• Primal de Lanerolle
• Sam Fleischacker
• Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle
• Victor Margolin
• Arye Nehorai
• Bonnie Spring

Primal de Lanerolle
Professor of physiology and biophysics,
College of Medicine

Primal de Lanerolle discovered that the familiar protein myosin, found in muscle tissue, resides not just in the cytoplasm of cells but also in their nuclei. The discovery finally explained a mystery that has long puzzled scientists: how, inside the cell nucleus, long stretches of DNA are moved through the huge enzyme factories that transcribe genetic information into RNA messages. Here was the "molecular motor"—myosin-1, a close chemical relative of the myosin responsible for muscle contraction that could do the job.

With his colleague Ljuba Stojiljkovic and student Lidija Pestic-Dragovich, de Lanerolle also showed that myosin-1 fits closely with a key component of the transcription machinery and plays an active role in making RNA. The research was the start of a whole new way of thinking about transcription, de Lanerolle said.

In another area of his research, de Lanerolle is intrigued by a fundamental question: how smooth muscle cells in blood vessels divide and migrate. This is an important question because increased proliferation and migration of cells in blood vessels lead to certain types of vascular diseases, and they result in new blood vessels that provide energy for tumors to grow. He and his colleague Fabeha Fazal have found that molecular motors are essential for cells to survive and migrate. They now are investigating if inhibiting myosin function can retard or prevent the growth of tumors in mice. Understanding what regulates these processes one day might help prevent the high failure rate that accompanies angioplasty.

Sam Fleischacker
Associate professor of philosophy,
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Sam Fleischacker has devoted his career to researching, teaching, and writing about culture, morality, and the history of Western liberalism. In the process, Fleischacker has gained recognition as a leading scholar on two seminal figures of moral and political philosophy—Immanuel Kant and Adam Smith—and their relationship to one another.

"I've always been worried about what counts as a 'good life' or 'good person,'" said Fleischacker, explaining his interest in moral philosophy. "It's never been obvious to me what makes a person or life good. And I'm puzzled by the fact that that does seem obvious to other people."

Fleischacker also has developed an interest in the relationship of eighteenth century thinkers to founders of the American republic. "I've been struck more and more by how rich a period of intellectual ferment the eighteenth century was," said Fleischacker.

"What a deep, nuanced, wise, and realistic understanding many people then had of human nature, politics, and religion. We have lost a great deal in carrying down only the basic ideas of that time, stripped of their context."

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle
Associate professor of photo/film/video and studio arts,
College of Architecture and the Arts
Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle teaches both undergraduate and graduate classes in video, sculpture, and contemporary art theory while working as a practicing artist.

"I try to use a class, in whatever medium of art, to engage the students' own critical thinking," said Manglano-Ovalle. "At a time when we might begin to think that making art is a luxury, rather than teaching my students how to produce something 'meaningful' out of inert materials or digital images, I grapple with them in what is most essential—finding meaning."

"Being awarded the University Scholars Award, reinforces what I like best about UIC and its students," said Manglano-Ovalle. "The students don't consider their education an outcome of privilege but one of sheer necessity as a result of their own curiosity and desire for knowledge. And what is most rewarding is to be able to tap into that drive and help them steer it toward something that makes you reconsider your current path and position."

Manglano-Ovalle is also a recipient of a 2001 MacArthur Fellowship.

Victor Margolin
Professor of art and design history,
College of Architecture and the Arts
As the first American to receive a Ph.D. in design history, Victor Margolin is a true pioneer in the field. During his almost twenty-year career at UIC, Margolin has become one of the preeminent international voices of design history and design theory and now is focusing on promoting the new academic field of design studies.

Margolin has written or edited eight books, including his most recent work, The Politics of the Artificial: Essays on Design and Design Studies. He is also a founder and coeditor of the journal Design Issues, one of the three or four top academic journals in the field of design history, theory, and criticism.

"I am most comfortable with writing about the social value of design and not just considering its aesthetic purposes," said Margolin. "When I write, I would like people to understand that design is a subject with great social significance." Margolin's core project over the next three years is writing a comprehensive world history of design.

Arye Nehorai
Professor of electrical engineering and computer science,
College of Engineering
Arye Nehorai is discovering new uses and meaning in the electrical waves that first sparked his interest as a boy building a crystal radio set and then stereo systems for a high school band. Now Nehorai's attention encompasses projects to build better communications systems, sonar and radar devices, chemical sensors, and noninvasive medical tools.

"I'm especially interested in the analysis of measurements that come from multiple sensors or arrays of sensors," he said. "It makes it richer in terms of most applications, and also in terms of analysis. It draws tools from physics, mathematics, and statistics. The idea is to take measurements from multiple sensors and find some useful information."

Examples of Nehorai's funded projects range from refining the accuracy of radar and sonar to pinpointing the exact spot in the brain where chaotic electrical activity sparks an epileptic seizure. He also is using multiple sensors to detect hazardous chemicals and find their sources. Applications include early warning against terrorist attacks or finding explosives in plastic land mines that are passed over by conventional metal detectors.

Bonnie Spring
Professor of psychology,
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Bonnie Spring is a researcher at the forefront of study on smoking and eating disorders and internationally known for her innovative treatment techniques. She originally became interested in smoking cessation when she ended her own twenty-year habit.

"When I design a study I have a theory about what I'll find," said Spring. "But I am nearly always surprised. It feels like a tremendous gift to continue to be educated by nature, and to feel sure that there will always be a new mystery around the corner. Smoking is the quintessential example of why knowledge is not enough. Nearly every smoker knows that smoking is a deadly habit, but knowing that is rarely enough to bring about cessation."

Spring's research uncovers the mechanisms or "hooks" that maintain unhealthy behaviors. She translates that knowledge into effective health promotion interventions, which then are tested in clinical trials.

Hoping to pass her love of research to her students, she said, "I encourage students to identify the single greatest puzzle or question around which they can imagine building a life's research and learning. The question should have depth for them. It should be inexhaustibly interesting—the wild ride of a lifetime."