Penn State University Leaves of Absence 2004-05

Penn State University Leaves of Absence 2004-05

Leaves of absence are granted for purposes of intensive study or research that will increase the quality of the individual’s future contribution to the University. The following leaves have been approved for 2004-05:

PENN STATE ABINGTON

Eleonora K. Adams, associate professor of German, to conduct research on the history of relocated German specialists in the Soviet Union following World War II for an article in Germano-Slavica, as well as for a book, by researching archives at the Europa-University Viadrina in Frankfurt, Germany, and by interviewing citizens in the German community of Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine.

Melvin C. Seesholtz, assistant professor of English, to study controversy surrounding same-sex marriages and to examine the role of psycho-social linguistics.

Suzanne Stutman, professor of English, American studies and women’s studies, to fulfill a contract with the Sidran Traumatic Stress Institute Press to provide collaboratively a poetry workbook and subsequent training program on behalf of traumatized children, at residential facilities in New York and elsewhere around the country.

Tramble T. Turner, associate professor of English, to conduct research on the intersections between theology and queer theory, and the possible impact of those intersections on Irish novelist Colm Toibin, for completion of articles for a collection of queer theory essays resulting from the International American Literature Association Queer Theory Symposium in Mexico.

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES

David Blandford, professor of agricultural economics and head of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, to complete a co-edited book, Policy Reform and Agricultural Adjustment, resulting from a project with the U.S. Department of Agriculture; and to develop associated public information materials at Imperial College in London and at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C.

Darren L. Frechette, associate professor of agricultural economics, to conduct research on the day-to-day management of a real-world small business in Bristol, Conn.; and to develop educational materials to be used in the undergraduate agribusiness management curriculum.

Marvin H. Hall, professor of agronomy, to discuss and exchange instructional materials with colleagues at institutions within the Committee on Institutional Cooperation and other peer institutions with a goal of improving the course quality and instruction of Agronomy 423, Forage Crops Management, with travel to Iowa State University, Michigan State University, The Ohio State University, Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin.

Jayson K. Harper, professor of agricultural economics, to conduct research on the projection of costs and returns of alternative planting systems and evaluation of the associated economic risks for apple growers, at Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand.

William R. Henning, professor of animal science, to conduct collaborative research on the development of extension/outreach programs that help small to mid-size meat processors to better understand and comply with the ever expanding list of food safety regulations, at the University of Kentucky and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Joseph M.K. Irudayaraj, associate professor of agricultural engineering, to conduct collaborative research on the interaction of biomolecules with inorganic surfaces for its integration with electronics for biosensor development, which has applications for food safety and homeland security, at the University of Wisconsin.

Gary W. Moorman, professor of plant pathology, to conduct collaborative research on the identity, pathology, ecology and management of species Pythium and Phytophthora found in recycled irrigation water in woody ornamental nurseries, at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (pending funding approval).

Tena L. St. Pierre, associate professor of agricultural and extension education, to conduct collaborative research on drug prevention policies and programs for youth in Hong Kong at The Chinese University of Hong Kong; and to investigate issues related to disseminating evidence-based drug prevention programs for youth at the Best Foundation For a Drug-Free Tomorrow in Los Angeles, Calif.

PENN STATE ALTOONA

Yaw Agawu-Kakraba, associate professor of Spanish, to complete a book, Negotiating Postmodernity in Spanish Culture Through Contemporary Spanish Fiction, which examines a number of selected literary texts as forms of social practices through which certain cultural meanings emerge that reflect the sociopolitical conditions of contemporary Spain, with travel to Spain and Ghana, pending approval of a Fulbright award.

J. Louis Campbell III, associate professor of communication arts and sciences, to complete a biography of gay activist Jack Nichols, including rhetorical analyses of selected works, with travel to Florida.

David E. Hurtubise, associate professor of mathematics, to study collaboratively some mathematical problems in symplectic topology; to participate in the topology seminar held at University Park; to review articles for Mathematical Reviews; and to work independently trying to prove theorems.

Michael R. Lucas, associate professor of visual arts, to investigate and produce limestone relief carvings, inspired by Byzantine Medieval motifs and techniques, with travel to the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, near Washington, D.C.

James A. Rehg, associate professor of engineering, to conduct research on industrial applications of standardized high-level programming languages for programmable logic controllers and to complete a book, Programmable Logic Controllers, with work being done at firms in Altoona, Johnstown and Cleveland, Ohio.

Peter J. Shull, associate professor of engineering, to present a semester-long course on nondestructive evaluation which focuses on method in an equipment-limited environment and to assistant the department in developing a research program around a donated scanning laser microscope at the Institute of Technology of Costa Rica, pending approval of a Fulbright award.

Michael D. Weiner, associate professor of mathematics, to study collaboratively some mathematical problems in Lie algebras and conformal theory and to develop a new area of research in number theory and cryptography, at Binghamton University.

Darin T. Zimmerman, associate professor of physics, to complete the draft of an algebra-based physics text; to test the material at a local private school; and to acquire a book contract from a major publisher.

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE

Kim Cook, professor of music, to conduct research and study three Italian solo cello sonatas by Luigi Boccherine (1743-1805); to perform the sonatas; and to record the sonatas for compact disc at Yale University.

Brian A. Curran, associate professor of art history, to begin research and writing for a book on Italian Renaissance art; and to continue to work on a number of related projects, including a projected study of the career of the Florentine sculptor-architect Antonio Averlino, called Filarete (c. 1400-1469), and an ongoing study of the antiquarian manuscripts compiled by the Bolognese humanist Michele Fabrizio Ferrarini (d. circa 1492) in libraries and museums of Europe, and Italy in particular.

Timothy J. Deighton, associate professor of music, to study orchestral excerpts and some solo viola repertoire, including Bach, Brahms, Hindemith, Shostakovich and Britten; to study the orchestral excerpts with experts in New York, Michigan, Washington, D.C., and Maine; and to prepare the works for performance and teaching.

Kelleann Foster, associate professor of landscape architecture, to continue development of a public outreach program for Pennsylvania’s municipal offices on multimedia land use regulations throughout Pennsylvania.

Annette K. McGregor, associate professor of theatre, to complete a theatre textbook with a colleague at the University of Oregon; and to rehearse, perform and market a one-woman play centered on the life of Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, “Mad Madge,” currently being written with a colleague at the University of Oregon.

Christopher P. Staley, professor of art, to create a new exploratory body of ceramic vessels that create illusions between what is two-dimensional and three-dimensional; to prepare for an exhibit at the List Gallery at Swarthmore College; and to accept an appointment as artist-in-residence at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic arts in Helena, Mont., and the European Ceramic Work Center in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands.

Madis Pihlak, associate professor of landscape architecture and architecture, to conduct research, to write a book manuscript titled Design Computing for Landscape Architects and Designers, and to embark on a book tour.

Cecilia J. Rusnak, associate professor of landscape architecture, to identify historic designed landscapes in Pennsylvania and to work with the Bureau of Historic Preservation in developing a typology and guidebook of significant and largely under-appreciated cultural landscapes across the commonwealth.

Elizabeth J. Walters, associate professor of art history, to conduct research on the historical and archaeological evidence for the Temple-Town Hierakonpolis Project in southern Egypt, involving integration and review of the 1967-94 excavations to present geoarchaeological investigation.

Daniel E. Willis, interim head and professor of architecture, to complete research for a book, Architectural Practice in the Age of Globalization.

PENN STATE BERKS-LEHIGH VALLEY

Laurie Grobman, associate professor of English, to develop a book-length manuscript for the National Council of Teachers of English series, titled A Teacher’s Introduction to Multicultural Literature, that will help instructors teach multicultural literature responsibly, sensitively and ethically.

Richard R. Young, associate professor of business administration, to conduct research and develop further the concept of the application of knowledge management to the functioning of supply chains; to develop a manuscript for publication in an academic journal; and to compile research necessary for the publication of a book, Knowledge Management for Effective Supply Chains.

SMEAL COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Johann Baumgartner, professor of marketing, to conduct collaborative research on response styles in marketing research; to begin a new collaborative project on cross-national differences in subjective well-being; to complete a monograph on typologies of purchase behavior; and to continue collaborative research on citation research in marketing at Tilburg University in The Netherlands.

Barbara L. Gray, professor of organizational behavior, to study organizational change models used by interim company executive officers at Tilburg University in The Netherlands; and to conduct research on multiparty collaboration at several universities in Canada, Europe and South America.

Charles C. Snow, chair of the Department of Management and Organization and professor of business administration, to co-author a paper on business-government strategies at Macquarie University; and to co-author a book on collaborative entrepreneurship at the University of California, Berkeley.

Evelyn A. Thomchick, associate professor of supply chain management, to conduct research on developing a conceptual framework for evaluating transportation policy in the context of achieving private sector business objectives and public sector social objectives at the Norwegian Centre for Transport Research in Oslo.

Linda K. Trevino, professor of organizational behavior, to work on a book on ethical leadership in organizations; and to work on a project in the area of global business ethics conducted in coordination with the Ethics Resource Center in Washington, D.C.

CAPITAL COLLEGE

Holly L. Angelique, associate professor of community psychology, to complete a study for several articles and a book on long-term, anti-nuclear activism over two decades at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.

Katherine H. Baker, associate professor of engineering, to enhance expertise in molecular biology techniques as well as apply these techniques to environmental engineering at the University of Delaware, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Arava Institute and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Y. Frank Chen, professor of engineering, to conduct a pilot study related to blast-resistant design for bridge structures and to investigate the current condition of major bridges in the United States to further find practical and economical ways to make them more resistant to explosive loads.

Jacob De Rooy, associate professor of managerial economics and statistics, to conduct research on the structure, conduct and performance of selected segments of the open-end mutual fund industry in the United States, focusing on the effect of competitiveness of mutual funds, within a market segment, on pricing of fund management services, and on relative rates of return realized by shareholders.

Carol R. Nechemias, associate professor of public policy, to conduct research on women’s political participation in local and regional politics, and in non-governmental organizations in Russia.

Parag C. Pendharkar, associate professor of information systems, to conduct research on economic data mining systems development that will minimize errors of misclassification and information acquisition costs.

COMMONWEALTH COLLEGE

Dennis F. Brestensky, professor of English, Penn State Fayette, to identify and describe the learning effects and educational benefits for students who complete English 405, “Taking Shakespeare From Page to Stage,” at various locations within the University and the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.

Jon M. Carson, associate professor of engineering, Penn State Wilkes-Barre, to write a textbook addressing engineering design and decision-making based on mathematical, scientific, economic and ethical principles for the beginning engineering student.

Phyllis B. Cole, professor of English, women’s studies and American studies, Penn State Delaware County, to research and draft a book manuscript that will be a study of fictional and non-fictional writing in feminist periodicals of the American 1850s, situating such work amidst the decade’s wider history of literary production and political controversy at libraries in Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania.

Marilyn Daniels, associate professor of speech communication, Penn State Worthington Scranton, to conduct research and write a book, The Dancing with Words American Sign Language Primer, that will help the reader to learn the manual alphabet and American Sign Language (ASL) as they concurrently learn the history of ASL and its relevance to the deaf community at Guilford, Conn.; Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.; The American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Conn.; and Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.

Michael DeRosa, professor of chemistry, Penn State Delaware County, to teach courses in organic chemistry and to conduct collaborative research at the University of Namibia, pending approval of a Fulbright award.

Jyotsna Mirle Kalavar, associate professor of human development and family studies, Penn State New Kensington, to design, develop and successfully conclude collaborative research on the elderly in old-age homes at several metropolitan sites throughout south India at the Center for Research on Aging at Sri Venkateswara University.

Arshad Khan, professor of chemistry, Penn State DuBois, to conduct collaborative research on a theoretical investigation of a liquid water model and test of its validity at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology; and to study water clusters in presence of extra electrons at Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea.

Daniel B. Lee, associate professor of sociology, Penn State DuBois, to conduct collaborative research on contemporary systems theory and to accept an appointment as a guest lecturer at the University of Munich in Germany.

James E. May, associate professor of English, Penn State DuBois, to complete a descriptive bibliography of the writings of Edward Young (1683-1765), with travel to rare books collections in North America and the British Isles.

Rajen Mookerjee, associate professor of economics, Penn State Beaver, to conduct research on the importance of governance infrastructure’s role in attracting foreign direct investment and portfolio investment in developed and developing countries at the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh.

Mary H. Preuss, professor of Spanish and comparative literature, Penn State McKeesport, to analyze contemporary, oral literature of the Yucatec Mayas and compare it with stories from the pre-Columbian period in order to explain similarities, differences and adaptations in the role of women in their society, at the Hillman Library at the University of Pittsburgh.

Thomas A. Seybert, associate professor of engineering, Penn State Wilkes-Barre, to write a textbook, Stormwater Management for Land Development, that will be designed for surveying, civil engineering and civil engineering technology students.

Bradley C. Whitsel, associate professor of administration of justice, Penn State Fayette, to conduct research on a historical and comparative analysis of radical, anti-statist movements from primary-source documents and writings at archives at Brown University and Michigan State University.

Stephen M. Zemyan, professor of mathematics, Penn State Mont Alto, to conduct research on the theory of support points of the class S at the University of Helsinki in Finland.

COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATIONS

Barbara O. Bird, associate professor of communications, to complete postproduction of a documentary film project, “Ancestors,” which is part of an ongoing series of films that uses archival home movie footage to explore issues of identity and intergenerational family politics — an area of film theory dubbed “domestic ethnography.”

Clay Calvert, associate professor of communications and law, to produce a comprehensive published law journal article on violence, video games and the First Amendment, that features case analysis, statutory analysis, in-depth interviews with key players in the video game industry and an original proposal for legislation that strikes the proper balance between freedom of expression and protecting children from harm, at various locations in New York City and Washington, D.C.

Anne M. Hoag, associate professor of communications, to conduct a collaborative study on how two separate professional sectors — the industrial sector and the higher-education sector — use information and communication technologies and to assess the impact of the use on those sectors in the Nord-Pas de Calais region of France, pending approval of a Fulbright award.

Robert D. Richards, professor of communications and law, to investigate potential bias in the journalistic coverage of the California wine industry by the main consumer specialty publications in the principal wine regions of California.

John P. Sanchez, associate professor of communications, to work on a book, The New Faces of an Ancient People: American Indians in the 21st Century, which will explore perceptions of contemporary American Indians by the news media and the effects on American Indian identity.

THE DICKINSON SCHOOL OF LAW

William B. Barker, professor of law, to explore several nations’ approaches to tax avoidance and to suggest new ways in dealing with this phenomenon in various locations of Europe.

James R. Fox, professor of law, to explore the use of visual art in courthouses in the United States and to produce a book of pictures with commentary and a Web site with pictures as a resource for law teachers who wish to incorporate this material into their courses, with travel to selected courthouses.

Geoffrey R. Scott, professor of law, to conduct research in the transnational and comparative aspects of the legal protection of cultural and ethnographic properties, at Doshisha University in Japan, pending approval of a Fulbright award.

COLLEGE OF EARTH AND MINERAL SCIENCES

Ralph H. Colby, professor of materials science and engineering, to conduct collaborative research on polyelectrolytes at the College de France in Paris, the University of Leeds and the University of Rome; and to further develop expertise in rheological characterization of polymer systems at Victoria University of Wellington, pending approval of a Fulbright award.

Lorraine Dowler, associate professor of geography, to develop a national ethnographic study on the role of women in civic participation, most notably firefighting in the United States.

William M. Frank, professor of meteorology, to conduct collaborative research on numerical simulations of idealized hurricanes in vertically sheared environments in order to study the processes by which environmental winds organize convection and modulate the wind speeds in hurricanes, at the University of New Mexico.

Peter J. Heaney, associate professor of geosciences, to perform time-resolved X-ray diffraction analysis of clay mineral reactions and to explore non-destructive microanalytical techniques for gem characterization, at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

M. Thaddeus Ityokumbul, associate professor of mineral processing and geo-environmental engineering, to conduct collaborative research in mineral process engineering, environmental pollution control, and to jointly develop and teach a new course on environmental pollution and control at the Ahmadu Bellow University in Zaria, at the National Metallurgical Development Centre in Jos, and at Benue State University in Makurdi, all in Nigeria.

Andrew N. Kleit, professor of energy and environmental economics meteorology, to conduct research on the operation and regulation of financial and commodities markets, at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Clive A. Randall, professor of materials science and engineering, to investigate crystal growth in superconducting oxides at Cambridge University; and to develop materials-physics modules for distance education at the Open University in the United Kingdom.

Chunshan Song, professor of fuel science, to conduct collaborative research in fuel science and catalytic materials for fuel cells and fuel chemical processing, at Imperial College in London.

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Daniel D. Hade, associate professor of education, to study and write several essays on how evil is understood in key works of children’s literature and how evil is understood by the critics and scholars of these books, in New York City.

Robert L. Hale, professor of education and head of the Department of Educational and School psychology and special education, to synthesize and review the current research literature on classification of at-risk learners to build and integrate that information into a new online course.

M. Kathleen Heid, professor of education, to investigate the nature of the mathematical understandings needed by prospective mathematics teachers to prepare them best to teach mathematics at the secondary level, at Michigan State University and The University of Georgia.

Bonnie J. Meyer, professor of educational psychology, to conduct collaborative research on health decision-making and integrate it with work on structure strategy instruction and reading comprehension across the adult life span, at The University of Georgia.

Madhu S. Prakash, professor of education, to conduct an in-depth theoretical analysis of three decades in the evolution of Ivan Illich’s educational thought; and to conduct qualitative ethnographic field work among a small sample of alternative learning institutions in Mexico and India, seeking to implement Illich’s educational proposals, at the Center for Intercultural Documentation in Cuernevaca, Mexico; the Universidad de la Tierra in Oaxaca, Mexico; the Center for Innovations in Alternative Technologies in Cuernevaca, Mexico; and at Shikshantar: The People’s Institute for Rethinking Education and Development in Udaipur, India.

Lourdes Diaz Soto, professor of education, to study children’s perceptions of peace, and more specifically, children who have benefitted from peace education at the Center for Peace in Santiago de Copostelo in Spain, pending approval of a Fulbright award.

Keith B. Wilson, associate professor of education, to investigate vocational rehabilitation outcomes relative to racial and ethnic minorities in Pennsylvania and the United States.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

James G. Brasseur, professor of mechanical engineering, to consult with colleagues to develop a reference book, Mechanics and Physiology of the Gastro-Intestinal Tract, at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and the Imperial College in London.

Enrique del Castillo, associate professor of industrial engineering, to conduct collaborative research on statistical process control and experimental optimization techniques at Politecnico di Milano in Italy, Tilburg University in The Netherlands, University of Navarra and Valencia’s Polytechnic University in Spain, and the National University of Singapore.

Gary L. Catchen, professor of nuclear engineering, to investigate magnetic phenomena in nanometer-scale structures using perturbed-angular-correlation spectroscopy, at the Freie Universität and the Hahn-Meitner Institut in Berlin.

Robert M. Edwards, professor of nuclear engineering, to focus on development and demonstration of an approach to verify the safety of advanced signal control technologies for nuclear power plants, at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Rockville, Md.

Mary I. Frecker, associate professor of mechanical engineering, to strengthen bioengineering research by developing a new Center for Innovative Technology for Medicine at Penn State which will be a three-way collaboration among the College of Engineering, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and industrial partners.

Sanjay B. Joshi, professor of industrial engineering, to conduct collaborative research in nano- and micro-scale manufacturing, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md.

El-Amine Lehtihet, professor of industrial engineering, to study the manufacturing sector through consultation with both industry and academia, and to write a textbook on modern production engineering.

Theresa S. Mayer, associate professor of electrical engineering, to conduct collaborative research in molecular electronics and chemical/biological sensing in the Department of Chemistry at Penn State; the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md.; and the Jake Gittlen Cancer Research Institute at Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

Arthur C. Miller, distinguished professor of civil engineering, to develop a comprehensive watershed model for both surface-water and ground-water interaction for water quantity and water-quality predictions, at the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers facility in Davis, Calif., and the University of Central Florida; and the Danish Hydraulic Institute in Horsholm, Denmark.

David J. Miller, associate professor of electrical engineering, to explore the application of machine learning/pattern recognition techniques within the domain of bioinformatics, at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Politecnico di Torino in Turin, Italy.

Vittaldas V. Prabhu, associate professor of industrial engineering, to explore new research opportunities in service-sector engineering; to write a book on distributed systems and control; and to organize an international workshop on “Enterprise Systems Engineering,” at Integrated Quality Systems for Business Performance in Cleveland, Ohio; and in the Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development at Penn State.

Joseph L. Rose, Paul Morrow professor in engineering design and manufacturing, to advance leadership role and reputation in guided wave mechanics with application in structural health monitoring situations and to write a textbook, at Seoul National University of Technology, at Nanjing University in China, the Nagoya Institute of Technology in Japan, The Welding Institute and Cambridge University.

Domenic A. Santavicca, professor of mechanical engineering, to conduct collaborative research on the use of bio-derived fuels in combustion systems at Eindhoven Technical University in The Netherlands.

Jeffrey L. Schiano, associate professor of electrical engineering, to conduct collaborative research on the application of quadrupole resonance to contraband detection, at DuPont Ventures in Wilmington, Del., and SIV Technologies Inc. in Cherry Valley, Mass.; and to develop a program for introducing youths to electrical science and technology through the Pennsylvania 4-H program.

James S. Ultman, distinguished professor of chemical engineering, to write a textbook, Mass Transport in Biomedical Engineering, with consultation at Case Western Reserve University and The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Chao-Yang Wang, professor of mechanical engineering, to write a graduate-level textbook, Fuel Cell Engineering; to conduct collaborative research on fuel ell engines for automotive application at General Motors; and to conduct collaborative research on direct methanol fuel cells for portable power at Toshiba Corp.

Douglas H. Werner, professor of mechanical engineering, to write a textbook on advanced antenna engineering; and to develop new research thrusts in electromagnetic metamaterials with applications to novel antenna designs, at The University of Birmingham and The University of Granada.

Richard A. Wysk, Leonhard chair in engineering and professor of industrial engineering, to conduct collaborative research on manufacturing systems control via a simulation-based control system at the University of Arizona and to collaboratively prepare a proposal regarding the future direction of industrial engineering and industrial engineering education at Florida A&M and Florida State.

PENN STATE ERIE

Ralph M. Ford, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, to conduct applied machine vision research on advanced computing architectures, to teach a graduate course on machine vision, to supervise graduate student projects and to assist in an upcoming curriculum revision at the Brno University of Technology in the Czech Republic, pending approval of a Fulbright award.

Archie K. Loss, professor of English and American studies, to complete a book-length history of American popular culture.

Gregory L. Morris, professor of American literature, to write a book-length study of the work of American contemporary fiction writer Richard Ford.

Mary Beth Pinto, associate professor of marketing, to study the credit card spending habits of college-age consumers from a cross-cultur