Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Two Illinois professors elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – University of Illinois professors Nigel Goldenfeld and Martin Gruebele are among 229 new members named to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Nigel Goldenfeld, the Swanlund Endowed Chair and professor in physics, is an esteemed condendensed matter physicist who has expanded his interests to biophysics.

Nigel Goldenfeld, the Swanlund Endowed Chair and professor in physics, is an esteemed condendensed matter physicist who has expanded his interests to biophysics.

The academy, founded in 1780, is one of the longest-standing honorary societies in the nation. Fellowship honors outstanding leadership and scholarship in a variety of fields. Members join the ranks of Albert Einstein, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and many others.

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 faculty at the U. of I. 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.

The academy has more than 4,000 Fellows and 600 Foreign Honorary Members, including more than 250 Nobel laureates and 60 Pulitzer Prize-winners.

Read Next

Behind the scenes Photo of a group of dancers in costume reflected in a dressing room mirror.

Taking flight on a New York City stage

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — It’s a Saturday afternoon and I’m waiting in a cramped hallway beneath The Joyce Theater stage in Chelsea, Manhattan. My palms are sweaty, and I feel anxious as I attempt to take my mind off the looming event, my New York City debut. The audience is filled with my peers, teachers, family […]

Announcements A collage of four portraits

Four Illinois faculty members elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Four faculty members from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have been newly elected as members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest honorary societies in the United States. Materials science professor Paul Braun, history professor Antoinette Burton, physics professor Aida El-Khadra and chemistry professor Jonathan Sweedler are […]

Education Paul Bruno wearing a dark suit standing in front of an upward staircase.

Computer science teachers may be better qualified than their peers

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. —  Educators and researchers have had longstanding concerns about the quality of computer science instruction in U.S. schools. A recent study exploring student learning and computer science teachers’ qualifications in one state suggests that these teachers may be better qualified than those teaching other subjects, even within the same schools. Paul Bruno, a […]

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

507 E. Green St
MC-426
Champaign, IL 61820

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010