Purdue news summary for week of April 9-14 This digest contains summaries of the following stories from Purdue News Service and Agricultural Communication Service. All these stories, and more, are available on the World Wide Web at http://news.uns.purdue.edu/html3month/3month.html (Instructions for retrieving stories and photographs via the Internet are at the end of this document.) 1. Method could prevent disconnection for roaming cell phone users 2. Purdue at full capacity for fall semester for first-time students 3. Toni Morrison to mark 125th anniversary of Purdue libraries 4. Reunions, alumni activities set for Gala Week 5. Johnny Rutherford grand marshal for 43rd Purdue Grand Prix 6. Faculty, staff recognized at honors convocation 7. Outstanding seniors named during University Honors 8. Purdue seniors earn leadership awards 9. Purdue environmental team takes first place, wins $12,000 10. Haas Award winner to be recognized April 20 11. Purdue Notebook 12. Purdue offers a taste of tree science for middle schools 13. Kick back, picnic and enjoy music at Purdue Twilight Concerts 14. Sign up now for Purdue Summer Band 15. Texans chronicle entertainment to win national Goldberg crown 16. Black caucus to recognize student achievements, service 17. Effective teaching and learning? It's a real problem 18. Purdue Housing and Food Services hiring for summer 19. Purdue calendar 20. Best Bets for Journalists 21. Inside Purdue and Perspective ------------------------------------- RESEARCH NEWS AND SPECIAL REPORTS ------------------------------------- 1. Method could prevent disconnection for roaming cell phone users Roaming cell phone users are often cut off, sometimes while driving even short distances. Now engineers have devised a method to prevent those annoying disconnections. The technique could make cell phone users 100 times less likely to be cut off, says one of its creators, Edwin K.P. Chong, an associate professor at the Purdue School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Cell phones depend on a series of ''base stations'' that provide service to separate regions called ''cells,'' which are arranged in a sort of honeycomb pattern spanning large geographical areas. The new method involves reorganizing those cells. ------------------------ GENERAL INTEREST NEWS ------------------------ 2. Purdue at full capacity for fall semester for first-time students The fall 2000 freshman class is already at capacity at Purdue's West Lafayette campus. A record number of applications from first-time students has caused the campus to reach its limit on beginning freshmen sooner than at any other time in the university's history. ''The demand for Purdue programs is just tremendous,'' said Douglas Christiansen, director of admissions. ''This is the first time the programs at the West Lafayette campus have been filled this early in the admissions cycle for first-time students.'' But he added that this situation is likely to continue, because the number of applications to Purdue has increased by 20 percent over the past several years. 3. Toni Morrison to mark 125th anniversary of Purdue libraries Purdue will celebrate the 125th anniversary of its libraries with a free lecture by novelist Toni Morrison, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. Morrison will be the guest of Purdue Dean of Libraries Emily Mobley on Sept. 28. The author will lecture and answer questions from the audience beginning at 7 p.m. in the Elliott Hall of Music. ''An Evening With Toni Morrison'' is open to the public, with free general admission seating available on a first-come, first-served basis. (Photo available) 4. Reunions, alumni activities set for Gala Week The Purdue Alumni Association has planned reunions, entertainment and activities for alumni who return for the university's Gala Week, April 28-30. Registration and activities information will be available at Gala Week headquarters in Room 118, Purdue Memorial Union. The office will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 28 and 29. For registration and ticket information, call the headquarters at (800) 414-1541 or (765) 494-5175. Events are listed online at the Alumni Gala Week site, http://www.purdue.edu/PAA/events/galaweek.html. 5. Johnny Rutherford grand marshal for 43rd Purdue Grand Prix Johnny Rutherford, a three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, will be the featured guest and grand marshal of the 43rd Purdue Grand Prix on April 29. The 50-mile, 160-lap go-kart race is billed as ''The Greatest Spectacle in College Racing.'' Practice began April 5 and will continue through Friday, April 21. Qualifications will be from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, April 22, and 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, April 24 and 25. The final six spots on the starting grid will go to the top two finishers in each of three sprint races starting about 11:30 a.m. Saturday, April 29. Race-day events will require admission to the Grand Prix track, which is north of Ross-Ade Stadium. Tickets cost $5 in advance and $6 at the gate. --------------------------- NEWS ABOUT PURDUE PEOPLE --------------------------- 6. Faculty, staff recognized at honors convocation Outstanding teaching at Purdue during the 1999-2000 academic year was to be recognized today (Friday, 4/14) at the University Honors Convocation. Five faculty members received Purdue Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Awards in Memory of Charles B. Murphy. The $5,000 awards are the university's highest undergraduate teaching honor. The 2000 winners are David J. Asai, professor of biological sciences, John G. Graveel, professor of agronomy, Jonathan M. Harbor, associate professor of earth and atmospheric sciences, Joseph M. La Lopa, assistant professor of restaurant, hotel, institutional and tourism management, and Robert W. Sovinski, associate professor of landscape architecture. There also were award-winners in each academic school, plus five winners of special awards. 7. Outstanding seniors named during University Honors Purdue students were to be recognized for their academic achievements tonight (Friday, 4/14) during the annual University Honors Convocation. Amanda L. Schreiweis, New Albany, Ind., received the annual Flora Roberts Award for the outstanding graduating woman. Ryan J. Casteel, Decatur, Ill., received the annual G.A. Ross Award for the outstanding graduating man. Anna K. Larson, West Lafayette, earned the Louis Sudler Prize for excellence in the arts. Jessica Rossigno, Granger, Ind., received the Bruce Helfert Memorial Award for the outstanding junior majoring in science or engineering. Also recognized were five current or former undergraduate students who received National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships, plus 47 students who maintained straight ''A'' averages during their college careers. 8. Purdue seniors earn leadership awards Nine Purdue students were to receive Charles O. McGaughey (mick GOY) Leadership Awards today (Friday, 4/14) during the University Honors Convocation. Each student earned an unrestricted cash award of $2,600. The recipients are Kristy Alicia Kim Schulhof, a junior from Indianapolis, and seniors Caroline Campbell of Lincoln, Neb.; Gregory Henkle of Greenwood, Ind.; Lisa Kelley of Sun Prairie, Wis.; Andrea Livesay of Seymour, Ind.; Nathan Rasmussen of Valparaiso, Ind.; Beth Richardson of Huntertown, Ind.; Stephanie Scherer of Haubstadt, Ind.; and Shandol Swalley of Greencastle, Ind. 9. Purdue environmental team takes first place, wins $12,000 Purdue students won $12,000 in cash prizes at the 10th Annual WERC Environmental Design Contest held April 3-6 at New Mexico State University. WERC, a consortium for environmental education and development, hosted more than 350 university and high school students and 80 judges for a unique competition that challenged students to solve six real-world environmental problems. Twenty Purdue students and advisers Inez Hua, Loring Niles and Ronald Wukasch participated in three of the six tasks. The team won first place in two tasks and second-place in the third, giving the team first-place overall honors, a total of $12,000 in prize money, and the Waste Nuclear Services traveling trophy that is awarded to the top winner each year. 10. Haas Award winner to be recognized April 20 Leah H. Jamieson, professor of electrical and computer engineering, will be recognized as the 2000 Violet Haas Award winner during an open reception at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 20, in the Krannert Drawing Room. Purdue's Council on the Status of Women uses the awards to recognize an individual, department or program for demonstrated efforts in promoting the advancement of women in the university. 11. Purdue Notebook -- David Huhnke is handling publicity for Purdue Musical Organizations; he works for Strategic Marketing Affiliates, a Lafayette firm contracted by PMO to provide marketing services -- R. Graham Cooks received the 2000 Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award from the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh -------------------- AGRICULTURAL NEWS -------------------- 12. Purdue offers a taste of tree science for middle schools To observe Earth Day on April 22, Indiana teachers and students can help the environment and improve property values by planting a tree -- and Purdue can help turn that experience into a science lesson. ''Purdue has a wealth of science information,'' said Natalie Carroll, the Indiana environmental 4-H specialist who helped produce ''Benefits of Trees,'' a teaching packet chock-full of indoor and outdoor activities, overheads, an Indiana tree identification book and a short video on tree-planting. Teachers can get the packet, which costs $9.95, by contacting Purdue Agricultural Communication Service Media Distribution Center at (888) EXT-INFO, fax: (765) 496-1540, or sending e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and asking for YSS-2, ''Benefits of Trees.'' ------------------------------- ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT ITEMS ------------------------------- 13. Kick back, picnic and enjoy music at Purdue Twilight Concerts Purdue Bands surrounds Easter weekend with four free outdoor concerts to celebrate spring and take advantage of pleasant weather and lengthening days. Three Twilight Concerts will be presented at 7 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, April 17-19, at Slayter Center of Performing Arts. And in the week following Easter, Purdue Bands' presents Jazz on the Hill at 5 p.m. Friday, April 28, at Slayter Center. 14. Sign up now for Purdue Summer Band Purdue's Summer Concert Band is looking for interested musicians to flesh out its ranks. The band, which is slated to give an outdoor evening concert July 11 at Slayter Center, is open to musicians in the Greater Lafayette community, as well as Purdue students and staff and their families. For more information, contact William Kisinger, the conductor, at (765) 494-3955, [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------- MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS ---------------------- 15. Texans chronicle entertainment to win national Goldberg crown A team of Texans used a slight variation on a theme to claim victory at the 12th Annual National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest at Purdue on Saturday (4/8). The assigned task was to fill and seal a time capsule with a minimum of seven items representing the greatest inventions of the 20th century. But the team of students from the University of Texas at Austin took that a few steps further, using 18 items symbolizing the best entertainment of the 20th century instead. Their contraption, ''Rube Golberg's Entertainment Machine,'' defeated six other entries to claim the national championship trophy and the $250 first prize. The second-place prize of $150 and the People's Choice Trophy went to a University of Toledo team and their ''Touring America'' machine. Third place and a $50 prize went to a team from Purdue's Society of Women Engineers and their machine called ''Traveling Through Time.'' Other competitors were Vanderbilt University, Oakland (Michigan) University, Hofstra University and Northern Illinois University. (Photos, b-roll available) 16. Black caucus to recognize student achievements, service The Purdue Black Caucus of Faculty and Staff will conduct its 25th annual Academic and Service Awards Program at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 29, in Fowler Hall, Stewart Center. Each year, the black caucus and the Purdue Black Alumni Organization recognize nearly 200 African-American undergraduate students for their academic achievements. 17. Effective teaching and learning? It's a real problem Problem-based learning is finding a welcome home campuswide at Purdue. The proponents of problem-based learning are sponsoring a refereed poster session from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, April 20, in Room 302, Stewart Center. ''It will be teachers talking about teaching,'' said Joseph M. La Lopa, assistant professor of restaurant, hotel, institutional and tourism management. ''The goal of the Problem-based Learning Group, which has been meeting for about a year, is to improve the critical thinking and problem- solving ability of our students.'' 18. Purdue Housing and Food Services hiring for summer Purdue Housing and Food Services is sponsoring a Student Summer Job Fair to recruit Lafayette-area high school and college students for summer service, food service, catering and clerical positions. The job fair will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, (4/20) on the Memorial Mall, which is next to Stewart Center on State Street in West Lafayette. 19. Purdue calendar This calendar lists entertainment events, lectures, exhibits and meetings involving Purdue people during the next four weeks. An interactive, online calendar of Purdue events is at http://www.purdue.edu/calendar/ 20. Best Bets for Journalists -- April 29 ceremony will honor Purdue's first black engineering grad "Best Bets" also has details about two appearances by award-winning novelist Jane Hamilton; the presentation of awards April 24 in the Soybean Utilization Contest; Gala Week April 28-30; a Gala Celebration of Nursing April 28; the Grand Prix go-kart race, with Johnny Rutherford as grand marshal, on April 29; and an induction ceremony April 19 for the Purdue chapter of Phi Beta Delta. 21. Inside Purdue and Perspective Check the online versions of Inside Purdue, the faculty/staff newspaper, and Perspective, a quarterly publication for alumni, parents of students, faculty and staff, for other news about Purdue, at http://www.purdue.edu/PER/Periodicals.html. How to retrieve stories and photographs electronically Releases, publication-quality photographs, and a searchable database of Purdue and Big 10 experts are available at the PurdueNews Web site at http://news.uns.purdue.edu. Faculty and staff may register as experts at the Web site. Publication-quality photos also are available at the PurdueNews ftp site at ftp://ftp.purdue.edu/pub/uns/. Purdue News Service also produces e-mail digests of stories on five topics: agriculture; business, finance and technology; lifestyles, education and careers; science, engineering and health; and weekly Purdue News (that's this digest). To subscribe (or unsubscribe) to this service: -- Address your request to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Use a mail form with no text or graphics -- Leave the subject line blank. In the body, indicate which digest(s) you want: subscribe agnews subscribe biznews subscribe lifenews subscribe scinews subscribe pu-news (Purdue subscribers) subscribe puweek (non-Purdue subscribers) To unsubscribe, just substitute ''unsubscribe'' for ''subscribe.'' Problems? Contact Mike Willis, Purdue News Service, (765) 494-0371, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Jeanne Norberg, director Purdue University News Service 1132 Engineering Admin. Bldg. West Lafayette, IN 47907-1132 Phone: 765-494-2096 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
