LAS professors bring honor and recognition to the college.

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April 2008

  • Alejandro Lleras

    Alejandro Lleras, professor of psychology and Beckman Institute affiliate, received an Early Faculty CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, an award that supports the early career development of professors who best exemplify the role of teacher-scholars. The $400,000 award will be distributed over five years, beginning in 2008. Lleras' research explores fundamental questions of perception: "How is it that we become aware of visual information and what is it that determines which information we see and attend to, and which information we ignore or suppress?"

  • Photo courtesy of MIT Chemical Engineering

    Richard Braatz, Millennium Chair and professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, was elected a Fellow of the International Federation on Automatic Control (IFAC), a multinational federation of approximately 50 national member organizations concerned with automatic control. "The IFAC Fellow Award is for persons who have made outstanding and extraordinary contributions in the field of interests of IFAC, in the role as an Engineer/Scientist, Technical Leader, or Educator." Professor Braatz studies the control of events at the molecular to nanoscopic scales, with applications in microelectronics, pharmaceuticals, and biomaterials.

  • Dan Pack, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, has been awarded the 2008 Xerox Award for Faculty Research in the College of Engineering. Pack's research involves developing drug and gene delivery systems.

  • Jeffrey Moore

    Jeffrey Moore, professor of chemistry, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for his pioneering work in self-healing materials and his "fundamentally new way of doing chemistry," involving a novel approach to manipulate matter and drive chemical reactions to a desired end. Moore joins other famous American Academy members like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Albert Einstein, and U of I's own chancellor Richard Herman. See also January.

March 2008

  • Carol Symes

    Carol Symes, assistant professor of history and medieval studies, has been awarded the Pinkney Prize, given by the Society for French Historical Studies, for the best new book in French history. Symes's A Common Stage: Theater and Public Life in Medieval Arras, explores how 13th century vernacular plays in the medieval town of Arras fit into a group of public media for communication that both captured and created public opinion in the Middle Ages.

February 2008

  • Jeffrey F. Gardner, professor of microbiology, was elected as a fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM). Gardner's research focuses on the genetics and biochemistry of DNA binding proteins. The AAM, an honorific leadership group composed of a rigorously selected group of fellows, is the only group of its kind devoted entirely to microbiologists and the study of microbiology.

  • James A. Imlay, professor of microbiology, became a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM). Imlay has focused his research on the molecular mechanisms of oxidative damage, cellular defenses against oxidants, and obligate anaerobiosis. The AAM, an honorific leadership group composed of a rigorously selected group of fellows, is the only group of its kind devoted entirely to microbiologists and the study of microbiology.

  • James B. Kaler

    James B. Kaler, professor emeritus of astronomy, has been awarded the 2008 American Astronomical Society (AAS) Education Prize. The prize recognizes Kaler for his outstanding contributions to the education of the public, students, and the next generation of professional astronomers. Specifically, the AAS acknowledges Kaler's contributions to astronomy, inspired teaching and mentoring, engaging astronomy textbooks, popular astronomy website, and work with the public through planetarium, television, and radio programs.

January 2008

  • Bruce Levine

    Bruce Levine, J.G. Randall Professor of History, was awarded the 2007 Peter Seaborg Award for Civil War Scholarship, for his book, Confederate Emancipation: Southern Plans to Free and Arm Slaves during the Civil War, which examines various proposals that arose within the Confederate States of America to free and arm its own slaves in order to win the Civil War, the reception that such proposals received, and the consequences of trying to implement one such proposal in the spring of 1865.

  • Jeffrey Moore

    Jeffrey Moore, professor of chemistry, was honored as one of Scientific American's SciAM 50, which recognizes outstanding technological leadership by 50 individuals, teams, or companies, in research business, or policymaking each year. Moore was part of a University of Illinois team honored for its development of self-healing material.

  • Robert Ghrist

    Robert Ghrist, professor of mathematics, was honored as one of Scientific American's SciAM 50, which recognizes outstanding technological leadership by 50 individuals, teams, or companies, in research business, or policymaking each year. Ghrist was recognized for using mathematical tools to solve key problems with networks of distributed sensors.

  • Photo courtesy of Georgia State University Research

    James Weyhenmeyer, professor of cell and developmental biology, neuroscience, and pathology, an affiliate at the Institute for Genomic Biology, and interim vice president for technology and economic development, has has been elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. The academy is an international, independent institution that promotes research and innovation as well as technological and economic development. Its overall mission is to build bridges from Swedish research institutions and businesses to premier research institutions in the U.S. and elsewhere.

  • Benita S. Katzenellenbogen, Swanlund Professor and Center for Advanced Studies Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, has received an honorary degree from the University of Milan, Italy. Professor Katzenellenbogen was recognized for "biomedical research that has advanced our understanding of the actions of estrogens and estrogen receptors in women's health and diseases such as breast cancer."

November 2007

  • Robert Gennis

    Robert Gennis, professor of biochemistry, biophysics, and chemistry, was invested as a Harry E. Preble Professor. Gennis directs a lab primarily engaged in studying membrane-bound metalloproteins that catalyze electron transfer reactions coupled to the generation of both a voltage and ion gradient across the membrane bilayer.

  • Maria Todorova, professor of history, was invested as a Gutgsell Professor. Todorova specializes in the history of the Balkans in the modern period. Her current research revolves around problems of nationalism, especially the symbology of nationalism, national memory, and national heroes in Bulgaria and the Balkans.

  • Carl Woese

    Carl Woese, professor of microbiology, was recognized for his groundbreaking 1977 discovery of a third domain of life, archaea, through the ceremonial unveiling of a historical marker honoring his research. A molecular biologist turned evolutionist, Woese's primary academic concerns center on the bacteria and the archaea, whose evolutions cover most of the planet's 4.5-billion-year history.

October 2007

  • Bob Rauber

    Bob Rauber, professor and acting head of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, has been recognized by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) for exemplary service in helping the field of Atmospheric Science gain recognition in Congress.

  • John Gerlt, professor of biochemistry, chemistry, biophysics, and basic medical sciences, has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Using tools such as sequence analyses, recombinant DNA methods, enzyme kinetics, and physical organic chemistry, Gerlt studies groups of enzymes whose members catalyze different reactions that diverged from a common ancestor. He is using these studies as the basis for predicting the functions of unknown proteins discovered in genome projects.

  • Gregory Girolami

    Gregory Girolami, professor and former head of the department of chemistry, has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Girolami and his research group are primarily interested in the synthesis, properties, and reactivity of new inorganic, organometallic, and solid state species.

  • Steven Huber, professor of plant biology and crop sciences, has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Huber and his lab focus on the identification of biological mechanisms that regulate important plant processes and impact growth and development, including control of nitrate assimilation, intracellular localization of sucrose synthase, and protein kinase specificity.

  • Stephen Long

    Stephen Long, professor of plant biology and crop sciences, has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Long and his lab primarily research the mechanisms of plant responses to both rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and tropospheric ozone, with particular reference to photosynthesis and relating changes at the molecular and biochemical level to observations of whole systems in the field. See also July.

  • Yi Lu

    Yi Lu, professor of chemistry and an affiliate of biochemistry, biophysics, materials science and engineering, and the Beckman Institute, has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was elected for pioneering work in biological inorganic chemistry, particularly for design and selection of metalloenzymes and their applications in catalysis, sensing and nanomaterials assembly.

  • Ken Paige, professor and head of the Department of Animal Biology, has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Paige's interests lie in plant-animal interactions, with an emphasis on understanding the phenomenon of overcompensation from ecological, physiological, genetic and evolutionary perspectives, and from a conservation genetic perspective, the ecological and evolutionary consequences of small population size.

  • Edmund G. Seebauer

    Edmund G. Seebauer, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Seebauer's research focuses on discovering new physical mechanisms for controlling the behavior of defects in semiconductors through chemistry at surfaces, stimulation by light, and irradiation by ions. His work also seeks to apply these discoveries to develop new technologies in integrated circuit manufacture and the design of new catalysts for applications in energy production and environmental remediation. See also May.

  • Scott Silverman

    Scott Silverman, associate professor of chemistry, biochemistry, and biophysics, has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Silverman and his laboratory study fundamental and applied aspects of the nucleic acids, DNA and RNA.

  • Don Wuebbles

    Don Wuebbles, professor of atmospheric sciences and electrical and computer engineering, is being named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Wuebbles, acting director of the School of Earth, Society, and Environment, is best known for his studies of climate change and effects of human activities on atmospheric chemistry and physics, including the ozone layer. As part of his work, Wuebbles developed the concepts of ozone depletion potentials used in most policymaking cases relative to protection of the ozone.

  • Nina Baym

    Nina Baym, emeritus professor of English, has received an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Emeritus Fellowship, an award designed to support faculty who have officially retired but continue to be active and productive in their fields. Baym, a prominent scholar of American literature since the mid-'60s, will use the $23,000 of funding over the next two years to continue her newest book: Women Writers of the Old West, 1832-1927.

  • Arthur F. Kramer

    Arthur F. Kramer, professor of psychology, has been named a Swanlund Chair, the highest endowed title at the University of Illinois. Kramer's work deals with cognitive neuroscience, brain plasticity, attention, perception, human factors, and aging. He is known internationally for his work on improving the cognitive function of older adults.

  • Gene E. Robinson, professor of integrative biology in the entomology department, has been named a Swanlund Chair, the highest endowed title at the University of Illinois. Robinson is director of the University's Bee Research Facility and the Neuroscience Program. His insight into the behaviors and organization of honeybees is helping us understand how human social behavior is influenced by both heredity and environment.

September 2007

  • Sarah Mangelsdorf

    Sarah Mangelsdorf, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was invested as the Harry E. Preble Dean of LAS. Mangelsdorf has also served the University as associate provost, and head and professor of the Department of Psychology. She was acting dean of LAS from September 2004 and was named dean in January 2006. Mangelsdorf studies social and emotional development in infancy and early childhood and is the author of numerous articles in developmental psychology. She has also been honored several times for her teaching.

  • Nancy Abelmann

    Nancy Abelmann, professor of anthropology and director of the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, was invested as the Harry E. Preble Professor. Abelmann focuses her research on women in East Asia, gender in Korea, Korean society, national identity in Korea, the Korean diaspora, and Japanese modern history. She has taught courses in fieldwork methods and theory, the anthropology of social movements, political anthropology, and autoethnography.

  • David M. Kranz

    David M. Kranz, professor of biochemistry, was invested as the Phillip A. Sharp Professor of Biochemistry. Kranz researches the molecular basis of antigen recognition by T cells. In the process of pursuing this basic interest, Kranz has developed several innovative molecular tools for exploring and analyzing ligand-receptor interactions. His research has been widely useful for the development of diagnostics and therapeutic interventions.

  • Ryan Bailey

    Ryan Bailey, associate professor of chemistry, was awarded the 2007 National Institutes of Health Director's New Innovator Award. The award recognizes bold ideas from some of the nation's most innovative new scientists. Bailey's award is $1.5 million in direct costs over five years, which he will use to develop an ultrasensitive measurement technology to provide a picture of disease onset and progression at the molecular level.

  • Jay D. Bass, professor of geology and materials science, has been awarded an honorary doctorate from the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, in France. Bass was recognized for his work on elastic properties of materials of "geological or technological interest, under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature."

August 2007

  • Virginia Dominguez

    Virginia Dominguez, professor of anthropology, was named president-elect of the American Anthropological Association, an association with 12,000 members worldwide. Previous presidents of the AAA have included such pioneers as Margaret Mead and Franz Boas. Dominguez is well-known for her work on social, political, and legal history of notions of race in the Americas, peoplehood in the Middle East, and culture in the Pacific. She becomes president-elect of AAA in December 2007 and then president in December 2009.

  • Lillian Hoddeson, professor of history, has been named the first Thomas Siebel Chair in the History of Science. A PhD in physics, Hoddeson is internationally known and respected by both historians and scientists for her study of the history of 20th century science and technology, specializing in modern physics and "megascience."

  • Vernon Burton

    Vernon Burton, professor of history and sociology, was awarded the Chicago Tribune's Heartland Society prize for his book, The Age of Lincoln (Hill and Wang, 2007). The prize is awarded annually for a work of non-fiction and a novel that embody the spirit of the nation's heartland.

  • Adrian Burgos

    Adrian Burgos, associate professor of history, has been named as the winner of the first Latino/a Book Award by the selection committee of Latin American Studies Association (LASA) for Playing America's Game: Baseball, Latinos, and the Color Line (University of California Press, 2007).

July 2007

  • Steve Sligar

    Steve Sligar, professor of chemistry, biochemistry, and medicine, has been named a Fellow of the Biophysical Society. Much of Sligar's research involves the development and utilization of novel technologies to understand the central mechanisms of biological function at the cellular and molecular level.

  • Stephen Long

    Stephen Long, Robert Emerson professor in plant biology and crop sciences, was awarded a doctor of science (honoris causa) from Lancaster University. Long also gave a special lecture, entitled "Plants Mitigating Global Change via Sustainable Biofuel Production," and the commencement speech at the university. See also October.

June 2007

  • Ed Diener

    Ed Diener, Alumni Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois, recently won the Jack Block award for contributions to personality, given out by the Society of Personality and Social Psychology. Diener's research mainly focuses on the concept of subjective well-being and how it can be measured and influenced by a multitude of factors like personality, income, and culture. Diener has more than 210 publications and, according to the Institute of Scientific Information, has been cited more than 11,000 times in the works of other psychologists. See also May.

  • John F. Hartwig

    John F. Hartwig, professor of chemistry, was awarded the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize in Physical Sciences-Chemistry 2007. Hartwig was honored for his work with "catalysis based on late-transition metal complexes, enabling widely applicable organic synthesis and deep mechanistic insight."

  • Photo courtesy of Northwestern University

    Neil L. Kelleher, associate professor of chemistry, received the 2007 Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry. Kelleher was honored for his "pioneering development of mass spectrometry to examine intermediates in natural product synthesis and to characterize of post-translational modifications of proteins."

  • John Rogers

    John Rogers, professor of chemistry and founding professor of materials science and engineering, will be honored with the 2007 Leo Hendrick Baekeland Award for the American Chemical Society, at an upcoming symposium. Rogers is renown for his multidisciplinary work in developing soft materials for molecular electronics, flexible "macroelectronic" circuits, nanophotonic structures, microfluidic devices, and microelectromechanical systems. He has published more than 175 papers and has nearly 60 patents, more than 30 of which are licensed or in active use.

  • Ben McCall, assistant professor of chemistry and astronomy, was awarded the 2007 Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation. McCall's research interests lie in the areas of high-resolution molecular spectroscopy and interstellar chemistry. McCall was awarded for his grant proposal, "New Approaches to Research and Teaching in Astrochemistry: Carbocation Spectroscopy and a Novel Laboratory Course."

May 2007

  • Yi Lu

    Yi Lu, professor of chemistry, received the Society of Biological Inorganic Chemistry's first Early Career Award. The multiple fields of research that Lu has contributed to include long-range electron transfer processes, bioenergetics, mixed valency in coordination chemistry, and the distribution and speciation of metal ions and other chemicals in biological systems.

  • Ken Suslick

    Ken Suslick, professor of chemistry, received the 2007 Sir George Stokes Medal from the Royal Society of Chemistry. Suslick is best known for his major contributions to the understanding of chemical effects of ultrasound. His work has helped create the first FDA-approved intravenously administered echo-contrast agent for echocardiography.

  • Gary Parker

    Gary Parker, professor of geology, received the first Selim Yalin Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association of Hydraulic Engineering and Research. Parker's fields of specialty are sediment transport, river engineering, river morphodynamics, and sedimentation processes. He has served as a consulting engineer on river intake and bridge problems.

  • Photo courtesy of MIT Chemical Engineering

    Richard D. Braatz, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, was invested as the Millennium Chair. Braatz focuses his research on the modeling, design, and control of complex and multiscale systems, with applications in microelectronics, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. He has created methods that find applications in materials, medicine, and computers, where the control of events at the molecular and nanoscopic scales is critical to product quality.

  • Deborah Leckband

    Deborah E. Leckband, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, was invested as the Reid T. Milner Professor. Leckband has advanced the method of surface force measurements in order to study cell adhesion, molecular recognition, and the mechanical properties of proteins. Her goal is to determine the design rules for controlling cell and biomolecular interactions with materials.