The University of Chicago Magazine
December 1997
FOR THE RECORD
A NEW ROLE:
U of C president emeritus Hanna Gray has been elected chair of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the nation's largest philanthropic organization. Gray, the first woman to head the board, has been a trustee there since 1984. She also chairs the board of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
CAMPUS BEAUITFUL:
The American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta has recognized the U of C campus as an official botanical garden, making it the only local campus with this honor. Distinguished trees and plants include the Washington Elm near Rosenwald Hall, which came as a seed-ling from Mt. Vernon, plus amelanchiers and hawthorns from the 1920s and 1930s.
RINGMASTERS:
When NASA's recently launched Cassini probe reaches Saturn in 2004, a U of Cbuilt instrument traveling aboard will be put to the test. The High Rate Detector-created by Anthony Tuzzolino, SM'55, PhD'57, a senior scientist in the Enrico Fermi Institute, under the direction of physics professor emeritus John A. Simpson-will determine the size and mass distribution of particles in Saturn's rings, helping scientists understand how the rings formed.
SECOND TO STAGG:
With a 1614 win over Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
in September, Maroon football coach Dick Maloney became the "winningest"
coach in the U of C's modern era. The Maroons' 54 season gave Maloney
a 2316 record, or a winning percentage of .590-making him the only
coach since Chicago reintroduced football in 1969 with a lifetime winning
percentage over .500. (Amos Alonzo Stagg's 18921932 percentage was
.671.)
FUN WITH PHYSICS:
Third-year College student Fred Niell discussed early particle physics and particle accelerators on an October episode of PBS's Stephen Hawking's Universe. Niell, who built three particle accelerators in his family's garage as high-school science fair projects, has spent three summers working at Fermilab.
NEW POLICY GROUP:
To strengthen formal communications between its researchers and policymakers in the Midwest, the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies has created the Harris School Council on Public Policy. Comprising some 150 city officials, agency leaders, re-searchers, and scholars from the region's policy community, the council will emphasize issues relevant to Illinois and the Midwest.
VOLUNTEER SPIRIT:
The Peace Corps reports that in its 36-year history, 519 U of C alumni have joined the organization, making the University number one in volunteers among institutions with undergraduate populations of less than 5,000.
ENGENDERED SPACE:
The Center for Gender Studies has moved from temporary quarters in Pick Hall and the Chicago Humanities Institute to a suite of offices on the fourth floor of Judd Hall. The center's lounge-with free coffee, tea, and cookies-is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
ENGENDERED STUDIES:
The Center for Gender Studies now includes the new Lesbian & Gay Studies Project, which will revive the lesbian and gay studies workshop and sponsor graduate research, symposia, and lectures. Under the auspices of the Chicago Humanities Institute, faculty involved in the project-which is chaired by historian George Chauncey-have organized a yearlong 199798 Sawyer Seminar on sexual identities and identity politics.
SCIENTIFIC PROMISE:
This year, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation awarded two of its 20 fellowships for young science and engineering researchers to U of C assistant professors: Daphne Preuss, who studies plant-cell communication and the transmission of genes through fertilization and reproduction, and mathematician Alex Eskin, who uses ergodic theory and lie groups to answer questions in number and group theory.
HEARTFELT HELLO:
Patricia A. Woodworth, budget director for the state of New York, joins the U of C at the end of January as vice president and chief financial officer. Woodworth played a crucial role in transforming New York's $5-billion budget deficit into back-to-back surpluses over the past two years.
COMPUTER CURE:
Six companies have joined forces to provide computer hardware, software, and networking for inpatient rooms at the U of C Children's Hospital. The computers, each of which has a CD-ROM and World Wide Web access, will provide entertainment and education for children battling serious illnesses.
GOOD CHEMISTRY:
U of C chemistry professor Philip Eaton received the American Chemical Society's 1997 Arthur C. Cope scholar award. The award recognizes Eaton's groundbreaking work in a "new kind of chemistry," including the creation of a cube of carbon atoms-an achievement long thought to be impossible.
MODEL OF PERFECTION:
For the second straight year, the U of C Model United Nations
team won the prestigious University of Pennsylvania Model U.N. conference.
Beating more than 50 of the nation's top schools, the team took home five
of seven best delegate awards and the Ben Franklin Cup.
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