April 8, 2016
Trustees ratify professorships, approve resolution
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Michael Harris |
HAMMOND, Ind. — The Purdue University Board of Trustees on Friday (April 8) approved two named professorships, renamed a third professorship and passed a resolution of appreciation for donors. The approvals were made during a meeting at the Calumet campus.
Trustees ratified Hilkka Kenttämaa as the Frank Brown Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Michael Manfra as the Bill and Dee O'Brien Professor of Physics and Astronomy.
They also approved Michael T. Harris as the Robert B. and Virginia V. Covalt Professor of Chemical Engineering, a change from his previous designation in December 2014 as the Reilly Professor of Chemical Engineering.
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Hilkka Kenttämaa |
Kenttämaa was approved as a distinguished professor of chemistry in December 2015. The Frank Brown Distinguished Professorship was made possible by a gift from Frank Brown, who received his doctorate in chemistry in 1969 from Purdue. He worked at Eli Lilly and Co. before becoming an adjunct professor in Purdue's departments of Chemistry and Industrial and Physical Pharmacy.
Manfra is a professor of physics and astronomy, and also holds appointments in materials engineering and electrical and computer engineering. He has been at Purdue since 2009, when he was named the William F. and Patty J. Miller Associate Professor of Physics. He was named professor of physics in 2013. Before coming to Purdue, he was a member of the technical staff at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, from 2001-08.
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Michael Manfra |
His research areas include solid-state quantum computing, MBE growth of semiconductor nanostructures and transport properties of low dimensional correlated electron systems.
He received his bachelor's degree from Harvard University and his doctorate from Boston University.
Trustees also approved resolutions for donors Michael A. Byers and Adam W. Byers (Intercollegiate Athletics), Ira J. Hartoch (Intercollegiate Athletics), and Robert F. and Lisa A.Walsh III (College of Engineering). All of the donors contributed $1 million or more.
Writer: Greg McClure, 765-496-9711, gmcclure@purdue.edu
Sources: Debasish Dutta, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and diversity, dutta@purdue.edu
Michael T. Harris, 765-494-0963, mtharris@purdue.edu
Hilkka Kenttämaa, 765-494-0882, hilkka@purdue.edu
Michael Manfra, 765-494-3016, mmanfra@purdue.edu
