Cornell researchers honored by five prestigious academic groups
By Susan S. Lang
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Five Cornell University researchers have been honored by prestigious U.S. and international academic groups. They are Leonard Gross, professor of mathematics; Éanna Flanagan, associate professor of physics; D. Tyler McQuade and Paul Chirik, both assistant professors of chemistry and chemical biology; and Thomas W. Parks, professor of electrical engineering.
Gross is the only Cornellian and one of 178 new fellows elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) this year. An expert in functional analysis and constructive quantum field theory, he is one of 74 fellows of the academy among Cornell faculty. The AAAS was founded in 1780 by John Adams, George Washington and James Bowdoin.
Flanagan is the recipient of this year's $10,000 Basilis C. Xanthopoulos International Award for Research in Gravitational Physics. He is an expert on the physics of strong gravitational fields, developing quantitative models of processes involving neutron stars, black holes and the early universe. The award is given triennially by the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas to a scientist under 40 years of age who has made outstanding theoretical contributions to gravitational physics.
McQuade is one of 20 Beckman Foundation Young Investigator national award recipients for 2004. His $240,000 award will further his work in creating and studying functional materials using the tools of chemistry, biology and materials science. Awards from the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation are made to nonprofit institutions to promote research in chemistry and the life sciences. The grants are intended to provide support to the most promising young faculty members in the early stages of academic careers.
Chirik is the recipient of a $75,000 Cottrell Scholar Award for 2004. His research focuses on developing metal compounds that convert unreactive molecules, such as atmospheric nitrogen, into more value-added products, such as ammonia, fuels and fine chemicals. His Cottrell award, offered by Research Corp., a Tucson-based foundation for the advancement of science, will be applied to his research and classroom programs focusing on the application of transition metal chemistry to problems in chemical synthesis.
Parks is the co-recipient of the 2004 IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal. The award was made to Parks "for fundamental contributions to digital filter design and interpolation, especially the Parks-McClellan algorithm." The award was established in 1995 to recognize outstanding achievements in signal processing. Parks' research interests are signal theory and digital signal processing.
Related World Wide Web sites: The following sites provide additional information on this news release. Some might not be part of the Cornell University community, and Cornell has no control over their content or availability.
o Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation: http://www.beckman-foundation.com/
o Research Corporation: http://www.rescorp.org/
o American Academy of Arts and Sciences: http://www.amacad.org
o Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal:
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