May 2024 Issue
Eberly Alumni
Newsletter
Office of Development and Alumni Relations
Tracy Langkilde Appointed Interim Executive Vice President and Provost
Tracy Langkilde, the Verne M. Willaman Dean of the Eberly College of Science, has been named interim executive vice president and provost of Penn State, effective April 15.
Langkilde succeeds Executive Vice President and Provost Justin Schwartz, who has been named as the sole finalist for chancellor of the University of Colorado Boulder and will depart Penn State this summer. In the coming weeks, Penn State will begin a national search for a permanent provost.
“I sought the counsel of several constituencies in making this selection: faculty, including Faculty Senate’s Senate Council and faculty advisory council; deans; chancellors of our Commonwealth Campuses; vice provosts; and other senior administrators,” said Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi. “Tracy’s personal journey as an internationally renowned scholar, her understanding of undergraduate students through the thousands both within the Eberly College and the thousands more who pursue General Education there, her support of research excellence and graduate students, and her commitment to leading collaboratively make her the ideal person to meet these needs at the University level.” Read more.
Alumni News
Nominations Being Accepted for Outstanding Science Alumni Award
The Outstanding Science Alumni Award recognizes and rewards outstanding Penn State science alumni for their success as leaders in science and for the impact they have had on society and their professions. The award was established in 1995 by the Eberly College of Science Alumni Society Board. Nominees should exemplify the Penn State Values: Integrity, Respect, Responsibility, Discovery, Excellence, and Community. Read more or submit a nomination. Contact Jenn Lawrence if you have questions.
Applications Now Open for 2024–25 Class of Young Alumni Ambassadors
The Penn State Alumni Association’s Young Alumni Ambassador program provides young alumni with opportunities to engage with fellow Penn Staters while enhancing their professional and personal development.
Open to Penn State graduates from the graduating classes of August 2023, December 2023, and May 2024, the program aims to enrich the connections between young alumni, the Penn State Alumni Association, and Penn State. Read more.
Alumnus’s Gift Honors Life-Changing Generosity
Honoring those whose generosity, support, and kindness made the difference in his own schooling, and in his life, alumnus Joseph Moffitt has given $1.5 million to Penn State: $1 million to the Eberly College of Science and $500,000 to the College of Education. The first-of-its-kind philanthropic gift will fund the full cost of undergraduate and medical school tuition for scholarship recipients in Penn State’s Premedical-Medical program as well as a separate scholarship that will fully fund tuition for recipients pursuing an undergraduate degree in education at Penn State. Read more.
Events
Peeking into Peptides: Decoding the Brain's Messages and Manipulating the Molecular Mailmen
Nikki Crowley will present her work studying the intersection of neural circuits in the brain, novel neuropeptides, and addiction. She’ll discuss how alcohol exposure changes signaling in the brain, and how we can engineer therapeutic targets for addiction and mood disorders. In addition, Crowley will present an overview of the unique questions asked and solved by Penn State research, and some healthy speculation surrounding the future of emerging technologies and neuroscience. Register.
Prehealth Accepted Student Celebration
On April 17, the college’s Prehealth Advising office held their second annual Accepted Student Celebration to honor students accepted to health professional programs and those who supported them along the way.
Research News
$20M NSF Grant to Support Center to Study How Complex Biological Processes Arise
A $20 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation will support the establishment and operation of the National Synthesis Center for Emergence in the Molecular and Cellular Sciences at Penn State. The center will enable research that uses existing, publicly available data to glean new insights about how complex biological systems, such as cells, emerge from simpler molecules. Findings from the research could eventually inform the development of disease treatments and other applications such as minimizing the negative effects of aging.
The center will be based at Penn State’s University Park campus with cyber infrastructure provided by the University of Arizona’s CyVerse initiative, the world’s largest publicly funded open-source cyber infrastructure for life sciences. Involving more than 1,600 scientists from across the nation and the world, the center will feature a strong outreach component, including multiple partnerships with minority-serving institutions, to offer workshops, training events, and research-based learning opportunities to build a future workforce skilled in computational, data and life sciences. Read more.
Penn State, Morgan Advanced Materials Partner to Improve Semiconductor Materials
Penn State and Morgan Advanced Materials have signed a memorandum of understanding to catalyze research and development of silicon carbide, known as SiC, a semiconductor material that operates more efficiently at high voltages than competing technologies. This agreement includes a new five-year, multimillion-dollar initiative and a commitment by Morgan to become a founding member of the recently launched Penn State Silicon Carbide Innovation Alliance, as well as to supply the graphite materials and solutions needed for SiC development to Penn State for use by internal and external partners.
The initiative is a coalition of industry leaders, academic institutions and government support led by Joshua Robinson, professor of materials science and engineering and acting associate dean for research in Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.
Affiliate colleges and units in this partnership include the Eberly College of Science, the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, the College of Engineering, the Materials Research Institute and the Applied Research Laboratory. Read more.
Featured Research: In the Evolution of Walking, the Hip Bone Connected to the Rib Bones
A research team including a Penn State biologist completed a new reconstruction of the skeleton of Tiktaalik, the 375-million-year-old fossil fish that is one of the closest relatives to limbed vertebrates. The new reconstruction shows that the fish’s ribs likely attached to its pelvis, an innovation thought to be crucial to supporting the body and for the eventual evolution of walking. They published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read more, and subscribe to the college’s research Headlines newsletter.
Faculty News
Hardison Named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Ross Hardison, Academy Professor and professor emeritus of biochemistry and molecular biology, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Election as a fellow is an honor bestowed by peers upon members of the AAAS, the world's largest general scientific society, for their extraordinary achievements in advancing science.
Hardison was honored for contributions to the field of molecular biology, particularly for developing genomic, epigenomic and bioinformatic approaches to identify gene regulatory elements and study mechanisms controlling gene expression. Read more.
Janine Kwapis Receives New Investigator Award in Aging Biology and Geroscience Research
Janine Kwapis, Paul Berg Early Career Professor in the Biological Sciences, has been selected to receive a Hevolution/AFAR New Investigator Award in Aging Biology and Geroscience Research from the American Federation for Aging Research. The three-year, $375,000 grant will support Kwapis’s research on understanding age-related impairments in how memories are updated, an understudied aspect of the aging process.
The grant program is designed to enable early-career investigators to advance research projects in the basic biology of aging and geroscience—a research paradigm based on addressing the biology of aging and age-related diseases to promote healthy aging. Read more.
Li Receives Institute of Mathematical Statistics’ 2024 Carver Medal
Runze Li, Eberly Family Chair Professor of Statistics, has been selected to receive the Harry C. Carver Medal from the Institute of Mathematical Statistics.
The Harry C. Carver Medal is awarded annually to members of the IMS for their exceptional service. The award was created in 2002 to honor Harry C. Carver, the founding editor of the journal Annals of Mathematical Statistics and one of the founders of the IMS.
Li received the award for his guidance to the journal Annals of Statistics’ editorial board as the co-editor and then editor during a long period of difficult times due to unexpected circumstances. He has also contributed as program chair of joint meetings of the IMS and several different Pacific Rim statistical associations. Read more.
Penn State Emeritus Academy Welcomes Four Eberly College of Science Distinguished Spring 2024 Inductees
The Penn State Emeritus Academy has announced the induction of 16 distinguished faculty members into its prestigious ranks this spring, 2024. These esteemed individuals have demonstrated exemplary dedication to academia, research, creative work, and the Penn State community throughout their illustrious careers.
The Penn State Emeritus Academy is dedicated to fostering a vibrant community of retired faculty who continue contributing to the University's mission through mentoring, teaching, and research. The academy provides a platform for members to engage in intellectual and creative activities that contribute to the Penn State community and beyond. Academy members hold the title of "Academy Professor."
The new inductees represent a wide range of disciplines, underscoring the diverse academic excellence that Penn State is known for. Their careers have not only contributed significantly to their fields but have also enriched the educational experiences of countless students.
The Eberly College of Science's spring 2024 inductees into the Penn State Emeritus Academy are as follows:
- Abhay Ashtekar, Atherton Professor and Evan Pugh Professor Emeritus of Physics
- James G. Ferry, Stanley Person Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Ross C. Hardison, T. Ming Chu Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Nicholas Winograd, Evan Pugh University Professor Emeritus of Chemistry
Student News
Schreyer Scholar and Biology Major Tutors Science through Art
Humans use science to help understand their world and art to express how they experience it. When these seemingly opposite disciplines come together, they can powerfully enhance learning.
When trying to master the interconnected systems of the natural world, creating a visual aid can help turn a mountain of information into a more manageable molehill. Lisa Wang, a second-year biology major and Schreyer Scholar, has recently done just that with the development of her “Draw with Me” tutoring program for Biology 141. Read more.
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