4/20/2010
Two College of Engineering professors--Nigel Goldenfeld and Martin Gruebele--and alumnus Ray Ozzie, are among 229 new members named to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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Two College of Engineering professors--Nigel Goldenfeld and Martin Gruebele--and alumnus Ray Ozzie, are among 229 new members named to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Goldenfeld, the Swanlund Endowed Chair and professor of physics, is an esteemed condensed matter physicist who has expanded his interests to biophysics in recent years. He focuses on two main areas of theory: dynamics and pattern formation, or how patterns evolve in time, and emergent states of matter, from superconductivity to the emergence of life. Goldenfeld received his doctorate in physics in 1982 from the University of Cambridge, England. He joined the Illinois faculty in 1985.
Gruebele, the James R. Eiszner Endowed Chair in Chemistry and professor of physics, earned his doctorate at the University of California at Berkeley in 1988. Since joining the U. of I. in 1992, he has distinguished himself in chemical and biological physics with laser manipulation techniques and computational modeling that have increased understanding of protein folding, chemical bonds and molecular energy flow.
Illinois’ alumnus Ray Ozzie (BS 1979, Computer Science), Chief Software Architect at Microsoft Corporation, was also part of the 2010 AAAS class. In the early 1980s, Ozzie worked on the first electronic spreadsheet, VisiCalc, joining Lotus Development Corp. in 1983 to develop Lotus Symphony, an MS-DOS-based integrated software management product that combined word processing, spreadsheet, business graphics, data management and communications capabilities.
In 1984, Ozzie formed Iris Associates Inc. to develop Lotus Notes. In 1997 Ozzie founded Groove Networks, where he developed Groove Virtual Office. Microsoft acquired Groove Networks in April 2005 and named Ozzie chief technical officer.
He earned a bachelor's degree in computer science and has been honored as a distinguished alumnus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he was first exposed to the nature and significance of collaborative systems and computer-supported cooperative work while working on the university’s seminal PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations) project.
Established in 1780 by John Adams and other founders of the nation, the Academy undertakes studies of complex and emerging problems. The academy has more than 4,000 Fellows and 600 Foreign Honorary Members, including more than 250 Nobel laureates and 60 Pulitzer Prize-winners. Its membership of scholars and practitioners from many disciplines and professions gives it a unique capacity to conduct a wide range of interdisciplinary, long-term policy research. Current projects focus on science and technology; global security; social policy and American institutions; the humanities and culture; and education.
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Contact: Nigel Goldenfeld, Department of Physics, 217/333-8027.
Martin Gruebele, Department of Chemistry, 217/333-1624.
Writer: Liz Ahlberg, physical sciences editor, Illinois News Bureau, 217/244-1073.
If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, Engineering Communications Office, 217/244-7716, editor.