University News

Academy Honors 18 For Contributions to Science

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will honor 18 individuals with awards recognizing extraordinary scientific achievements in the areas of astronomy, biology, medicine, chemistry, geology, oceanography, physics, and psychology.

These outstanding scientists have made fundamental contributions to human knowledge, including a near-infrared survey of the entire sky, the discovery of the first statin for lowering cholesterol, and insights into how the human visual system learns to recognize objects.

The awards and recipients for 2007 are:

Alexander Agassiz Medal – a medal and a prize of $15,000 awarded every three years for original contributions in the science of oceanography – goes to James R. Ledwell, senior scientist, department of applied ocean physics and engineering, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Mass., "for innovative and insightful tracer experiments using sulfur hexafluoride to understand vertical diffusivity and turbulent mixing in the open ocean." The medal was established by a gift of Sir John Murray and has been awarded since 1913.

John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science – a medal and a prize of $25,000 awarded annually for noteworthy and distinguished accomplishment in any field of science (plant science in 2007) – goes to Joseph R. Ecker, professor, plant biology laboratory and genomic analysis laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, Calif., "for contributions in the areas of ethylene signal transduction and Arabidopsis genomics that have paved the way for a revolution in modern agriculture." The award was established by the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. in honor of John J. Carty and has been awarded since 1932.

Alexander Hollaender Award in Biophysics – a prize of $20,000 awarded every three years for outstanding contributions in the field of biophysics – goes to Barry H. Honig, investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and director, center for computational biology and bioinformatics, Columbia University, New York City, "for pioneering theoretical and computational studies of electrostatic interactions in biological macromolecules and of the energetics of protein folding." The award was established by the bequest of Henrietta W. Hollaender in honor of her husband, Alexander W. Hollaender, and has been presented since 1998.

Jessie Stevenson Kovalenko Medal – a medal and a prize of $25,000 awarded every three years for important contributions to the medical sciences – goes to Jeffrey M. Friedman, investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Marilyn M. Simpson Professor, laboratory of molecular genetics, Rockefeller University, New York City, "for the discovery of leptin and its role in the regulation of appetite, energy expenditure, and the molecular mechanisms underlying obesity." The award was established by a gift of Michael S. Kovalenko in memory of his wife, Jessie Stevenson Kovalenko, and has been presented since 1952.

Richard Lounsbery Award – a medal and a prize of $50,000 awarded to French and American scientists in alternate years for extraordinary scientific achievement in biology and medicine – goes to Xiaodong Wang, investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and George L. MacGregor Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Science, department of biochemistry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, "for pioneering biochemical studies on apoptosis, which have elucidated a molecular pathway leading into and out of the mitochondrion and to the nucleus." The award was established by Vera Lounsbery in memory of her husband and has been presented since 1979.

NAS Award in Chemical Sciences – a medal and prize of $15,000 awarded annually for innovative research in the chemical sciences that, in the broadest sense, contributes to the better understanding of the natural sciences and to the benefit of humanity – goes to Robert G. Bergman, Gerald E.K. Branch Distinguished Professor, department of chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, "for numerous innovative contributions at the interfaces of physical, organic, and inorganic chemistry, including the discoveries of alkane carbon-hydrogen bond oxidative addition and 1,4-benzene diradicals." The award, supported by the Merck Company Foundation, has been presented since 1979.

NAS Award for Chemistry in Service to Society – a prize of $20,000 awarded biennially for contributions to chemistry, either in fundamental science or its application, that clearly satisfy a societal need. The award, given in alternate years to chemists working in industry and to those in academia, government, and nonprofit organizations (presented to a chemist working in industry in 2007) – goes to Arthur A. Patchett, retired vice president, medicinal chemistry, Merck Research Laboratories, Rahway, N.J., "for innovative contributions in discoveries of Mevacor, the first statin that lowers cholesterol levels, and of Vasotec and Prinivil for treating hypertension and congestive heart failure." The award, established by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., has been presented since 1991.

NAS Award for Initiatives in Research – a prize of $15,000 awarded annually to recognize innovative young scientists and to encourage research likely to lead toward new capabilities for human benefit (the 2007 field is optical science) – goes to Shanhui Fan, assistant professor, department of electrical engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif., "for innovative research on the theory and applications of photonic crystal devices." The award, presented since 1981, was established by AT&T Bell Laboratories in honor of William O. Baker, and is supported by Alcatel-Lucent.

NAS Award in Molecular Biology – a medal and a prize of $25,000 awarded annually for a recent notable discovery in molecular biology by a young scientist – goes to Gregory J. Hannon, investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor, Watson School, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., "for elucidation of the enzymatic engine for RNA interference." The award is supported by Pfizer Inc and has been presented since 1962.

NAS Award in the Neurosciences – a prize of $25,000 awarded every three years for extraordinary contributions to progress in the fields of neuroscience – goes to Jean-Pierre Changeux, emeritus professor, Institut Pasteur and Collège de France, Paris, "for the pioneering discovery that fast-acting neurotransmitters mediate their effects through allosteric regulation of the neurotransmitter protein." The award was established by the Fidia Research Foundation and has been presented since 1988.

NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing – a prize of $10,000 awarded annually for excellence in scientific reviewing within the past 10 years (the 2007 field is astronomy) – goes to Geoffrey R. Burbidge, professor, department of physics, University of California, San Diego, "for contributions as editor of The Annual Review of Astronomy from 1974 to 2004, using his vast knowledge to make it the premier astronomy review journal worldwide." The award is supported by Annual Reviews Inc., the Institute for Scientific Information, and The Scientist in honor of J. Murray Luck and has been presented since 1979.

Troland Research Awards – a research award of $50,000 given annually to each of two recipients to recognize unusual achievement and to further their research within the broad spectrum of experimental psychology – goes to Randy L. Buckner, investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor, FAS Department of Psychology and center for brain science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., and to Pawan Sinha, associate professor of computational neuroscience, department of brain and cognitive science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. Buckner was chosen "for substantive contributions to understandings of the neural mechanisms of memory formation and retrieval." Sinha was chosen "for elucidating how humans learn to recognize visual objects, and for developing computational models of the mechanisms that mediate this learning." The Troland Research Awards were established by a bequest from Leonard T. Troland and have been presented since 1984.

Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology – a prize of $5,000 given biennially to recognize excellence in the field of microbiology – goes to Richard M. Losick, professor, biological laboratories, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., for "discovering alternative bacterial sigma factors and his fundamental contributions to understanding the mechanism of bacterial sporulation." The award was established by a gift of the Foundation for Microbiology and has been presented since 1968.

Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal – a medal and a prize of $10,000 given every five years to encourage and reward individual achievement in advancing our knowledge of Cambrian or Precambrian life and its history in any part of the world – goes to John P. Grotzinger for the insightful elucidation of ancient carbonates and the stromatolites they contain, and for meticulous field research that has established the timing of early animal evolution." The award was established by a gift of Mrs. Mary Vaux Walcott in memory of her husband and has been presented since 1934.

James Craig Watson Medal – a medal and a prize of $25,000 plus $25,000 to support the recipient's research, given every three years for contributions to the science of astronomy – goes to Michael F. Skrutskie, professor, department of astronomy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, and Roc M. Cutri, deputy executive director, infrared processing and analysis center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, "for their monumental work in developing and completing the Two Micron All-Sky Survey, thus enabling a thrilling variety of explorations in astronomy and astrophysics." The award was established by the will of James C. Watson and has been presented since 1887.

Also to be honored at the April 29 ceremony is Maxine F. Singer, president emeritus, Carnegie Institution of Washington, who was chosen to receive the Academy's Public Welfare Medal. The Academy selected Singer "for providing inspired and effective leadership in matters of science and its relationship to education and public policy." The medal was established to recognize distinguished contributions in the application of science to the public welfare and has been presented since 1914.

Researcher to Use $10 Million Grant to Revamp Cornell Labs to Advance Cellulose-to-Biofuel Research

To help advance technologies that convert perennial grasses and woody biomass to ethanol, Cornell professor of biological and environmental engineering Larry Walker will use a $10 million grant from the Empire State Development Corp. to upgrade Cornell's industrial biotechnology laboratories. He also will serve an official adviser to a new biomass-to-ethanol demonstration facility in Rochester, N.Y.

The grant will be used to renovate laboratories in Riley Robb Hall and to purchase fermenters, incubators and state-of-the-art analytical equipment. It also will improve researchers' abilities to overcome the physical, chemical and biological barriers to liberating sugars from such energy crops as switchgrass, miscanthus and other perennial grasses as well as woody biomass, and to biologically convert these sugars into such biofuels as ethanol, butanol or hydrogen.

In a related initiative, Walker is collaborating with Mascoma Corp. and Genencor to develop a $14 million cellulosic ethanol pilot-plant in Rochester funded by New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. The plant will convert such products as paper sludge, wood chips, switchgrass and corn stover (the leaves and stalks that are left in a field after harvest) to ethanol.

Working with Mascoma, Walker adds, also will allow Cornell researchers to apply its research to so-called energy crops grown in New York as well as to have access to vital operating data to use to refine modeling techniques that are important for the growth of agricultural-based bio-industries. The plant also will work with International Paper, Clarkson University and the National Resources Defense Council.

T. Boone Pickens Donates $5 Million to UT Dallas to Advance BrainHealth

Dallas businessman and philanthropist T. Boone Pickens has donated $5 million to The University of Texas at Dallas to fund educational and research initiatives in the area of brain science.

Pickens has supported numerous institutions involved in health and medical research and care, many of which are located in Texas. Pickens believes brain research is one of the keys to quality of life now and for future generations.

Center for BrainHealth Director Dr. Sandra Chapman called the gift “transformational. Its impact will be far reaching and provide hope to thousands of children and adults and their families.”

Pickens’ gift to UT Dallas will enhance the faculty, facilities and research programs housed at the Frances and Mildred Goad Building, which will be the new home for the Center for BrainHealth, Chapman said. The center, part of the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, has gained national visibility and scientific recognition in recent years because of its innovative approach coupling pragmatic solutions in clinical care for children and adults with research on brain function, brain injury, brain disease and other factors that affect mental function. According to Chapman, the donation from Pickens will fund:

• The T. Boone Pickens Distinguished Chair in Clinical Brain Science. Establish one or more endowed faculty chairs to support clinical research in brain science at the UT Dallas Center for BrainHealth, enabling the university to recruit and retain outstanding senior faculty who have achieved international distinction.

• The T. Boone Pickens Virtual Learning Center. Develop, equip and operate a one-of-a-kind computer learning facility employing software programs for interactive learning. The center will house leading-edge programs that seek to potentially “re-wire” the brains of children and adults with various brain diseases such as autism, ADHD, schizophrenia, brain injury and bipolar disorder as well as serve as a learning center for healthy seniors to engage in brain-related education and training.

• Center for BrainHealth facilities and research programs. Complete improvements to the Center for BrainHealth site and facility, located on Mockingbird Lane in Dallas, and provide program support for clinical research and treatment.

Center for BrainHealth Advisory Board Chair Debbie Francis called Pickens “a true visionary whose generosity is transforming the face of the Dallas community. This gift is monumental, and will enable the Center for BrainHealth to pursue some of the most exciting and innovative research answers in developing better treatments of a wide range of brain maladies.”

The Center for BrainHealth’s unique mission is to unite brain research and brain therapies in an active partnership to build healthy minds and restore health to injured and diseased minds. No other institution in the country has undertaken such a comprehensive approach to define brain health measures and to support cognitive brain health across the life span. The center is currently working on more than 35 research projects in all areas of brain health.

Pickens founded Mesa Petroleum Co. in 1956, and grew the company into one of the nation’s largest independent oil and gas firms. He left the company in 1996 and founded BP Capital, one of the nation’s most successful energy investment firms and consistently ranked as one of the most successful hedge funds in the U.S. His recently updated 1987 autobiography, Boone, was listed for 15 weeks on The New York Times best-seller list.

Pickens has been inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame and the Texas Business Hall of Fame and was recently named Philanthropist of the Year by the Dallas Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Steve Kang Named New UC Merced Chancellor

Acting on the recommendation of University of California President Robert C. Dynes, the UC Board of Regents today (Jan. 17) appointed UC Santa Cruz engineering dean Sung-Mo (Steve) Kang as chancellor of UC Merced. Kang replaces Carol Tomlinson-Keasey who stepped down last August after seven years as UC Merced chancellor to return to teaching and scholarship. Kang is expected to take office on or about March 1, 2007.

Recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in his field, Kang, 61, was selected following a nationwide search that produced approximately 65 candidates.During the search, Dynes was advised by a committee comprised of regents, faculty, students and alumni.

Since 2001, Kang has served as dean of the Baskin School of Engineering and professor of electrical engineering at UC Santa Cruz. He also served as chair of the chancellor's Education Partnership Advisory Committee. While at UCSC, he initiated several interdisciplinary programs and collaborated with partner campuses on both the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research and the Center for Information Technology and Research in the Interest of Society, which also involves UC Merced. He recently attracted to UC, $2 million in National Science Foundation funds to develop engineering pathway programs for community college students in the Silicon Valley.

Kang has also initiated a number of international programs, including an executive program for managers from Korea, and exchange programs with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne, Hokkaido Information University, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Yonsei University and Konkuk University.

In addition to being UCSC dean of engineering, Kang also is a chaired visiting professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

Prior to his appointment at UCSC, Kang was a professor and department head of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Until 1985, Kang was with AT&T Bell Laboratories where he earned an exceptional contribution award for leading the development of the world's first 32-bit CMOS microprocessor chips and peripheral chips.

His current research interests include low power/large-scale integration design, mixed-signal mixed-technology integrated systems, modeling and simulation of semiconductor devices and circuits, high-speed optoelectronic circuits and optical network systems, and nanoelectronics.

Kang is the recipient of a numerous awards and honors, including the 2005 Mac Van Valkenburg Award. In 2005, he was appointed to the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Nanotechnology, a joint federal-state venture to benefit the Silicon Valley and promote California as the premier center for nanotechnology research, development and commercialization. Kang also is a foreign member of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea. He holds14 patents, has published more than 300 technical papers, and has coauthored eight books.

Kang received his B.S. (Summa Cum Laude) from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ in 1970. He earned his M.S. from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1972 and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1975. All degrees were in electrical engineering.

Roderic B. Park, a veteran administrator who has served as vice chancellor at UC Berkeley, interim chancellor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and senior associate to the chancellor at UC Merced has been serving as acting chancellor since September 21, 2006.

In addition to serving as chancellor, Kang will hold a faculty appointment at UC Merced.

UCLA Announces Appointments of Acting Executive Vice Chancellor and Acting Social Sciences Dean

The University of California Regents today approved two key administrative positions at UCLA.

Scott Waugh, who previously served as dean of the UCLA Division of Social Sciences, has been appointed acting executive vice chancellor and provost. Reynaldo Macías, professor of education and applied linguistics and chair of the UCLA Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies and the César E. Chávez Center for Interdisciplinary Instruction, has been approved as the university's acting dean of the Division of Social Sciences.

After graduating summa cum laude from UCLA in 1970 with a degree in history, Waugh received his Ph.D. in English history from the University of London. In 1975, he began teaching in the UCLA Department of History, where he has conducted research and taught as an acclaimed scholar of medieval history.

Waugh has held several leadership positions at UCLA, including chair of the history department and chair of the Council on Educational Development. He has received numerous honors and fellowships, including two grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the University of California President's Fellowship in the Humanities.

Waugh is also the recipient of the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award, the university's highest honor for work in the classroom.

In 1992, Waugh became dean of the Division of Social Sciences, which includes 15 departments and programs, including many of UCLA's nationally ranked academic programs, as well as 12 research centers and institutes.

Macías joined the UCLA faculty in 1998. Since then, he has served as chair of the department of Chicana and Chicano studies and of the César E. Chávez Center for Interdisciplinary Instruction.

Macías is co-founder of the UCLA-based publication Aztlán: International Journal of Chicano Studies Research (now known as Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies) and the National Association of Chicano Social Science. He has served as editor, or as an editorial board member, for the National Association for Bilingual Education Journal; the Journal of Language, Identity, and Education; and the Language Assessment Quarterly.

In 1994, Macías was honored by the National Association for Bilingual Education as a pioneer in the field. He has served as the assistant director of the National Institute for Education, where he was responsible for reading and language studies. In 1996, he was appointed by President Clinton to the advisory board for the National Institute for Literacy, where he served until 2003.

NIH Director Welcomes Seven New Members to the Advisory Committee to the Director

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has selected seven individuals to serve as members of the Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD). Since 1966, the ACD has advised the NIH Director on policy and planning issues.

The ACD advises the NIH Director on policy matters important to the NIH mission of conducting and supporting biomedical and behavioral research, research training, and translating research results for the public.

The new members, who join 13 current members of the council, are Catherine D. DeAngelis, M.D., MPH, of Chicago, Illinois; Karen A. Holbrook, Ph.D., of Columbus, Ohio; Ralph I. Horwitz, M.D., of Stanford, California; Mary-Claire King, Ph.D., of Seattle, Washington; Alan, I. Leshner, Ph.D., of Washington, District of Columbia; John C. Nelson, M.D., MPH, FACOG, FACPM, of Chicago, Illinois; and Barbara L. Wolfe, Ph.D., of Seattle, Washington.

Catherine D. DeAngelis, M.D., MPH, is editor-in-chief of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association; editor-in-chief of Scientific Publications and Multimedia Applications; and Professor of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She received her M.D. from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine; her MPH from the Harvard Graduate School of Public Health (Health Services Administration); and her pediatric specialty training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

DeAngelis oversees JAMA as well as nine Archives publications and JAMA related Web site content. DeAngelis is a past council member of the National Academy of Science, Institute of Medicine, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and has served as an officer of numerous national academic societies, including former chairman of the American Board of Pediatrics and chair of the Pediatric Accreditation Council for the Residency Review Committee of the American Council on Graduate Medical Education.

Karen A. Holbrook, Ph.D., is president of The Ohio State University, and professor of Physiology and Cell Biology and Medicine (Dermatology) in the College of Medicine. Dr. Holbrook earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in zoology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Ph.D. in biological structure from the University of Washington School of Medicine. She came to Ohio State from the University of Georgia, where she served as senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, as well as professor of cell biology and adjunct professor of anatomy and cell biology and medicine at the Medical College of Georgia. Prior to these roles, she served at the University of Florida at Gainesville as vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School, as well as professor of anatomy and cell biology and medicine (dermatology). She spent the majority of her academic career as a professor of biological structure and medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, where her research focused on human fetal skin development and genetic skin disease.

Ralph I. Horwitz, M.D., is the Arthur Bloomfield Professor and chair of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University. Dr. Horwitz received his M.D. from the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine; trained in internal medicine at McGill University and the Massachusetts General Hospital; and was a research fellow in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at Yale. He is internationally known for his pioneering research that helped to establish the field of clinical investigation and outcomes research; for his innovative programs in the education of physicians and the training of physician scientists; and his visionary renewal of the social contract linking the practice of medicine to the civic responsibility of the profession of medicine. He is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Association of American Physicians (AAP). He recently completed a term as president of the American Board of Internal Medicine and member of the Council of the AAP.

Mary-Claire King, Ph.D., is the American Cancer Society Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Genome Sciences at the University of Washington. Dr. King was an undergraduate mathematics major at Carleton College. She completed her Ph.D. in genetics at the University of California, Berkeley, demonstrating in her dissertation that human and chimpanzees are 99 percent identical in protein and DNA sequences. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco and a faculty member at University of California, Berkeley prior to joining the University of Washington. Her current research focuses on the genetics of complex human traits, particularly inherited predisposition to breast and ovarian cancer.

Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D., is chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and executive publisher of its journal, Science. Previously, Dr. Leshner had been Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Deputy Director and Acting Director of the National Institute of Mental Health.

Before that, he held a variety of senior positions at the National Science Foundation. Leshner began his career at Bucknell University, where he was Professor of Psychology. He received an A.B. in Psychology from Franklin and Marshall College and M.S. and Ph.D. in Physiological Psychology from Rutgers University. Leshner is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science; and a fellow of AAAS, the National Academy of Public Administration, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2004, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to the National Science Board.

John C. Nelson, M.D., MPH, is a board certified obstetrician and gynecologist from Salt Lake City, Utah. A graduate of Utah State University and the University of Utah, Dr. Nelson has been in active clinical practice since 1975. He has served as deputy director of the Utah Department of Health and was president of the Salt Lake County Medical Society, the Utah Medical Association, and served as the 159th president of the American Medical Association. He is a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as well as the American College of Preventive Medicine and is currently serving as medical director for HealthInsight, the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) for Utah and Nevada. He has served on numerous federal committees, most recently the Medicaid Advisory Commission. He has long been concerned with access to health care coverage for all Americans, the elimination of racial and ethnic disparities in health care, prevention of disease, and quality improvement in health care delivery.

Barbara L. Wolfe, Ph.D., is Professor of Economics, Population Health Sciences, and Public Affairs and Faculty Affiliate at the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she also is currently serving as Director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs. Dr. Wolfe did her undergraduate work at Cornell University and her doctoral work in economics at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses broadly on poverty and health issues. Current projects examine the effect of expansions in public health insurance on health care coverage and labor force outcomes; the role of income on health using a natural experiment; whether housing voucher programs lead to higher earnings, higher quality child care, and less reliance on other public assistance programs; the adequacy of resources when individuals retire and during their first decade of retirement; and the increasing selectivity of high quality universities. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine and vice chair of the National Academy of Sciences/Institute of Medicine Board on Children, Youth and Families.

Four New Members Named to UChicago Argonne LLC Board

UChicago Argonne LLC has named four new members to its Board of Governors for Argonne National Laboratory. The new members are Richard Morimoto, the Bill and Gayle Cook professor of biology at Northwestern University; Don Randel, president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and President Emeritus of the University; John Fees, COO of BWX Technologies Inc.; and Noel Watson, CEO of Jacobs Engineering Inc.

UChicago Argonne LLC is the new organization that the U.S. Department of Energy chose to manage and operate Argonne National Laboratory. The LLC brings together the scientific leadership and expertise of the University—the sole member of the LLC—with the best management practices of Jacobs Engineering and BWXT. The Board of Governors helps oversee and guide Argonne research, operations and management. Members of the board are chosen from faculty, administrators and trustees of the University, from other universities, from national and international organizations, and from industry. In addition, the Director of Argonne, Robert Rosner, the William E. Wrather Distinguished Service Professor in Astronomy & Astrophysics, Physics and the College, is an ex-officio member of the board.

Morimoto is the director of the Rice Institute for Biomedical Research at Northwestern University. His research examines the molecular basis for neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS and Alzheimer’s disease.

Morimoto served as dean of the graduate school and associate provost of graduate education at Northwestern University from 1998 to 2004, and previously as chair of the department of biochemistry, molecular biology and cell biology. He joined the Northwestern faculty in 1982.

Randel served as President of the University from 2000 to 2006, when he also served as chair of the Argonne Board of Governors. He joined the Cornell University faculty in the department of music in 1968. Thereafter he served as department chair, vice-provost, and associate dean and then dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. In 1995, he was named provost of Cornell University.

Fees joined BWXT in 1979 at its Nuclear Products Division in Lynchburg, Va. During his time there, he managed engineering and project management for national security programs. Fees transferred to Diamond Power in 1993 as general manager of manufacturing and was named president of Diamond Power in 1994.

In 1997, Fees returned to BWXT as president of BWXT Services Inc., which provides management and technical services to federal agencies. In 2002, he was named president and COO of BWXT, which includes the responsibility for all BWXT operations nationwide.

Jacobs Engineering founder Joseph Jacobs recruited Watson in 1960. He left for a few years but returned in 1965 and has been with the company ever since. Over the years, Watson has worked in several roles and in several locations for the company. First a process engineer and then a project manager, he assumed successive senior management positions until ultimately becoming president in 1987, and CEO in 1992. He became chairman in 2004 and executive chairman in 2006.

The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts basic and applied scientific research across a spectrum of disciplines, ranging from high-energy physics to biotechnology. Since 1990, Argonne scientists have worked with more than 600 companies and numerous federal agencies and other organizations to help advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for the future.

UChicago Argonne LLC manages Argonne for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. It brings together the expertise of researchers at the University with Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. and BWX Technologies, Inc. Together with its new partners, and through important alliances with Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Illinois at Chicago, UChicago Argonne LLC pursues innovation and discovery that serves the national interest.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System to Purchase Graduate Hospital

The University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) entered into an agreement today to purchase Graduate Hospital from Tenet Healthcare Corporation. UPHS will continue Graduate’s 80-year tradition of providing quality health care to its community by converting the hospital into a comprehensive rehabilitation center and operating it in partnership with Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network. Once Graduate Hospital is refurbished, it will also house a long-term acute care hospital and provide enhanced educational and research opportunities related to the science of rehabilitation medicine. The purchase is expected to be complete by March 30, 2007. The financial terms were not disclosed at this time.

Representatives of UPHS also announced that it has formed a joint venture with Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network to develop Graduate into one of the region’s largest and most comprehensive rehabilitation facilities. Good Shepherd Penn Partners will convert the hospital. Construction is expected to begin after the sale is complete and take approximately 15 months, and the new facility will open to patients in the summer of 2008.

Graduate Hospital employees will have the opportunity to pursue a transfer to other Tenet hospitals or to UPHS for positions for which they are qualified, or apply for positions at the new facility when it reopens. Job fairs, employment counseling and appropriate severance will be provided by Tenet to those employees who do not receive offers of comparable employment at other Tenet or UPHS facilities.

Conversion plans have been carefully designed to minimize the disruption of patient care services. During construction, patients who would have been previously treated at Graduate Hospital will be able to receive care at one of at least five nearby hospitals, including: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, Hahnemann University Hospital, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. As Graduate converts to an advanced rehabilitation center, an urgent care center will be open to meet the health care needs of the immediate surrounding community.

Tenet announced on June 29, 2006 that Graduate Hospital would be sold.

Adrian Raine Named Fourth PIK Professor at Penn

Adrian Raine has been named the newest Penn Integrates Knowledge professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

He is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Southern California and at Penn will hold the Richard Perry University Professorship, named in recognition of a gift from Richard Perry, a Penn trustee and founder of the investment management firm Perry Capital.

Raine will hold appointments in the Department of Criminology of the School of Arts and Sciences and in the Department of Psychiatry of the School of Medicine.

He is internationally renowned for his integration of biological and social perspectives on the prediction and explanation of violent behavior. His discoveries have identified brain structures, nutritional influences, genetic factors and social environments that foster violent criminal tendencies. He is the author of "The Psychopathology of Crime: Criminal Behavior as a Clinical Disorder." From 1990 to 1992, Raine was a consultant to the National Academy of Sciences Panel on the Control and Understanding of Violent Behavior.

PIK professorships, a program conceived by Penn President Amy Gutmann, are awarded to exceptional scholars whose research and teaching are enriched by the innovative integration of knowledge across academic disciplines.

Raine received his bachelors and masters degrees in experimental psychology in England from Oxford University and his doctorate in psychology from York University. His appointment will be effective July 1.