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2008 Faculty Award Winners
The College of Science and Technology recognized its outstanding faculty and students this year at the 10th Anniversary Celebration Concert Honoring Distinguished Faculty and Students, a joint celebration of the College's 10th birthday and its outstanding faculty and students. These faculty awards were made possible, in part, by generous donations from the Italia-Eire Foundation; Steven Petchon, CST ’80; Seda Tarzian, CST ’48; and an anonymous donor. In addition to the faculty awards, several students received scholarships and awards for their outstanding academic achievement. The following faculty members were recognized for their teaching, research and mentoring achievements, from left to right:
The Steven Petchon Distinguished Teaching Award
Wendy Urban
Wendy Urban, MBA, teaches information science and technology as well as service courses on cyberspace, technology and society in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences (CIS). She is also Chairperson of the CIS Department Student Recruiting Committee. Urban’s students note that they learn to think critically about technology’s role in society thanks to her knowledge, enthusiasm and ability to promote in-depth discussion. Urban is a Temple alumna and has been teaching at the College since 2000.
The Dean’s Excellence in Mentoring Award
Grant Krow
Grant Krow, PhD, Professor of Chemistry, sees the Mentoring Award as a testament to the more than 125 graduate and undergraduate research students who joined his group over four decades. His former students have attained remarkable success in medicine, law, pharmacy, biochemistry, chemistry, and biology in government, academia and business. James Guare, one former member of the Krow group, has won several national and international awards for creative invention as an inventor of a highly successful AIDS drug that has saved many lives. Dr. Kathleen Uhl, Assistant Commissioner for Women’s Health at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, wrote Krow that it was an honor to have worked in his lab. And Dr. Seth Herzon, a highly productive undergraduate in the Krow lab, was named this fall to the faculty of Yale University as Assistant Professor of Chemistry.
The Dean’s Distinguished Award for Excellence in Research
Zoran Obradovic
Zoran Obradovic, PhD, is Director of the College’s Center for Information Science and Technology and Professor of Computer and Information Sciences. His research focuses on improving predictive modeling and decision support through data-driven discovery and modeling of hidden patterns in large data sets. Obradovic has published about 200 articles addressing data mining challenges in health informatics, the social sciences, environmental management and other domains. His group’s pioneering research on the prediction and functional analysis of intrinsically disordered regions in proteins has provided new insight into how protein structure establishes function and the program he developed to perform these predictions has won awards at three consecutive international meetings. Obradovic has been with the College since 2000.
The Italia-Eire Foundation Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award
Theodore Burkhardt
Theodore Burkhardt, PhD, has taught a broad range of courses at Temple, 18 in all, ranging from introductory courses for non-science majors to advanced graduate courses. His research is in theoretical physics and primarily concerned with phase transitions and with the statistical properties of polymers. Colleagues praise his careful preparation, dedication, and ability to engage large classes through demonstrations and lectures. He has been teaching at the College since 1981.
The Dean’s Distinguished Teaching Award
Abbe Forman
Abbe Forman, MS, teaches cyberspace and society, gender issues in science and technology, and introductory courses for the Department of Computer and Information Sciences. She helped develop the cyberspace course and led the development of the class on gender issues in science and technology. She also teaches honors classes and is affiliated with Temple’s Women’s Studies Program. Her research interests include computer ethics, digital piracy, Internet privacy, women and technology and the role of technology in society. Students admire Forman’s open discussion approach to sensitive topics and hands-on, project-based teaching style. She has been with the College since 2003.
The William Caldwell Memorial Distinguished Teaching Award
Boris Datskovsky
Boris Datskovsky, PhD, teaches a wide variety of mathematics courses ranging from undergraduate calculus to graduate algebraic number theory. Over the last two years he has taught advanced calculus, abstract algebra, concepts of analysis, basic mathematical concepts, and functions of a complex variable. His research in algebraic number theory, the branch of mathematics concerned with arithmetic properties of algebraic integers, allows him to teach almost every undergraduate mathematics course because it employs techniques of both modern algebra and complex analysis. Datskovsky’s students value his unique ability to tailor explanations of complex material to individual students’ understanding and willingness to work with them as a teacher, advisor, and mentor. Dr. Datskovsky has been with Temple since 1988.