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November 6, 2006

This Month in Research Update:

OVPRANL News

Fermi Research Alliance, LLC to Manage Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Fermi Research Alliance, LLC (FRA), a partnership between the University of Chicago and Universities Research Association Inc., has been chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy to operate Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, effective Jan. 1, 2007. The Alliance is a new corporation that was formed in response to the DOE’s competition to manage Fermilab and is dedicated solely to the laboratory’s management.

Fermilab has been operated by URA since the laboratory’s inception in 1967, and scientists at the laboratory have made many crucial discoveries about the fundamental nature of matter and energy. The University of Chicago has managed the nearby Argonne National Laboratory since Argonne’s founding in 1946. The DOE’s Office of Science is the nation’s major supporter of federally funded research in particle physics, and much of the past century’s extraordinary progress in the understanding of the elementary structure of matter comes directly from DOE-funded research.

“Fermilab has for decades been the nation’s center for research on the frontier of particle physics,” said Robert J. Zimmer, President of the University of Chicago and Chairman of the FRA Board of Directors. “With this new management structure, we are bringing together the scientific leadership and management experience of the University of Chicago and the longtime collective involvement of the 90 universities of URA. That combination—along with the capabilities of the scientists and staff of the laboratory—will lead Fermilab into a new era of exploration and discovery.”

Said Fred Bernthal, URA President and Vice Chairman of the FRA Board: “Discoveries at Fermilab have helped us understand the fundamental nature of matter, energy, space and time. With the strengths of URA and the University of Chicago now combined, Fermilab will continue to provide extraordinary opportunities for discovery.”

Said Piermaria Oddone, Director of Fermilab and President of FRA: “The science of particle physics has never been more exciting. Discoveries are ahead that will revolutionize our picture of the universe. A strong and well-managed Fermilab will be key to maintaining U.S. leadership in particle physics in the decade ahead.”

Oddone added that FRA, in collaboration with DOE’s Office of Science and the state of Illinois, is committed to bringing the International Linear Collider to Illinois. The ILC is a proposed new particle accelerator that would allow physicists to explore phenomena far beyond the reach of today’s accelerators. Scientists expect that the ILC, in partnership with the Large Hadron Collider now under construction in Europe, would radically change our understanding of the fundamental nature of the universe.

“Particle physics is entering a new era of discovery,” said Barry Barish, director of the ILC Global Design Effort and Linde Professor of Physics Emeritus at the California Institute of Technology. “The newly formed Fermi Research Alliance promises to provide the strong, forward-looking management that will be required for the U.S. to play a leadership role in an increasingly international field. Fermilab will lead the U.S. effort to host the International Linear Collider, the consensus long-term dream of particle physicists everywhere.”

While laying the groundwork for the ILC, Fermilab scientists will continue their headline-making discoveries with the Tevatron, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator. They also will extend their investigations of neutrinos, mysterious subatomic particles with no electric charge and only the tiniest of mass. The Fermilab neutrino experiments will help to reveal how these elusive particles shaped the universe. In astrophysics, a third major area of the laboratory’s research program, Fermilab scientists will further probe the deep connections between the inner space of subatomic particles and the outer space of cosmology.

University of Chicago faculty members and graduate students have been heavily involved in Fermilab research programs since the early days of the laboratory, helping design and build the first detector (the Collider Detector at Fermilab) for proton-antiproton collisions, often leading major experiments, and initiating the astrophysics program and the Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory.

“The University of Chicago’s role in managing both Argonne and Fermilab will present opportunities for important new synergies between the two laboratories,” Zimmer said. Founded 60 years ago, Argonne is the nation’s first national laboratory. Argonne conducts a wide range of scientific research for the Department of Energy, including high-energy physics, climatology and materials science. A new Laboratory Collaboration Council, led by the directors of both Fermilab and Argonne, will explore common interests in accelerator science, management and technology transfer.

The FRA Board of Directors for Fermilab includes internationally renowned scientific, academic and industrial leaders, including three current or former directors of major research laboratories around the world and the presidents of the Illinois Institute of Technology, Northern Illinois University, Northwestern University, and the University of Illinois.

UChicago Argonne LLC Board of Governors for Argonne Announces New Members
UChicago Argonne, LLC has named four new members to its Board of Governors for Argonne National Laboratory. The new members include Richard I. Morimoto, the Bill and Gayle Cook Professor of Biology, Professor of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology, and Director of the Rice Institute for Biomedical Research at Northwestern University; Don Randel, President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and former President of the University of Chicago; and John A. Fees, CEO, BWX Technologies, Inc. and Noel Watson, CEO, Jacobs Engineering Inc., both industrial partners of UChicago Argonne, LLC, the new organization chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy to manage and operate Argonne National Laboratory.

UChicago Argonne, LLC names the board members to help oversee and guide Argonne research, operations and management. Members of the board are chosen from faculty, administrators and trustees of The University of Chicago, from other universities, from national and international organizations, and from industry. In addition, the Director of Argonne is an ex-officio member of the board.

Richard I. Morimoto is the Bill and Gayle Cook Professor of Biology, Professor of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology, and Director of the Rice Institute for Biomedical Research at Northwestern University. He is widely recognized for his research on the regulation of the heat shock stress response and the function of molecular chaperones. His current research studies provide a molecular basis to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of 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 (1993-1998). He has served on numerous editorial boards, the NIH Molecular Biology Study Section, the NIGMS Molecular and Cellular Basis of Disease Panel, the AAAS Scientific Program Committee, the Beckman Scholars Advisory Panel, and is currently on the National Institute for General Medical Sciences Advisory Board and actively involved with assessment of minority training programs.

He holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois at Chicago, received a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Chicago in 1978, and did postdoctoral research at Harvard University. In 1982, Morimoto joined the faculty of the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Cell Biology at Northwestern University.

Don Randel, President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, grew up in Panama and then attended Princeton University, where he received bachelor’s, M.F.A., and Ph.D. degrees in music. 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. He became President-Elect of the University of Chicago on December 13, 1999 and began his term of office on July 1, 2000.

His scholarly specialty is the music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance in Spain and France, but his interests incorporate music as diverse as Latin pop and jazz. Under his editorship, the New Harvard Dictionary of Music was published in 1986, and he completed the companion Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music in 1996. Randel also edited the Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians in 1999, and completed editing The Harvard Dictionary of Music, 4th ed. in 2003. He became President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in July 2006.

John A. Fees, CEO, BWXT, joined the company in 1979 at the Nuclear Products Division in Lynchburg, Virginia. 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 September 1994. From 1997, Fees served as President of BWXT Services, Inc., which provides management and technical services to federal agencies. BWXT Services manages in excess of 10,300 personnel at ten major government locations, and manages government contracts of more than $1.2 billion annually. In September of 2002, Fees was named President and COO of BWXT, which includes the responsibility for all BWXT operations in Lynchburg and nationwide.

Fees has a degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master's of Engineering Administration from George Washington University.

Noel Watson, CEO, Jacobs Engineering Inc., was recruited by company founder Dr. Joseph Jacobs in 1960. He left for a few years but returned in 1965 and has been with the company ever since. With a degree in chemical engineering from the University of North Dakota, his early focus was mining and minerals processing projects. Over the years, Watson’s worked in several locations and in several roles 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 upon the election of Craig Martin as CEO.

As CEO, Mr. Watson is responsible for the company’s operations. Since he became CEO in 1992, Jacobs’ revenues have increased from $1.1 billion to over $6.0 billion, with a corresponding increase in profits. In that time, Jacobs’ backlog has grown from $1.8 billion to $9.0 billion, transforming the company from a mid-sized construction and professional services company with 4,530 employees into one of the world’s largest with more than 40,000 employees.

University and Argonne Participate in First Annual Regional Innovation Summit
Last month, University of Chicago and Argonne leadership helped to plan the first annual regional innovation summit for businesses in the multi-state commerce center surrounding Chicago. Program participants included University President Bob Zimmer, Laboratory Director, Bob Rosner, UChicago Argonne, LLC Board of Governors for Argonne member Deborah Wince-Smith, president of the Council on Competitiveness, and the director of the Computation Institute, Ian Foster.

The purpose of the event was to help industry leaders identify better ways to compete globally and to develop connections and resources to lead their organizations and the region toward greater prosperity.

Newyorktimes.com recently ran a story about the event. Click here to link to the story.

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Events

Festivities on campus bring community together to celebrate Inauguration of President Zimmer
Robert Zimmer was inaugurated as the University’s 13th President on Friday, October 27 during a special convocation held in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. The convocation was preceded by a procession beginning at the Henry Crown Field House. The University Pipe Band led members of the faculty, trustees, officers, honorary degree recipients and their sponsors, as well as delegates from colleges, universities and learned societies, as they walked to the chapel dressed in the multihued academic attire of several dozen of the world’s universities. After his inaugural address, Zimmer confered honorary degrees on seven distinguished scholars.

Following the convocation, members of the University community attended an all-campus inaugural celebration beginning on the Main Quadrangles. Picnic fare was served. Entertainment included performances by Ransom Notes, Golden Quartet, Chicago Men’s A Cappella, Unaccompanied Women, University Ballet and JELLY.

Previous inaugural events included a civic dinner held on Navy Pier, where Chicago’s civic leaders met and honored the Zimmers. Zimmer, who taught at Chicago for more than two decades and who served in several administrative capacities before becoming Provost of Brown University in 2002, was elected the University’s 13th President on Friday, March 10. He began his term of office at Chicago on Saturday, July 1. Zimmer also is Professor in Mathematics at the University and Chairman of the UChicago Argonne, LLC Board of Governors for Argonne.

Argonne Open House Praised by University Participants
Last month 18,000 people entered the gates of Argonne to participate in its 60th Anniversary Community Open House. Among the many Argonne divisions represented, seventeen University-affiliated organizations were also present and located throughout the campus. Activities led by University organizations ranged from 3-D exploration of the outer edges of the Universe, imaginative board math games, stars gazing through books and drawing, and learning about what bones are made of and what makes the body move.

“We had no idea that our program would be so popular,” said Anne Barry, Clinical Resuscitation Nurse, Emergency Resuscitation Center (ERC), The University of Chicago. The ERC featured displays and demonstrations of past, present and future cardio-pulmonary resuscitation methods and offered hands-on CPR classes. “I really enjoyed talking with the visitors and sharing our research. The kids were fun and appeared interested in our work.”

“It was great being a part of an event that raised community awareness of the amazing research conducted at Argonne.” said Connie Skosey, Director, Clinical Research Operations and Technical Director, Cancer Clinic Trials Office, The University of Chicago Cancer Research Center (UCCRC). The UCCRC offered comprehensive cancer risk assessment and education at the Open House. “I felt a sense of pride. It was a wonderful experience,” said Skosey.

Chicago Biomedical Consortium Holds Fourth Annual Symposium on Infrastructures for Systems Biology
The Chicago Biomedical Consortium, a collaborative effort involving Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and University of Illinois at Chicago recently held its Fourth Annual Symposium on Infrastructures for Systems Biology. The event took place at the University of Chicago’s Ida Noyes Hall and featured three keynote speakers: Ken Beutow, Ph.D., Director, Center for Bioinformatics, and Chief of Laboratory for Population Genetics, National Cancer Institute; Leroy Hood, M.D., Ph.D., President, Institute for Systems Biology; and Kevin P. White, Ph.D., Director, Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology, University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory.

“I was honored to be asked to give a talk and to participate in the symposium and I learned a lot from hearing the other speakers,” said White. “The event stimulated me to formulate some bigger picture goals on the theme of “Personalized Genetic Medicine” that I presented as a possible collaborative genomics and systems biology initiative in Chicago. Specifically, the initiative would entail an organized and large scale effort to genotype several hundred thousand people in Chicago as a starting point with huge potential to identify genetic determinants of a broad range of disease.”

Rick Stevens, Associate Laboratory Director for Computing and Life Sciences, and Natalia Maltsev, head of Argonne's bioinformatics group in the Mathematics and Computer Science Division, also presented at the event. In addition to presentations, the event included 30 poster sessions by students and post docs.

Less than a year old, the CBC’s mission is to increase the effectiveness and national visibility of biomedical research taking place in the Chicago area and to foster collaboration among scientists at Northwestern, University of Chicago, and UIC in the service of scientific excellence.

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Research in the News

New method edges closer to holy grail of modern chemistry: Research frontier on verge of wide applications to molecular systems
University of Chicago chemist David Mazziotti has developed a new method for determining the behavior of electrons in atoms and molecules, a key ingredient in predicting chemical properties and reactions. He presented the details of his method in the Oct. 6 issue of the journal Physical Review Letters. Full story.

Structure of enzyme offers treatment clues for diabetes, Alzheimer's
Researchers from the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory have deciphered the three-dimensional structure of insulin-degrading enzyme, a promising target for new drugs because it breaks down not only insulin but also the amyloid-beta protein, which has been linked to the cognitive decline of Alzheimer's disease. Full story.

Fossils pinpoint tropics as Earth’s most fruitful biodiversity spawning ground: Study indicates loss of tropical biodiversity would affect entire globe
A team of scientists has completed a study that explains why the tropics are so much richer in biodiversity than higher latitudes. And they say that their work highlights the importance of preserving those species against extinction. Full story.

Alaskan storm cracks giant iceberg to pieces in faraway Antarctica:
Study tracks surprising connection between distant events
A severe storm that occurred in the Gulf of Alaska in October 2005 generated an ocean swell that six days later broke apart a giant iceberg floating near the coast of Antarctica, more than 8,300 miles away. A team of scientists led by Professors Douglas MacAyeal at the University of Chicago and Emile Okal at Northwestern University present evidence connecting the two events in the October issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Full story.

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