DEROSA RECEIVES DISTINGUISHED AWARD

Michael DeRosa was named recipient of the 2006 Distinguished Service Award from the Eberly College of Science. The award, sponsored by the college alumni society, was established in 1979 to recognize individuals who have made exceptional leadership and service contributions to the college.

DeRosa is professor of chemistry at Penn State's Delaware County campus. He joined Penn State as an associate professor in 1989 and was named full professor in 1994. Prior to joining Penn State, he was a faculty member at the Universidad Simon Bolivar in Caracas, Venezuela, from 1975 to 1989, and was a member of the U.S. Peace Corps from 1973 to 1975. He received his bachelor's degree in 1964 from the City College of the City University of New York. He completed his doctorate degree in 1974 from the Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.

DeRosa was honored with the Penn State Lion's Paw Award in 2001 and received the Commonwealth College Outstanding Research Accomplishment Award in 2002. An innovative teacher in the classroom, he received a Project Empower grant in 1995 to introduce technology and collaborative learning in his chemistry classes and has collaborated in multidisciplinary undergraduate research projects with faculty in biology, engineering, and chemistry. He has been involved in efforts to obtain funding for a multidisciplinary science studio to enable the sharing of technology for the teaching of physics, chemistry and biology laboratories. He is well known as a mentor who empowers his students. He has been involving undergraduate students in his research for more than 25 years, giving students the opportunity to experience first-hand the rigors and rewards of research. His professional affiliations include membership in the American Chemical Society, the International Society of Heterocyclic Chemistry, and the Council on Undergraduate Research.

Along with DeRosa, Amy Leddy, advising program coordinator and premedicine adviser in the Eberly College of Science's Advising Center and John Roe, professor of mathematics and head of the Department of Mathematics at the University Park campus were also recipients of the award.