Professor Catherine J. Murphy and Chancellor Robert Jones have been elected fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Election to the American Academy is an honor that acknowledges the best of all scholarly fields and professions. Among the academy's more than 200 other new fellows are former first lady Michelle Obama, Professor Susan Goldman, co-director of University of Illinois at Chicago's Learning Sciences Research Institute and professor of psychology. They will be inducted October during ceremonies at the academy's headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Murphy is the Larry Faulkner Endowed Chair in Chemistry and associate director of the Materials Research Lab. Her research focuses on developing diverse nanomaterials for applications in biology and biotechnology for imaging cells, chemical sensing and photothermal therapy.
Murphy received two bachelor's degrees, in chemistry and biochemistry, from the University of Illinois in 1986 and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin in 1990. She joined the Illinois faculty in 2009.
Martin Gruebele, head of the Department of Chemistry said, "Cathy, who is already a member of the National Academy of Sciences, is being cited for her groundbreaking work in synthesis and applications of nanomaterials. She joins Academy members elected before her from Benjamin Franklin to Martin Luther King, Jr. and actor John Lithgow. At Illinois, our Chancellor Robert Jones was also elected this year. On our faculty, other members are Peter Beak, Scott Denmark, Martin Gruebele, Jiri Jonas, John Katzenellenbogen, Jeffrey Moore, Ralph Nuzzo and Wilfred van der Donk. It's wonderful to see our faculty recognized in this way."
The American Academy was founded in 1780 by John Adams, John Hancock and other scholar-patriots "to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity and happiness of a free, independent and virtuous people."
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