EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State University faculty and students will be among those honored for academic talents and achievements by the Michigan Association of Governing Boards (MAGB).
Two faculty and two students from each of the state's 15 public universities will be recognized at the 18th annual awards convocation Tuesday, April 6. The event will take place at 5 p.m. at the Kellogg Center. Retired Army Col. William J. Stephens, a member of the Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents, will serve as convocation chairperson.
MSU faculty to be honored are Gerald Babcock, University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, and William Smith, chairperson of the Department of Biochemistry, both in the College of Natural Science.
Student award recipients are Caroline Tobey of Battle Creek and Mark Nakamoto of Mililani, HI, who will be recognized for excellent academic performance and service to campus and community.
Leonard E. Plachta, president of Central Michigan University, will be the keynote speaker. Tributes and congratulatory messages from the Michigan Legislature and Gov. John Engler's office will be offered.
Each year the MAGB, which includes representatives from the governing boards of the state's public universities, honors top faculty and students from the 15 institutions.
Biographies of the Michigan State University awards recipients follow.
GERALD T. BABCOCK
Gerald T. Babcock has conducted groundbreaking research on reaction pathways, structure/function relations and the biological activity of enzymes involved in photosynthesis and in respiration.
At MSU he has directed the research of 32 doctoral students and 30 postdoctoral research associates and has taught courses across all levels in the department, ranging from general chemistry to graduate courses in physical chemistry.
Babcock has given more than 250 invited lectures, including talks at California Institute for Technology, University of California-Berkeley, Harvard University, and Yale University and has organized five major national/international scientific meetings and symposia.
He joined the MSU faculty in 1976 and served as chairperson of the Department of Chemistry from 1990-1998. He received the Distinguished Faculty Award from MSU in 1989 and became a University Distinguished Professor in 1996.
Babcock received his bachelor of science degree from Creighton University and his doctorate from UC-Berkeley. He did his postdoctoral research at UC-Berkeley and Rice University.
WILLIAM SMITH
William Smith is internationally recognized for his work on the mechanisms of aspirin and other anti-inflammatory drugs.
He has served in numerous committee or administrative roles in the Department of Biochemistry, and currently serves on the Science Building Committee and the Biomedical Implementation Committee
He has played an active role in the American Heart Association of Michigan, including service as president and chairperson of the Research Executive Committee.
Smith joined the MSU faculty in 1971 and was named chairman of the Department of Biochemistry in 1994. He received a Distinguished Faculty Award from MSU in 1992. Other awards and honors include the Abraham White Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award and the Treadwell Award, both from George Washington University; a Faculty Teaching Award from the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine; the Senior Aspirin Award from the Bayer Corp.; and two merit awards from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
He received his bachelor of arts from the University of Colorado and his doctorate from the University of Michigan. He did postdoctoral research at the University of California-Berkeley.
MARK M. NAKAMOTO
Mark M. Nakamoto, an Honors microbiology major, is a member of Mortar Board and Phi Kappa Phi and is the two-time vice president of Golden Key National Honor Society. He has served on the dean's advisory councils in both the College of Natural Science and the Honors College.
He directed volunteers at Choices' football alcohol-free tailgates and was president of the student Project IMPACT group. He has helped the community by volunteering in two hospitals, serving food at the Lansing Rescue Mission and interned with the Honolulu City Council. He has also won awards in his position as a newsletter editor.
Nakamoto has performed microbiological research on the processing of a transaction factor in Bacillus. He wrote a paper for the Honolulu City Council chairperson on restricting smoking in public places and was also involved in research on a National Institute of Public Health-funded project studying community views on human genome project technologies. He plans to attend medical school.
He also works as a biochemistry 461 teaching assistant and as a chess club monitor at East Lansing's Wardcliff School. He has helped freshmen with essays and HTML as a Freshman Interest Groups (FIGS) mentor. He has also represented MSU as an Honors College recruiter.
He is son of Jon and Charlene Nakamoto of Mililani, HI, and a 1995 graduate of Iolani High School in Honolulu.
CAROLINE R. TOBEY
Caroline R. Tobey, a biosystems-engineering student, was selected as one of the two MSU candidates for the Goldwater Scholarship and has been honored by her peers as the Outstanding Senior for her dependable leadership and enthusiastic service. She has held offices with the Society of Women Engineers, the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, Alpha Epsilon Honor Society and student government.
She is a member of Golden Key National Honor Society and the Institute of Food Technologies and participates in several intramural sports activities. This semester she is volunteering as a kindergarten aide through MSU's Service Learning Program.
Tobey, who took part in the "International Food Laws" overseas study program in Europe, has participated in the Cooperative Engineering Education at Kraft Foods and interned at General Mills.
She represented MSU at the World Food Expo and the Society of Women Engineers national convention. For three yeas she worked as a research aide in the departments of Agricultural Engineering and Food Science and Human Nutrition. Her current project involves characterization of ice cream toppings.
She is the daughter of Charles and Cheryl Tobey of Battle Creek. She is a 1994 graduate of Lakeview High School in Battle Creek.