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3 new department chairpersons for 2005-06
Gelb became chairperson of the Department of Animal and Food Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources on July 1. Gelb earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UD and received a doctorate in microbiology and avian medicine from the University of Georgia. He joined the UD faculty in 1979 and served as assistant department chairperson from 1984-88. Gelb’s research interests are human and animal infectious diseases. He is working on developing novel approaches to controlling economically important avian diseases. Historically, his research has focused on respiratory viral diseases, infectious bronchitis and Newcastle disease.
On Sept. 1, Saunders, professor of computer and information sciences, became chairperson of that department. He joined the UD faculty in 1984 and was acting chairperson of the department from 1988-89. He earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin. Saunders research interests include symbolic and exact matrix computations; building a library, Linbox, for solution of large sparse linear systems over finite fields and for solution of linear Diophantine problems; algorithms, languages and data structures for symbolic mathematical computation and algebraic computation in parallel and distributed computing environments. Saunders has published 53 papers and technical reports on his work, is the corecipient of the Computer Algebra Nederland Foundation prize, was associate editor of the Journal of Symbolic Computation from 1998-2004 and is an active member of the Association for Computing Machinery.
Tkacs served the 326th Engineer Battalion, 101st Airborne Division, in several leadership positions, including platoon leader and company executive officer of the 887th Equipment Company. He also served with the 16th Engineer Battalion, First Armored Division, in Furth, Germany, as assistant S3 for operations then as Alpha Company commander. During this assignment, he deployed his company to Operation Desert Shield /Desert Storm. Tkacs’ awards and decorations include the Bronze Star, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation, Ranger tab, Master Parachutist Badge, Pathfinder Badge and the Air Assault Badge. Article by Barbara Garrison To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here. |
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