Science Co-Op Student of the Year Named
16 November 2001 -- Stacie Demel, a biology major at Penn State and a graduate of Williamsport Area High School, has been selected as the recipient of the Co-op Student of the Year Award, sponsored by the Penn State Eberly College of Science Cooperative Education Program. The award is given to outstanding participants in the Eberly College of Science Cooperative Education Program in recognition of their academic achievements and contributions to their employers, the University, the community, and the field of cooperative education.
Demel was nominated by Joseph Long, Chief of the Department of Neurobehavioral Assessment in the Division of Neurosciences at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, where she is continuing her co-op assignment through December 2001. Demel is working on several projects addressing the pharmacological management of physiological processes resulting from injury to the central nervous system. She also completed a co-op assignment with GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals in the Molecular Biology Department.
During the 2000-2001 academic year, Demel served as president of the Penn State chapter of Kappa Theta Epsilon, the co-op honor society. Her award includes a monetary prize and a certificate of achievement, and she will be nominated for both state and national co-op student of the year awards.
Due to the outstanding performance of the student nominees who completed a co-op work assignment during the 2000-2001 academic year, the committee awarded one runner-up and three honorable-mention awards, including monetary prizes. Tom Rutkowski, a major in biochemistry and molecular biology who completed a co-op experience at Sigma Aldrich and Supelco, was selected as runner-up. The students given honorable-mention awards include: Jeff Irwin, a chemistry major whose co-op experience was at McNeil Consumer Healthcare and Janssen-Cilag; Ana Azvolinsky, a biology major whose co-op experience was at Fox Chase Cancer Center; and Brooke Scheremeta, a biology major whose co-op experience was at the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.
Information about the Penn State Eberly College of Science Cooperative Education Program is available on the web at http://www.science.psu.edu/coop