Faculty File H ONORS AND A WARDS

Deniz Armani, a fourth- kins Professor of Chemistry, year grad student in the has received the 2003 Pauling research group of Jenkins Award Medal, which is pre- Professor of Information sented annually by the Ore- Science and Technology and gon, Portland, and Puget professor of applied Sound Sections of the Ameri- Kerry Vahala, has won first can Chemical Society. Named prize at the Leading Edge after the late Linus Pauling, Student Symposium, held as the medal recognizes “out- part of the 36th Annual Sym- standing contributions to posium of the Southern Cali- chemistry . . . that have fornia Chapter of the Ameri- merited national and interna- can Vacuum Society (AVS). tional recognition.” The title of his presentation Babak Hassibi, assistant was “Ultra-High-Q Toroid professor of electrical engi- Microcavity on a Chip” and neering, has been awarded a G RAY W INS described research on the first five-year, $625,000 David W OLF P RIZE ultra-high-Q microresonator and Lucile Packard Fellowship on a chip and related applica- in Science and Engineering. tions. Other grad student Michael Hoffmann, the coauthors on the presentation Irvine Professor of Environ- were Sean Spillane, Tobias mental Science and dean of Kippenberg, Lan Yang, and graduate studies, was honored Andrea Martin, all of by the University of Toronto’s applied physics. department of chemistry as David Baltimore, Caltech the 2003–04 A. R. Gordon president and Nobel laureate Distinguished Lecturer in in physiology or medicine, is Chemistry. the seventh most-cited scien- Fatemeh Jalayer, the tist of the last two decades, Housner Postdoctoral Scholar according to the top-50 list in Civil Engineering, has published by Thomson ISI in been named a corecipient of Science Watch. The rankings the Norman Medal, which is are based on the number of awarded by the American Harry B. Gray, Beckman Professor of Chemistry and founding times the researchers’ papers Society of Civil Engineers for director of the Beckman Institute, continues to attract honors were cited by their peers a paper “judged worthy of the way an azurin molecule attracts electrons from an excited between 1983 and 2002 in special commendation for ruthenium complex. He has just been named the sole recipient journals indexed by Thomson its merit as a contribution of the 2004 Wolf Prize in Chemistry for his “pioneering work in ISI. to engineering science.” bioinorganic chemistry, unraveling novel principles of structure Barry Barish, the Linde Alexander Kechris, pro- and long-range electron transfer in proteins,” and will receive Professor of Physics and fessor of mathematics, has the $100,000 prize in May from the President of the State of director of the Laser Interfer- been selected to give the , Moshe Katsav, at a ceremony at the Knesset. The Wolf ometer Gravitational-Wave 2004 Alfred Tarski Lecture at Foundation noted that “his ingenious chemistry, meticulously Observatory Laboratory, has UC Berkeley. Tarski founded executed, has given us a real understanding, for the first time, of been elected a fellow of the Berkeley’s Group in Logic a biological process of great significance for life.” American Association for the and the Methodology of Gray has also been awarded a 2004 Benjamin Franklin Medal Advancement of Science. Science. by the Franklin Institute in honor of his work on metallo- Seymour Benzer, the Bruce Kennedy, facility proteins. And in November, he became an honorary doctor of Boswell Professor of Neuro- manager/senior research science at the University of Copenhagen, an event attended by science, Emeritus, and associate II in the biology Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. ■ Crafoord laureate in genetics, division’s Transgenic Mouse has been awarded a 2004 Core Facility, has received the Benjamin Franklin Medal by George R. Collins Award the Franklin Institute. He is from the American Associa- being honored for his work in tion for Laboratory Animal neurogenetics. Science (AALAS) “for out- Robert Grubbs, the At- standing contributions to the

    ENGINEERING & SCIENCE NO . 4 43 field of laboratory animal Brian Stoltz, assistant Earthquake Simulation on the technology.” professor of chemistry, has Earth Simulator.” The Earth Jeff Kimble, the Valentine been named a Cottrell Scholar Simulator was used to model Professor and professor of by the Research Corporation seismic-wave propagation re- physics, has been awarded the “for excelling in both teach- sulting from large earthquakes. 2004 by the ing and research.” Alexander Varshavsky, American Physical Society Jeroen Tromp, McMillan the Smits Professor of Cell (APS) “for his pioneering Professor of Geophysics and Biology, has been chosen by work in , for director of the Seismo Lab, the Israel Cancer Research his innovative experiments in Dimitri Komatitsch, senior Fund to receive its Excellence single-atom optical experi- research fellow in geophysics, in Clinical Research Award. ments, and for his skill in and Chen Ji, associate scien- , Nobel communicating the scientific tist, together with Seiji laureate in chemistry, the excitement of his research to a Tsuboi of ’s Institute Pauling Professor of Chemical broad range of audiences.” for Frontier Research on Physics and professor of David MacMillan, pro- Earth Evolution, have been physics, has been elected fessor of chemistry, has been awarded the 2003 Gordon a Foreign Member of the selected to receive a 2003 Bell Prize for “A 14.6 Billion Russian Academy of Sciences. Camille Dreyfus Teacher- Degrees of Freedom, 5 ■ Scholar Award from the Teraflop/s, 2.5 Terabyte Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. Tom Phillips, professor of physics and director of Cal- A ND N OW FOR S OMETHING C OMPLETELY D IFFERENT tech’s Submillimeter Obser- vatory, has been selected to receive the American Astro- nomical Society’s 2004 Jo- Steve Koonin, Caltech’s advising to government. seph Weber Award for Astro- provost for the past nine Koonin has spent almost nomical Instrumentation. years, is stepping down from his entire academic career at Fred Raichlen, professor that post February 2 and in Caltech: from his freshman of civil and mechanical March will begin a leave of year in 1968 (he received his engineering, emeritus, has absence from his faculty BS in 1972) to the present, he received the 2003 Interna- appointment as professor of has spent only three years tional Coastal Engineering to become away from the Institute— Award from the Coasts, chief scientist for BP, based in from 1972 to 1975 when he Oceans, Ports, and Rivers London. BP, with annual was earning his PhD at MIT. Institute of the American revenues of roughly $200 He came back to Caltech in Society of Civil Engineers billion, is the world’s second 1975, was named full pro- “in recognition of his out- largest integrated oil com- fessor in 1981, and served as standing achievements and pany and the largest U.S. oil faculty chair from 1989 to 1991. contribution to the advance- and gas producer. Koonin’s departure “will ment of coastal engineering The new post will provide leave a tremendous hole in through research, education, Koonin with the opportunity the Institute’s administrative engineering practice, and to do some strategic thinking and academic structure,” professional leadership.” about one of the most impor- wrote President David Anneila Sargent, professor tant problems facing soci- Baltimore. “Over the past six of astronomy and director of ety—energy. Among other years, I have relied on his the Owens Valley Radio Ob- Steve Koonin, London-bound duties in his new position, insight, energy, innate servatory, has been designated he’ll be responsible for scien- intelligence, and detailed by the Council of the Na- tific and technological input knowledge of Caltech as we tional Academy of Sciences to the company’s long-range have worked to further the and the Governing Board strategies in an industry that Caltech cause.” of the National Research has important economic, Edward Stolper, the Council a lifetime National social, political, and environ- Leonard Professor of Geology Associate of the National mental dimensions. Exposure and chair of the Divison of Academies “in recognition of to business and the private Geological and Planetary extraordinary service to the sector is also attractive to him Sciences, will serve as acting National Academies in its at this point in his career, he provost, while the search role as advisor to the nation says, since he feels he knows committee, chaired by in matters of science, engi- academia “pretty well” and Ahmed Zewail (see above), neering, and health.” has already done a fair bit of works to fill the position. ■

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