Chemistry professor and Illinois chancellor elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Chemistry professor Catherine J. Murphy and Chancellor Robert J. Jones have been elected as members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest honorary societies in the nation.

They are among more than 200 individuals with compelling achievements in academia, business, government, and public affairs to be elected to the academy this year.

Murphy is the Larry Faulkner Endowed Chair in Chemistry at Illinois. Her research focuses on developing diverse nanomaterials for applications in biology and biotechnology for imaging cells, chemical sensing, and photothermal therapy. She also studies the environmental impact of nanoparticles and how their chemical properties influence their behavior. She is the associate director of the Materials Research Laboratory and is affiliated with the Micro and Nano Technology Laboratory and with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at Illinois.

Murphy received two bachelor’s degrees, in chemistry and in biochemistry, from the U of I in 1986, and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin in 1990. She joined the faculty in the chemistry department at Illinois in 2009. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society, and the Royal Society of Chemistry. She has regularly appeared on the Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list for being one of the world's most influential scientists.

"We want nanotechnology to save the world, one particle at a time," Murphy said, in a recent LAS Experts profile. "For other scientists in this area, there are nanomaterial improvements in solar cells and batteries. For my particular work, some of the lines of research we are working on might be able to help with neurodegenerative disease."

Martin Gruebele, head of the Department of Chemistry, was pleased with Murphy's accomplishment.

"She joins Academy members elected before her from Benjamin Franklin to Martin Luther King, Jr. and actor John Lithgow," Gruebele said. "On our faculty, other members are are Peter Beak, Scott Denmark, Martin Gruebele, Jiri Jonas, John Katzenellenbogen, Jeffrey Moore, Ralph Nuzzo, and Wilfred van der Donk. It's wonderful to see our faculty recognized in this way."

Jones became the chancellor of the University of Illinois’ Urbana campus and a vice president of the University of Illinois System in 2016, after serving as president of the University at Albany, State University of New York since 2013. He served in several academic administrative roles at the University of Minnesota System from 2004 to 2013, including as the senior vice president for academic administration.

Jones has been a leader in developing new approaches to place-based engagement strategies to create university and community partnerships that build more sustainable and more collaborative social and economic development on the local and regional scale.

Jones is an internationally respected authority on plant physiology, and he holds a tenured position in the crop sciences department at Illinois. He earned a bachelor’s degree in agronomy from Fort Valley State College, a master’s degree in crop physiology from the University of Georgia, and a doctorate in crop physiology from the University of Missouri, Columbia. He is a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science Society of America.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded in 1780 to honor exceptionally accomplished individuals and engage them in advancing the public good. The work of the honorees is now focused on the arts, democracy, education, global affairs and science.

“While the work of this class includes work never imagined in 1780 – such as cultural studies, cybersecurity, disease ecology, nanotechnology, paleoclimatology and superconductivity – these members embody the founders’ vision of cultivating knowledge that advances, in their words, a ‘free, virtuous and independent people,’” said Nancy C. Andrews, the board chairwoman of the academy.

The new class will be inducted at a ceremony in October in Cambridge, Massachusetts.