Appointments, honors and activities

• Appointments and promotions:

- Dan Szymanski, a professor of botany and plant pathology, has been named a Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists. The organization is a professional scientific society that is devoted to the advancement of the plant sciences worldwide. With a membership of about 4,000 plant scientists, the ASPB publishes two of the most widely cited plant science journals, The Plant Cell and Plant Physiology.

- Pam Karagory, a clinical associate professor in the School of Nursing received the Nurse Educator Award at the Indy Star/USA Today Salute to Nurses event in Indianapolis. This is the 15^th year for the event honoring the exceptional men and women who work selflessly and tirelessly to help others. The seven recipients are considered the “best of the best” in central Indiana.

• Campus activities:

- RamanFest 2017, a two-day international conference at Purdue University starting on June 1, will highlight the latest innovations in applied Raman spectroscopy.  The attendees will be able to network with Raman experts and thought leaders from both industry and academia and will be able to show posters on their latest research. The event encourages collaboration and discussion on the latest capabilities of Raman spectroscopy. The conference is co-hosted by Ji-Xin Cheng, a professor in Purdue’s Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Chemistry, and Andrew Whitley of HORIBA Scientific. Registration is $300. More information is available at RamanFest.org. 

• Faculty and staff honors:

- The staff at Purdue University's National Public Radio station, WBAA, received seven awards at the Society of Professional Journalists’ 38^th annual “Best in Indiana Journalism” contest. The station also contributed to five more awards won by Indiana Public Broadcasting. WBAA news staff placed first in headline writing. Azra Ceylan placed first in the student radio sports reporting category for her story on social media and football sexual assault allegations. News Director Stan Jastrzebski received third place in criminal justice reporting and third place in radio election and campaign coverage. In addition, student journalist Charlotte Tuggle was selected as Indiana Student Journalist of the Year. WBAA also won a prestigious Edward R. Murrow award from the Radio-Television Digital News Association, competing against other small-market stations in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan. Jastrzebski won the award in the investigative reporting category for a story exposing errors in Lafayette’s online crime mapping system. The win enters WBAA for consideration for a national Murrow award, competing against other investigative reporting winners nationwide.

• Notables:

- On April 3, WBAA was recognized by the Indiana General Assembly with a proclamation to honor 95 years of community service. The proclamation recognized WBAA for their service to the Greater Lafayette community, its noncommercial and educational programming, its indispensable role in the community and the legacy the station has in Indiana. Local municipalities presented a similar proclamation to WBAA on April 25. WBAA is the oldest radio station in Indiana.

• Student honors:

- The Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has named WBAA Public Radio reporter Charlotte Tuggle its 2017 Student Journalist of the Year. The Indiana chapter gives out just one such award each year, across all student media outlets in the state. Tuggle, a senior from the Atlanta, Georgia area, is set to graduate with a mass communication degree from Purdue’s Brian Lamb School of Communication, and is also among the first to finish those studies in just three years. Tuggle won awards from Indiana SPJ in 2016, too. She garnered a first place plaque for her continuing coverage of changes to Indiana’s farm property tax laws, as well as two of the three awards given out for student radio news reporting. In addition, she was named one of the Brian Lamb School’s “Distinguished Seniors” at an award ceremony earlier this month.