The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) has named Weldon doctoral student Darryl Dickerson as chair of it's national executive board. The NSBE is one of the largest student-managed organizations in the nation, and dedicated to increasing the number of black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally, and positively impact the community. It was founded in 1971 at Purdue by Edward Barnette and Fred Cooper and has grown into an organization with some 20,000 members. Congratulations to Darryl on his new responsibilities.

Steven Lee, a junior in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, was honored with the $1,000 Bruce Helfert Memorial Award for outstanding junior majoring in science or engineering at the annual awards convocation. He has been involved as a Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Ambassador, implemented a peer-monitoring program for Honors Engineering and serves as president of Purdue's Engineering World Health, a student organization he helped establish to cater to the needs of the disadvantaged. Lee participated in an internship with Stryker Corp. and did volunteer work with the Timmy Foundation, which strives to improve the availability of quality health care to children worldwide. The Helfert Award is made possible through a gift from Sylvia Helfert in memory of her son, Bruce Helfert, a 1964 Purdue graduate. He was a surgeon at March Air Force Base in California, when he died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.

BME students Halle Burton and Steven Lee have been tapped as members of the Class of 2008 of Mortar Board, the national college senior honor society. Members of the Barbara Cook Chapter at Purdue University are selected for superior scholarship, service to the university community, and outstanding and constant leadership. Our congratulations to these outstanding students on being selected for this honor.

Dr. Jenna Rickus has been informed by ACS Publications that her article "Liposome-Doped Nanocomposites as Artificial-Cell-Based Biosensors: Detection of Listeriolysin O", published in Biotechnology Progress, is a 2006 Most-Cited Article. This means that, according to data from Thomson ISI, it is receiving the most citations in the same year.