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Dear Friends and Graduates of Purdue Biochemistry, December 2000
Holiday greetings from your friends in West Lafayette! We have enjoyed some notable successes this year in the
department, not just on the football field (somehow the Rose Bowl is getting more press, though).
For instance, Clint Chappie was promoted to Professor in July. Then he and his wife, Janice Kelly, became the
proud parents of a son, Evan Parker Kelly Chappie, on September 22. Busily staying ahead of that game, Joe and
Dawn Ogas welcomed their third daughter, Maesa, into their family on July 20. Our plant scientists are a
productive group!
On the research support side, Barb Golden was awarded a PEW Faculty Fellowship, one of 20 in the country! She
and Jim Forney were successful in securing an NSF grant for an imaging facility, and the School of Agriculture
provided a generous match to those funds to make the facility state-of-the-art. Science runs on instruments and
keeping up with the advances in instrumentation is a real challenge these days.
We had a very nice dedication ceremony on October 2 for a plaza with seating and plantings on the east side of
Smith Hall in memory of Professor Larry Butler. The memorial was supported by very generous contributions
from the Butler family and from Larry's friends and colleagues. The center of the area has a plaque recognizing
Larry's 30 years of service to Purdue and a newly-planted tree; Larry had a special love of trees, perhaps due to
growing up on the treeless plains of western Kansas and Oklahoma.   The memorial is a lovely gathering place.
We were very privileged to host a return to Purdue after 30 years by one of our truly distinguished graduates, Dr.
Timothy Richmond, who gave this year's Beach Lectures. Dr. Richmond leads a group at the Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology in Zurich that solved the structure of the nucleosome core particle, the "spool" on which
DNA is wrapped in the nucleus of the cell. This monumental achievement is receiving world-wide attention. Dr.
Richmond's seminars were models of clarity on a very complex subject. Boilermaker fan Richmond (he listens to
Purdue football games on the world-wide web on Saturday nights, Switzerland time) asked to come the weekend
of the Michigan game which was won by Purdue in an amazing come-from-behind performance by a field goal
with 4 seconds to go in the game. Tim decided at that moment that his visit was a success!
Thanks to a generous endowment from Dr. Patrick Matchette (BS 1958), the Department now has undergraduate
Matchette Scholarships to aid in paying tuition for a student from the Chicago area (Lake, Cook, DuPage,
McHenry, Kane and Will counties in Illinois). A Scholastic Aptitude Test score of 1200 or higher is required.
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, and to support the activities of our undergraduate Biochemistry Club. 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,
A
Mark Hermodson