Dear Friends and Graduates of Purdue Biochemistry,
December 1999
Once again we are proud to communicate a number of wonderful accomplishments of our former students in the news
section below. Teaching is a very rewarding profession in many ways, but the most satisfying aspect by far is seeing our
students succeed in their careers. Thanks to all who have shared glimpses of their lives, and please take a few moments
to e-mail us (walker@biochem.purdue.edu) with the news from your lives. Of course, the welcome mat remains on the
front steps of Biochemistry for any and all of you who happen through the Center of the Universe here in West Lafayette.
We dont have any new members of the Department this year, which is unfortunate indeed, considering that there is a
search on for a new Head. I sincerely hope that reaches a successful conclusion soon! Howard Zalkin has announced
his retirement, effective December 31, 1999, and with the retirements of Drs. Kohlhaw and Kim in the past year, that
leaves us pretty thinly staffed. Our new faculty from the 1998 recruiting, Drs. Hutchcroft, Golden, and Ogas are now
busy with their research, building research groups, starting their teaching, and of course, writing grants, writing grants,
and writing grants.
Congratulations to Dr. James Forney on his promotion to Professor in 1999!
After several decades of use, the furniture in our main office got to the point where our staff persuaded the cheap
Department Head to spring for modem workstations, the kind that are actually designed to accommodate computers. So
when you visit you will see a shiny new office layout. We kept the same friendly and helpful staff of course.
We note with sadness the passing of emeritus Professors Edwin Mertz and Elwyn Schall in the past year. Dr. Schall had
battled cancer for a number of years. Dr. Mertz died unexpectedly of pneumonia, having been in good health until a few
days before his death.
Thanks to all of you who have supported us with gifts in the past year. The discretionary account supports a number of
enriching activities which make it possible for our students to have contact with top scientists from around the world as
they visit Purdue. I remind those of you who live in Indiana that the State refunds half your donation of up to $400 (for a
couple) on your State income tax. Combined with the Federal deduction, a large fraction of your gift is refunded on your
taxes. Thanks so much for your support.
We wish all of you the happiest of holidays and a most successful New Year.
Warmest regards,
fark Hermodson
Ki-Han Kim has retired and moved to Florida. Ki-Han and his wife, Lois Magner, from the History Department have both
been named Sagamore of the Wabash for their contributions to Lafayette. Edgar E. Smith (1960) came out of
retirement in December 1998 to become Director of the Area Health Education Program at the University of Mississippi
Medical Center Edward Si U!m (1972) is currently Executive Director of Drug Safety and Disposition at Ligand
Pharmaceutical Inc. in San Diego. Ellen Henderson (1971) is now full professor and Associate Chair of the Biology
Department at Georgetown. Ellen will be Chair beginning in the fall of 2000. Ji-Ying Sze (1992) is now Assistant
Professor at the University of California Irvine. Bin He (1993) is at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Michael Beach
(1987) has joined the Division of Parasitic Diseases at the Center for Disease Control and is combining epidemiology
with laboratory science. Li Ni (1999) is a postdoc at Brigham & Women's Hospital.
Mark Miller (1984) is Senior Scientist at Monsanto/Kelco in San Diego working with Stan Bower (1982). Gregg
Bogosian (1983) was promoted to Senior Research Fellow at Monsanto. Gregg is one of only eleven individuals within
the company to receive this distinction. Chris Makaroff (1986) has been promoted to Professor at Miami University in
Ohio.   Daniel Ebbole (1988) has been promoted to Associate Professor at  Texas A&M. Eumorphia Remboutsika
(1994) and  Anthony Gavalas (1994) are at the National Institute for Medical Research in London.  Scott Rosenthal
(1995) has moved to North Carolina where he has a position with Bayer. Robert DiSilvestro (1975) is currently
Associate Professor at Ohio State University. Melinda Golden (M.S. 1997) is at Roche in the Molecular Biology Unit in
Indianapolis. Jeff Skinner (1998) is a postdoc at Warner Lambert/Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research. Dake Wang
(Ph.D.1998) is a CS masters degree student at Iowa State University. Kim Mayer (1999) has a postdoc position at
Caltech. Patrick Hein (1999) is a postdoc at the University of California, San Francisco. John Maga (1999) is a postdoc
at Seattle Biomedical Research Institute.    Christopher Sinclair (1999) \s a Senior Scientist at Abbott Labs.
The Hickory Stick Award was presented to Matija Hedl and a Special Teaching award went to Hong Smith (M.S. 1998)
for her assistance in coordinating the teaching labs when Anna Wilson was recuperating from a car accident. The A. K.