PEOPLE & PLACES UPDATE

September 200452

Please send details of new appointments, honors, and awards to materialstoday@elsevier.com

Engineering appointmentsThree engineering departments

have announced the appointment of

new heads:

• The University of Illinois at

Chicago has named Prith

Banerjee as dean of the College

of Engineering. Banerjee is the

Walter P. Murphy Professor and

chairman of electrical and

computer engineering at

Northwestern University;

• Julia King, currently chief

executive of the Institute of

Physics, is to be the new

principal of the Faculty of

Engineering at Imperial College

London. She is expected to join

the UK’s largest engineering

department later this year;

• Pradeep K. Khosla is the new

dean of the College of

Engineering at Carnegie Mellon

University in Pittsburgh. He takes

over from John L. Anderson, who

has moved to become the

provost of Case Western Reserve

University.

All change at NASANASA has named Orlando Figueroa

and Alison L. McNally as deputy

associate administrators in its new

Science Mission Directorate. The

appointments are part of the

transformation of NASA’s

organizational structure, which is

designed to streamline the

organization and position it to be

better able to implement its

strategic priorities. Figueroa will be

responsible for ensuring that sound

management and safe engineering

practices are followed and will

oversee the evaluation of programs

and projects. McNally will be

responsible for general

management of the Science Mission

Directorate, making sure strategic

business processes are in place.

New champion of UK chemistrySimon Campbell is the new

president of the UK Royal Society

of Chemistry (RSC). He succeeds Sir

Harry Kroto and will continue

Kroto’s efforts in promoting

chemistry at a time when some UK

university departments are closing.

Campbell has already launched the

RSC’s Campaign for Chemical

Sciences with the message that, if

chemical sciences are not cherished,

then Britain’s future health and

wealth will be severely eroded.

Cicerone to head academyThe next president of

the US National

Academy of Sciences

(NAS) is to be Ralph J.

Cicerone, chancellor

of the University of

California, Irvine

(UCI). Cicerone has

been nominated with

the unanimous

approval of the

Council of the NAS.

“It is an enormous honor to be nominated for the

presidency of the academy,” says Cicerone. “The

importance of science and technology to the United

States and the world has never been greater, and I

look forward to serving if I am elected.”

Cicerone will continue to serve as UCI chancellor for

the next academic year before succeeding the current

president Bruce Alberts in July 2005. “I am very

pleased that Ralph Cicerone has accepted our

council’s nomination,” says Alberts. “He has been an

energetic and thoughtful leader for many of our

academy’s efforts, as well as for the larger science

community.”

Chemist wins Spinoza prizeBen L. Feringa, professor of synthetic organic

chemistry at the University of Groningen, the

Netherlands, is one of four researchers to receive the

2004 Spinoza prize for outstanding and pioneering

research. Each winner receives �1.5 million from the

Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research

(NWO) to devote to their research.

Feringa’s research focuses on the design and

synthesis of complex supramolecular materials and

enantioselective catalysts. He has demonstrated a

molecular motor powered by light and designed

chiral molecular switches for data storage.

Acta Materialia awards announcedThe 2005 Acta Materialia Gold Medal has been

awarded to George D. W. Smith, head of the

Department of Materials at the University of Oxford,

in recognition of his research contributions and

leadership in materials science. Acta Materialia, Inc.

also announces that the 2005 J. Herbert Holloman

Award goes to Alton D. Romig, Jr., vice president for

nonproliferation and assessments at Sandia National

Laboratories. Romig is recognized for his pioneering

work in analytical electron microscopy, for leadership

in microsystems science and technology, and

research management at Sandia.

Materials council elects AkincMufit Akinc, chair of the Department of Materials

Science and Engineering at Iowa State University, has

been elected vice chair of the University Materials

Council (UMC). This puts Akinc in line to become

chair-elect next year, before assuming the chair of

the council.

UMC is the official organization of heads of materials

science and engineering programs in the US and

Canada. It conducts surveys to benchmark student

enrollment, degrees, faculty salaries, and research

funding. It also serves as a forum for best practice in

areas such as student recruitment and emerging

research.

Akinc’s research interests include the synthesis,

processing, and characterization of novel materials

for high-temperature structural applications.

New director for nano instituteThe new director general of the National Institute for

Nanotechnology (NINT) in Edmonton, Canada will be

Nils Petersen, vice president of the University of

Western Ontario. He will take charge of the National

Research Council (NRC) institute in November.

“Nils Petersen is uniquely qualified for his role at the

institute,” says NRC acting president, Michael

Raymont. “He has extensive experience in two areas

that are integral to NINT’s success: multidisciplinary

research and administration of a diverse research and

development program.”

NINT was established in 2001 as a multidisciplinary

institution for advanced research and to foster

innovation through the support of new

nanotechnology-based firms.

Nobel laureate to lead LBNLSteven Chu has been named as the new director of

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL),

succeeding Charles V. Shank. Chu, a Nobel laureate

for his part in developing optical tweezers, is

currently a professor in Stanford University’s physics

and applied physics departments.

“The opportunity to lead LBNL at this time is an

exciting prospect and a tremendous honor,” says Chu.

He will oversee a $521 million operation with a

4000-strong workforce.