Research Update Newsletter
From UChicago Argonne, LLC
May 4, 2007
This Month in Research Update:
- Office of the Vice President for Research and for National Laboratories (OVPRANL) News
- Research Update to go on 3-month hiatus
- Renee Carder appointed Deputy to the Lab Director
- Larry Hill selected as Associate Vice-President for Research and for National Laboratories UChicago Argonne, LLC Board of Governors meeting update
- Events
- University May event highlights
- Research in the News
- University of Chicago receives $35 million gift to support Arts Center
- X-ray holograms reveal secret magnetism
- Martha Roth appointed as Dean of University's Humanities Division
- Council on Foundations recognizes work of BP Foundation in contributing to improvements in mathematics education: University of Chicago School Mathematics Project earns praise
- Prehistoric mystery organism verified as giant fungus: ‘Humongous fungus' towered over all life on land
OVPRANL News
Research Update to go on 3-month hiatus
Publication of Research Update, brought to you by the University's Office of the Vice President for Research and for National Laboratories (OVPRNL), will be suspended for the months of June, July and August 2007 while the editor of the publication, Lisa La Vallee, senior publicist for the OVPRNL, is on maternity leave. Publication will resume in September. If you have any questions, feel free to call Sandra Marijan, executive administrative assistant to the vice president for research and national laboratories, at (773) 702-9476.
Renee Carder appointed Deputy to the Lab Director
Argonne Director Robert Rosner has appointed Renee Carder as the deputy to the laboratory director. Carder has served as the University of Chicago's assistant vice-president for strategic research initiatives and executive director of the university's office at Argonne since 2004.
"Renee is uniquely qualified for this position, which will direct laboratory-wide policy development, provide daily oversight of the support functions within the Office of the Director and manage programmatic and operational reviews," said Rosner. "Her strong scientific expertise and knowledge of programmatic and operational systems will contribute greatly to the strategic mission of the laboratory."
In her role as assistant vice president for strategic research initiatives at the University of Chicago, Carder was responsible for guiding the development and growth of science programs that leverage the scientific and technological strengths of the university and Argonne. Her work focused on identifying, developing and managing initiatives in areas as diverse as environmental science, structural biology and nanoscience. Simultaneously, Carder worked to establish innovative approaches for the management of scientific collaborations — developing policies and organizational arrangements that encourage the establishment and use of supportive infrastructure.
Carder also directed the University of Chicago Office at Argonne. She was responsible for overseeing the review of laboratory scientific and engineering programs as well as operations with regard to strategic objectives, staff development, financial management, team management and communication to ensure the effective and efficient deployment of staff and resources. In addition, Carder served as the secretary to the UChicago Argonne, LLC board of governors for Argonne as well as the principal liaison for the Department of Energy Argonne Site Office.
Carder completed her doctoral degree in neurobiology, anatomy and cell science at the University of Pittsburgh, and has since held research positions at the University of California at Irvine, the University of California at Los Angeles, Johns Hopkins University and most recently in the Department of Neurology at the University of Chicago. In addition to her scientific work, Carder has also served as assistant vice president for program development and associate director of research funding in the Division of Biological Sciences at the university.
University of Chicago selects Larry Hill as associate vice president for research and for national labs
University of Chicago Vice President for Research and for National Laboratories Donald Levy has appointed Laurence Hill as associate vice president for research and for national laboratories effective May 7. In this new role, Hill will be responsible for site office operations, university contract management, and board staffing for Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
"Larry's managerial skills and strong strategic planning, financial and marketing experience together with his understanding of the University's research organization and academic partnerships, make him well qualified for this position," Levy said. "I am confident that Larry will set a high standard in strengthening our relationships with the national laboratories, which we manage [through UChicago Argonne LLC and Fermi Research Alliance, LLC], and ensuring that we do an outstanding job fulfilling the terms of our contractual relationships with the U.S. Department of Energy."
Hill is currently the assistant dean for research operations in the Division of the Biological Sciences (BSD) and the Pritzker School of Medicine, where he has held increasingly responsible positions since 1990. His most recent responsibilities have included overseeing and coordinating divisional research operations, which include the offices of Research Services, Shared Research Facilities, Research Program Planning and Development, and Clinical Research and serving as the operations project executive for the Howard T. Ricketts Regional Biocontainment Laboratory at Argonne. From 2004 to 2006 Hill served as assistant dean for planning in the BSD and played key staff roles in the creation of the Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology, the Ludwig Metastasis Center and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Farm Graduate Training Partnership.
Hill's position was created in light of the university's new contractual relationship with Fermilab as well as the imminent departure of Renee Carder, who has served as assistant vice president for strategic research initiatives; executive director, UChicago Argonne, LLC Board of Governors Office at Argonne; and secretary of the Board of Governors of Argonne since 2002. Carder recently accepted the position of deputy to the laboratory director at Argonne National Laboratory.
"Renee has made outstanding contributions to this office," Levy said. "She restructured the university's office at Argonne and developed a strategic operations model that not only ensured resolution of strategic issues that affected the overall performance of the Laboratory, but also enhanced our stewardship of the laboratory. She also paved the way for significant collaborative research activities between the university and Argonne. I look forward to working with her in a different capacity in her new role at Argonne."
Events
Oriental Institute Museum, "Through Young Eyes: Nubian Art Recreated":
May 6, 1155 E. 58th St., (773) 702-9514, http://oi.uchicago.edu.
This exhibition highlights interpretations and recreations of ancient Nubian art in ceramics, drawings and prose produced by students from Fiske Elementary School in Woodlawn. The students familiarized themselves with the material through gallery tours and interactive sessions with museum educators. During their visits, the students photographed the objects that they would recreate in art-making sessions at the Little Black Pearl Art and Design Center in Kenwood. "Through Young Eyes: Nubian Art Recreated" presents the project's outcomes with a two-part exhibit on view at two venues. Thirty student-produced displays are on display in the Holleb Special Exhibits Gallery at the Oriental Institute, 1155 E. 58th St. and 30 additional displays are being exhibited at Little Black Pearl Art and Design Center, 1060 E. 47th St. Supported by a grant from the Joyce Foundation, the exhibition is the result of a project of collaboration with members of the community. Free.
Koerner to deliver Bross Lecture on Bosch's "The Garden of Earthly Delights"
Joseph Koerner, a professor of the history of art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, will untangle the mystery of the nature of evil as depicted in Hieronymus Bosch's Renaissance triptych "The Garden of Earthly Delights."
Koerner will set up the mystery in a presentation at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 9, at the Art Institute of Chicago. On the following night, at 6 p.m., he will return to the Art Institute, and, like a Sherlock Holmes of renaissance art history, will solve the mystery.
The unusual two-part lecture, titled "Enemy Painting: Enmity and the Unspeakable Subject," is part of the Department of Art History's 2007 Louise Smith Bross Lectures. Endowed in memory of Louise Smith Bross (Ph.D.,'94), the series, through only presenting its third program, is emerging as being among the most prestigious in the discipline, attracting leading scholars.
Research in the News
University of Chicago receives $35 million gift to support Arts Center
The University of Chicago announced today that it has received a $35 million cash gift from David and Reva Logan, and their sons and grandchildren, to support the university's Center for the Creative and Performing Arts.
Logan is a graduate of the university's college and its law school and a longtime supporter of the arts. This is one of the largest single donor gifts to the university in its history. It also is believed to be both the single largest cash gift to the arts in the city of Chicago and one of the largest gifts to support a university building dedicated to the arts in the United States.
Slated for completion in 2011, at an estimated cost of $100 million, the Reva and David Logan Center for Creative and Performing Arts will be located on the southern end of the University of Chicago campus, at 60th Street and Ingleside Avenue; it will become a center for all areas of artistic expression — visual arts, theater and performance, music and film — at the university. Full story.
X-ray holograms reveal secret magnetism
The May 2 issue of the journal Nature reveals how collaboration between scientists in the United States and the United Kingdom has led to a major breakthrough in the understanding of antiferromagnets, which could help spur their exploitation for information technology or other products.
Scientists at the Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne National Laboratory, the London Centre for Nanotechnology and the University of Chicago have exploited a technique called X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy to see the internal workings of antiferromagnets, such as the metal chromium, for the very first time.
"The strong connections between the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory helped coalesce the right people at the right facility to be able to image this hidden order and describe both its classical and quantum behavior," said Thomas Rosenbaum, a co-author of the article and the John T. Wilson distinguished service professor in physics at Chicago. Full story.
Martha Roth appointed as Dean of University's Humanities Division
Martha Roth, one of the world's leading experts on the ancient languages of Mesopotamia and editor-in-charge of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, has been named dean of the Division of the Humanities, effective Sunday, July 1, 2007.
Roth, deputy provost for research and education and the Chauncey S. Boucher distinguished service professor of Assyriology in the Oriental Institute, near eastern languages & civilizations and the college, will succeed Danielle Allen, professor in classics and the college, as dean of the division. Full story.
Council on Foundations recognizes work of BP Foundation in contributing to improvements in mathematics education:University of Chicago School Mathematics Project earns praise
The University of Chicago School Mathematics Project, the nation's largest university-based mathematics curriculum program, is being cited as an example of success that can result from an effective philanthropic initiative.
On Monday, April 30, the Council on Foundations will honor the BP Foundation, successor to the Amoco Foundation, with a Critical Impact Award for its support of UCSMP. Through an ambitious effort to improve the instruction of mathematics among American school children, UCSMP has proved its effectiveness in improving the performance of students across the country, in both urban and suburban schools.
The BP Foundation has provided a total of $8.4 million, and the National Science Foundation and a number of other foundations have provided additional funding for UCSMP since its founding in 1983. Full story.
Prehistoric mystery organism verified as giant fungus: ‘Humongous fungus' towered over all life on land
Scientists at the University of Chicago and the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., have produced new evidence to finally resolve the mysterious identity of what they regard as one of the weirdest organisms that ever lived. Full story.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for Research Update, please feel free to email them to ResearchUpdate@listhost.uchicago.edu.
