For the record
Business, medicine deans named
Sunil Kumar, the Fred H. Merrill professor of operations, information and technology, and senior associate dean for academic affairs at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, has been appointed dean of the Chicago Booth School of Business. Kumar’s five-year term begins January 1, 2011. Harry L. Davis, the Roger L. and Rachel M. Goetz distinguished service professor of creative management, is serving as interim dean. Meanwhile, Kenneth S. Polonsky, a Washington University in St. Louis diabetes researcher, physician, and educator, becomes dean of the biological-sciences division and the Pritzker School of Medicine, and the University’s executive vice president for medical affairs, on October 1.
Co-op leaves forwarding address
Fall 2011 will find the Seminary Co-operative Bookstore in a new, larger location at 5751 S. Woodlawn Avenue. Less than a block from its longtime home in the Chicago Theological Seminary at 5757 S. University Avenue, the bookstore’s future space will include the first floor and part of the basement at McGiffert House. Seminary Co-op and University officials announced the move in July as planning began for the adaptive reuse of the seminary building. A committee will hire an architect to adapt and renovate McGiffert, a project to be funded by the University.
Fundamental addition
Two weeks before he joined the University’s faculty September 1 from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, Ngô Bao Châu received the Fields Medal, the highest honor in mathematics. The International Congress of Mathematicians cited Ngô, 38, for his “proof of the Fundamental Lemma in the theory of automorphic forms through the introduction of new algebro-geometric methods.” Presented every four years, the Fields Medal goes to mathematicians aged 40 and under.
Glue grant makes study stick
A five-year, $22.5 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences will subsidize Chicago-led research into the structure and function of membrane proteins. Called a “glue grant,” the funding unites 30 scientists from 14 institutions in four countries—the Membrane Protein Structural Dynamics Consortium. The collaboration combines two previously distinct areas of study, structure and function, to understand how membrane proteins change over time.
Harvard yardstick
Chicago scholars David Bevington and Martha Nussbaum each received a Centennial Medal from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The medal recognizes “contributions to society as they have emerged from one’s graduate education at Harvard.” Bevington, the Phyllis Fay Horton distinguished service professor emeritus in the humanities, received his AB (1952) and PhD (1959) in English from Harvard. Nussbaum, the Ernst Freund distinguished service professor of law and ethics, received her PhD in classical philology in 1975.
Duel role ends after three decades
After 34 years spent connecting the University to the local community, Duel Richardson, AB’67, retired in June as the University’s director of neighborhood relations/education. After graduating from the College, he spent nine years teaching third to eighth grades in Chicago Public Schools. An early staff member of the Office of Civic Engagement when it was established in 1974 as the Office of Community Affairs, Richardson helped build the Neighborhood Schools Program, which annually employs 300–400 Chicago students in local schools assisting teachers, grading papers, and tutoring children.
Second term for Oddone
Fermilab Director Piermaria Oddone was appointed to a second five-year term in July. During Oddone’s tenure at Fermilab, the Tevatron, the most powerful proton-antiproton accelerator in the world, has consistently set new performance records for luminosity at the energy frontier. Experiments conducted at Fermilab have resulted in hundreds of published papers that expand understanding of fundamental physics. The laboratory also has developed world-leading programs in neutrino physics and particle astrophysics.
Beyond Hubble
The University will collaborate in building the world’s largest telescope, the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) in Chile. The telescope will produce images of objects 100 times fainter than the Hubble Space Telescope can detect. As a founding member of the project, the U of C will help set research priorities, plan the telescope’s development, and have a seat on the GMT Organization’s governing board. The seven-year construction of the telescope will begin at Las Campanas Observatory in 2012.
In good Hans
Sydney Hans, the Samuel Deutcsh professor in the School of Social Service Administration, received the University’s Valerie Jarrett Faculty Leadership and Mentoring Award. Hans, an expert in how biological and social factors interact in contributing to risk and resilience in human development, studies how experiences in early life, particularly the relationship between mother and infant, influence development at later ages. She chairs the SSA’s doctoral program and directs the Irving B. Harris Infant Mental Health Training Program at the University.
Chicago’s fellow scientists
The National Science Foundation has awarded graduate fellowships to 51 recently graduated, current, or incoming University of Chicago students. They are among 2,000 science students nationwide to earn support for research-based master’s and doctoral work. Graduate fellows receive three years of support, including a $30,000 annual stipend, a $10,500 cost-of-education allowance, and a $1,000, one-time, international travel allowance.
Good chemistry
Philip Eaton, professor emeritus in chemistry, and Argonne’s Alfred Sattelberger, assistant director for energy engineering and systems analysis, have been named American Chemical Society fellows. In 2000 Eaton synthesized the compound octanitrocubane, which some chemists thought was impossible to create. Sattelberger oversees the Energy Engineering and Systems Analysis Directorate, which is responsible for Argonne’s energy research programs.
Garner relates to the U of C
William A. Garner has taken over as the University’s director of federal relations, a new position focusing on medicine, biomedical research, health-professional training, and health-care delivery on Chicago’s South Side. Garner previously served as legislative director for Rhode Island U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy.
Arete director adds new role
Matthew Christian, since 2006 the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience’s executive administrator, became assistant vice president for program development in the office of the vice president for research and national laboratories on July 1. Christian will continue in his role as codirector of the Arete Initiative.
Poll position
Chicago stands ninth among national universities in the 2011 U.S. News & World Report rankings released in August—down one spot from last year. Dartmouth and Duke were tied with Chicago at No. 9. Harvard claimed the top spot over last year’s No. 1, Princeton, which stood second.
Energized research
Three Chicago students have been named Department of Energy graduate fellows. Andrew Fidler, SM’09, in physical chemistry; Phil Long in biophysics; and Alexander Palmer in high-energy physics were among 150 recipients who received $50,500 for up to three years.
Sustainable education
What does “sustainability” mean? A new Graham School program will attempt to answer that question—and develop leaders in the field. The five-week Leadership in Sustainability Management Program begins in September for early- and mid-career professionals interested in an emerging position in the U.S. workforce: sustainability director.
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