alumni spotlights
alumni spotlights
Kavitha Dasu (PhD ’11, agronomy), senior research scientist and lead chemist for Battelle’s PFAS program, was honored as the company’s 2022 Inventor of the Year. Dasu’s work addresses emerging contaminants, including the development of technologies to assess, measure, remediate and destroy per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). One technology, PFAS Annihilator™, earned an honorable mention in Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas. Dasu was also recognized for enabling the success of other scientists at Battelle.
Don Lamb (BS ’89, agricultural economics) was appointed director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb in March. He also serves as director of agribusiness development for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. Lamb is a second-generation farmer for Lamb Farms in Boone County and an advisory council member for the Indiana Agricultural Law Foundation. He will now lead the ISDA’s divisions, including agricultural advocacy, economic development, youth development and environmental stewardship.
The hosts of Arthro-Pod, the longest-running entomology podcast, reunited at Purdue in April. Jody Green (MS ’04, PhD ’08, entomology), associate Extension Educator at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Jonathan Larson (BS ’09, entomology), assistant professor at University of Kentucky, and Michael Skvarla (BS ’08, entomology), assistant research professor at Penn State University, shared their tips on successful science communication and podcasting, and discussed how the show fits into their extension and research appointments. A recent episode of Arthro-Pod featured Skvarla’s discovery of a giant lacewing, thought to be extinct in eastern North America, at an Arkansas Walmart, a story covered by National Public Radio, the BBC and The New York Times.
Kavitha Dasu (PhD ’11, agronomy), senior research scientist and lead chemist for Battelle’s PFAS program, was honored as the company’s 2022 Inventor of the Year. Dasu’s work addresses emerging contaminants, including the development of technologies to assess, measure, remediate and destroy per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). One technology, PFAS Annihilator™, earned an honorable mention in Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas. Dasu was also recognized for enabling the success of other scientists at Battelle.
Don Lamb (BS ’89, agricultural economics) was appointed director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb in March. He also serves as director of agribusiness development for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. Lamb is a second-generation farmer for Lamb Farms in Boone County and an advisory council member for the Indiana Agricultural Law Foundation. He will now lead the ISDA’s divisions, including agricultural advocacy, economic development, youth development and environmental stewardship.
The hosts of Arthro-Pod, the longest-running entomology podcast, reunited at Purdue in April. Jody Green (MS ’04, entomology), associate Extension Educator at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Jonathan Larson (BS ’09, entomology), assistant professor at University of Kentucky, and Michael Skvarla (BS ’08, entomology), assistant research professor at Penn State University, shared their tips on successful science communication and podcasting, and discussed how the show fits into their extension and research appointments. A recent episode of Arthro-Pod featured Skvarla’s discovery of a giant lacewing, thought to be extinct in eastern North America, at an Arkansas Walmart, a story covered by National Public Radio, the BBC and The New York Times.
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