Contact: Bob Ratliff
The Mississippi State University chapter of Sigma Xi research fraternity is recognizing five faculty and staff members for their work during the just-completed school year.
Royce O. Bowden was presented with the organization's 1998 Ralph E. Powe Research Award. An associate professor of industrial engineering who joined the faculty in 1992, he has received national recognition for developing a research program in computational intelligence and simulation optimization.
In addition to teaching and research duties, Bowden directs MSU's Simulation and Advanced Computation Laboratory. He also has authored some 40 research publications.
The Powe Award is a memorial to the former Sigma Xi member and university research vice president who died in 1996. It was first presented in 1997.
Other Sigma Xi honorees included:
--Millie Sellars and Lynda Tuck, Support of Research Award. Sellars is the business manager for the College of Engineering, while Tuck recently retired as an administrator in the Office of Sponsored Programs.
--Paul R. Vowell of Greenville, Graduate Student Award. He is a doctoral student in sociology and a graduate research assistant at the Social Science Research Center.
--Kaye Kinard, Outstanding Mathematics/Science Teacher Award. The West Lauderdale High School faculty member teaches a variety of science courses and has been widely recognized for her classroom innovations.
In addition to the awards, the campus chapter inducted several faculty and staff members into full and associate membership. Promoted to full membership are Kirit Chapatwala, a doctoral candidate in microbiology, and Donald C. Jackson, professor of wildlife and fisheries.
Initiated as full members are Leonel Avendano, doctoral degree candidate in animal physiology; Mark Binkley, professor of geosciences; Douglas W. Gamble, assistant professor of geosciences; Sandra Harpole, professor of physics; Martin L. Levin, professor and head of the department of sociology, anthropology and social work; Carlson Pian, senior research engineer at the Diagnostic Instrumentation and Analysis Laboratory; M. John Plodinec, director of DIAL; Masoud Rais-Rohani, associate professor of aerospace engineering; Charles L. Spirrison, associate professor of psychology; Evan Weiher, assistant professor of biological sciences; and Mark Zappi, associate professor of chemical engineering.
Named as associate members were Carlton R. Cooper, doctoral candidate in microbiology/virology; John B. Creech, assistant agronomist at the Delta Research and Extension Center; Stephanie King, master's degree candidate in animal physiology; Dana Miles, research assistant at DIAL; Joey Purvis, research assistant at the State Chemical Laboratory; Michael Robinson, doctoral graduate in agronomy; Asit Kumar Sarkar, doctoral candidate in nutrition; Serah Theuri, doctoral candidate in nutrition; Chinonyerem Uzoho, Fulbright Scholar in nutrition; and Shan Cherie Wilkinson, master's candidate in animal physiology.
David L. Monts, associate professor of physics, will serve as Sigma Xi chapter president for the 1998-99 school year.