e-newsletter - fall 2007
ENRI 2007 Award Winners
The College of Agricultural Sciences' Environment and Natural Resources Institute (ENRI) is pleased to announce the results of its fi rst annual awards competition. Congratulations to the fi rst group of ENRI award winners!
Innovation Award: The Penn State Air Quality Learning and Demonstration Center and associates, Dennis Decoteau and John Skelly
The ENRI Innovation Award recognizes College of Agricultural Sciences faculty, extension educators, and staff who have made outstanding and innovative contributions in the environmental and natural resources field. Dennis Decoteau, professor of horticulture and plant ecosystem health in the Departments of Horticulture and Plant
Pathology, and John M. Skelly, professor emeritus of plant pathology, in the Department of Plant Pathology are the recipients of the 2007 ENRI Innovation Award. Skelly is recognized for work as a guiding force in the development of the Air Quality Learning and Demonstration Center, which is the only site in the nation and potentially the world that is dedicated to educating the public about air pollutant effects on plants. He is also recognized for his innovative work on impacts of air pollution effects on forests and forest ecosystems. This award recognizes Decoteau’s innovative work addressing the effects of environmental stressors on plant growth and development, especially the impact of air quality on terrestrial ecosystems, and his leadership in coordinating the Air Quality Learning and Demonstration Center.
Career Award: David DeWalle and William Sharpe
The Career Award recognizes faculty, extension educators, and staff in the College of Agricultural Sciences who have had a distinguished career in the environmental and natural resources field for a period of ten or more years. David DeWalle, professor of forest hydrology, and William Sharpe, professor emeritus of forest hydrology, in the School of Forest Resources, are recipients of the 2007 ENRI Career Award. During his outstanding career, DeWalle has made major contributions to the understanding of forest hydrology and microclimatology, snow hydrology, and impacts of ecosystem disturbances. DeWalle is also the Director of the Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center.
Sharpe is recognized for his career contributions to research and outreach on acidification of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, drinking water quality, forest regeneration, and residential water conservation. DeWalle and Sharpe have collaborated on many important projects and over the years have co-authored thirty-three refereed publications, twenty three reports to various sponsors or extension reports, and twenty-one sponsored projects worth $2.5million.
Outstanding Graduate Student Award: Nga Nguyen
The ENRI Outstanding Graduate Student Award recognizes the academic achievement, professional potential, and disciplinary contribution of graduate students within the College of Agricultural Sciences whose scholarship focuses on issues in the domain of the environment and natural resources. Ms. Nguyen is a PhD candidate in Agricultural, Regional and Environmental Economics, in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology. Her research focuses on the design of markets for water pollution trading and utilizes innovations in agent-based economic models.