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Media Relations
Kansas State University
9 Anderson Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506
785-532-6415
media@k-state.edu Information provided by K-State Media Relations, K-State's news service, may be reproduced without permission. The marks and names of Kansas State University are protected trademarks and may not be used in any commercial or private endeavor without the approval of the university.
Sources: Dolores Takemoto, 785-532-7009, dtak@k-state.edu;
and James Edgar, 785-532-4320, edgarjh@k-state.edu
http://www.k-state.edu/media/mediaguide/bios/dtakemotobio.html
http://www.che.ksu.edu/faculty/edgar/
News release prepared by: Andy Badeker, 785-532-6415, abadeker@k-state.edu
Friday, Nov. 30, 2007 COMMENCEMENT
K-STATE PROFESSORS OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, BIOCHEMISTRY TO RECEIVE COMMERCE BANK DISTINGUISHED GRADUATE FACULTY AWARD
MANHATTAN -- A chemical engineer who has pushed semiconductors beyond silicon and a biochemist who is investigating the molecular basis for vision are the fall 2007 recipients of the Commerce Bank Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award at Kansas State University.
Dolores Takemoto, professor of biochemistry, and James Edgar, professor of chemical engineering, will be recognized at the K-State Graduate School commencement ceremony at 1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7, in Bramlage Coliseum. Each will each receive a $2,500 honorarium. The awards are supported by the William T. Kemper Foundation and the Commerce Bancshares Foundation, and they are coordinated through the Kansas State University Foundation.
"This is the 13th year that Commerce Bank and the William T. Kemper Foundation have partnered with K-State to support the Commerce Bank Distinguished Graduate Faculty Awards," said Tom Giller, community bank president, Commerce Bank, Manhattan. "We welcome this opportunity to demonstrate our continuing support of the university and to help the institution honor faculty members who excel in teaching, research and the mentoring of students."
Jon Wefald, K-State president, said he was glad to see that the continuing partnership between K-State and Commerce Bank allows dedicated faculty to receive the recognition they deserve.
"The generosity of Commerce Bank and its related foundations highlights the outstanding efforts of K-State faculty members such as Drs. Takemoto and Edgar," Wefald said. "The work of these two exceptional researchers has galvanized progress in their respective fields, and it speaks to the caliber of teaching at K-State."
Takemoto is a leading researcher on the formation of lens cataracts and their treatment, and the role of gap junctions in cell biology and pathology. She has concentrated on understanding the molecular basis of sight as well as the genetic basis of diseases that affect vision. Takemoto and her associates were the first to determine the genetic basis of retinal regeneration, which led to the identification of a family of genes affecting visual perception.
Edgar has made pioneering contributions to the field of wide band-gap semiconductors that use nitride compounds rather than the more common silicon. His research has improved the materials that are the building blocks of a new generation of micro devices. Such devices are revolutionizing communications, transportation, lighting, medicine and consumer applications.
He leads one of the most prolific research groups in the United States in the area of III-nitride wide band-gap semiconductors. The work of his group on nitride materials reaches beyond engineering and materials science. Edgar has received more than $4.3 million from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy, as well as from such industry sources as Astralux, Hexatech and Fox Inc.
Edgar earned his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1987. He joined the K-State chemical engineering faculty in 1988. He has served as a research fellow at NASA Lewis Research Center and has spent sabbaticals at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., and Radboud University in the Netherlands.
At K-State he has mentored more than two dozen advanced-degree students. The College of Engineering has honored him with the William H. Honstead Professorship in Chemical Engineering and the Research Excellence Award. In 2005, he won the Ervin W. Segebrecht Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award.
Takemoto and her team have been instrumental in identification of novel drugs to treat eye disease. Recently Takemoto and her associates have looked at the anti-cancer activities in natural products, among them bitter melon and selected strains of wheat.
She has received more than $4 million from the National Institutes of Health, the National Eye Institute, the Leukemia Research Foundation, the National Society for Prevention of Blindness and the American Heart Association.
Takemoto earned her Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in 1979. She joined the K-State biochemistry faculty in 1984. She has received the American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Leukemia Society of America Special Fellowship and the National Institutes of Health Senior Fellowship.
She has mentored 17 graduate students and more than 35 undergraduate students in her laboratory. She has organized the Sloan Mentoring Program for Women in Science and has directed the K-State President's Commission on the Status of Women.