1985-1998

James B. Anderson, professor of chemistry, developed a method of quantum physics called the "random walk method." The method predicts the energies of molecules with accuracies previously thought impossible, and precisely determines stabilities, reaction rates, and spectroscopic properties.

Using computer simulation techniques, Jayanth R. Banava, professor of physics, solved a set of fundamental long-standing problems involving fluid motions at the molecular scale and in the continuum limit. His work has led to a better understanding of the properties of fluids at short-length scales, and has highlighted how state-of-the-art computer technology can solve fundamental scientific problems.

Jay Belsky, professor of human development, pioneered research in the implications of infants' experiences in day care, and is known for his empirical and conceptual work on the interrelations among child development, parenting behavior, marital relations, and evolutionary theory.

In the rapidly emerging area of developmental psychopathology and epidemiology, Karen L. Bierman has been recognized as a leader in conceptualizing the merger of the rich empirical data of clinical practice with highly articulated theories and rigorous research. Bierman, a professor of psychology, has been especially interested in the etiological heterogeneity of conduct disorders of children and adolescents.

Alan Booth, professor of sociology and human development, is recognized for research that provides the only long-term perspective on what is happening to the modern American family with respect to marriage and divorce. His longitudinal study, which has been continuously funded for over a decade, has blended family and developmental theories which examine marriage, remarriage, and related phenomena.

T.D. Borkovek, professor of psychology, a leading clinical researcher in the field of anxiety disorders, made grand breakthroughs in the study of worry, and developed various methods to help alleviate worry and its effects. He cracked a problem that had previously been a source of perplexity for clinicians and researchers, and his ideas appear to have considerable pertinent long-term applicability for the treatment for those who suffer from anxiety disorders.

Colleagues have called W. Dale Brownawell's work in mathematics a "classic of the century." Brownawell greatly contributed to commutative algebra and transcendental number theory, reducing pure mathematics into a more effective way of computing practical calculations. His work rendered the theorem, called the Hilbert Nullstellensatz, more easily applicable to control theory, robotics, image reconstruction, and computational complexity.

Dmitri Burago, assistant professor of mathematics, developed a proof for two outstanding conjectures in Riemannian geometry. He investigated periodic curved n-dimensional spaces, like the ones obtained by mass distributions in general relativity, and proved them applicable to numerous other problems that before had seemed unsolvable. Burago's first achievement concerned periodically perturbed Euclidean spaces still having exactly one shortest curve between each pair of points. He proved that such spaces must be flat Euclidean spaces.

Linda M. Burton, professor of human development and family studies and sociology, is one of the premiere family sociologists in the U.S. Her studies of African American families have contributed significantly to her field. Burton received an American Family Therapy Academy Award for Innovative Contributions to Family Research in 1996.

The study of biomechanics and human locomotion is the focus of Peter R. Cavanagh's research.

The study of biomechanics and human locomotion is the focus of Peter R. Cavanagh's research, professor of locomotion studies. Concerned with the distribution of forces on a foot, and the magnitude of those forces, he has applied his research to consider gait and posture of the human body, finding a wide range of applications for his expertise.

Milton W. Cole, professor of physics, has been a substantial contributor to the interrelated fields of surface science, condensed matter physics, and statistical mechanics. Cole's successful prediction of wetting and prewetting transitions in helium films led to observations of unexpected phenomena which have important implications for wetting phenomena in particular and surface science in general.

Daniel J. Cosgrove, professor of biology, has pioneered research on expansins--proteins that are responsible for the mechanism of plant cell wall expansion, and thus for plant growth. Cosgrove's research combines biophysics, biochemistry, physiology, and molecular biology to study these proteins.

Anthony Cutle, research professor of art history and one of the world's leading scholars in Byzantine art, brought expertise to Penn State on the historic Byzantine empire. Cutler served as the art history editor of the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, sat on the board of the Byzantine Studies Conference, and is a member of the U.S. National Committee on Byzantine Studies.

Tarasankar DebRoy approached the solving of complex welding problems in a creative and thorough manner. His physical and mathematical models have provided other researchers with a quantitative basis for understanding fusion welding processes and established a scientific standard. A professor of materials science and engineering, DebRoy earned the Adams Memorial Membership Award for outstanding teaching from the American Welding Society in 1992.

The Rise of Nationalism in Vietnam and China and Vietnam: The Roots of Conflict are two of four books authored by William J. Duiker, professor of East Asian history. In his works, Duiker addresses key issues in the history of Southeast Asia and its involvement with Western powers. Read both within and without academia, his works have reached large public audiences, stimulating thinking about our past role in Southeast Asia and our continuing responsibilities there.

The books Ratio and Invention: A study of Medieval Lyric and Narrative and The Dream of Chaucer: Representation and Reflection in Chaucer's Early Narrative earned Robert R. Edwards, professor of English and comparative literature, high esteem as one of the most accomplished medievalists in the nation. Edwards, a member of Penn State faculty since 1989, is the author of two other books, the co-author of one, and a writer of numerous reviews, articles, and essays.

Wolfgang E. Ernst, professor of physics and chemistry, has made and interpreted definitive spectroscopic measurements on alkali trimers. Trimers are molecules composed of three identical simpler molecules. Ernst's development of a laser spectroscopy-based apparatus allowed him to discover that the sodium trimer does not show the geometric phase predicted by theory. This discovery relates not only to sodium, but to all small metal clusters; it has stimulated new theoretical and experimental investigations of trimers. Tarasankar DebRoy approached the solving of complex welding problems in a creative and thorough manner. His physical and mathematical models have provided other researchers with a quantitative basis for understanding fusion welding processes and established a scientific standard. A professor of materials science and engineering, DebRoy earned the Adams Memorial Membership Award for outstanding teaching from the American Welding Society in 1992.

The Rise of Nationalism in Vietnam and China and Vietnam: The Roots of Conflict are two of four books authored by William J. Duiker, professor of East Asian history. In his works, Duiker addresses key issues in the history of Southeast Asia and its involvement with Western powers. Read both within and without academia, his works have reached large public audiences, stimulating thinking about our past role in Southeast Asia and our continuing responsibilities there.

The books Ratio and Invention: A study of Medieval Lyric and Narrative and The Dream of Chaucer: Representation and Reflection in Chaucer's Early Narrative earned Robert R. Edwards, professor of English and comparative literature, high esteem as one of the most accomplished medievalists in the nation. Edwards, a member of Penn State faculty since 1989, is the author of two other books, the co-author of one, and a writer of numerous reviews, articles, and essays.

Researching efforts to apply biotechnology and endocrinology to the swine industry. Terry D. Etherton, professor of animal nutrition, is aiming to make pork leaner and healthier. Etherton has studied endocrine control of adipose tissue metabolism, and has pioneered efforts to decrease fat deposition by 50 to 80 percent and increase muscle growth in pigs.

Andrew G. Ewing, professor of chemistry, has contributed to single-cell analysis through development of techniques such as micro-scale separation and miniaturized voltammetry. Ewing has also made contributions to analytical chemistry by developing small electrodes and small-scale separations by capillary electrophoresis. This work, on the picoliter and femtoliter levels, has been used to resolve important fundamental issues in neurobiology.

Roland E. Fleischer, professor of art history, was the first scholar to devote study to the influence of emblematic literature on the painting of colonial America. Fleischer has studied manifestations of Northern European Baroque traditions in colonial American work. His discoveries are significant to scholars of both Dutch and colonial American art.

Joanna Floros , professor of cellular and molecular physiology and pediatrics, is an international leader in the study of lung surfactant proteins. Floros pioneered the use of molecular genetics tools and molecular biology to better understand the regulation of surfactant protein genes, lung development, and the genetic basis of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome.

Since 1979, Barbara J. Garrison, professor of chemistry, has been developing descriptive mathematical models of microscopic mechanisms of certain chemical reactions which occur on solid surfaces. Experimental data has since matched her predictions. Garrison has also tackled the theory behind "true chemical reactions," with her study of the growth of semiconductor thin films by molecular beam epitaxy.

Anne G. Gibson, professor of theatre arts, has a national reputation in the field of theater design. Three of her designs for Timon of Athens, Richard II, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, were produced for the Utah Shakespearean Festival during the summer of 1993. She has also designed for the South Jersey Regional Theater, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Oregon Shakespeare Festival--Portland, the American Heartland Theatre, Ford's Theater, and many off-Broadway theaters and national tours. Her scenic designs are considered to clearly contribute to the success of the productions.

Gideon S. Golany, the first urban designer/planner to study subterranean developments in Turkey, Tunisia, and China, defined himself as an international scholar with his creation of habitat-friendly communities in hostile environments. While keeping the natural appearance of traditional communities, he incorporated modern techniques of construction for earth-sheltered habitats in arid and semi-arid zones across the world.

Coal markets, coal taxation, coal leasing, and government regulation and operation of the electric utility and steel industries have been the focus of Richard L. Gordon's research and writing. Gordon has condensed over three decades of accumulated knowledge on the subject of coal economics into an accessible book called World Coal: Economics, Policies and Prospects, published in 1987 by Cambridge University Press.

Dennis S. Gouran has been a leader in the field of group communication as a professor and the head of the department of speech communications. Establishing himself in matters of national significance, Gouran has produced seminal studies of decision-making in groups, including those of the Watergate cover-up, decisional processes in the Challenger disaster, and the Attorney General's commission on pornography.

As a result of James M. Hammond's research, the once neglected area of intraovarian growth factors (IGFs) is now an active area of inquiry. Hammond, professor of medicine and cellular and molecular physiology at the Hershey Medical Center, pioneered studies establishing IGFs--particularly insulin-like growth factors--as necessary and important for the growth and maturation of ovarian follicles.

A book on the Herero-speaking peoples of the Kalahari titled Structure of an African Pastoralist Community: Demography, Ecology, and History of the Ngamiland Herero gained Henry Harpending, professor of anthropology, praise in the field of biological anthropology. Working in collaboration with Penn State colleagues, Harpending has developed a new way of analyzing mitochondrial DNA differences among human populations that reveals ancient episodes of population growth before the last ice age.

For publishing The Letters of Margaret Fuller (Cornell University Press, 1983), Robert N. Hudspeth, associate professor of English and American studies in the College of the Liberal Arts, received the Faculty Scholar Medal in the Arts and Humanities in 1984. The two-volume edition devoted to Fuller, a 19th century American writer and critic who covered themes including transcendentalism and women's rights, is the product of 14 years of work.

On the forefront of research in the development of pituitary cell hormone secretions stands the work of Wesley C. Hymer, professor of biochemistry. The hormone prolactin plays a large role in breast cancer, and acts as a growth hormone, regulating metabolism and growth. Hymer's research on prolactin paved the way for further research in hormone release mechanisms. More recently, Hymer has been investigating pituitary cell behavior in microgravity conditions, experiments which apply to a human's ability to endure long space voyages.

Understanding of the chemical "motor" that drives tiny cilia--hairlike structures lining the inner surface of many human organs--has been furthered by the "stopped flow" and "chemical quench flow" apparatuses designed by Kenneth A. Johnson, associate professor of biochemistry. These apparatuses measure the cycle that coordinates molecular ciliary wave motion, with hopes of discovering what regulates that motion.

Teh-Hui Kao joined the Penn State faculty in 1986. In the early '90s, his award-winning research on self-incompatibility revealred the biological mechanism that prevents some plants from fertilizing themselves. His work proved that a single gene was responsible, and that rejection of pollen depends on ribonuclease activity.

Iam-Choon Khoo, pioneer of quantum electronics and nonlinear optics, discovered huge potential in the use of lasers for optical displays and communications. By using liquid crystals, he noticed amazingly large nonlinear optical responses, and has produced several theories of these effects in laser-induced processes.

Joseph J. Kockelmans has published over 100 articles, written 18 books, and edited seven others concerning phenomenology, continental philosopy, the philosophy of science, and Heidigger. Kockelman is known in the United States as one of the leading authorities and best interpreters of Heidigger's philosopy.

John W. Kreider discovered the only system known for the propagation of cancer-associated papillomaviruses in a controlled, experimental environment. Kreider, professor of pathology, microbiology, and immunology at the Hershey Medical Center since 1968, has made breakthrough contributions to cancer research by infecting normal human tissues using the renal capsule of "nude" mice, which improves further understanding leading to better therapy. His techniques which were at first considered curiously innovative, are now widely used in medical research.

Lynn S. Liben, professor and head of psychology, is known for her highly innovative research on children's spatial cognition. One of the originators of this field, which has made a fundamental contribution to cognitive psychology, she investigates how children understand and use graphic representations of places such as maps and aerial photographs, and how these representational skills develop during childhood. She has applied her findings to education through work with the Children's Television Workshop, the National Geographic Society, and the National Science Foundation. She is the editor of the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.

Kenneth Kuan-Yun Kuo, distinguished professor of mechanical engineering, and director of Penn State's High Pressure Combustion Laboratory, is an international leader in solid-propellant rocket propulsion research in the area of flame propagation. Kuo provided a key to understanding the 1993 loss of a Titan IV K-ll rocket and its satellite payload through his research on flame propagation into cracks or debonds of solid propellants. In 1994, the Titan IV achieved several successful launches and became fully operational

Kathryn F. LaNoue, professor of cellular and molecular physiology at the Hershey Medical Center, has devised innovative ways of using sophisticated new techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance to research regulatory methods of ATP synthesis. ATP is required to fuel muscle contraction and is the energy used by all living cells. LaNoue has also investigated long-standing problems connected with cellular compartmentalization, video imaging, and the use of microspectrofluorometry to measure intracellular free calcium, a key to understanding cardiac metabolism.

Don Alvaro Leon, associate professor of architecture, Veronica Burns Lucas, assistant professor of landscape architecture, John Paul Lucas, professor of architecture, and Eliza Pennypacker, associate professor of landscape architecture were honored in 1992 as the creators of the winning design for the Korean War Veteran's Memorial in Washington D.C. These four faculty members conceived a design that allows visitors to participate in a commemorative reflection, and recalls a significant epoch in the nation's past. The design is a memorial to veterans, both living and dead, who served in the "Forgotten War."

John D. Martz, professor of political science, is an expert in the field of Latin American studies. The methodological and conceptual approaches he has adopted in his research have influenced the field of political science, especially in the Bolivarian states of South America. Martz has published 11 book chapters and five articles on various aspects of socio-economic and political developments in the three countries he studied.

George L. Mauner, professor of art history, is credited with rediscovering a master of early modernism, painter Cuno Amiet, who is the so-called "missing link" between French post-impressionism and German expressionism. Mauner's research has focused on late 19th-century French and Swiss art, of which he is considered to be the dominant expert internationally.

John A. Milner, professor of nutrition, has furthered research on the impact of nutrition on chemically induced carginogenesis. Much of Milner's research has focused on selenium, a trace element in the diet which alters the initiation phase of carcinogenesis. He also has studied foods such as garlic that can decrease the risk of several types of cancer, including breast cancer.

The article, "Human endometrial adenocarcinoma transplanted into nude mice: Growth regulation by estradiol," catapulted Rodrigue Mortel and his team at the Hershey Medical Center into national and international recognition. For the first time, researchers had successfully grafted tissue from the uterus into nude mice and used them as an in vivo model for investigating the influence of hormones on cancer growth and on other cancer constituents, such as receptors and enzymes. Mortel and his team were able to show the first direct acceleration of growth of primary human endometrial cancer by estradiol.

In 1989, Wilson Jeremiah Moses, professor of history, published Alexander Crummell: A Study in Civilization and Discontent. In 1992, his revised edition of Black Messiahs and Uncle Toms was published. Both are considered major contributions toward understanding the African-American experience in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Moses, one of the country's leading authorities on black nationalism, has examined the European and American roots of black culture and shed light on the development of African-American ideology.

Paul E. Nelson and T. A. Toussoun, professors of plant pathology and co-directors of the Fusarium Research Center in the College of Agricultural Sciences, received the Faculty Scholar Medal in Life and Health Sciences in 1984 for their research on the diseases, biology, and taxonomy of Fusarium, a family of fungi. They produced a comparative classification system that has been recognized as the first successful attempt at clearly documenting the Fusarium. Their international workshops have helped encourage the spread of consistent identification techniques for the species.

Robert E. Newnham was honored with the Faculty Scholar Medal in Physical Sciences and Engineering in 1984 for creating new composite materials with a distinctive group of properties. Newnham, Alcoa professor of material sciences and engineering in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, designed materials that will help produce improved acoustical, electronic, and optical devices.

In 1984, Glyn P. Norton, professor of French, published a book titled, The Ideology and Language of Translation in Renaissance France and Their Humanist Antecedents, which represents a breakthrough in the history of translation. The book is the first comprehensive analysis of its subject and the first general work on translation theory in 15th-century France.

Keith Ord, professor of management science and statistics, conducts research in forecasting techniques and their application in business and other fields. His work includes an active interest in patterns of disease spread, particularly referring to outbreaks of measles and influenza. Though measles is not common in the U.S., "it is still one of the top ten killers in the Third World," says Ord.

Robert B. Page is an internationally recognized professor of neurosurgery and anatomy at the Hershey Medical Center. His research on vascular anatomy and control of the local blood flow to the pituitary gland has found that "the pituitary gland strongly influences the brain, just as the brain strongly influences the pituitary." This depiction of the pituitary gland system has been recognized as fundamentally important for understanding the mechanisms of neuroendocrine regulation. His ultimate goal is to "seek how patients respond to the stress of illness and trauma."

An expert in developmental behavioral genetics, Robert Plomin has contributed tremendously to the study of human personality, temperament, social behavior, and cognition with regards to hereditary roles and the environment. While at Penn State, Plomin, professor of human development, was recognized as a leading authority in his field.

Robert N. Proctor professor of the history of science, has earned international recognition with the publication of this three books: Racial Hygiene: Medicine Under the Nazis, Value-Free Science? Purity and Power in Modern Knowledge, and Cancer Wars: How Politics Shapes What We Know and Don't Know About Cancer. These texts, which focus on the relationship of science and public policy, have had great impact upon public thought and policy around the world.

The invention and development of the Penn State Ultrasonic Guided Wave Probe has been attributed to Joseph L. Rose, professor of engineering design and manufacturing. The device was developed for detection of defects in the skin and underlying structure of aircraft for improving air transport safety. The probe could also be used to inspect various other engineered systems such as the Alaskan pipeline. Rose is considered an international authority in the non-destructive evaluation field and in the ultrasound guided-wave method for defect detection and pattern recognition.

Stephen G. Simpson, professor of mathematics, has focused on reverse mathematics, concerned not with the usual derivation of theorems from axioms, but with the determination of which axioms are required in order to prove specific, well-known theorems. Simpson is one of three 20th century mathematicians at the forefront of a long-lasting debate over the role of the non-constructive set existence axioms in specific, familiar mathematical solutions.

Since 1978, Satvir S. Tevethia has been pioneering research on virus tumor antigens at Penn State. Tevethia was the first to understand how cytolytic immune cells are involved in the rejection of tumors induced by a virus. More current research has helped to explain the cellular immune response to herpes simplex virus, relating further to a better understanding of malignant diseases in general.

Observing the surfaces of atoms has been Tien T. Tsong's field of study. The professor of physics developed instruments in field ion and atom-probe microscopy that enabled individual atoms to be analyzed chemically. Tsong studies interactions between atoms, and behaviors of single atoms and tiny atom-clusters.

In an attempt to develop of a general law governing the onset of failure in many types of materials, Barry Voight, professor of geology and geological engineering, began with a study of the eruption and subsequent avalanche of Mount St. Helens. A mathematical formula to predict catastrophic failures, including volcanic eruptions, rockslides, tunnel collapses, and metal creep, came out of this research. Voight's law can predict the failures for certain cases, and so can help save lives.

Studies on the epidemiological genetics of New World populations have been pioneered by Kenneth M. Weiss, professor of anthropology and genetics. Weiss's field embraces areas of physical anthropology, population genetics, cancer genetics, human biology, and developmental evolution. Since joining Penn State in 1985, Weiss has been credited with elevating the University's anthropology department through the recruitment of the brightest scientists in the country who study physical and biological anthropology.

James L.W. West III, distinguished professor of English and director of Penn State's Center for the History of the Book, is eminent as an editor, textual theorist, biographer, and critic of 20th-century American literature. His publication of William Styron, A Life in 1998 caps a five-year period of extraordinary achievement. During that time he published editions of Jennie Gerhardt by Theodore Dreiser (1992), Inheritance of the Night: Early Drafts of Lie Down in Darkness by William Styron (1993), and This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1997).

Paul West professor of English and comparative literature, has been recognized internationally for his contribution to the literary world. West has published work ranging from novels, short stories, memoirs, poetry, and scholarly investigations, which have received both popular and critical acclaim. His 1990 work titled "Lord Byron's Doctor" was nominated for French prizes including the Medicis, the Femina, and the Prix du Meilleur Livre Entranger.

Internationally regarded for his work in surface science, Nicholas Winograd, professor of chemistry, has advanced the combined techniques of particle bombardment of solids and multiphoton resonance ionization (MPRI). Particle bombardment forces atoms and molecules to eject from the surface into the gas phase. Then the MPRI technique is implemented in order to count the elemental type of single atoms, one by one. The practical application of the technique is in the electronic industry: Winograd's research will make it possible for more accurate detection of small amounts of impurities in solids.

The discovery and confirmation of the existence of the first planets identified outside our solar system is attributed to Alexander Wolszczan, professor of astronomy and astrophysics. Wolszczan announced the existence of three planets orbiting a millisecond pulsar located in the constellation Virgo, a discovery not only important to science, but to civilization. For his research Wolszczan has received several awards, including the Annual Award for Polish Science in 1992 and the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation award in 1993.

The biochemical mechanism of how gene expression is regulated in the living cell is the focus of Jerry L. Workman's research. The associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology made seminal observations on the function of chromatin, a substance that forms the chromosomes and contains the genes. Workman became editor of the journal, Molecular and Cell Biology, in 1998. In 1997 he became an honorary lifetime member of the Japanese Biochemical Society, and in 1998 was selected a Stohlman Scholar of the Leukemia Society.

For his creation of an Electro-Optics Laboratory, Evan Pugh professor of electrical engineering Francis T. S. Yu of the College of Engineering received the Faculty Scholar Medal for Outstanding Achievement in 1983. The lab contains one of the largest signal processing programs at a U. S. university. Yu's achievements in this field include work with white-light signal processing that aids in restoration of old photographs, converts black-and-white x-rays to color to allow physicians to see images more easily, and allows for the storage of color film by copying color information onto black-and-white film in a single step process. His work with rainbow holography resulted in a single-step holographic process that allows for simple and inexpensive holographic applications.