• NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Hit New High—13 Awards and 20 Honorable Mentions
• Two Purdue Theatre Graduate Students Win National Awards
• Quansah Receives 2005 Kristoff Prize
• Werner Wins NAGAP Award For Promotional Excellence
• Former Grad Students Return to Receive Honorary Doctorates
• Attention Stafford Loan Borrowers
• Outstanding Graduate Teachers Recognized
• Graduate Council Actions
• Important Dates

NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Hit New High—13 Awards and 20 Honorable Mentions

Thirteen students who selected Purdue as their proposed graduate school were awarded 2005 NSF Graduate Research Fellowships. Twenty students who selected Purdue received honorable mentions in the competition.

NSF Fellowships provide three years of support consisting of a $30,000 annual stipend and a $10,500 annual cost of program allowance which the Graduate School supplements with tuition scholarships to cover the total amount of awardees’ annual tuition.

In 2004, Purdue students received 3 NSF Fellowships and 9 honorable mentions. During the previous five years, Purdue averaged 5 fellowships and just over 7 honorable mentions a year.
Of this year’s 13 NSF Fellows, 5 are in Mechanical Engineering, 3 in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and 1 each in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Life Sciences (Fish and Wildlife).

See: https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/grfp/AwardeeList.do?method=loadAwardeeList

Two Purdue Theatre Graduate Students Win National Awards

Two Purdue University Theatre graduate students captured national honors at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, which took place April 18-24 in Washington, D.C.


Scenic designer Jesse Dreikosen and actress Amanda Folena were the Purdue winners at the festival, which drew the top finishers from eight regional competitions.

Read More: http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html3month/2005/050503.Sparger.Kennedy.html

Quansah Receives 2005 Kristoff Prize

The 2005 Kristoff Award Committee has unanimously endorsed Joseph Essamuah Quansah as the 2005 Kristoff Prize recipient. Quansah is a doctoral student in Purdue’s Department of Agricultural & Biological Engineering, holds a Masters degree from Purdue’s School of Civil Engineering-Geomatics, and received the B.Sc. (Honors) in Geodetic Engineering from the University of Science and Technology in Ghana.

He is the designated Graduate Student Research Assistant for the Purdue Terrestrial Observatory (PTO) and is currently enrolled during the Spring Semester, 2005 in residence at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. Quansah has served as a mentor for the Purdue Research Opportunities Program (PROP) and has been co-author on papers presented at the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS), Supercomputing (SC/04), for the NATO Committee on the Challenges to Modern Society (CCMS) Pilot Study, for the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UN ECA) and for an article in Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy.

The award ceremony will officially take place in early Fall, 2005, when Joseph will have returned from the Leuven/Purdue Earth Observation program in Belgium. Awardees receive a framed certificate, an endowed cash award and have their names inscribed on the permanent plaque, which is displayed at the recipient home’s department.

Werner Wins NAGAP Award For Promotional Excellence

Dana Werner, director of recruitment services for the Graduate School, was given an award for promotional excellence from the National Association of Graduate Admissions Professionals. The recognition was for an extensive e-mail marketing campaign to undergraduate juniors and seniors who are prospective graduate students.

Werner and her staff received $1,000 to use for future marketing efforts and will be given the opportunity to make a presentation about the campaign at next year's conference. The award was announced in April at the group's 18th annual conference in Chicago. NAGAP is a professional organization devoted to the concerns of individuals working in graduate admissions and recruitment.

Former Grad Students Return to Receive Honorary Doctorates

Six former Purdue graduate students returned to campus for commencement on May 14-15, 2005, to receive honorary doctorates from President Martin Jischke.

Leroy Davis, recently retired president of South Carolina State University, earned a master’s degree in microbiology in 1972 and a doctorate in molecular biology in 1979.

Arnold C. Cooper is a world-renowned authority on entrepreneurship and a long-time professor in the Krannert School of Management. He earned a masters degree in industrial administration from Purdue in 1957.

Catherine Shevlin Pierce established her career in international development at the World Bank and the United Nations after earning a masters degree from Purdue’s Department of History.

Ronald P. Cantrell earned a Purdue masters degree in plant breeding in 1969 and a Purdue Ph.D. in plant genetics and breeding in 1970 before embarking on a distinguished career in agronomy that was topped off by a seven-year stint as Director General of the International Rice Research Institute.

After earning a masters degree in industrial administration in 1972, Joe W. Forehand, Jr. went on to become a leader in management consulting, including becoming chief executive officer of Accenture.

L. David Mech was recognized at commencement as the world’s foremost authority on the ecology of wolves. He is a senior research scientist with the Biological Resources Division of the United States Geological Survey with the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. He earned a Purdue doctorate in wildlife ecology in 1962.

Attention Stafford Loan Borrowers

Attention Stafford loan borrower: Federal guidance just issued May 16, 2005 allows you to consolidate your loans before you leave school if you are willing to place your loans into repayment status. Placing your loans into repayment means that you will forego your six-month grace period. By utilizing Sallie Mae's consolidation SMART LOAN, you can avoid significant increases in your variable-rate Stafford loans. Variable Stafford rates are anticipated to rise as much as 1.5% to 2% on July 1,
2005.

Act Now! You must apply now to take advantage of the record low fixed rate, currently 2.875%. Sallie Mae must receive your signed SMART LOAN consolidation application no later than June 30, 2005 in order to receive a fixed consolidation interest rate based on current variable Stafford rates.

To consolidate your loans while you are still enrolled (or planning to enroll in fall), follow the steps below:
1. You must request, in writing, that Sallie Mae place your
loans into repayment status, and
2. Request all loans be put into deferment status, and
3. Request all loans be consolidated.

By accessing Sallie Mae's SMART LOAN Concierge Service at
www.smartloan.com/student you can complete all the steps necessary to initiate your loan consolidation and lock in the current record low interest rate. Sallie Mae will complete your application and notify you that you may go online to sign your consolidation promissory note.

If you have questions, contact Sallie Mae at 1-800-448-3533. Remember!
Sallie Mae must receive your signed consolidation application no later than June 30, 2005.

Outstanding Graduate Teachers Recognized

The Committee for the Education of Teaching Assistants (CETA) and the Graduate School recognized more than 100 graduate students for their exceptional contributions to undergraduate education at Purdue University. In addition to departmental honorees, the CETA recognized the recipients of the CETA Graduate Teacher Certificates and Advanced Teacher Certificates.

The Graduate School presented its Excellence in Teaching Award, an inscribed plaque and $500, to four graduate students (from left to right):

• Darek Bulinski, a student in Department of Agronomy, who is working on a PhD under the direction of Professor Cindy Nakatsu.
• Mariya Omelicheva, a PhD student in the Department of Political Science, working with Professor Aaron Hoffman, to come forward.
• Jennifer Pate Offenburg is pursuing a PhD in the Department of Economics under the direction of Professors Jack Barron and Dan Kovenock.
• Jason Harris, who is pursuing PhD in the School of Health Sciences, under the direction of Professor George Sandison.
  

For a list of all the graduate teachers honored at the April 28, 2005, Celebration of Graduate Student Teaching Banquet in the North Ballroom of PMU, click here.

Graduate Council Actions

At its April 21, 2005, meeting, the Graduate Council recommended approval of: (1) a Master of Science Degree in Technology, to be offered at the Indianapolis campus; (2) a combined Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and Master of Business Administration; and (3) a combined Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Master of Business Administration.

Forty eight new courses were approved in the areas of Behavioral Sciences; Chemistry Based Sciences; Engineering and Physical Sciences; Humanities and Social Sciences; and Life Sciences. For the full list of approved courses, please click here.

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