Pamala Morris, PhD '97, is the new director of the National Extension Diversity Center. Morris, a Purdue faculty member since 1992 in the Department of Youth Development and Agricultural Education, is the assistant dean and director of diversity programs. "The National Extension Diversity Center consists of a Web site with concept papers, published articles and research that provide multiple perspectives about diversity," Morris says. The center, formerly based at Oregon State University, now is co-hosted by Purdue, New Mexico State University and the University of Wisconsin.

Mike Ladisch, MS '74, PhD '77, is one of three recipients of the first Paul Dana Leadership in Biofuels Award from the Indiana governor's office. The award is named for Indy Racing League driver and biofuels advocate Paul Dana of Indianapolis, who died in a crash in March. Ladisch, a faculty member since 1977, received the award for his research into producing ethanol from cellulose, rather than sugars and starches. He is distinguished professor of agricultural and biological engineering and the director of Purdue's Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering, which was established in 1978 to carry out research on transforming renewable resources into liquid fuels.

Dennis R. Buckmaster, BS '84, has joined the department as an associate professor. He previously was on the faculty at Penn State University. His teaching interests are fluid power and machine systems and design. His research interests are forage harvest, storage and delivery systems, biomass harvest and logistics, and horticultural mechanization.

Douglas M. Main has joined the department as a science writer. Main received his BA from Washington University in St. Louis, majoring in biology and English literature.

Dan Annarino, Jane Wolf Brown and Tom Campbell, plus Debbie Claeys and Jennifer Pratt from the dean's office, earned a first-place award at the National Agricultural Alumni and Development Association conference for their work with the Distinguished Ag Alumni Award event. Russ Merzdorf, Brown and Steve Doyle also earned a first-place award for Purdue Extension: Celebrating the Past, Growing the Future, 2006.

Numerous staff members were honored at the Association for Communication Excellence conference in Quebec City, Canada. Gold Awards went to Campbell, Annarino, Frank Koontz, Mike Atwell, Pratt and Christine Roper (for Connections in both the newsletters and electronic publications categories); and to Olivia Maddox, Beth Forbes, Laura Hoelscher, Merzdorf and Campbell (magazines and periodicals for Agricultures). Silver awards went to Kevin Leigh Smith, Chip Morrison and Merzdorf (technical publications for Preparing for Asian Soybean Rust); Smith (editing, also for Soybean Rust); and Joan Crow, Brown and Becky Goetz (interactive media program for the 50 Trees of the Midwest CD).

A bronze award went to Chris Sigurdson, Forbes, Brown, Hoelscher, Annarino, Atwell, Ginny Quesada, Campbell, Maddox and Smith (external communication programs for "Purdue Extension Means Business").

Brown, Crow, Goetz, Sharon Katz and Rita McKenzie (Forestry and Natural Resources) received a bronze award from the Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals for the 50 Trees of the Midwest CD.

Otto Doering has been elected president of the American Agricultural Economics Association for 2007-08. A faculty member since 1972, Doering worked for the USDA on the 1977 and 1990 farm bills. He is a two-time recipient of the AAEA Distinguished Policy Contribution Award.

Susan E. Chen joined the department in January as an assistant professor, teaching a new course in health economics. Chen was the director of the Triangle Census Research Data Center at Duke University. She is interested in building a research program that examines the economics of obesity.

Matthew Holt, BS '81, MS '83, was appointed professor and Wickersham Chair of Excellence in Agricultural Research in January. Holt has been on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and the Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, and serves on the board of the American Agricultural Economics Association.

James J. Camberato is an associate professor, joining the department from Clemson University. Camberato's research emphasis is impaction of soil and applied essential plant nutrients on crop productivity and profitability. He received his MS ('82) and PhD ('87) from North Carolina State, after earning his BS from the University of Massachusetts in 1980.

Grad student Chris Boomsma was awarded a plant science fellowship from Pioneer Hi-Bred International. Boomsma's major professor is Tony Vyn.

Graduate students Brett Ochs and Kristen Rinehart received the American Seed Research Foundation/American Seed Trade Association Operation Student Connection Award. They attended the 123rd annual convention of the American Seed Trade Association in Chicago. Herb Ohm, PhD '72, is the major professor for both students.

John Turner, BS '80, received the 2006 Midwest Regional Turf Foundation Distinguished Service Award at the Midwest Turf Expo. Turner is senior sales specialist for the lawn and landscape division of Bayer Environmental Science.

Paul D. Ebner has been appointed assistant professor of microbiology. Ebner received his MS and PhD degrees from the University of Tennessee. His research is in molecular microbiology with an interest in preharvest food safety issues. Ebner is working to develop new strategies to reduce pathogen load in food animals prior to slaughter.

Shawn Donkin, a Purdue faculty member since 1995, has been promoted to professor. Donkin's teaching is divided across animal sciences and the Purdue Interdepartmental Nutrition Program and includes courses in ruminant nutrition and physiology, dairy cattle management, and nutritional biochemistry and physiology. His research explores how dietary factors alter the expression of genes and how genetic factors modify the response to diet.

Andy Tao, PhD '01, received a 2006 American Society for Mass Spectrometry Research Award for his project, "Identification of drug targets based on dendrimer nanoprobes and mass spectrometry." An assistant professor, Tao received the award at the association's annual conference in June in Seattle.

Xiaoqi Liu has joined the department as an assistant professor. Liu previously was a research associate in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at Harvard University. Liu has published more than 20 research papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Matthew Ginzel has been appointed assistant professor in forest entomology. Ginzel received his MS and PhD from the University of Illinois, where he worked with Larry Hanks on chemically mediated mate location and recognition in cerambycid beetles. Ginzel recently finished a 21⁄2-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Nevada-Reno.

Vishal Lodha is the new computer services specialist in the department and brings seven years of experience in computer technology. He is from Cairo, Egypt, and plans to be a graduate student in urban entomology.

Carl Voglewede, BS '92, is a new member of the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) program at Purdue. Voglewede, a wildlife specialist in the USDA's Wildlife Services Division, conducts avian influenza surveillance monitoring throughout Indiana.

Two graduate students were honored at the annual Institute of Food Technologists meeting in Orlando, Fla., June 23-28. David Schroeder earned a first place in the dairy foods poster competition, and Julieta Ortiz earned a third place in the food chemistry poster competition. Assistant professor Mario Ferruzzi was selected Outstanding Section Member for the IFT Hoosier Section.

Hongtao Zhou, a graduate research assistant, won the first place in Design Emphasis 2006, a student furniture design competition at the International Woodworking Fair in Atlanta in August. His winning product, CNC Adjustable Rocking Chair, was created during the FNR 485 course under Rado Gazo, Richard Paul and Eva Haviarova. Zhou's current project is "Emerging Design Challenges for the Furniture Industry," developing special-needs furniture designs for plus-size and adjustable furniture.

Becky Zeiber, a graduate research assistant, was one of 11 students nationwide selected to receive a Skinner Memorial Award. The award allowed Zeiber to attend the 2006 annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society in Lake Placid, N.Y.

John W. Bickham (professor) and Patrick A. Zollner (assistant professor) have joined the department. Bickham is a wildlife geneticist with research interests in genetic and evolutionary toxicology; molecular systematics and population genetics; and vertebrate evolutionary biology. Zollner is a quantitative wildlife ecologist. His research interests are the effects of landscape and behavioral ecology on animal movements.

Robert Joly has been appointed interim department head. Joly replaces Ed Ashworth, who was recently named dean of the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture at the University of Maine. Ashworth had been a faculty member since 1987. Joly, a professor of horticulture and a faculty member since 1985, received his BS degree from the University of New Hampshire in 1972 and his MS and PhD degrees from Oregon State University.