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2006 Gallery of Success Inductee's
The College would like to congratulate the 2006-2007 Gallery of Success awardees, chosen for their outstanding accomplishments in the science and technology fields.
| Inductee's | |
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| Please click for biographical sketch of the inductee | |
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Stanley A. Lefkowitz, B.S. ’65, Ph.D. |
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Michelle L. Steen, B.S. ’95, Ph.D. |
Stanley A. Lefkowitz, B.S. ’65, Ph.D.
The foundation for Dr. Stanley A. Lefkowitz’s professional development was built upon his undergraduate experiences in the Department of Chemistry at Temple University. Dr. Lefkowitz attended Temple University on a National Merit Scholarship and completed a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry in 1965. As a student, he was a member of the Chemistry Society, Pi Mu Epsilon (The National Mathematics Honor Society and Sigma Pi Sigma (The National Physics Honor Society) and received the Herbert M. Winegard Memorial Award in Chemistry, the American Chemical Society Scholastic Achievement and the American Society for Testing Materials Award.
Dr. Lefkowitz continued his studies as a graduate student at Princeton University, from which he earned a Ph.D. in 1970 for his studies in nuclear chemistry and solid state physics. As a graduate student, he was awarded an Atomic Energy Commission Research Assistantship. Additionally, he was honored as one of the top ten chemistry graduate students and was named a McKay Fellow.
Upon receiving his doctoral degree he moved to New York City where he spent five years working for the City University of New York initially serving as Staff Director of the Citizen’s Commission on the Future of the City University (a blue ribbon panel of citizens that were commissioned to study the future of higher education in New York City) while teaching chemistry at Hunter College and later becoming the Assistant Director of Instructional Development at Queens College, where he also taught chemistry.
Dr. Lefkowitz is currently Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of The Falconwood Group of Companies which traces it roots back to the 1670's. The companies that comprise The Falconwood Group are in the merchant banking business and function as the family office for a prominent family. The Group also manages one of the world’s largest commodity funds; manages a biotech company that specializes in research on pyschotropic drugs, and a cellular phone company.
Dr. Lefkowitz is credited for his support to Temple University’s College of Liberal Arts and College of Science and Technology in the areas of leadership, advisory and as a benefactor. In 2001, he established The Stanley Lefkowitz College of Liberal Arts Endowment Fund, from which a section of Intellectual Heritage was developed for science majors. In 2004, he and his wife established The Stanley and Debbie Lefkowitz Distinguished Term Faculty Fellowship in the Liberal Arts. Dr. Lefkowitz served the College of Science and Technology last spring as the Chair for the 2006 Leadership Conference.
Michelle L. Steen, B.S. ’95, Ph.D.
Dr. Michelle Steen is currently a Research Staff Member at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York where she is responsible for prototyping advanced materials for next-generation microelectronics. During her five-year tenure at IBM, Michelle has been credited with a number of successful semiconductor fabrication projects. Most notable is her work to enable Metal Gate/high-k devices in emerging technologies, for which she received IBM Research Division Awards in 2004 and 2005. Dr. Steen has technical expertise in a number of diverse areas including materials chemistry; polymer science; plasma-surface interactions; semiconductor processing; electrochemistry; and membrane technology. She has co-authored over 20 publications and currently holds three U.S. Patents.
As “first generation to college”, Michelle personally connects with the transformational power of a Temple education. She attended Temple on a full-tuition scholarship in the Temple honors program. During her undergraduate career, she was named to the Outstanding Achievement Scholar program and received three CST awards for academic excellence: the Rohm and Haas Research Fellow Award, the Cotton and Tulinsky Prize in Chemistry and the Ronald E. McNair Scholar Award. She graduated from Temple University in 1995, with a bachelors of science in Chemistry.
Dr. Steen has recently focused on developing stronger bonds between IBM and Temple by spearheading a number of research collaborations on campus. She is a Board Member for the College of Science and Technology; the campus relationship manager to Temple; and the IBM Women in Technology (WIT) Campus Liaison to Temple. Michelle remains committed to the academic growth of undergraduate and graduate students and is involved in several mentoring and volunteer activities that include outreach programs designed to foster continued interest of K-12 students in the sciences .
Dr. Steen earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry (summa cum laude, 2001) from Colorado State University. She received the Russell and Sigurd Varian award for her thesis work, the highest award bestowed to graduate students by the Board of Trustees at the American Vacuum Society in 2000. As a graduate student, she piloted an innovative program that challenged the conventional classroom dynamics of large lectures. As a co-lecturer in a General Chemistry she and a colleague streamlined transitions between lecture topics and practical demonstrations. She was recognized for the success of this program as well as a sustained commitment to undergraduate education with teaching awards in 1996 and 1999.
Michelle currently lives in Connecticut with her husband, a 1991 graduate from the Fox School of Business, and a new baby daughter.