Faculty/Staff News of Note
July 2003
Dr. Syed Saad Andaleeb, professor and program chair in marketing, has edited a book Development Issues of Bangladesh II, which was published recently by The University Press Limited, Bangladesh. The other editors are Ashraf Ali, Bangladesh Development Initiative, and Ruhul Kuddus, from the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Insitute, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Andaleeb wrote a chapter in the book titled "Teachers and Teaching: Perspectives on Higher Education."
John Beaumont, Brad Johnson, Paul Koch, Lucy Lenhardt, Jon Meckley, and Brian Young, all members of the plastics engineering technology faculty at Penn State Behrend, attended the National Plastics Exposition held at Chicago's McCormick Center, June 23-27. The world's largest plastics show, the NPE is held once every three years. While there participants attended seminars, hosted a reunion of Behrend plastics engineering technology alumni, and viewed more than 2,000 exhibits. They also met with manufacturers and vendors of lab equipment in preparation for upgrading Behrend's plastics instructional laboratory, which is the largest of its kind in the nation.
Plastics Technology Center (PTC) Staff members Tom Moyak and Steve Seip, project engineers, and Shelley Readel, information manager, also attended the exposition. An outreach center of Penn State Behrend, the PTC provides product design and development services within the United States for both business start-ups and existing small plastics manufacturers.
Welcome to Diane Collier, newly appointed staff assistant in the School of Engineering and Engineering Technology. For the last two years Diane has worked in Louisiana, but prior to that she worked as a staff assistant in the Penn State Architectural Engineering Department at University Park. She can be reached at x6025 or dzk1.
Dr. Antonella Cupillari, associate professor of mathematics, attended the Mathematics Association of America Summer Short Course at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, June 16-19.
Carolyn Dudas, multimedia and computer support specialist, Jim Serafin, senior systems analyst, John Fontecchio, senior instructional services specialist, and Ed Blaguszewski, director of University Relations, attended the Web 2003 conference on June 18 at University Park. Pre-conference tutorials on June 17 provided in-depth information and hands-on experience for selected topics. The conference and pre-conference sessions bring Penn State Web professionals together to share information and to learn about innovative uses of the Web, applications for Web development, security issues, future directions at Penn State and more.
Dr. James F. Fairbank, assistant professor of management, has received unconditional acceptance of a manuscript for publication in Behavior and Information Technology. It is titled "Motivating Creativity Through a Computer-Mediated Employee Suggestion Management System." Co-authors are William E. Spangler, Duquesne University, and Scott David Williams, Wright State University.
Christopher Fox is now the coordinator of student organizations and program development in the Student Activities Office. He can be reached at cdf13@psu.edu.
Dr. Diana Hume George, professor of English and women's studies, will be poet-in-residence at Chautauqua Institution's Writers' Center from July 13-19. She will run a week-long workshop, give a lecture titled "Words for Wartimes," and present a poetry reading to the Chautauqua writing community. George has also published a new book of narrative poetry titled Phantom Breast.
Dr. James A. Kurre, associate professor of economics and co-director, Economic Research Institute of Erie, gave a presentation on June 23 at the Erie Community Foundation's annual meeting held in the Yehl Ballroom at Gannon University. The report, "Philanthropy In Erie County, 2001" is the third in a series that has been done every three years (1997, 2000, and 2003).
This year's study focused on fifty major nonprofit organizations in Erie County, using them as bellwethers of the nonprofit sector locally. Despite terrorist attacks, the bad economy, and the decline of the stock market, charitable giving to these fifty organizations rose 14.6% from 2000 to 2001, at a time when national donations rose only 0.5%. This research is the result of a $10,900 grant from the Erie Community Foundation to ERIE.
Welcome to Christa Morris, newly appointed staff assistant in the Student Activities Office. She can be reached at cdb120@psu.edu.
Diane Nowacinski has accepted the position of administrative specialist in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. She is replacing Carol Theuret, who recently retired.
Carrie Payne, assistant director of the Career Development Center and coordinator of internships, had a article titled "E-mail Etiquette: A Quick Guide to Writing Professional E-Mail" published in the May 13 issue of CampusCareerCenter.com, an online bulletin listing jobs, guidance, networking, and other career options. View the article at http://www.campuscareercenter.com/students/article.asp?news _id=917
At the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Summer Annual Meeting, held in Atlanta, Georgia, June 15-19, Dr. Robert J. Simoneau, director of the School of Engineering and Engineering Technology, completed his three-year term as ASME senior vice-president for education. At the same meeting the ASME Nominating Committee nominated Simoneau to serve a three-year term on the ASME Board of Governors. If elected in November, Bob will begin his three-year term in June of 2004. ASME International is a professional organization of over 120,000, serving the technical and educational needs of engineers worldwide.
Dr. Thomas M. Spudich, assistant professor of chemistry, had an article titled "Potential for Using a Digital Micromirror Device as a Signal Multiplexer in Visible Spectroscopy" published in The Society for Applied Spectroscopy 15(7):733-736 (2003). Co-authors were students Charles K. Utz and Jennifer M. Kuntz, Richard A. DeVerse, Robert M. Hammaker, and David L. McCurdy.
Dr. Meng Su, assistant professor of computer science, had a paper titled "Spatial Data Distribution and the Cost Models for Metric Trees" accepted for presentation at the joint meeting of the International Conference on Computer, Communication and Control Technologies (CCCT'03) and the Ninth International Conference on Information Systems Analysis and Synthesis (ISAS'03). The meeting will be held in Orlando, Florida, from July 31 to August 2. His paper will also be published in the conference proceedings.
Carol Tobin has been promoted to the position of coordinator of college registration in the Registrar's Office.
Blair R. Tuttle, assistant professor of physics, attended the Second Annual NanoEngineering and Investing Trends Conference June 20 at New York University. On June 12, Tuttle was on a panel regarding nanotechnology educational opportunities in northwest Pennsylvania. He discussed his research and presented a new nanoscience minor to be offered in fall 2004 if approved. The panel was part of a daylong conference on nanotechnology sponsored by CAMTech.
From June 30 to July 20, Tuttle will be a visiting scientist at Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is sponsored by the Division of Computational Materials and Biology. On July 16, he will give a presentation titled "Strain, Sub-oxides and the Band Offsets between Si(100) and SiO_2."
Dr. Jay Amicangelo, assistant professor of chemistry, attended the Gordon Conference: Chemistry and Physics of Matrix-Isolated Species at Bates College, Lewiston, Maine, July 19-26.
Dr. Michael Campbell, associate professor of biology, presented a paper titled "Gene Express Changes in Arabidopsis Thaliana Exposed to Low Levels of Copper" at the Plant Biology 2003 Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, July 24-August 5.
Dr. James Fairbank, assistant professor of management, had his paper titled "Interorganizational Monitoring: Process, Choices, and Consequences," selected for presentation at the Advances in Strategic Management annual conference to be held at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, August 24-26. This paper was co-authored with Joe Labianca at Emory University.
David Falvo has been promoted to senior lecturer in mathematics.
Dr. Ralph Ford, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, attended the Mid-Atlantic States Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association Meeting at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, July 18-20. Ford moderated a session on design and capstone courses and made a presentation on Penn State Erie Electrical and Computer Engineering Capstone Design Practices.
Indranil Ghosh, lecturer in economics, presented a paper titled "Competition and the Winners Curse in B2B Reverse Auctions" at the Hawaii International Conference on Business June 17-21 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The co-authors of the paper are Dr. John Fizel, chair, iMBA program and professor of economics, Dr. Ido Millet, associate professor of MIS, and Dr. Diane Parente, assistant professor of management.
John Kerwin, assistant professor of communication and media studies, and Dr. Clare Porac, professor of psychology, gave a presentation at the Sixteenth International Conference on the First Year Experience held in Vancouver, British Columbia July 7-10. Their presentation was a thirty-minute video that followed fifteen first-year students at Penn State Behrend through their freshman year. These students were taped in various formats twice during the first semester and then twice during the second semester. Conference attendees were from a number of countries. The presentation was well-received and copies of the tape were requested.
Dr. Phylis M. Mansfield, assistant professor of marketing, had a paper accepted to the Academy of Business Administration 2003 International Conference. The paper, titled "Gender Differences in Parents' Evaluative Criteria When Selecting a College," was co-authored by Jacquelyn Warwick of Andrews University. The paper was presented in Dublin, Ireland, July 19.
Dr. Peter Southard, assistant professor of management, has published an article, titled "Transitioning Operations to Accommodate Growing Pains in Evolving Companies," in Management Decision: An Emerald Journal Volume 41, Issue No. 6, pp. 578-586.
Dr. Darren Williams, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, and a University Park colleague, Dr. David Pollard, have published a paper, titled "Extreme Climates," in the International Journal of Astrobiology, Volume 2, pp. 1-19.
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