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For the record
Science in the city
The U of C, Argonne National Laboratory, and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory sponsored Chicago’s second annual Chicago Science in the City from October 2–13. The event offered more than 85 science-related activities for children and adults, including three neighborhood science carnivals, museum exhibits, demonstrations, hands-on activities, lectures, films, and workshops.
Computer science distinction
The August 17 Nature ranked Ian Foster, the Arthur Holly Compton distinguished service professor, the third most influential computer scientist in the world based on the h-index, which indicates the number of papers an author publishes that receive at least the same number of citations. Foster scored a 67, meaning he published 67 papers that were each cited at least 67 times.
Niketown takedown
In March 2006 a judge appointed University professor Randall Schmidt, JD’79, of the Law School’s Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Clinic and private law firm Brennan & Monte, Ltd. to represent African Americans who alleged that Niketown’s Chicago location discriminated against black employees. Though Nike denies wrongdoing, the company settled the suit in late July, agreeing to pay $7.6 million and institute reforms such as diversity training and hiring-practice oversight.
Fostering diversity
The GSB created the Enid Fogel Diversity Scholarship to augment existing diversity scholarships. The scholarship, which is part of the GSB’s Initiative for Diversity, will provide at least $50,000 to be used for tuition for students in the full-time MBA program.
Master of surgery robots
Sudhir Srivastava, appointed in July as director of robotic and minimally invasive cardiac surgery, arrives at the U of C Medical Center after practicing in Odessa, Texas. Bringing his experience performing hundreds of heart-bypass surgeries, Srivastava uses a technique that inserts robotic tools through small openings to avoid making larger incisions during heart operations.
Late nights at Reg may return
Chicago’s Board of Trustees is scheduled to vote this spring on final approval for a
Regenstein Library addition. If approved, the addition would create a high-density automated storage system to provide new space for books and materials, including those now housed in the Reg’s A-level. While the library originally planned to reopen the A-level for study at the addition’s 2010 completion, negotiations between Student Government members and library administrators have ended with a plan to move more volumes to an off-site storage facility in Merrillville, Indiana, and reopen the study space.
Business-minded
The Siebel Foundation named five Chicago GSB students as Siebel Scholars. Recognized for academic merit and demonstrated leadership, five students will receive the award’s $25,000 cash grant: Anne Field, Sinan Kermen, Jamison Larsen, Michael Lasota, AB’04, and Yuliya Polyakova.
The world comes to Chicago
The University is now a participating member of the Davis United World College Scholars Program, a privately funded group that promotes cross-cultural understanding by providing scholarship support for about 1,100 American and international students at 76 American colleges and universities, including Columbia University, Princeton University, and Vassar College. The program offers need-based scholarships for UWC students, up to $20,000, for undergraduate study.
A Nobel visitor
Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmental activist and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner, visited Rockefeller Chapel in September. During her Chicago Humanities Festival–sponsored visit, Maathai told the crowd that global peace depends on keeping the environment healthy.
Economist rewarded
Morgan Stanley and the American Finance Association presented Eugene Fama, MBA‘63, PhD’64, Chicago GSB’s Robert R. McCormick distinguished service professor, with its first annual Morgan Stanley–AFA Award for Excellence in Finance for his work on efficient market theory, as well as portfolio theory, asset pricing, and capital structure. The prize comes with a $200,000 research grant for the GSB.
Medical Center reaches out
Eric Whitaker, a self-described “country doc” for some of Chicago’s poorest communities, has joined the U of C Medical Center as executive vice president for strategic alliances and associate dean for community-based research. The newly created program aims to improve community health-care access, quality and efficiency, and advance community-based medical research. Whitaker had been director of the Illinois Department of Public Health’s Medical Center.
Harper Center honored
The Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago named the GSB’s Charles M. Harper Center its 2007 Office Building of the Year. The association cited the center, designed by Rafael Viñoly, because of its appearance and maintenance, responsiveness of facilities staff, energy-management systems and procedures, and building accessibility.
Young scientists earn funds
Four University scientists received National Institutes of Health (NIH)-research grants amounting to $8 million. Margaret Gardel, assistant professor in physics and the College, and Rustem Ismagilov, associate professor of chemistry, will each receive $2.5 million in direct funding as NIH Director’s Pioneer Award recipients. Kristen Jacobson, assistant professor of psychiatry, and Dorothy Sipkins, assistant professor of medicine, each will receive $1.5 million.
Leading the way
U of C scientists accounted for six of Chicago’s top 10 scientific achievements, while a seventh occurred at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, according to a list assembled by scientists and educators and issued by Mayor Richard Daley on October 2. The first controlled nuclear chain reaction topped the list, while other advancements include the discovery that gene translocations can be linked to human leukemia, and the development of malaria treatments.
Rethinking research
The National Institutes of Health has awarded $22.6 million to a University Medical Center team, led by Julian Solway, the Walter L. Palmer distinguished service professor in medicine and pediatrics. The five-year grant—which will bring together basic scientists, physician-scientists, and faculty from public policy, social-service administration and business—is part of an NIH effort to build a national consortium of select centers that transform how clinical and translational research is conducted.
Landmarks compete for funds
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House and Lorado Taft’s Fountain of Time sculpture, both located on campus, were among 25 local sites vying for $1 million in restorative funding from the American Express Partners in Preservation Chicagoland Initiative. The Internet-based competition ended in October with the Pui Tak community center, formerly known as the On Leong Merchants Association Building, at 2216 South Wentworth Avenue winning the grant to help refurbish its pagoda-style roof.
