Ohio State honors four at autumn commencement - 12/10/04

COLUMBUS – Four individuals will be honored at The Ohio State University’s autumn 2004 commencement for their contributions to society and academics, and their dedication to the university. Ceremonies begin at 2 p.m. Sunday (12/12), at St. John Arena.

Honorary doctorates will be presented to Edward J. Larson, Pulitzer Prize-winning professor of history and law at the University of Georgia; Leon M. Lederman, an internationally renowned specialist in high-energy physics; and M.S. Swaminathan, one of the world’s leading agricultural scientists.

The Distinguished Service Award will be presented to Donald D. Glower, who served Ohio State as professor, chair, and dean in the College of Engineering, as well vice president.

Edward J. Larson, Doctor of Humane Letters

Edward J. Larson is the Russell Professor of History and Talmadge Professor of Law at the University of Georgia and recipient of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize in history. His areas of expertise are the history of biology and medicine, health care law, and science law.

A native of Mansfield, Ohio, Larson earned a B.A. from Williams College, a J.D. from Harvard University, and a M.A. and Ph.D. in the history of science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to joining Georgia’s faculty in 1987, he served as associate counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor from 1983 to 1989 and as an attorney with a major Seattle law firm from 1979 to 1983.

The author of five books and more than 70 published articles, Larson writes mostly about issues of science, medicine, and law from a historical perspective. His books are Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory (2004); Evolution’s Workshop: God and Science in the Galapagos Islands (2001); Sex, Race and Science: Eugenics in the Deep South (1995); Trial and Error: The American Controversy Over Creation and Evolution (1985, 1989, and 2002 expanded editions); and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion (1997). He is the coauthor or coeditor of five additional books.

Larson has written numerous scholarly articles, book chapters, and other publications that have appeared in such varied journals as Nature, Atlantic Monthly, Scientific American, The Nation, Wall Street Journal, Virginia Law Review, and British Journal for the History of Science. The Fulbright Program named him to the John Adams Chair in American Studies for 2001, and he received the 2000 George Sarton Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Last year, he participated in the National Science Foundation’s acclaimed Antarctic writers program, which has ties to Ohio State’s Byrd Polar Research Center. A popular and engaging teacher, Larson lectures and speaks on history, law, and bio-sciences for academic, professional, and public audiences, and he has delivered endowed or funded addresses at some 50 colleges or universities. He is interviewed frequently for broadcast and print media, including multiple appearances on PBS, the History Channel, C-SPAN, and NPR.

Larson currently holds a joint appointment in the history department and law school at the University of Georgia, where he teaches the history of science to undergraduates and health, science, and technology law to law students. He is the recipient of several teaching awards and has taught in Austria, China, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.

Leon M. Lederman, Doctor of Science Education

An Internationally renowned specialist in high-energy physics, Leon M. Lederman is director emeritus of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, and holds an appointment as Pritzker Professor of Science at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

A native of New York, Lederman received his B.S. degree from the City College of New York in 1943 and his M.A. and Ph.D. in 1948 and 1951, respectively, from Columbia University. Following his doctorate, he joined Columbia’s faculty, remaining there for the next 28 years, becoming full professor in 1958. From 1962 to 1979, he served as director of Nevis Laboratories in Irvington, New York, the Columbia Department of Physics’ center for experimental research in high-energy physics.

With colleagues and students at Nevis, he led an intensive and wide-ranging series of experiments which have provided major advances in the understanding of fundamental particles. His work on neutrinos led to his recognition as a Nobel laureate in physics in 1988.

In 1979, Lederman became director of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, where he supervised the construction and utilization of the Tevatron, the first super conducting synchroton, the highest energy accelerator in the world. He retired from Fermilab in 1989 to join the faculty of the University of Chicago as a professor of physics.

Long an advocate for the importance of science education, Lederman initiated more than 15 programs for audiences ranging from kindergarten and elementary school children through college teachers while at Fermilab. He was the initiator and chief organizer of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, a three-year residential public school for gifted students in the state of Illinois, and, in 1998, became its inaugural Resident Scholar. He is chair emeritus of the board of the Teachers Academy for Mathematics and Science, a university-chartered program to retrain primary school teachers of mathematics and science.

His interest in international collaboration in science led him to open Fermilab’s facilities to countries not previously associated with high-energy physics, especially in Latin America. In 1997, he was appointed a Presidential Fellow by the president of the World Bank. In 2000, he co-chaired an International Conference on Primary School Science Education in Beijing. He is currently honorary president and patron of the World Academy of Young Scientists.

Lederman is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was presented the National Medal of Science by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 and the Enrico Fermi Prize by President Bill Clinton in 1993.

M.S. Swaminathan, Doctor of Agricultural Science

M.S. Swaminathan is chair of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation in Madras, India, and holder of the UNESCO-Cousteau Chair in Ecotechnology. He is acknowledged as the architect of the Green Revolution in India and as one of the world’s leading agricultural scientists.

Born in Tamil Nadu, India, Swaminathan was educated at Travancore and Madras Universities. He received his Ph.D. in genetics from Cambridge University in 1952. From 1954 to 1972, he worked at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, mainly in the field of wheat improvement. He served as director general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research; secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (1972-1979); and principal secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (1979-1980).

A plant geneticist by training, Swaminathan played a catalytic role in India’s Green Revolution between 1960 and 1982. From April 1982 to January 1988 he served as director general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). For the decade prior to assuming his post with IRRI, he was at the forefront of one of the most remarkable agricultural accomplishments in recent history—moving India from having the largest food deficit in the world to producing enough grain to feed all of its people.

For more than half a century, Swaminathan has worked in collaboration with scientists and policy makers on a wide range of problems in basic and applied plant genetics and agricultural research and development. His many scientific contributions include conservation of plant genetic resources; in situ and ex situ conservation of biodiversity; manipulation of genes to improve the yield, quality, and stability of wheat, rice, and potatoes; identification of the barriers to high yields in wheat and initiation of the dwarf wheat breeding program; and identification of cytotoxic agents in irradiated food material.

Swaminathan was acclaimed by Time magazine as one of the 20 most influential Asians of the 20th century and one of only three from India, the other two being Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. The International Association of Women and Development conferred on him the first international award for significant contributions to promoting the knowledge, skill, and technological empowerment of women in agriculture and for his pioneering role in mainstreaming gender considerations in agriculture and rural development. He was the recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1971, the Albert Einstein World Science Award in 1986, and the first World Food Prize in 1987. He is a fellow of many leading scientific academies, including the National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of London.

Donald D. Glower, Distinguished Service Award

Donald D. Glower served The Ohio State University as professor, chair, dean, and vice president before his retirement in 1992.

Born in Shelby, Ohio, he received B.S. degrees from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and Antioch College. He earned a M.S. in mechanical engineering and a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from Iowa State University. Following seven years of industrial experience, Glower joined the Ohio State faculty in 1964 as head of the nuclear engineering program, becoming chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1968. He became dean of the College of Engineering in 1976, serving until 1990, when he became vice president for university communications and development.

During his tenure in the College of Engineering, Glower established a number of initiatives that raised the college’s national stature and nurtured long-term relationships with communities outside the university. He assumed control of the Transportation Research Center of Ohio, turning a losing state investment into the largest and most comprehensive transportation research facility in the world, attracting the Honda Corporation to build in Ohio. Honda has since established an endowment fund in the College of Engineering that supports continued improvement in the quality of academic programs.

Glower worked with the faculty to establish the Advanced Design Methods Laboratory, the Edison Welding Institute, and the Engineering Manufacturing Research Center, facilitating partnerships with leaders from private industry. He was instrumental in establishing the National Regulatory Research Institute at Ohio State, which provides state Public Utility Commissions across the nation with unbiased research information.

He pioneered the establishment of an industrial advisory committee and fund raising by individual departments, leading Ohio State’s first ever college-level fund drive to raise $17 million for the College of Engineering. The success of this capital campaign facilitated modernizing the college laboratories and the creation of new academic programs.

An advocate of cooperative education, Glower sought and secured funding for a program that links students with industry for important experiential learning. He attracted National Merit Scholars to the college and established offices for the recruitment and retention of women and minority students.

Glower’s leadership and service over nearly three decades have enriched and strengthened not only the College of Engineering but the entire university community.