJeunesseRalph LinzDarlene MiceliJenna NeffScott PhillipsLisa Sergeant Bradley SeylerPaul ShaffnerScott ShowalterStanley SmithMichael StrohTina ThomasSusan UngerMichael Zeman

years of Service recognition We’d like to take this opportunity to recognize the years of service that our faculty and staff have committed to Penn State. The college is fortunate to be able to recognize 158 dedicated members of the college community for their service in 2013.


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research leading to practical Benefits for SocietyIntellectual property and its transfer to public use and

commercial application are essential components of

the research, education, and outreach missions of the

Eberly College of Science. Since research is conducted

for the purpose of generating new knowledge, it’s

critical that faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and students

are properly trained on how to manage the intellectual

property that results from their discoveries. Beginning

with the fall 2013 semester, the college requires all

new graduate students and postdoctoral scholars to

receive training in the recognition and development

of intellectual property and technology transfer.

Additionally, the college encourages its students to

take advantage of the intellectual property and

technology transfer training provided by the Office

of Technology Management.

kenneth keiler, associate

professor of biochemistry and

molecular biology, whose research

is described in this column,

discovered a unique aspect of

protein synthesis in bacteria known

as trans-translation. This type of

protein synthesis does not exist

in other life forms; therefore, it is

a potential target for a new class of antibiotics that

would likely improve the treatment of potentially fatal

diseases. Because of the uniqueness of the research

and its findings, Keiler and his collaborators have filed

for a provisional patent of their work to protect the

intellectual property.

Keiler is just one of many faculty members across the

college whose research has led to a patent, and

hopefully, future public utilization. Each upcoming issue

of Science Journal will feature a faculty member and

their intellectual property as the focus of this column.

– Andrew Stephenson, associate dean for research

and graduate education

Bacillus anthracis (anthrax)

cells being killed by a molecule

studied by Keiler. The molecule

is naturally fluorescent and it

looks blue when it is excited by

ultraviolet light in the microscope.

Credit: Keiler lab, Penn State University

Diseases such as tuberculosis, anthrax, and shigellosis – a severe food-borne illness – eventually could be treated with an entirely new and more-effective kind of antibiotic, thanks to a team of scientists led by keiler. the team has found that certain molecules inhibit the growth of very distantly related bacteria by stopping trans-translation, a “quality control” mechanism that is found in all species of bacteria that enables the organism to properly synthesize the proteins that it needs for survival. keiler discovered the trans-translation step as a graduate student in 1996. Since his discovery, he has been working to find molecules capable of disrupting this particular stage of the protein-synthesis pathway.

to discover which molecules might be capable of disrupting trans-translation, keiler and his team tested about 663,000 molecules against a strain of e. coli and monitored how they were affecting the trans-translation process. at the end of these tests, the team had found 46 different molecules that appeared to be effective in the disruption of this process.

the team then tested these molecules in bacteria that are known to cause illness; Shigella, and Bacillus anthracis. one of the molecules, kkl-35, showed to be very promising. “in both bacteria tested we were able to show that in the presence of kkl-35 the cells died specifically because the molecule halted the trans-translation process,” keiler said.

one of the most exciting features of an antibiotic designed from kkl-35 concerns the unlikeliness of drug resistance in mutant strains of bacteria.

the protection of intellectual property with commercial potential is a crucial piece of the technology transfer process. By having the support of the University to file patents and own intellectual property, scientists like keiler can protect discoveries until they are ready for public use or commercial application.

Intellectual Property F

ocus


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Astronomy black holes and galaxies in the universe

A major discovery in obser-vational cosmology in recent years is that most, if not all, nearby galaxies harbor a supermassive black hole at their center, including our own Milky Way. More strikingly, the mass of the black hole strongly correlates with the properties of its host galaxy. However, the origin of the correlations remains an unsolved problem. A team led by Professor Yuex-ing Li, which includes gradu-ate student Qirong Zhu and undergraduate Sydney Sher-man, has developed a new model to explain this ubiqui-tous yet puzzling phenomenon by combining theoretical simu-lations and observational data of black holes in galaxies.

Zhu has performed a suite of state-of-the-art cosmological simulations, which include the physics of both dark matter and baryons, to self-consistently follow the formation and evolu-

tion of galaxies and black holes from the cosmic dawn to the present day. Meanwhile, Sherman has compiled a large galaxy sample from observa-tions of different galaxy types, at different dynamical stages, and at different cosmic times. By combining both simula-tions and observations, the team investigated the relations between black holes and their galaxies, finding that the observed correlations are results of the balance between gravitational and kinetic energy, and self-regulated star formation and black hole growth in galaxies.

Both Zhu and Sherman reported these new findings at the American Astronomical Society meeting in January 2013. They have also finished two papers for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, one on modeling led by Zhu, the other on observations led by Sherman. Currently, Sherman is working on a new project to study effects of feedback from stars and black holes on the formation, evolution, and properties of galaxies, another outstanding issue in astrophysics.

Yuexing Li, assistant professor of astronomy & astrophysics

Sydney Sherman presenting a poster at the AAS meeting in Long Beach in

January 2013.


Departm

ent New

s

After 64 years, a major reno-vation is coming to our gener-al and organic chemistry labs. Whitmore Laboratory, built in 1949, has been approved for a $34 million dollar renovation. This project will involve gut-ting the first and second floors of Whitmore and a complete makeover of our general and organic instructional labora-

tories. There will also be a major overhaul of Whitmore’s HVAC, plumbing, and electri-cal systems. Renovations are scheduled to begin in 2015 and will take one-to-two years to complete.

Over the last twenty years, our instructional labs have been shifting from cookbook to more project-style labs when-ever possible. The renovations will support these trends in chemistry education.

General chemistry will be expanding from eight labs that can accommodate 216 students, to ten labs that will provide instruction for 240 students at once. In addition, an eleventh multi-purpose room will be added, which will provide space for instrumentation, special types of instruction, and student projects. This

multipurpose room will have space for 24 students and capacity for live broadcasts of lab instruction to any of the ten general chemistry lab rooms, or in principle, to anywhere in the world.

The ten new lab rooms will not be identical; each will offer different layouts and storage arrangements that will support a branched approach to general chemistry labs. Currently, we are offering a variety of “spe-

cialty sections” in addition to the mainstream courses. These specialty sections present chemistry in thematic contexts, such as biological, materials, and environmental chemistry. This contextualizing of instruc-tion has been shown to improve student interest and under-standing.

The new organic labs will in-volve alternating rows of hoods and open benches that will im-prove sight lines and facilitate student interactions. This will create small lab “communities” while preserving the efficiency of a large open space. The renovations will also add a new advanced organic lab that will be used for 400-level organic work and for honors students at the 200-level. The advanced organic lab will be designed in a similar manner to our organic research labs. For example, each hood will be outfitted with double manifold lines to support inert atmosphere reactions.

These renovations will enable us to provide high quality lab instruction for the next genera-tion of scientists.

Joe Keiser, lecturer in chemistry

A conceptual drawing of the renovated Whitmore lobby

(not yet formally approved by the Board of Trustees).

Chemistry Chemistry labs to undergo renovations to accommodate More Students


The Department of Mathemat-ics is expanding in multiple dimensions, including: wel-coming a larger number of new undergraduate students; hiring new instructional and research faculty; securing new research grant sources; recog-nizing excellence in teaching and research; employing new postdocs; and, establishing the Center for Interdisciplinary Mathematics.

Undergraduates: In 2013, the department graduated 129 math majors, which is the largest number in recent memory. In fall 2013, we have approximately 12% greater enrollment than last fall.

New Hires: Our online activities are steadily increasing in pace with the World Campus level. Combining research, funding, and online teaching revenue, the department was able to make 30 new hires that carry both research and teaching, including a tenure-line associate professor, John Harlim, hired jointly with Meteorology via the

cyberscience cluster hiring initiative.

Funding: Leonid Berly-and, professor of mathematics, received an RO1 NIH grant. Jinchao Xu, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics, re-ceived a $1 million dollar grant from PetroChina.

Awards and Honors: Cindy Parsons, senior lecturer of mathematics, received the Uni-versity’s George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teach-ing. Marc Fabbri, senior lecturer of mathematics, won the Eberly College of Science

Mathematics Math Department experiencing growth and New opportunities

C.I. Noll Award for Excellence in Teaching. Graduate student Sankha Basu won the Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award from the Graduate School. The University honored Dimitri Burago and Ping Xu with the title of Distinguished Professor of Mathematics. Fifteen members of the math department were selected to become American Mathemati-cal Society FellowsYuxi Zheng, department head and professor of mathematics


Faculty awards and honors

Gong Chen, assistant professor of chemistry, has been honored with a 2013 Amgen Young

Investigator’s Award. The annual award is given by Amgen to young investigators whose scientific contributions impact the field of drug discovery.

Renee Diehl, professor of physics, was honored as the September 2013 Woman Physicist of the

Month by the American Physical Society. Diehl is best known for her research on using low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) to address frontier problems in surface science.

Debashis Ghosh, profes-sor of statistics, has been honored with the Mortimer Spiegelman

Award of the American Public Health Association.

Kurt Gibble, professor of physics, has been honored with the 2013 European Frequency and

Time Award for his research on the atomic clocks that keep international atomic time.

Dennis Lin, professor of statistics, has been elected a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical

Statistics, which honored him for his contributions to experi-mental design and response-surface methodology, and for service to the profession.

Thomas Mallouk, Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry, Physics, and Biochemistry

and Molecular Biology, has been selected as a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Fellows are nominated by their peers and selected for their out-standing achievements in and contributions to the sciences and the profession, and for providing excellent volunteer service to the ACS community.

C.R. Rao, Emeritus Holder of the Eberly Family Chair in Statistics, has been awarded

an honorary doctorate degree from the State University of New York. This is Rao’s 37th honorary doctoral degree.

Mercedes Richards, professor of astronomy and astrophysics, was honored as the July

2013 Woman Physicist of the Month by the American Physical Society. Richards was lauded for her research on the dynamic interactions between close binary stars by the society’s Committee on the Status of Women in Physics.

Faculty

Spotlight


Marylyn Ritchie, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and the

director of the Center for Systems Genomics, has been selected as a 2013 Kavli Fellow and has been invited to serve as a member of the organizing committee for the Kavli Fron-tiers of Science symposium.

Alexander Wolszczan, Evan Pugh Professor of Astronomy and Astrophys-ics, has been

honored with the 2012 National Geographic Traveler Grand Prix award, which is given annually for overall achieve-ment in travel, science or exploration along with the pursuit of a life-long passion. Wolszczan was honored in May 2013 at a ceremony in Warsaw, Poland.

university/College awards

Gong Chen, professor of biology, has been appoint-ed as holder of the Verne M. Willaman

Chair in the Life Sciences. The appointment, effective on 1 July 2013, was made by the Office of the President of the University, based on the recommendation of the dean, in recognition of Chen’s national and international reputation for excellence in research and teaching.

Claude dePamphilis, professor of biology, has been selected to receive the 2013 Penn

State Faculty Scholar Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Life and Health Sci-ences. Established in 1980, the award recognizes scholarly or creative excellence represented by a single contribution or a series of contributions around a coherent theme.

Faculty promotions

Congratulations to the following

faculty members on their recent

promotions in academic rank:

to professor:

andrew belmonte, mathematics

Squire booker, chemistry

Nathaniel brown, mathematics

gong Chen, biology

Anna Mazzucato, mathematics

alexei Novikov, mathematics

benjamin owen, physics

Mary beth williams, chemistry

to associate professor:

iliana baums, biology

todd laJeuenesse, biology

lasse Jensen, chemistry

tae-hee lee, chemistry

william Noid, chemistry

timothy reluga, mathematics

Melissa rolls, biochemistry

and molecular biology

lorraine Santy, biochemistry

and molecular biology

Zhibiao Zhao, statistics


Facu

lty Spotlight

Masatoshi Nei, Evan Pugh Professor of Biology and director of the Institute

for Molecular Evolutionary Genetics at Penn State University, has been

honored as the recipient of the 2013 Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences. The

Inamori Foundation presents the international award to individuals who

have contributed significantly to the progress of science, the advance-

ment of civilization, and the enrichment and elevation of the human

spirit. The foundation honored Nei in recognition of his “research on the

evolution of biological populations using quantitative analyses of genetic

variation and evolutionary time.”

In announcing the award, the foundation stated, “Dr. Masatoshi Nei

made it possible to discuss evolutionary divergence, genetic diversity,

and the mode of selection on genes in a quantitative manner by devising

diverse statistical methods such as Nei’s genetic distance, and apply-

ing them to molecular data. Using these methods, Dr. Nei’s research

has yielded important contributions to molecular evolutionary biology,

as well as to many other academic disciplines including ecology and

conservation biology.” The award, which includes a diploma, a monetary

prize, and a gold medal, was bestowed upon Nei during the Kyoto Prize

Presentation Ceremony in Kyoto, Japan, in November 2013.

Nei has worked with many collaborators in his development of various

statistical methods to determine the molecular mechanisms of biological

diversity and of evolution. He has constructed a mathematical theory for

studying the evolutionary relationships of different species using molecu-

lar data. A statistic named for him, Nei’s genetic distance, is a corner-

stone of population genetic analyses. This measure makes it possible to

estimate the origins of populations and the times of their divergence from

Kyoto Prize Awarded to Penn State’s Masatoshi Nei

New Faculty

Amie Boal, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and chemistry, is

working to understand how microorganisms acquire and use metal ions. The goal of her research program is to identify new ways to treat bacterial infections and to improve efficiency in enzymatic reac-tions important in biotechnol-ogy applications. Before joining Penn State, Boal was a post-doctoral scholar in Northwest-ern University’s Department of Molecular Biosciences. She earned a doctoral degree at the California Institute of Technology in 2008 and a bachelor’s degree at Pomona College in 2002.

Benoît Dayrat, associate professor of biology, is a naturalist who studies the

evolution and biodiversity of marine invertebrates. Dayrat and his students travel to remote locations across the globe, exploring and searching

for new species. He also uses his empirical research to address theoretical and biological questions of broader interest in systematic and evolutionary biology. Before joining Penn State, Dayrat was an associate professor at the University of California at Merced, where he had served as a faculty member since 2006. Dayrat earned a doctoral degree in 2000 at the Université Paris 7 in France and a master’s

degree in 1996 at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in France.

Eric Ford, professor of astronomy and astrophysics, is working to understand the origins of

planetary systems. The goal of his research program is to translate the observed diversity of planetary systems into impli-cations for the formation


Penn State administrators honored Nei with a reception in August.

(L-R) President Rodney Erickson, Dean Daniel Larson, Masatoshi Nei, Doug Cavener,

and Provost Nicolas Jones.

common ancestors. Nei applied this technique to human populations

and obtained the first evidence pointing to the African origins of modern

humans. This paper on genetic distance has been listed among the 1000

most-cited papers in all scientific fields. However, a more influential paper

is about the proposal of the “neighbor-joining” method of constructing

phylogenetic trees. It is one of the most highly cited papers in the entire

field of biology, and the number of citations is about 33,000 times, but

growing by the day.

Nei earned a bachelor’s degree in genetics at the Miyazaki University of

Japan in 1953, and he earned a master’s degree and a doctoral degree in

quantitative genetics at Kyoto University in Japan in 1955 and 1959, respec-

tively. Nei joined the Penn State faculty in 1990 as distinguished professor

of biology and founding director of the Institute of Molecular Evolutionary

Genetics, and was named Evan Pugh Professor of Biology in 1994.

histories of planetary systems in general, and our solar system in particular. Before joining Penn State, Ford was a Miller Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley; a Hubble Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; and a faculty member at the University of Florida. He earned a doctoral degree at Princeton University in 2003 and bachelor’s degrees from MIT in 1999.

Ephraim Hanks, assistant professor of statistics, focuses on the statistical

modeling of processes that give rise to data that are correlated in space or time. He uses interdisciplinary research and has applied novel statistical approaches to address questions in landscape ecology, animal movement, and spatial disease mapping.

Before joining Penn State, Hanks was a graduate student at the Colorado State University. He a earned doctoral degree at the Colorado State University in 2013, and master’s and bach-elor’s degrees at the Utah State University in 2010 and 2002, respectively.

John Harlim, associate professor of mathematics and meteor-ology, is interested in

merging theoretical and numerical work on differential equations, numerical analysis, and statistics to advance predic-tion and understanding of complex turbulent dynamical systems. He is currently work-ing to develop practical filtering algorithms for assimilating data from complex turbulent systems for use in improving weather and climate predictions. Before joining Penn State, Harlim was an assistant professor of mathematics at the North Carolina State University. He earned a doctoral degree at the University of Maryland in 2006 and a master’s degree at the University of Guelph in Canada in 2001. He earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Padjadjaran in Indonesia in 1998.


Facu

lty Spotlight

Scott Lindner, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology,

investigates critical aspects surrounding the passage of the malaria parasite from a mosquito to mice and humans. Recent work from Lindner has uncovered an abundant and critical assembly of proteins and RNA, which helps to maintain the parasite’s ability to remain infectious while awaiting transmission from the mosquito. Before joining Penn State, Lindner was a staff scientist at the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute. He earned a doctoral degree at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research at the University of Wisconsin in 2006 and a bachelor’s degree at the Florida Institute of Technology in 2001.

Manuel Llinás, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular, focuses on

Plasmodium falciparum, the deadly parasite that causes malaria and is responsible for

over half-a-billion annual cases of the disease worldwide. Llinás and his colleagues have focused their work on the blood stage of parasite devel-opment by studying the parasite’s mechanisms of gene regulation. In addition, Llinás also has been studying and characterizing the metabolic network of Plasmodium. Before joining Penn State, Llinás was an associate professor of molecular biology and a member of the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton Univer-sity. He earned a doctoral degree in molecular and cell biology at the University of California at Berkeley in 1999. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University in 1992.

Monica Medina, associate professor of biology, focuses her research on

different aspects of coral-algal symbiosis and coral-microbe interactions. In addition, her group is studying the evolution of biomineralization in early animals. Her lab uses a combination of experimental field-based approaches with

molecular and genomic tools. Before joining the Penn State, Medina was an associate professor at the University of California’s School of Natural Sciences. She a earned doctoral degree at the University of Miami in 1998 and a bachelor’s degree at the University of Los Andes in Colombia in 1989.

Miguel Mostafá, associate professor of physics, focuses his research on ultra-high

energy cosmic rays, the most energetic and rarest of par-ticles in the Universe. While much progress has been made in nearly a century of research in understanding cosmic rays with low to moderate energies, those with extremely high ener-gies remain mysterious. He has been working on ultra-high energy cosmic rays as a mem-ber of the Pierre Auger Col-laboration for more than ten years. Before joining Penn State, Mostafá was an associ-ate professor of physics at Colorado State University. Mostafá obtained a master’s degree in nuclear engineering and a Ph.D. in high-energy particle physics from Instituto Balseiro in Argentina.


Matthew Reimherr, assistant professor of statistics, studies scientific

problems that involve process-es evolving in complex ways over time and space. To tackle these types of problems, he develops tools based on func-tional data analysis, which is concerned with establishing statistical procedures for objects that can be viewed as functions or trajectories. He is especially interested in applying these tools in the context of genetic studies with variables measured over time. Reimherr earned his master’s and bachelor’s degrees at the University of Utah in 2008 and 2006, respectively. He earned a doctoral degree at the University of Chicago in 2013.

Ben Shaby, assistant professor in statistics, focuses on statistical methods that

have applications in the geosciences, particularly questions about climate. He studies the behavior of a

sub-class of spatial processes that he considers especially critical for understanding impacts of climate change, those that represent extreme events like heat waves or intense drought. Before joining Penn State, Shaby was a postoctoral scholar at University of California, Berkeley, and at Duke Univer-sity. He completed his doc-toral training at Cornell University in 2009, and his bachelor’s degree at Stanford University in 2001.

Lingzhou Xue, assistant professor of statistics, is working in the research area of high-dimen-

sional statistical learning and inference. Xue is interested in the statistical analysis of complex networks, statistical inference of large covariance matrices and large-scale optimization algorithms. Before joining Penn State, Xue was a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton Univer-sity. Lingzhou received a doctoral degree at the Univer-sity of Minnesota in 2012, and a bachelor’s degree at Peking University in 2008.


Undergraduate Student Awards and Honors

2013 Myriant Corporation Scholarship winners announced

The Myriant Scholarship recognizes outstanding undergraduate students who are interested in pursuing careers in bioenergy and/or energy sustain-ability, and is generously sponsored by the Myriant Corporation of Quincy, Massachusetts. Myriant’s Chairman and CEO Stephen Gatto is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board in the Eberly College of Science, and estab-lished this scholarship because Penn State Science is uniquely positioned to train future scientists and leaders in the field of bio-sustainability.

Congratulations to the 2013 Myriant Corporation Scholarship for excellence in bio-energy and energy Sustainability:

Daniel Cetnar, Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyClay Swackhamer, Biological EngineeringGrant Elledge, Chemical EngineeringSteve Tran, Chemical EngineeringChristopher Rae, BiochemistryNicole Bernstein, Chemical EngineeringMustafa Hammudi, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

2013 braddock Scholarship recipients

The Braddock Scholarship, an award for exceptional freshman science stu-dents, was established by the late Homer Frick Braddock, a Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania native, who earned his bachelor’s degree in mining engineering from Penn State in 1906. The Braddock Scholarship is available to outstand-ing high-school seniors who are interested in studying science at Penn State. Since 1984, this generous gift and prestigious financial award has provided needed and helpful funds to over 240 deserving students.

Congratulations to the 2013 braddock Scholars: Nathan ArnettLaura BeebeAlice CaiSarah N GalangKenneth Hall

Jingyi JiangJames JohnstonMichelle LaiElizabeth LeskoAmar Paul

Joseph PuthenpurayilAmanda ReeseKokila ShankarGrant Smith

Student Spotlight


Imagine, as a young scientist, to have

the chance to travel to Germany

for a week and learn from 34 Nobel

Laureates. Sound like the opportunity

of a lifetime? For two Penn State

Science students, this dream trip was

a reality during summer 2013.

For the first time in Penn State’s his-tory, both a gradu-ate and undergrad-uate student were selected to attend the 63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate

Meeting. Nella Vargas-Barbosa, a graduate chemistry student, and Maddie Sherlock, an undergraduate chemistry student and Schreyer Honors College Scholar, were selected to join the annual international meeting, which focuses on promoting the global spread of knowledge in the areas of chemistry, physics and physiology. Out of 20,000 applicants, only 625 young research-ers, representing 78 countries, were selected to attend this prestigious event. The multi-step ap-plication process was extensive; aside from being recognized as an outstanding young researcher by a selection committee, both students also had to obtain approval from their respective sponsor-

Networking with Nobel Laureates: Two Students Selected to Attend the 63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Germany

ing agencies and the Lindau Meeting Council. The main criterion for selection was to be a mo-tivated young researcher who demonstrates ded-ication to research with strong recommendations and academic background. Attending the meet-ing is more than just sitting and listening to speakers; it provides researchers with a unique opportunity to exchange knowledge and ideas, to share their enthusiasm for science, and to estab-lish new contacts with scientists from around the world.

Vargas-Barbosa, who works alongside Tom Mallouk, Evan Pugh Professor of Materials Chemistry and Physics, had a particular inter-est in attending this year’s meeting, where one of the focuses was sustainable resources. “I am conducting research on the basic understanding and further development of photoelectrochemi-cal water splitting devices. The reason why this interests us is because these devices could enable us to use sunlight to generate inexpen-sive electricity and hydrogen fuel from water.

Nella vargas-barbosa

Maddie Sherlock


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It is imperative that research focuses on ways to generate electricity and fuels that do not rely on carbon-based materials, and therefore, mini-mize environmentally detrimental CO2 emis-sions,” Vargas-Barbosa said. The main topics of the 2013 Lindau Meeting were green chemistry, chemical energy storage and conversion, and bio-chemical processes and structures.

Although her research area was not one of the focus areas of the meeting, Sherlock chose to attend for the experience of engaging with other enthusiastic young researchers and learn-ing from renowned scientists. “There were mul-tiple lectures and discussions focused on energy and climate change. Although my research [on a nucleic acid folding structure (G-quadruplex) and its fluorescent properties] is completely un-related, I found these sessions intellectually stimulating as we approached them from both a research perspective and from the perspective of non-scientists and politicians,” Sherlock said.

Each day of the meeting followed the same schedule. The mornings began with the Laure-ates lecturing for approximately 30 minutes on the topic of their choice, which ranged from basic research to career and life advice. “Ada Yonath [2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient] gave an excellent summary and explanation of the results on the structure and function of the ri-bosomes, as well as very encouraging words to female scientists that could be hesitant about the possibility of meeting the expectations of balancing a career and family at the same time. Richard Ernst [1991 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient] discussed the importance of having a non-science related passion. These various lec-tures taught me about the importance of main-taining a healthy work-life balance, something easily forgotten when immersed in interesting

and long experiments,” Vargas-Barbosa said.At a lunch sponsored by the Department of

Energy, Vargas-Barbosa was surprised with a birthday cake and “Happy Birthday” serenade from the U.S. delegates to recognize her birthday on July 1. “Sir Harold Kroto [1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient], one of the discoverers of bucky balls, was sitting at my table. He gave me a strong handshake and personally wished me a happy birthday. This is my most treasured moment of the time I spent in Lindau,” Vargas-Barbosa said.

The afternoon provided students with a chance to interact with the Laureates on a more personal level. “In the afternoon, we had several special topic panels, made up of Laureates and other experts in the field. The discussion ses-sion, were more like a more personal Q&A ses-sion with one Laureate. While the lectures were great to get an impression of each laureate, the discussion sessions were the most inspiring,” Sherlock said. Many Laureates spent this time discussing the projects that led them to the No-bel Prize and answering questions about their current research. “It was very enlightening to hear about their thought process through the development of the projects that earned them the Nobel Prize. It was very encouraging to hear their stories about how they continued to pursue their projects despite of obstacles and failures; it made me realize the characteristics of a success-ful scientist,” Vargas-Barbosa said.

“The conference was really the chance of a lifetime,” Sherlock said. Vargas-Barbosa had the same sentiment, “Attending the meeting was a priceless experience that I view as anoth-er step closer to my professional goal to become an influential research scientist and chemistry professor.”


Ciera L. Johnson of Hughes-ville, Pennsylvania, was honored as the student mar-shal for the Eberly College of Science during Penn State University’s summer com-mencement ceremonies on Saturday, 10 August, 2013, on the University Park campus. Johnson’s faculty escort for the commencement exercises was Kimberlyn Nelson, a senior lecturer in the Department of Biology.

Johnson graduated from Penn State with a 3.72 grade-point average and a bachelor’s degree in biology. She was on the dean’s list during semes-ters in 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2013 and she was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Delta Pre-Medical Honor Society.

During her freshman year at Penn State, Johnson was a member of the Pride of the Lions Pep Band. In addition, she served as an economics teaching assistant for Dirk Mateer, a senior lecturer in the Department of Econom-ics. Her role as a teaching assistant included grading papers and proctoring exams. She also helped pioneer a new Facebook group for students with teaching-assistant roles. Johnson plans to pursue an advanced degree to become a pharmacist.

Johnson said she was both honored and humbled by being selected as student marshal. “My advice for other students is not to take anything for granted. Your time at Penn

Ciera l. Johnson Represents Penn State’s Eberly College of Science

as Student Marshal at Summer Commencement 2013

Summer 2013 Student Marshal

State flies by and if you don’t take advantage of the many opportunities available here, you will regret it,” Johnson said. “I loved my years at Penn State and I certainly will miss everything about it.”

Johnson, a 2009 graduate of Hughesville High School, was accompanied at commence-ment by her mother Lynda Clarkson; her father Terry Johnson; her sister Teal John-son; her grandparents Patricia and Robert Beck; her fiancé Taylor Rosanova, who gradu-ated from Penn State’s Smeal College of Business in 2012; and her future mother-in-law Beth Taylor.


The CLS program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, offers a fully funded summer language institute for U.S. students. The program is part of a government effort to expand the number of Americans studying and

mastering critical-need foreign languages, including Chinese and twelve other languages. “This scholarship wasn’t initially part of my long-term academic goals. At the time of applying, I was at a crossroads in my education; I realized that the CLS program would open

doors that I hadn’t considered, such as double majoring in Chinese and biochemistry and molecular biology,” said Newby.

In the summer of 2013, Newby, a junior Schreyer Honors College Scholar, attended Xia-men University in Xiamen, a city on the south-east coast of China, near Taiwan. In addition to four hours of instruction a day, students were required to attend two hours of one-on-one tu-toring with peer mentors. “Each day we had a multi-lined dialogue to memorize, reading sum-maries to complete, and characters to memorize.

Scholarship Provides Science Student an Opportunity to Study Chinese Abroad

Pittsburgh native Sarah Newby was

heading to her Chinese class at

Penn State’s University Park Campus

when she received the message that

she had been chosen for the Critical

Language Scholarship (CLS) program.

Newby had taken a chance apply-

ing to the CLS program, which has

an acceptance rate of less than

ten percent, just three weeks before

the deadline.

Undergraduate Scientists

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Tian’anmen Square, Beijing.


Chinese was the only language spoken in class. Communicating solely in Chinese was my favorite part of the CLS experience,” she said.

Newby asserts that the opportunity to study in China pushed her fluency in the lan-guage to another level, citing that immer-sion is an important step in the process of learning a language. “The basics of the lan-guage comes from the classroom, but fluency

comes most quickly through constant interac-tion with native speakers,” Newby said. Her ex-perience in China has given her more confidence about including her Chinese language skills on her resume. She is preparing to take the Level 5 Chinese Proficiency Test, a national standard-ized test to assess the Chinese language profi-ciency of non-native speakers.

Newby encourages undergraduate students to take advantage of opportunities to study abroad. “With more and more global collabora-tion on research, learning to have respect and appreciation for cultures vastly different from our own is a valuable asset,” Newby said. She spent a total of ten weeks in China, eight weeks with the CLS program and two weeks travel-ing on a tour of the country, giving her more opportunities to utilize her language skills. “While touring I found myself translating for the English-only speaking tourists, giving me the opportunity to use my Chinese and practice translation,” Newby said.

CLS weekend excursion to Wuyishan Mountain.

About to climb the

Great Wall in Beijing!

At Penn State, Newby is a research assistant for Yanming Wang in the Center for Eukaryotic Gene Regulation and for Ping Li in the Brain, Language, and Computation Lab. She also volunteers as a counselor for victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault at the Centre County Women’s Resource Center in State College.

Although she is unsure what direction she wants to take when she leaves Penn State, New-by is certain that her undergraduate education has given her the foundation to succeed.


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The five international experiences, ranging from biology to physics, enabled students to immerse themselves in various cultures while participating in research and coursework. All five courses offered, including BIOL497I - Cell Development and Cancer Biology, BIOL498A - Biology of Eco-Health, BIOL499 - Reproductive Biology and Genetics, PHYS499 - Low Dimen-sional Electronic Materials, and BIOL297/497 - CHANCE Field Course, were taught by Penn State Science faculty members on-location. The courses focused on experiential learning, whether through field study or lab research, in a cross-cultural environment. Gaining a global perspective is an important part of a science

Trekking the Globe: Discovering Academics, Research, and CultureFrom Tanzania, to China, to Panama, Penn State Science students covered

the globe during summer 2013 while participating in short-term study

abroad courses offered by Penn State and the Eberly College of Science.

student’s college experience and a goal of the col-lege; no matter where students go after gradua-tion, they will be interacting with people from a wide range of backgrounds.

Zhi-Chun Lai, professor of biology and bio-chemistry and molecular biology at Penn State, taught cell Development and Cancer Biology, a collaborative course between the Department of Biology at Penn State and Peking University. This three-week summer course in Beijing, Chi-na, covered topics in cancer biology, as well as cell and developmental biology, and focused on under-standing molecular and genetic mechanisms im-portant for animal development and tumorigene-sis. In addition to lectures and group discussions,


students learned alongside Peking University students and listened to guest lectures from Pe-king University faculty. Students also had the opportunity to visit local research facilities and a number of historic and cultural attractions, in-cluding the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall. Through these activities, students gained unique and first-hand experi-ence and knowledge about biological research in China today, and Chinese culture.

Eight science students participated in the Biology of Eco-Health class, a three-week sum-mer session course that was taught entirely in Tanzania by Anna Estes, research coordinator of Tanzania Programs in Huck Institute of Life Sciences at Penn State; Paul Shaffner, director of Career & International Education in the Eb-erly College of Science; and, Douglas Cavener, professor and head of biology at Penn State and adjunct professor of the Nelson Mandela Afri-can Institute for Science and Technology. In the course, students examined topics related to hu-man health, human-environment interactions, and conservation of natural resources. In addi-tion to lectures in thatched-roof classrooms, and discussions with community members about health and environmental issues, students par-ticipated in field data collection – making be-havioral observations about groups of impala and baboons, and collecting vegetation data. The course also included guest lectures as well as visits to research institutions, national parks and medical clinics.

Another biology course, Reproductive Biology and Genetics, was taught by Hong Ma, Distin-guished Professor of Biology at Penn State, and aimed to familiarize students with a modern understanding of reproductive biology. During

the course, students examined development of the human reproductive system; physiological and hormonal regulations of reproductive struc-tures and functions in humans; abnormal devel-opment of reproductive organs such as cancers in humans; genes and proteins important for the normal reproductive development and func-tion; and genetic studies in a number of experi-mental organisms, including mice, fruit flies, worms, and plants. Taught at Fudan University in Shanghai, China, this summer program al-lowed students to learn the course content while experiencing Chinese culture through orga-nized activities and interaction with Chinese students in and out of the classroom.

Science students also had an opportunity to travel abroad with the Connecting Humans and Nature through Conservation Experienc-es (CHANCE) Field Course offered by Penn State Lehigh Valley and taught by Jacque-line McLaughlin, associate professor of biol-ogy. The CHANCE program consisted of two courses: Global Climate Change: Sustainabil-ity of Select Tropical Ecosystems and A Field Practicum in Panama. Taken together, these courses prepared students to better understand the challenges of global climate change and the importance of sustaining biodiversity. Through online instruction during the spring semester, students participated in learning opportunities and lessons to prepare them for the summer excursion. These topics included studying the biodiversity of the select ecosystems in Panama, the science behind global climate change, his-toric events that surround the Panama canal and the creation of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), and the indigenous people of Panama. By first participating in the


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Melissa O’Brien:Interacting with African Wildlife

This summer I had the opportunity to spend

three weeks in Tanzania taking an ecology

course, BIOL498A-Biology of Eco-Health,

with seven fellow Penn State students.

Over the course of our time in Tanzania, we

went on morning walks through the African

bush, game drives through Tarangire National

Park and Ngorongoro Crater, and even

camped out in the Maasai Steppe amid

hyenas and Cape buffalo. One of the high-

lights of the trip for me, however, was getting

up close and personal with African wildlife.

During our time in Tanzania, we had the opportunity to visit the Meserani Snake Park. While I certainly had reservations about surrounding myself with mam-bas and spitting cobras, the snake park would end up teaching me something very important about science education. When we first entered the park, we walked down a long row of enclosures hold-ing everything from shimmering black mambas to bulky rock pythons. We also had the opportunity to see birds of prey, a yellow baboon, and even crocodiles. When we reached a small exhibit housing baby crocodiles, I was

online course, students gained the necessary knowledge to participate in real-world research and conservation experiences while at STRI re-search facilities in Panama, where they studied the effects of global climate change on ecosys-tem biodiversity and dynamics. Additionally, students had the opportunity to work with nest-ing sea turtles and hatchlings to help sustain these endangered animals.

The only physical science course offered abroad during the summer was Low Dimension-al Electronic Materials, taught by Ying Liu, professor of physics at Penn State, at Shang-hai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China. This course provided an introduction to physics of low-dimensional electronic materials, com-bining intensive learning in a classroom with a supervised project of independent research. The course, taken by students majoring in phys-ics, chemistry, mathematics, and related fields, provided them the opportunity to work together with SJTU students in an international setting.

The opportunity to participate in course-work, field study, and research programs abroad strengthens and expands students’ sci-ence background while providing a challenging experience not available through traditional classroom instruction. While each experience abroad is a unique opportunity for a student, each course shares the same fundamental goal of providing students with a global understand-ing that will benefit them in both their academic endeavors and future careers.

For more information on any of these pro-grams, contact Paul Shaffner, director of Career & International Education in the Eberly College of Science at [email protected]. Photo credit: Paul Shaffner


very surprised to see our tour guide casually pick one up. I was even more surprised when he asked us if we wanted to hold one ourselves.

One simple question sent a wave of excite-ment through our group as each of us anxiously awaited our turn. No sooner had we finished wrangling crocodiles when we came to an-other exhibit housing Northern stripe-bellied sand snakes. While we are often taught to fear snakes, I could see the smiles spreading across the faces of my classmates as each one got to hold the sand snake. I had seen the same phe-nomenon during the first week of the course at Ndarakwai Ranch. Ndarakwai is the home of two orphaned elephants, and our instructors had surprised us with the opportunity to meet the elephants in person. I will never forget the excitement of meeting Enkarsis and Raziki for the first time. We greeted the elephants by blow-

ing into their trunks. We were also able to touch their rough skin, watch them steal hats off of their trainer’s head, munch on acacia thorn branches, and even hear Enkarsus trumpet. It was an amazing experience, and everyone lit up in the presence of these magnificent creatures.

As a future biology teacher, I am always thinking about how I can make biology come to life in the classroom. As I experienced the trip of a lifetime and saw the way my classmates were drawn to the elephants and reptiles at the snake park, I started to wonder what it was about these encounters that had made them so power-ful. The answer was simple. Both of these expe-riences were hands-on. We weren’t just watch-ing The Lion King. We could see the vast size of elephant ears, hear the trumpet of Enkarsus, touch the smooth scaly belly of a sand snake, smell the palpable scent of elephant dung, and taste the cool breeze rippling across the Afri-can savanna. In other words, we were getting in touch with our five senses. In many of my educa-tion classes we have discussed the importance of hands-on learning, but I don’t think I really ap-preciated how much fun it can be until I went to Tanzania. After this trip, I know I will strive to use hands-on activities in my classroom to keep my students engaged in what they are learning and get them excited about biology.

Melissa O’Brien is majoring in biology and participating in the Integrated Undergraduate/Graduate (IUG) program in the Schreyer Hon-ors College for science education. She plans to graduate from Penn State in 2015.


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I figured Tanzania would be an ideal place to break away from the western world and, with a program being offered on eco-health, I felt the class would be a perfect fit for my future career in medicine; I was certainly not disappointed. Upon getting off the plane, we were immediately immersed in a major conservation camp where we spent the first week of our adventure tak-ing walking safaris and doing research in the bush. The research enabled us to get hands-on experience doing animal behavior studies of ba-boons and impala. We also had the opportunity to conduct vegetation plot analyses that gave us insight on the effects of conservation in the East African setting. We continued touring Northern Tanzania, learning about wild life with embed-ded safaris in the Simanjiro, Tarangire National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, and others.

Along the way Dr. Anna Estes accompanied us. Dr. Estes has over ten years experience in the region as an ecologist and, as our primary instructor, was an amazing guide and resource. Her and Paul Shaffner also accompanied our group of eight students. Mr. Shaffner lived in Tanzania for three years prior to his tenure at Penn State and has endless knowledge about the people, culture, and country as a whole, making the pair a perfect team to guide us.

Jonathan Callan: Experiencing Healthcare Abroad

Having never left North America, I felt that I really needed some global

perspective; this desire came from my aspiration of becoming a global citizen.

After applying and being accepted to participate in the BIOL 498A course,

I was ecstatic to spend three weeks in a whole new part of the world: Tanzania.

Perhaps one of the most applicable moments for my future career was visiting the Foundation for African Medicine and Education (FAME) clinic in Karatu. We toured a unique facility that gave great insight into what healthcare is like abroad and the flaws with its accessibility in Tanzania and East Africa. From this moment, I knew that my career path had changed; I will forever see the lines of people seeking healthcare and the lack of resources available outside of the FAME clinic. I know now that fulfilling basic needs, such as healthcare in these resource-con-strained environments, is an enormous under-taking that requires hundreds of people in order to see any true change; I am ready to join the cause. This course has driven me to a career in medicine focusing strongly on global health and public policy.

Seeing the smiling faces of Tanzanians after receiving their check-ups or treatments at that clinic made me realize the value of healthcare, something I had previously taken for granted. This program served to alter my career path, for the better, and open my eyes to what we can one day achieve. Quality healthcare is a human right and I want to do my part in making sure this right is upheld, no matter where you live.

Jonathan Callan is majoring in science and plans to graduate from Penn State in May 2015.


Penn State Science graduate students are tomorrow’s lead-ers, and the University and college both work diligently to recruit and retain the best stu-dents. With the help of alumni and friends, the University is able to offer select students a distinguished graduate fellow-ship, which provides signifi-cant financial support that as-sists Penn State in its efforts to recruit the brightest students. These fellowships often help support students so that they are able to focus intensively on their research at one of the best research institutions in the world.

Nina Wale, a second-year Ph.D. student in biology, is a 2012 recipient of a Campbell Dis-tinguished Graduate Fellowship. This fellow-ship recognizes outstanding first year doctoral students who exhibit academic excellence in the Eberly College of Science.

Wale, who studied archaeology and anthro-pology at Cambridge University in England, took a class on the history of disease in humans as an undergraduate. In this class, she read a

paper about the emergence of infectious diseases and decided that is what she wanted to study. She came to Penn State for the opportunity to work with the diverse group of researchers at The Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics (CIDD). “To work with so many people thinking about the same problems in very different ways was one I couldn’t refuse. It keeps you on your toes and makes you a better scientist,” Wale said.

Distinguished Graduate Fellowships Assist in Recruiting Outstanding Scientists

Above&BeyondFocus on graduate Students


Receiving the fellowship validated Wale’s re-search and encouraged her. “It was very bene-ficial and a real honor. Winning the fellowship gave me confidence and enabled me to concen-trate on research during the first year of my Ph.D.,” Wale said.

In her research, Wale studies the evolution of drug resistance in malaria parasites. “I use an ecological perspective to understand how drug susceptible and drug resistant strains of malar-ia compete within the body of a host. I use this understanding to design ways to turn the tables against resistant parasites and thus slow down

Brian Pomerantz – Astronomy & Astrophysics Willaman Distinguished Graduate Fellowship

kelvin kho – Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Taylor Distinguished Graduate Fellowship

Johann ohm – BiologyCampbell Distinguished Graduate Fellowship

Quingzhou Feng – BiologyWillaman Distinguished Graduate Fellowship

Siyang hao – BiologyWillaman Distinguished Graduate Fellowship

ryan Martinie – ChemistryShriesheim Distinguished Graduate Fellowship

laura ritchey – ChemistryWillaman Distinguished Graduate Fellowship

Jeremy Mason – ChemistryWillaman Distinguished Graduate Fellowship

Donny passary – MathematicsDoty Distinguished Graduate Fellowship

David hughes – MathematicsWillaman Distinguished Graduate Fellowship

lucas hackl – PhysicsElsbach Distinguished Graduate Fellowship

Susan Cooper – PhysicsElsbach Distinguished Graduate Fellowship

Cody Messick – PhysicsWillaman Distinguished Graduate Fellowship

eric kamp – PhysicsElsbach Distinguished Graduate Fellowship

hyun-bin kang – StatisticsBrumbach Distinguished Graduate Fellowship

Songshan yang – StatisticsWillaman Distinguished Graduate Fellowship

the emergence and spread of these parasites,” Wale said. Malaria infects 250 million people a year, and kills one million, the majority of which are children. Once thought to be under control, malaria reemerged as a public health threat when the disease evolved resistance to the drugs used to treat it and its vectors, anopheline mos-quitoes, became resistant to the insecticides used to control them.

After she completes her studies at Penn State Wale plans to continue her work on the evolution and ecology of infectious diseases as a postdoctor-al researcher and perhaps become a professor.

the Distinguished graduate Fellowship program is a university-wide initiative to attract the nation’s most capable graduate students to penn State by increasing the number of available fellowships through philanthropic support. Selection of the Distinguished graduate Fellows is made at the college level, in concurrence with the dean of the graduate School. Currently, penn State has eighteen named Distinguished graduate Fellowships. below are graduate students who are 2013 recipients of a Distinguished graduate Fellowship in science.

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Penn State is proud to recog-nize talented and driven stu-dents with fellowship awards. Fellowships provide support to students allowing them the opportunity to participate in activities that enhance their educational experiences. These awards also provide incentives for recruitment and retention of outstanding students.

Kezia Manlove, a biology graduate student pursuing her Ph.D., is a recipient of a Uni-versity Graduate Fellowship and an Academic Computing Fellowship.

The University Graduate Fellowship is a prestigious fel-lowship program that is awarded to incoming students and provides payment of tuition and a base stipend for the first year at Penn State. The Academic Computing Fellowship is for doc-toral students have a background and strong interest in computing applications within their disciplines. Through their participation in the program and the utilization of computers, the Academic Computing Fellows help develop and disseminate new methods for problem solving within their disciplines. This fellowship appoint-ment is renewable for up to three years.

Manlove specifically came to Penn State to gain affiliation with the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics (CIDD) and become part of a cross-disciplinary community focused on disease ecology. Her goal is to develop a skillset that will allow her to build engaging and relevant biologi-cal ecological modeling using statistics.

Receiving the fellowships has been beneficial to Manlove’s academic career. “From a monetary standpoint, the awards allow me to travel and present my research to a variety of audiences, which challenges me to communicate broadly. The fellowships have also granted me auton-omy and flexibility to pursue more basic theo-retical questions, as opposed to focusing more narrowly on my specific research system. Most importantly, receiving the fellowships gave me an important boost in self-confidence. Receiv-ing the Academic Computing Fellowship made me acknowledge myself as a computational bi-ologist, and not merely a statistical practitioner who dabbles in biology. It empowered me to view myself as a player on a larger academic stage,” Manlove said.

In her research, Manlove uses statistical and computational techniques to study disease trans-

Bringing the Best and Brightest to Penn State Science


mission in wildlife systems, specifically focusing on pneumonia dynamics in bighorn sheep. Cur-rently, she uses simulation techniques and sta-tistical theory to model pneumonia outbreaks in bighorn sheep, and to understand the statistical properties of small-to-moderately sized social contact networks. “While bighorn sheep don’t get a lot of press in Pennsylvania, their on-going pneumonia outbreaks throughout the west are major impediments to species recovery efforts. By developing a strong conceptual understand-ing of ecological and immunological drivers of disease, we hope to eventually inform decisions shaping how bighorn sheep are managed in the mountain west. To me, this is a particularly in-teresting system because the available data are wrought with small sample size issues. This

Brendan Mullan, an astrobiologist, science ed-ucator, and a recent Ph.D. graduate from Penn State, joins a roboticist, a glaciologist, a plan-etary geologist, an artist and an entrepreneur as one of 17 visionary, young trailblazers from around the world who have been selected as this year’s National Geographic Emerging Explorers.

National Geographic’s Emerging Explor-ers Program recognizes and supports uniquely gifted and inspiring adventurers, scientists and innovators who are at the forefront of discovery, adventure and global problem-solving while still early in their careers. Each Emerging Explorer receives a $10,000 award to assist with research and to aid further exploration.

The new Emerging Explorers were introduced in the June 2013 issue of National Geographic

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Brendan Mullan Selected as a 2013 National Geographic Emerging Explorer

piques my interests as a statistician: it’s a com-mon issue for wildlife data, and precludes use of many traditional statistical approaches, which rely on large sample size assumptions,” Man-love said.

When she completes her degree, Manlove plans to continue working on problems that challenge her quantitative and computational skillsets but also allows her to actively engage in the entire scientific process. Currently, she is considering work in a government, non-profit, or academic pathway. “I place a high premium on my quality-of-life, which for me includes both the intellectual stimulation of a scientific career, and also a reasonable work-life balance – Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook COO) says I can have it all, so I’m going to try!”

magazine. Comprehensive profiles can be found at www.nationalgeographic.com/emerging.

National Geographic Emerging Explorers may be selected from virtually any field, from the Society’s traditional arenas of anthropol-ogy, archaeology, photography, space explora-tion, earth sciences, mountaineering and car-tography to the worlds of technology, music and filmmaking.

“As National Geographic celebrates its 125th anniversary year and looks forward to embrac-ing a new age of exploration, we look to our Emerging Explorers to be leaders in pushing the boundaries of discovery and innovation. They represent tomorrow’s Robert Ballards, Jacques Cousteaus and Jane Goodalls,” said Terry Gar-cia, National Geographic’s executive vice presi-dent for Mission Programs.


Mullan has been an active member of the sci-ence community from an early age. “I went on a school field trip to a planetarium when I was ten-years old. The lights dimmed, all these bright pinpoints appeared overhead, and I learned about how stars are born, evolve, and die; the mystery of black holes; violent supernovae explo-sions. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world and decided right there I wanted to know how it all works. I was so fortunate to have ac-cess to resources like that; I want to pay it for-ward to the next generation. What could be more fun and meaningful than sharing the majesty of the cosmos with everyone?”

Mullan puts his passion into action at Penn State. He is developing a course that challenges undergraduate students to consider issues like sustainability and humanity’s long-term sur-vival via stories about a future universe where those problems are pushed to the extreme. The astrobiology summer camp he leads lets middle school kids perform experiments to look for life on distant worlds, hunt for planets around other stars, and try to figure out why we haven’t been contacted by aliens. “I try to bring in guest stars to reflect how diverse the scientific community

really is – men and women of all ages and eth-nicities – not just a bunch of white guys with beards. From sliding on 3-D glasses for a tour of our Milky Way Galaxy to playing games that show how habitable planets are formed, the kids really respond.”

Mullan’s distinctive flair for communicating science made him the 2012 United States win-ner of FameLab. The prestigious global competi-tion encourages scientists to communicate their work to society as a whole in more effective and universally understandable ways. FameLab competitors must explain complex topics in just three minutes. Mullan caught the attention of the judges with quirky analogies blending pop culture and pure science. He compared gamma ray photons to fraternity brothers hurtling to-ward a party, giving cosmic fist bumps that turn energy into mass, and explained the absence of aliens around us through the perspective of a disappointed realtor trying to sell the Earth. Ac-cording to Mullan, “The real winner at FameLab is science. It made me very optimistic about the future to see so many amazing people invested in science education.”

Mullan believes that scientists should reach out to school children, college under-graduates, folks in the neighborhood, curious Web browsers, and everyone in between. His research tackles some of astrobiology’s most complex questions, but his public outreach efforts bring astronomy and astrobiology out of the ivory tower to make science more accessible, engaging, and entertaining.


Outreach

While many people are familiar with

Science-U, the week-long science

camps that hosts over 500 campers

each summer, they may be surprised

to learn of the other, lesser-known

science offerings available from the

Office of Outreach and Science

Engagement (OSE). During the

last few years, OSE has developed

programs for the fall and spring that

support broader impact efforts for

faculty and provide students with

experiences that compliment their

academic goals.

Among the most popular fall and spring events are Haunted-U: Halloween Science, an event that includes a mini camp for children, a haunt-ed demo show, and haunted lab tour; Discovery-U: Where Genius Meets Imagination, a TED-talk style showcase of faculty in science and engineering held on campus; Expanding Your Horizons STEM Career Day for Women, a one-day camp for middle school girls that includes a career expo, hands-on sessions, talks, and a panel discussion; and Exploration-U: Commu-nity Science Night, where student clubs, faculty, and local teachers team up to present science to the community.

Office of Outreach and Science Engagement: Expanding Opportunities for Faculty and Students Beyond Summer

Instructor and Penn State graduate student, Anna

Stanhewicz, takes a question from a camper at the new

camp, Busted! Myth Meets Science, in June.

Science-U campers attempt a mock kidney dialysis at

Nittany Lion, M.D. camp in July.


OSE has also expanded its summer offerings beyond Science-U. The Summer Experience in the Eberly College of Science (SEECoS), a six-week residential research experience for diverse Upward Bound Math and Science students en-tering grades 9-12, was a tremendous success with 50 participants in 2013, under the direc-tion of Lori Van der Sluys, a lecturer in chem-istry. Additionally, OSE collaborated with the mathematics department to organize the first Pennsylvania Math Initiative (PMI) teacher workshop. Modeled after the highly success-ful Vermont Math Initiative (VMI) workshops, Penn State math faculty George Andrews, Evan Pugh Professor and Associate Head for

Faculty Development, Andrew Baxter, lectur-er of mathematics, and James Sellers, profes-sor and head of undergraduate studies, teamed up to offer this two-week teacher development course in July.

Faculty and students are energized and pas-sionate about connecting science with the com-munity; many are even seeking ways to be in-volved before volunteers are sought out. The programs continue to get bigger and better each year because of the interest of the faculty and students. Together with OSE, teams of enthu-siastic Penn State scientists are sharing their passion for science with the next generation of scientists and the community all year long.

Photos by Mike Zeman

Nittany Chemical Society

student group member Zach

pours liquid nitrogen to make

dip-n-dots at Exploration-U:

State College Family Science

Night in March.

Science leadership

campers paddle

Bald Eagle Creek to

work on teamwork

and communication

skills in August.

CSI Camp Director and Senior Lecturer in BMB, Carl

Sillman, coached his lab coordinators at camp. Frank

Wendt is president of the student Forensics Club and

Kelly Menges is a senior in biology with aspirations to

become a physician assistant.

Science-U Energy2.0: The Next Generation campers

pose for a picture at the Breazeale Nuclear Reactor

with mentors before taking the tour to discuss

renewable and non-renewable energy sources in July.

Curriculum mentor and campers at Haunted-U:

Halloween Science Camp stop to pose for a picture in

October. The theme was zombies!


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Seven Alumni Honored with Penn State’s Outstanding Science Alumni Award

Donald Abraham is the Alfred and Francis Burger Emeritus Professor of Medici-nal Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, and Emeritus Di-rector of the Institute for Struc-tural Biology and Drug Discov-

ery at Virginia Commonwealth University.Abraham has conducted research in a

variety of therapeutic areas, but he is perhaps best known for his studies of the structure of hemoglobin and the use of that structure in computer-based drug design. During his career, he founded or co-founded three successful companies: Allos Therapeutics, which produced an FDA-approved anticancer drug, eduSoft; a software company that markets the structure-based design program HINT; and kSERO that specializes in teaching children science through game playing. He also founded and was the first director of the Institute of Structural Biology and Drug Discovery at the Virginia Commonwealth University.

Abraham has published over 175 peer-re-viewed articles; he edited the sixth edition of

In its tradition of honoring high-achieving science alumni, the Penn State

University Eberly College of Science honored seven alumni with the

Outstanding Science Alumni Award. The Board of Directors of the Eberly

College of Science Alumni Society established this award to recognize

alumni who have a record of significant professional achievements in their

field and who are outstanding role models for students in the college.

Burger’s Medicinal Chemistry; and he co-edited the seventh edition. He is the recipient of numer-ous awards and accolades, including the Hum-boldt Prize in 1973, the Virginia Outstanding Scientists of the Year in 2001, the Amgen Paul Dawson award in Biotechnology in 2002, and many others. He is also an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In addition, Abraham was inducted into the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame in 2010.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Penn State in 1958, Abraham received a master’s degree in chemistry from Marshall University in 1959 and a doctoral de-gree from Purdue University in 1963. He com-pleted postdoctoral studies at the University of Virginia. He joined the faculty in the Depart-ment of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh in 1964 and became a full professor in 1972. He was chair of the Department of Me-dicinal Chemistry at Virginia Commonwealth University, a position he held until 2007.


Peter Emanuel is the BioSci-ence Division chief at the United States Army’s Edgewood Chem-ical Biological Center. As the lead for all biological research, he oversees 100 life scientists and over 60,000 square feet of

laboratories at the premier non-medical research institute for defense science and technology.

Prior to assuming his role with the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, Emanual served for three years in the administrations of Presidents Bush and Obama as the assistant director for chemical and biological countermeasures within the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President. He managed the chemical and biological defense and medical countermeasures portfolio and coordinated re-search-and-development efforts across the feder-al government. In addition, Emanuel has served as a scientific advisor at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, where he developed over 100 highly specific and sensitive tests for pathogen detection, developed recombinant antibodies us-ing a process called combinatorial phage display, was part of a team that developed and patented a novel biological sampling device, and oversaw bacterial-fermentation production and tissue-culture production of antibodies.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from the University of Maryland in 1988, Emanuel received a doctoral degree in mo-lecular and cell biology from Penn State in 1994.

Kay Mooney has over 20 years of corporate health-care experi-ence. She has held a variety of senior leadership roles focused on pricing, underwriting, prod-uct management, mergers-and-acquisitions integration, and

medical-cost analytics at Aetna Health Insur-ance. She previously served as chief of staff for the Office of the Chairman and CEO, where she provided advice and support to Aetna’s Chair-man and CEO on critical business, financial, strategic, and enterprise issues. Mooney cur-rently leads Aetna’s national Health Care Re-form Exchange Program Management Office, where she is responsible for driving the develop-ment and implementation of Aetna’s strategy for public exchanges, one of the most critical pieces of the Affordable Care Act.

These roles have made her a sought-after speaker on health-care issues in numerous inter-nal and external forums. She helps to influence policy and she acts as an advocate for consum-ers, members, employers, and other constituents impacted by the Affordable Care Act. Her efforts have helped to position Aetna as a leading voice in the industry.

Mooney’s advocacy efforts also extend into the community as well. She served as co-chair of the American Heart Association’s Circle of Red and Tell 5 for its 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 campaigns, spreading the word on the risks of heart disease in women and raising money for this life-saving movement. She also served as co-chair for the 2010-2011 Go Red for Women campaign for North Central Connecticut. In ad-dition, she developed and launched a program where actuaries partner with local schools to help children understand and appreciate the power and fun of math.


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Cooper Health System in Camden, New Jersey while serving as president and CEO.

Olivia was recognized as one of the nation’s 50 most powerful physician executives in 2010 by Modern Healthcare and Modern Physician mag-azines. In addition, he received Drexel Univer-sity College of Medicine’s Distinguished Alum-nus Award in 2005, and was recognized in 2003 and 2004 as a “Top Doc” in New Jersey by South Jersey magazine.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Penn State in 1984, Olivia earned a mas-ter of business administration degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylva-nia. He earned an M.D. degree at Hahnemann Medical School in Philadelphia and completed his residency in ophthalmology at the University at Buffalo.

Jonathan Pritchard is a pro-fessor of biology and genetics at Stanford University and an in-vestigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

In addition to receiving a Penn State Outstanding Alum-

ni Award from the Eberly College of Science, he was selected as a Fellow of the American Acad-emy of Arts and Sciences in 2013. In the same year, he received an Edward Novitski Prize from the Genetics Society of America. This award rec-ognizes “creativity and intellectual ingenuity in the solution of significant problems in genetics.”

In his research, Pritchard tackles the central problem facing modern human genetics, which is how to make sense of the vast quantity of hu-man genetic variation that exists. Specific ques-tions related to this problem include: Which of the 10-million common single nucleotide poly-morphisms and thousands of deletions and du-

Mooney graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Penn State in 1989. She is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, and is a mem-ber of the American Academy of Actuaries. As a member of the Penn State Actuarial Advisory Board, she counsels on changes to the program to improve effectiveness that will benefit and support those graduating from the program.

Christopher Olivia is the president of the Continuum Health Alliance. In this role, he leads Continuum into the future as the organization develops its ambulatory service model, refo-cusing efforts on the broader

care continuum outside the traditional hospital walls. Olivia has extensive experience working with venture-backed healthcare information-technology start-ups, having served on the board of nine such entities. He presently is a board member of Foundation Radiology – a teleradiolo-gy company, and Eviti – a cancer-care-manage-ment company.

Olivia has nearly 20 years of experience in the fields of health insurance, health-care ser-vices, and health-information technology. Olivia most recently served as managing director of Philadelphia-based Navigant, where he was re-sponsible for the company’s health-information technology and in charge of HealthAware, Navi-gant’s technology subsidiary business. Previous-ly he was senior vice president for strategic plan-ning and new-venture development, preceded by president and CEO of Highmark/West Penn Al-legheny in Pittsburgh, where he initiatied and completedthe West Penn Allegheny Health Sys-tem merger with Highmark, the largest payer-provider merger in the United States to date. He also led the turnaround and growth of the


plications in the human genome contribute to complex diseases or other traits? How can re-searchers identify the functional variants that underlie observed disease associations? What impact do purifying selection and adaptation have on genetic differences within and between populations, or between different species?

After graduating with bachelor’s degrees in biology and mathematics from Penn State in 1994, Pritchard earned a doctoral degree from Stanford University in 1998. He completed post-doctoral studies at the University of Oxford in 2001. In that same year he became an assistant professor at the University of Chicago and was promoted to professor in 2006 before assuming his current role at Stanford University in 2013.

Jane Rigby is an astrophysi-cist at the Observational Cos-mology Laboratory of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where she serves as a project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope. Her research

interests include galaxy evolution, and rapid-star-forming galaxies, star formation, metal en-richment, and black-hole growth histories of the universe. She also studies gravitational lenses as natural telescopes, active galactic nuclei, ob-scured accretion, X-ray and infrared back-grounds, and diagnostic spectroscopy. The pri-mary tools Rigby uses to accomplish this research are the Hubble and Spitzer Space Tele-scopes, as well as the Keck and Magellan ground-based telescopes.

In 2006, Rigby received a Spitzer Space Telescope Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2006 and a Carnegie Fellowship in 2009. She received a Robert H. Goddard Award for Exceptional Achievement for Science in 2013.

After graduating with bachelor’s degrees in astronomy with honors and highest distinction and in physics with highest distinction from Penn State in 2000, Rigby earned master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Arizona in 2003 and 2006, respectively.

Robert Baltera, Jr., who graduated from Penn State with a bachelor’s degree in microbiology and a master’s degree in genetics in 1987 and 1990, respectively, will be honored in Novem-ber of 2013 as the seventh recipient of the 2013 Outstanding Science Alumni Awards. Informa-tion regarding Baltera’s achievements and back-ground will be published in a future issue of Science Journal.

MEMBERSHIP MAT TERS

JOIN the Penn State Alumni Association

and help us keep Penn State strong

alumni.psu.edu/membership800-548-LION (5466)


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welcome to our Newest Alumni Board Members and Officers

Visit www.science.psu.edu/alumni/board_members to view a complete list of the Alumni Society members.

We are pleased to welcome four new board members for the 2013-2016

term of office to the Eberly College of Science Alumni Society. Serving

in an advisory role to the Eberly College of Science, this board shares its

expertise, experience, and helps to shape the future of the college. The

alumni board provides the college with invaluable insight to achieve not

only its educational goals but also its advancement goals.

aaron Davidson ‘03 B.S. Biology Senior Field Applications Specialist Roche Diagnostics Baltimore, MD

eric Freed, ph.D. ‘85 B.S. Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Chief, Virus-Cell Interaction Section National Cancer Institute Frederick, MD

kolin good, M.D. ‘89 B.S. Biology Chair, Department of Psychiatry Reading Health System Reading, PA

Michael koons ‘04 B.S. Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Product Development Chemist Adhesives Research York, PA


If you are interested in serving on this board, applications are being

accepted for the 2014-2017 term of the Eberly College of Science

Alumni Board. Completed applications will be accepted until

February 21, 2014, and can be completed here: http://science.psu.

edu/alumni/forms/Application_Alumni_Board.

Congratulations to the newest officers of the board,

voted upon at the april 2013 meeting

President: Dr. Christina Winnicker, ‘93 B.S. Science

Vice President: Jeffrey Trulick, ‘90 B.S. Biology

Treasurer/Secretary: Robert Duminiak, ‘00 B.S. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Immediate Past President: Dr. Mark Connolly, ‘84 Ph.D. Chemistry


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Susan Wynn Grove (Mathematics ’66) and Cada Grove (’66 Education) have established the Cada R. and Susan Wynn Grove Endow-ment for Excellence in Science Education. This gift will provide funding to support the efforts and initiatives for the Center of Excellence for Science Education (CESE) in the Eberly Col-lege of Science. Both Susan and Cada were first generation college graduates from their re-spective families and are passionate about the future of science education. To ensure this pro-gram is well funded for future generations of students, the Groves will bequeath more than $3 million thru their estate plans to support this endowment.

“We learned about the center when Dean Larson outlined his strategic plan. It piqued our interest and we wanted to know how we could fund it,” Susan said.

Alumni Establish Endowment to Fund the Center for Excellence in Science Education

“We contacted the college the next day,” Cada added. Their gift to the center will bolster the mission of developing quality science instruc-tion across the University.

The CESE was established in the fall of 2010 with the mission of providing faculty and stu-dents with a collaborative educational network that promotes excellence in science teaching and learning.

Reflecting on their own college experiences, the Groves realized that they were exposed to vastly different teaching styles in the same courses. “I had a small class with a lot of discus-sion, a lot of chances to ask questions. Cada, who was not a math major, had a mass lecture that consisted of lecture only and no opportunity for discussion. As a result it is questionable as to how much he got out of the course,” Susan said.

The Groves realized that there had to be better techniques to teach math in courses de-signed for non-majors. “Math is such a critical subject; it teaches a structured way of thinking, analyzing, organizing,” Susan said. “Students in many fields are required to take it, and they need to be engaged. The non-majors are really the students who need an instructor who can spark their interest in the subject.”

The couple agreed that they were interested in funding the development of innovative pro-grams to improve instruction in not only math education, but across all the science disciplines. They felt that creating this endowment for the center was a way to serve the students at the university they both love. “Penn State is a phe-nomenal school and Dean Larson’s passion to raise the bar on instruction is something that really spoke to us,” Cada said. The Grove’s gift


Twenty-two Penn State alumni

were honored October 16, 2013

for their outstanding professional

accomplishments and given the

lifelong title of Alumni Fellow, the

highest award given by the Penn

State Alumni Association. Among

the twenty-two Alumni Fellow

recipients, tom richardson (’90

Ph.D. Botany), was honored.

Richardson is chief executive of

AgResearch, Ltd., New Zealand’s

largest research institute.

Agriculture is the backbone

of the New Zealand economy

and AgResearch is the research

institute charged with growing

that contribution.

Richardson has held executive

roles in New Zealand and

Australia’s science system

for the past 15 years. Prior to

joining AgResearch, he was

chief executive at New Zealand

Forestry Research Institute (Scion).

During his time at Scion, he and

his scientific team developed

novel DNA-based approaches

to plant and animal breeding,

which lead to a partnership with

the U.S. firm, PE-AgGen, to supply

DNA testing to the New Zealand

dairy industry.

During his tenure as Scion chief

executive, Richardson also served

as chief of the Forests and Forest

Products Division at Australia’s

Commonwealth Scientific and

Industrial Research Organization

(CSIRO), as the two agencies

explored models for more

effective Trans-Tasman scientific

cooperation. Most recently, at

AgResearch, he has led the

re-organization of the institute

and recently announced a $100

million campus building program

to re-position New Zealand

agricultural science.

Richardson is a frequent

contributor to advisory boards,

external review panels, and inter-

national science and trade del-

egations, including both the New

Zealand–U.S. and New Zealand–

E.U. Joint Commissions on Science

and Technology Cooperation.

Richardson has held numerous

industry, science, and education

governance roles. Among his cur-

rent board positions are Farmax,

Ltd.; Grasslanz Technology,

Ltd.; ScienceNZ (chair); Waiariki

Institute of Technology; Riddet

Institute; and Gravida: National

Research Centre on Growth and

Development.

Richardson, his wife, Heather

Carmichael ’83, ’91g, and their

two sons live in Rotorua, New

Zealand.

Since the Alumni Fellow’s

establishment in 1973, more than

700 alumni have been honored

with the title of Alumni Fellow,

designated a permanent and life-

long title by the Penn State Board

of Trustees. This represents one-

eighth of 1 percent of all 616,000

living Penn State alumni.

To learn more about the Penn

State alumni honored in October,

visit http://alumni.psu.edu/

awards/individual/afa/recipients

Tom Richardson Receives Alumni Fellow Award

will provide resources and training to enhance the educational experience for undergraduates across the entire University.

This gift to the college is not the Grove’s first to the college; Susan and Cada’s philanthropy

has included other financial and personal ser-vice contributions over the years. With these investments of time, experience, and funds, the college can continue to be a premier center of education and research.


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Eberly College of Science Annual Distinguished Faculty Benefactor’s Dinner

Nittany lion inn, april 2013

Eberly College of Science –

building an outstanding

faculty and educating students

with appreciation to our

generous benefactors.


The C.I. Noll Award, sponsored by the Alumni Board and the Eberly College of Science, is presented annually to outstanding faculty members within the Eberly College of Science. Two awards are made each year – one to a tenured or tenure-track faculty member and one to an instructor or other non-tenure-track faculty member. Michael Eracleous, professor of astronomy and

Eracleous and Fabbri Awarded 2013 C.I. Noll Award for Excellence in Teaching

astrophysics, and Marc Fabbri, a senior lecturer in mathematics, are the 2013 recipients of the C. I. Noll Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Eracleous and Fabbri were honored during the April 2013 Dis-tinguished Faculty Benefac-tors Dinner. To learn more about the accomplishments

of these faculty members and the names of past recipients, please visit www.science.psu.edu/alumni/2013_noll.

Michael Eracleous Marc Fabbri

Blue and White forever…You’ve worked a lifetime to create financial security for yourself and your family. Now you can share that legacy with Penn State as well through your will or living trust. Whether you choose to direct your support to scholarships or research, faculty or program support,your bequest will be an enduring expression of your passions and values. Our Gift Planning team can work with you and your attor-ney to ensure that your intentions are fulfilled and that your estate receives the full tax benefits of your gift.

To learn more about these opportunities, please contact:

Brian McCullough, Esq.Gift Planning OfficerOffice of Gift [email protected]@psu.eduwww.giftplanning.psu.edu

Robert Mothersbaugh, CFREDirector of Development and Alumni Relations Eberly College of Science800-297-1429 [email protected]

B&W Forever_Science_0412.indd 1 4/19/12 2:38 PM

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*deceased


Snapshot of Philanthropy – Funding the Future of Penn State Science

Verne M. Willaman Distinguished Graduate Fellowships in ScienceEstablished by: Verne M. Willaman* Living Trust (’51 B.S. Agriculture and Biological Science)Amount: $2MPurpose: Provide support for academic excellence for graduate students. Recruit and recognize outstanding doctoral students.

Verne M. Willaman in Science I, II and IIIEstablished by: Verne M. Willaman* Living Trust (’51 B.S. Agriculture and Biological Science)Amount: $1M eachPurpose: Supplement departmental support for outstanding University faculty in the Eberly College of Science in order to provide a holder of the professorship with the resources necessary to continue and further the scholar’s contributions to teaching, research, and public service.

Professor Philip S. Skell Memorial Trustee Scholarship in the Eberly College of ScienceEstablished by: Paul (’67 Ph.D. Chemistry) and Patricia ReichenbacherAmount: $50,000Purpose: Provide financial assistance to undergraduate student in the Eberly College of Science with demonstrated need for funds to meet necessary college expenses.

Norman Freed Undergraduate Research Award in the Eberly College of ScienceEstablished by: Norman (retired associate dean of the Eberly College of Science and professor emeritus of physics) and Trygve FreedAmount: $75,000Purpose: To recognize outstanding research by undergraduate students who are enrolled in the Eberly College of Science.

Joseph and Anna Bones Memorial Scholarship for Medical Laboratory Sciences in the Eberly College of ScienceEstablished by: Donna M. Wolk (’80 B.S. Microbiology)Amount: $12,500Purpose: Provide recognition and financial assistance to outstanding undergraduate students majoring in or planning to major in Biotechnology, or successor degree program(s) in the Eberly College of Science.

Trustee Scholarship in the Eberly College of ScienceEstablished by: Anonymous funded through a Charitable Lead TrustAmount: $125,103Purpose: Provide financial assistance to undergraduate students who have a demonstrated need for funds to meet their necessary college expenses.

Dean and Barbara Martin Trustee Scholarship in the Eberly College of ScienceEstablished by: Dean F. (’58 Ph.D. Chemistry) and Barbara B. Martin (’59 M.S. Chemistry)Amount: $50,000Purpose: Provide financial assistance to undergraduate students who have a demonstrated need for funds to meet their necessary college expenses.

George and Jewell Moffitt Trustee Scholarship in the Eberly College of ScienceEstablished by: Joseph M. Moffitt (’63 B.S. Chemistry)Amount: $50,000Purpose: Provide financial assistance to undergraduate students who have a demonstrated need for funds to meet their necessary college expenses.

Donna Terefinko Whiteford and Robert Webber Whiteford Trustee Scholarship in the Eberly College of ScienceEstablished by: Donna Terefinko Whiteford (’78 B.S. Microbiology) and Robert Webber WhitefordAmount: $50,000Purpose: Provide financial assistance to undergraduate students who have a demonstrated need for funds to meet their necessary college expenses.

Thank you to the alumni and friends that have committed funds for

scholarships to benefit students in the Eberly College of Science.

Below are gifts received between March – June 30, 2013

Dean Larson welcomed and shared remarks

regarding the college and introduced Star Sharp,

director of the Millennium Scholars program,

who presented details on this new initiative. The

program closed with Mike Degenhart, executive

director of gift planning, briefly discussing the

benefits of estate gifts to individuals and Penn State.

Front row: Barbara Minard, Mary Jane Tershak Wronski, Norman Freed, Trygve Freed, Donald Rung, Robert Bernheim,

Lloyd Jackman, Stanley Person, Irene Cutler, Margaret Hymer

back row: Robert Minard, Christopher Wronski, Philip Mohr, Leann Mohr, Mary Gage, Ron Pursell, Marie Jackman,

Joanne Juhl, Paul Cutler, William Taylor, Wesley Hymer

retired Faculty Social and luncheon – august 2013


First annual all-Science tailgate big SuccessOn September 7, 2013, the Eberly College of

Science and its Alumni Society hosted the first-ever

all-science tailgate at Porter Gardens at Medlar

Field. The number of guests far exceeded the

expectations of alumni attendance for a first-time

event—more than 175 alumni coupled with their

families and friends equaled over 350 people.

Comments overheard:“The food was excellent and it was nice to have

a tailgate where we didn’t have to cook!” “What

an overall success! It was great to connect with

science alumni in one location.” “What a fantastic

idea! Please do it next year.”

Based on the overwhelming response, mark your

calendars for September 6, 2104. Same place,

same time!

Photos courtesy of Tom Range, ’89 B.S. Math

Smetana Family

Happy Science Tailgaters Channing Broyan ‘11 Bio,

Dr. Keiser, and Dayton Broyan

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Thank you to all of our alumni, friends, parents, corporations, and foundations for their generous support this past year. Your strong financial support allows us to continue to build on our strengths and continue to be a leader.

Your commitment this past year to the Eberly College of Science, between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013, was a record-breaking amount! A total of 4,673 gifts were made, totaling $18,925,944 in support of undergraduate and graduate student scholarships, endowed faculty positions, summer research stipends for students, unrestricted science future funds for the Dean’s greatest priorities, direct-support to our academic departments, capital improvement projects, and more.

Several of this year’s gifts that contributed significantly to the overall total were planned gifts from donors who are individuals that wish to continue to provide for the future through their wills and estate plans. These gifts were created years ago but are supporting the Eberly College of Science today and making a difference this year and for coming years. Each and every gift propels us forward to meet the challenges of a world class program.

As we enter the final year of the For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students, we thank you for being part of this $2 billion campaign. To date, $1,900,000 of this goal has been raised and meeting the goal by the close of the campaign on June 30, 2014 is anticipated. Thank you for showing your Penn State pride and being part this success.

We are pleased to present the following list, alphabetically by gift level, of the individuals and organizations who share our vision of excellence and opportunity in science, education, research, and outreach.

Thank you again for investing in the Eberly College of Science!Sincerely,Robert L. Mothersbaugh, CFREDirector of Alumni Relations and Development

Eberly College of Science Honor Roll 2013

$10,000 and moreAnonymousHarry R. and Noreen E. AllcockWalter R. Andersen*William S. and Barbara S. BickelAnita M. CollinsBarbara J. and Glenn D. DaltonMary E. DeVriesJack and Pauline DicksteinRichard D. Dresdner*Edmund J. and Josephine T. ElderBarrett C. and Luanne Breuer

FisherWilliam B. Forest*Norman and Trygve FreedEdward M. FrymoyerRichard A. GottschoGrant R. GrissomCada R. and Susan Wynn GroveOpal D. Gugliemelli*Janet K. Hamilton*Marcus C. and Cheryl L.

McGrady HansenDennis L. Headings and Virginia

Louise CorsonJ. Lloyd* and Dorothy Foehr HuckSavitri K. KamathStuart R. and Karen Goldsmith

LessinLouise M. MapstoneCharles E. and Joyce Knauss

MathuesDoris N. McKinstry*Joseph M. Moffitt


Vance J. MossVincent L. MossPatricia Mahalic Nelson*Christopher T. and Laurie OliviaKeith M. OliviaHeather L. Rayle and Hillard I.

SilmanPaul H. and Patricia

ReichenbacherAndrea J. Rhodes and Frederick

G. Gluck David J. and Cynthia D. SchraerCarl T. SeitzHoward W. and Barbara Podolsky

SharfJohn R. Shuman*David L. and Teresa Rowan

ShuppRichard B. and Barbara Kesner

SilvermanWendy SoutherMary A. StilesDonald W. StricklerSong TanPeter G. and Ann C. TombrosLarry D. TravisPatricia A. WallsWalter K. and Lynn-Marie C.

WielandVerne M.*and Betty Willaman

$2,500 to $9,999AnonymousWilliam L. Harkness and Yildiz H.

AkinDavid L. and Judith AllaraJill Grashof Anderson and Sydney

H. Brown Scott K. AndrewsJeanne AtlasJames Balog and Alvina Bartos

BalogCatherine V. BeathGeorge E. BergeyLanghorne H. Brickwedde*Stephen Korzeniowski and

Deborah BrzezinskiRobert T. and Cheryl Russman

DavisJohn M. and Jane M. DickJohn W. Dudley and Andee AabyWilliam E. ElwoodRay F. and Mary Maloney Evert

Neal and Phyllis FlomenbergEdward G. FoehrMeredith M. Gee and Gareth

Morrell Carol M. GiangiordanoBarrett E. and Michele A. GiffelKolin GoodDavid G. GuyJeffrey W. HamiltonAlexandra H. Heerdt and Paul

MarkKenneth W. HerkoJohn A. HerrittHelen L. HorenDavid G. and Susan M. JonesJames B. KadtkeAndrea C. KayStuart M. and Toni KipilmanGeorge M. KoscoBrian D. and Janet KramerJohn and Paige LapinskiTanya Furman and Daniel J.

LarsonRichard and Patricia Neidig LewisWilliam E. LoganHarold G. and Robin U. LoomisFrank W. and Joan Schlosser

LuerssenLouis A. MartaranoBrian E. and Stacy L. MattioniSteven M. and Sheryl L. McCrystalWallace H. and Nancy S.

McCurdyTimothy F. and Theresa M. MerkelRobert D. and Barbara F. MinardMonica MorrowRichard M. and Tina S. OchrochHarold C. and Nancy M.

O’ConnorRoy A. OlofsonPhilip C. and Shelly OvadiaCenan A. and Patricia OzmeralLewis E. and Janice L. PattersonDaniel A. and Linda H. PelakKeith V. and Sharon Fellin

RohrbachRoy J. and Patricia Little SchmidtAllan W. and Kathleen A.

SilbermanAnthony J. and Heand Johns

SilvestriDonald R. and Barbara Orvis

Strobach

Ronald D. and Michele A. Sicard Venezie

Winston W. and Mary WalkerArthur J. and Gail Folena

WassermanMichael P. Weiner and Camille M.

SolbrigRobert and Donna Terefinko

WhitefordDonna M. Wolk

$1,000 to $2,499AnonymousJohn D. AlvarezArthur K. and Anne Gjesdahl

AndersonMichael D. AnthonyHee Chan BaeWilliam C. and Christie Heritage

BairdJayanth R. and Suchitra BanavarStuart M. and Katherine Dailey

BarrettClifford P. BastuscheckThomas P. BemPaul and Mildred BergStephen M. and Nancy Anderson

BermanJoseph A. and Lynne BeseckerWilbur E. and Carol S. BillupsCarter D. and Antonia Vido BrooksCharles C. and Jane Strawn BrosiusPhilip C. BugaiskiJames F. and Mary Theresa

Denshaw BurkeJohn W. and Susan M. ByrneIftikhar M. ChaudhryStanley H. Chia and Fan-Li ChouGregory B. Christiansen and Laura

BrookfieldMario and Jaimie Cross CiabarraRobert A. and Lorraine Stankiewicz

ClareElizabeth T. Collins and John C.

Weeks Mark S. and Deborah A. ConnollyJohn G. and Janet M. ConnorDavid DeWitt Conover and

Jennifer L. ConoverDavid J. CoughlanLouis M. Wojcinski and Suzanne R.

DubnickaRoger A. Dunning*

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Eberly College of Science Honor Roll 2013 continued

Christopher R. Dyckman and Susan Scotto

Timothy H. Eisaman and Johnnie L. Morgan

Ned A. and Kathie L. EneaGordon G. and Miriam Olander

FeeElizabeth A. FilauriStacey L. GleesonHoward R. and Nancy P. GordonAndrew P. HackettSusan Houck Hardin and Paul E.

Hardin Richard R. and Cindy Lorah HarroBeverly L. HersheyAbram and Mildred R. HodesWilliam E. and Elsa HokeMitchell and Charity HollandTheresa Shuhler HustonPhilip B. and Susan D. InskeepDaniel H. JacksonWilliam D. and Sally Cunningham

JohnsonKaren A. KalinyakSteven R. KatchurMatthew S. and Karen E. KellerRichard R. and Rebecca D.

KemmererDonald W. KirbyRobert C. KlineRobert M. and Maureen KnabbRobert A. and Nancy KrallDouglas M. and Jean Langietti

LaBodaBruce K. LloydBarry P. and Michelle Merrill LongKenneth LynamStephen H. and Katherine A.

MahleJohn I. and Gloria MaloneDean F. and Barbara B. MartinJohn R. Mashey and Angela M.

HeyDavid G. and Kathy MaskalickSteven D. and Heather A.

MaslowskiJoseph J. and Suzanne H. MatunisBeth A. MaxwellThomas D. Mayewski and Faith R.

GreenfieldRichard P. and Lois Shiring

McClainEdward A. and Rosemary A.

Mebus

Elaine Bova MegonnellJoseph E. and Donna M. MetzgerAllen E. and Elizabeth B. MeyerGeorge H. MillmanNicole L. MorozowichRobert D. and Virginia MulbergerGary L. and Beverly B. Mullen Randy C. and Patricia A. MurphyEdward B. and Kirsten Ravn

NelsonDaniel A. and Patricia E. NolanFrederick G. and Florence

OberenderThomas A. PavloskyJohn M. PearlJeffrey A. and Margaret

Albanese PeckRobert J. Petcavich and Linda R.

YoungEric L. and Seema PetersonLinda J. PursellRonald A. PursellLarry and Mary RamseySuzanne ReichJohn W. and Barbara RheeJeffrey M. and Andrea K. Firth

RoeschGregory M. Roszyk and Marnie

SalisburyGregory J. and Mary K. SamEdward M. and Janis SaylorJoellen Schildkraut and Brian

Annex H. Mitchell and Alice SchmidtLeonard I. Zon and Lynda C.

SchneiderStuart F. and Anne SeidesEric SheaJohn W. ShigeokaJ. Francis ShigleyG. Lee SkillingtonDonald E. SmithWilbur L. and Flossie Vereen SmithErland P. and Ellen Mills StevensRobert J. and Cynthia D. StrouseEdward A. and Sandra L. TarleAndrew J. and Carolyn Wallace

ThomasGretchen M. ToolanDavid C. and Karen Brinton

TownsendJames H. Trask and Frances

Hammond

Richard G. and Susan Taylor TurnerWilliam F. WaiteThomas* and Louise WartikBoyd V. and Kimberly WashingtonOwen W. and Anna M. WebsterMichael H. WetzelFletcher D. and Ann Hottel WickerSarah D. Wright and Gary J. Jones

Christopher R. and Mary Jane Tershak Wronski

S. Dale and Carol Ann YakishStephanie D. YanceyGary S. and Debra ZanderTheodore L. and Nancy Ziff

to view the gifts of $999 and below, please visit www.science.psu.edu/sciencejournal.

Dean’s advisory board 2012-2013Mr. kenneth J. adelberg, (’74 B.S.

Bphys, ’74 B.A. Psych), Retired President and CEO, High Fidelity House, Inc., Broomall, PA

Ms. Catherine v. beath, (’70 B.S. Micrb), Worldwide VP, Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs, Ethicon, Inc., Sommerville, NJ

Dr. barbara Dalton, (’74 B.S. Biol),VP, Venture Capital, Pfizer, New York, NY

Dr. Stephen a. Dibiase, (’78 Ph.D. Chem), Chief Scientific Officer, Elevance Renewable Sciences, Bolingbrook, IL

Dr. edward M. Frymoyer (Chair), (‘59 B.S. ESc, ’67 Ph.D. Phys), President, Holdings, Inc., Half Moon Bay, CA

Dr. James r. gardner, (’04 Hon), Retired, VP, Pfizer; Professor and Executive in Residence, Science BS/MBA Program, Penn State University, University Park, PA

Mr. Steve gatto, Founder, Chairman & CEO, Myriant Technologies LLC, Quincy, MA


Dr. richard gottscho, (’74 B.S. Chem), Group VP and General Manager, Etch Products, LAM Research Corporation, Freemont, CA

Dr. Richard Grazzini, (’75 Biol, ’93 Ph.D. Genet), Executive Director, GardenGenetics LLC, State College, PA

Mr. Marcus hansen, (’68 B.S. Sc), Retired, President, Lockheed Martin Management and Data Systems, Chester Springs, PA

Dr. Susan houck hardin, (’82 B.S. Biol), President, Hardin Holdings, Inc., College Station, Tx

Mr. eric keiter, (‘86 B.S. Chem), Retired Principal, MKP Capital Management LLC, Briarcliff Manor, NY

Dr. richard kemmerer, (’69 B.S. Chem), Retired, President, UCB, Inc., Consultant to the Chemical Industry, Marietta, GA

Dr. karen S. kmetik, (‘84 B.S. Biol), Director, American Medical Association, Chicago, IL

Mr. louis a. Martarano, (’76 B.S. Chem), Managing Director, L. MartaranoEnterprises, New York, NY

Dr. Chad Mirkin, (’89 Ph.D. Chem), Professor of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

Ms. virginia (ginny) olson (‘73 BA Math), Retired, Towers Watson, Newport Coast, CA

Dr. John patton, (’67 B.S. Zool), Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Dance Pharmaceutical, San Francisco, CA

Mr. Daniel pelak, (’72 B.S. BiSc), Senior Advisor, Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe, New York, NY

Dr. robert petcavich, (’76 B.S. Chem, ’80 M.S. SSS1, Ph.D. PlmSc), Chief Technology Officer, Senior VP and General Manager, Opcuity Films, Unipixel, The Woodlands, Tx

Mr. F. Matt rhodes, (’79 B.S. Phys), CEO, Semitech Semi Conductor, Blue Bell, PA

Ms. vicki l. Spagnol, (’76 B.A. GenAS), President and Owner, Management Insights, New York, NY

Mr. peter tombros, (’64 B.S. AgSi, ’68 M.S. AgEs), Distinguished Executive in Residence, Science BS/MBA Program, Penn State University, University Park, PA

honorary MembersMr. Stephen h. Mahle, (‘64 M.S.

Phys), Retired, Executive VP, Medtornic, Inc., Minneapolis, MN

Dr. Joseph a. Miller, (Past Chair), (’66 Ph.D. Chem), Executive VP and Chief Technology Officer, Corning, Inc., Corning, NY

Dr. James h. plonka, (’70 Ph.D. Chem), CEO, Michigan Molecular Inst.; Executive Managing Partner, Griffon Financial Services, Midland, MI

Dr. alan Schriesheim (’54 Ph.D. Chem), Director/CEO Emeritus Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago, IL

College Campaign CommitteeMr. kenneth J. adelberg, (’74 B.S.

Bphys, ’74 B.A. Psych), Retired President and CEO, High Fidelity House, Inc., Broomall, PA

Dr. kenneth S. Costa, (‘75 B.S. Biol), Dentist, Kenneth S. Costa, D.M.D., Whitehouse Station, NJ

Mr. barry Fisher, (’75 B.S. Sc), Executive VP, Van Horn Metz and Company Inc., Conshohocken, PA

Ms. luanne breuer Fisher, (’75 B.S. RehEd), CEO/President, Liberty Lutheran Services, Ambler, PA

Dr. edward M. Frymoyer, (‘59 B.S. ESc, ’67 Ph.D. Phys), President, Holdings, Inc., Half Moon Bay, CA

Dr. James r. gardner, (’04 Hon), Retired, VP, Pfizer, Professor and Executive in Residence, Science BS/MBA Program, Penn State, University Park, PA

Ms. linda Cuomo gardner, (’67 B.S. Sc), Retired, White Plains Board of Education, Boalsburg, PA

Mr. Cada grove, (’66 B.S. SecEd), Retired, AT&T Communications, Onancock, VA

Ms. Susan wynn grove, (’66 B.S. Math), Retired, AT&T Communications, Onancock, VA

Dr. Dennis headings, (’64 B.S. PM), Retired, Pediatrician, Luthersville, MD

Ms. ginny Corson headings, Genetic Counselor, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD

Dr. James b. kadtke, (’79 B.S. Phys, Math), Senior Fellow, National Defense University, Center for Technology and National Security, Washington, DC

Mr. John a. lapinski, (‘69 b.S. bi SC), lawyer, Clark & trevithick, beverly hills, Ca

Mr. louis a. Martarano, (’76 B.S. Chem), Managing Director, L. Martarano Enterprises, New York, NY

Dr. vance Moss, (’94 B.S. Sc), Physician, Mid Atlantic Multi-Specialty Group, Howell, NJ

Dr. vince Moss, (’94 B.S. Sc), Thoracic Surgeon, Mid Atlantic Multi-Specialty Group, Howell, NJ

Dr. gary Mullen, ’(70 M.A. Math, ’74 Ph.D. Math), Professor of Mathematics, Penn State University, University Park, PA

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Eberly College of Science Honor Roll 2013 continued

Dr. Cenan H. Ozmeral, (‘74 M.S. Chem), Senior VP and General Manager, Myriant Technologies LLC, Quincy, MA

Dr. John patton, (‘67 B.S. Zool), and Natalie rico patton, Founder and CEO, Dance Pharmeceutical, San Francisco, CA

Ms. Barbara (Bobbi) Scheffler, (’72 B.S. Math, ’73 M.S. Stat), Retired, Senior VP, Corporate and Scientific Affairs, U.S. Bioscience, Inc.; President, The Scheffler Group, Inc., Villanova, PA

Office Contactsrobert l. Mothersbaugh, CFRE

Director of Alumni Relations and [email protected]

Sue bakerAdministrative Support [email protected]

barbara CollinsAssistant Director of Alumni [email protected]

brian CrownoverStewardship [email protected]

pete DaveyDirector of Major [email protected]

Josetta lichtyAssociate Director of Alumni Relations and [email protected]

brenda lucasDevelopment [email protected]

elaine MeyersAssociate Director of Major [email protected]

tracey MooreAssistant Director of Campaign [email protected]

Selden SmithDirector of Major [email protected]

Carol thomasAdministrative Support [email protected]

Michael weyandtDirector of Major [email protected]

alumni Society board of DirectorsDr. Christina “winnie” winnicker,

(’93 B.S. Biology) Director, Enrichment & Behavioral Medicine, Charles River Laboratories, Andover, MA

Jeffrey trulick, (‘90 B.S. BIOL) Biologist, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, D.C.

robert Duminiak, (’00 B.S. BMB)Partner, Howson & Howson, LLP., Philadelphia, PA

Mark Connolly, (’84 Ph.D. CHEM) Global Director – Patents and Intellectual Property, DuPont, Wilmington, DE

amy bucher, (’86 B.S. MATHBS; ’86 M.A. MATH) Vice President, Global Process Services Integrated IT, IBM Corporation, Poughkeepsie, NY

Dr. robert Clare, (’83 B.S. MICRB) Executive Director, Pfizer, Inc., Collegeville, PA

aaron M. Davidson, (’03 B.S. Biology) Senior Field Application Specialist, Roche Diagnostics, Baltimore, MD

heather J. erdman‚ (’91 B.S. Biology) Consumer Safety Officer, HHS/FDA/CBER, Frederick, MD

eric o. Freed, (’85 B.S. BMB) Chief, Virus-Cell Interaction Section, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD

Forough ghahramani, (’81 B.S. MATH) Principal, Life Sciences, Computing LLC, Associate Dean, Keller Graduate School of Management, DeVry University, Princeton, NJ

Stacey l. gleeson, (’92 B.S. Math) Enterprise Content & Business Manager, Munich Re-Insurance Company, Princeton, NJ

kolin good, (’89 B.S. Biology) Chair, Department of Psychiatry, Reading Health System, Reading, PA

Daniel a. kapinos, (’08 B.S. Statistics/Business Minor) Associate Director, GTSS, Aon Hewitt Company, Philadelphia, PA

Diane krusko, (’77 B.S. MICRB) Director of University Alumni Relations, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY

Michael koons, (’04 B.S. BMB) Product Development Chemist, Adhesives Research, York, PA

Dr. John McManigle, (’78 B.S. SC) Vice Dean, School of Medicine Uniformed Services, University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD

abigail Smith, (’02 B.S. Biotechnology, Microbiology minor) Process Engineer, Merck, West Point, PA

pamela Swiggard, (’89 B.S. Microbiology) VP, Regulatory Affairs and Project Management, Trevena, Inc., King of Prussia, PA

Carol Zaher, (‘71 B.S. ZOOL) Medical Director, Health Net, Inc., Los Angeles, CA

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January 15 • Mathematics and baltimore area

alumni reception

February 8• Science alumni Mentoring Dinner

and workshop

February 21• Nominations for the eberly College

of Science alumni board Due

April 11• Dean’s advisory board Meeting• Campaign Committee Meeting• alumni board Meeting• benefactors reception• blue/white Football game

May 9• eberly College of Science

Commencement and reception

For more information on any of the events listed above, visit science.psu.edu/alumni/events.

science journal december 2013

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