Agricultural and Biological Engineering
One professor and three assistant
professors joined the faculty Aug. 1.
Monika Ivantysynova is the MAHA fluid power systems professor, specializing in fluid power and hydraulic systems. Assistant professors and their areas of expertise are: Klein Ileleji (biomass feedstock systems and post harvest engineering), Chang Lu (microfluids and single-molecule detection) and John Lumkes (biomechanics, dynamic systems modeling and robotics).

Agricultural Communication
Chris Sigurdson won the Award of Excellence in Writing at the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences (ACE) national conference in Lake Tahoe, Nev., on June 24. Other award winners at the conference included Steve Leer (Gold Award), writing for newspapers; Tom Campbell (Bronze Award), writing within a specialized publication; Dan Annarino, Rebecca Goetz, Olivia Maddox, Sigurdson, Mike Atwell, Chip Morrison, Campbell, Mike Kerper and Jane Brown (Gold Award), external communication program; and Russ Merzdorf, Brown and Leer (Gold Award), technical publications.

Kevin Leigh Smith is an editor in the department’s publishing unit. Smith coordinates publication production for the Departments of Agronomy, Botany and Plant Pathology, and Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. Smith had been a copy editor at the Lafayette Journal and Courier.

Agricultural Economics
Michael Boehlje, MS ’68, PhD ’70, has been inducted as a fellow of the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association. Boehlje, a faculty member since 1992, is also a fellow of the American Agricultural Economics Association.

Betty S. Jones, associate director of the Center for Food and Agricultural Business, received the Chairman’s Distinguished Service Award at the American Seed Trade Association’s (ASTA) annual convention in Philadelphia.

Jones was honored for leadership and support of the ASTA Management Academy, a professional development program sponsored jointly by ASTA and Purdue for agribusiness managers in the seed industry.

Animal Sciences
Ryan Cabot has been appointed an assistant professor in the area of molecular genetics and reproductive biology. Cabot received his BS in biochemistry and his PhD in reproductive biology from the University of Missouri.

Biochemistry
Clint Chapple, a faculty member since 1993, has been elected the 2004 president of the Phytochemical Society of North America. Chapple was elected at the organization’s annual meeting in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, in July.

Mark Hall joined the faculty as an assistant professor. Hall received his BS from Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., and his PhD from the Department of Biology, University of North Carolina. His research areas are in the regulation of the cell cycle by ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis and protein mass spectrometry.

Botany and Plant Pathology
Cameron Cooley was named the department’s Outstanding Teaching Assistant at the annual Celebration of Graduate Student Teaching banquet. Cooley, who was selected from 10 department teaching assistants for the award, received an engraved plaque in recognition of his teaching excellence.

Muthukumar Balasubramaniam has been honored by the Purdue Graduate Student Government as the university’s 2004 Distinguished Teaching Assistant. Balasubramaniam has been a teaching assistant for six consecutive semesters and the student coordinator for the departmental summer research internship program for the past two summers.

Burton Bluhm, MS ’03, was selected for the 2004 Indiana Seed Industry Graduate Study Award at the Indiana Crop Improvement Association’s annual conference.

Entomology
Patricia Sobieck, a graduate student working with Bruce Bordelon, received an American Wine Society Scholarship. This $2,500 scholarship will help her continue her graduate studies in viticulture.

Tommy Sors, a graduate student working with David Salt, was one of three national winners of the Council for Biotechnology Information’s Young Scientist Scholarship Program.

Food Science
Linna Wang received the Honored Student Award from the American Oil Chemists’ Society. Wang also received the society’s Manuchehr Eijadi Award for outstanding merit and performance.

Bruce Applegate received $247,000 of a $1.6 million, four-year grant from the National Science Foundation for a Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team project at Purdue. Other team members are Ron Turco (Agronomy), Natalie Carroll (Agricultural and Biological Engineering), Timothy Filey (Earth and Atmospheric Sciences), and Chad Jafvert and Loring Nies (Civil Engineering). The grant will support fundamental research on the fate, behavior and impact of manufactured carbon-based nanoparticles on solid and water resources.

Forestry and Natural Resources
Rick Meilan has been nominated to serve as chair-elect of the C6 Physiology Working Group for the Society of American Foresters. His term begins January 1, 2005. At the conclusion of his one-year term, Meilan will serve as the group’s chairperson.

A Web site called “everything WILDlife” at http://www.purdue.edu/wildlife has won a gold award from the Ag and Natural Resources Professionals. The site contains information for landowners, homeowners and enthusiasts on wildlife management issues, environmental solutions, seasonal topics, land management programs, and wildlife resources. Brian MacGowan and Brian Miller created the content, and an Ag Comm team of Jane Brown, Virginia Quesada and Dan Annarino built the site.

Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
Jules Janick has been inducted into the Italian National Academy of Agriculture as a corresponding member. Janick, the James Troop Distinguished Professor of Horticulture, received the award after presenting a seminar titled “Horticulture and 10,000 Years of Change” at the organization’s headquarters in Bologna, Italy.
Jennifer Dennis joined the faculty in June with a joint appointment between the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and the Department of Agricultural Economics. A native of Illinois and a graduate of both the University of Illinois and Michigan State University, Dennis will have Extension, teaching and research responsibilities in the area of specialty crop marketing.

International Programs in Agriculture

Lowenberg-DeBoer

Jess Lowenberg-DeBoer has been appointed interim associate dean and director of International Programs in Agriculture. Lowenberg-DeBoer will maintain his responsibilities to the Agricultural Economics department. Lowenberg-DeBoer replaces Dave Sammons, who has accepted a one-year appointment from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington, D.C.
In addition, Linda Vallade has been named team leader directing Purdue Agriculture’s study abroad program. Team members include Barbara Hughes and Corey Kujawa.

Youth Development and Agricultural Education
Hyunyi Cho has joined the department as an assistant professor of communication, specializing in risk communication. Cho earned her PhD in mass media and her MA in advertising from Michigan State University. She had previously been a faculty member at Emerson College in Boston.