FACULTY NEWS

LAS Professors Marc Culler, Yoshitaka Ishii and Walter Benn Michaels Among 2008 University Scholars

The University Scholars Program, now in its 24th year at the University of Illinois, honors faculty members for superior research and teaching, along with great promise for future achievement. The award provides $10,000 a year for three years.

Of the eight University Scholars from UIC this year, three hail from LAS.

Marc Culler
Professor of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science

"The surface of a sphere and the surface of a donut are topologically different—it is not possible to distort one to make it the same as the other because their global topological structures are different. The difference cannot be distinguished by measuring any particular part of the surface," explains Marc Culler, professor of mathematics, statistics and computer science.

Marc Culler

However, in the case of the hyperbolic 3-manifolds that Culler studies, topological differences can be detected by global geometric measurements, such as the total volume of the space.

Culler has worked with UIC colleague Peter Shalen since both held post-doctoral positions at Rice University. They scored a breakthrough by associating an algebraic object with the geometric structure of a hyperbolic 3-manifold, then using the algebraic object to study topological properties of the manifold.

"This is an amazingly powerful construction that enabled them to obtain far-reaching results that, so far as we know some 20 years later, cannot be obtained in any other way," says David Marker, professor and head of the Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science.

Culler's groundbreaking work in this field and in geometric group theory has made him a central figure in these areas of mathematics.

Math wasn’t always his first choice, however. Culler became a wizard with computers, writing his own programs and becoming adept in hardware as well. He was tutored by one of the legendary masters: his father, Glen Culler, a former professor of electrical engineering at Santa Barbara and a pioneering figure in the development of the Internet. For his achievements, Glen Culler was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 1999 by President Bill Clinton.

Adapted from a UIC News article by Paul Francuch, September 24, 2008.

Yoshitaka Ishii
Associate Professor of Chemistry

"The fun part of chemistry research is to ask a question which has no specific answer," says Yoshitaka Ishii, associate professor of chemistry. "I'm a researcher, and I want my students, especially undergraduates, to enjoy doing research," Ishii says, adding "they don't necessarily get excited about it until after one or two semesters."

Yoshitaka Ishii

Nor did Ishii, who always planned a science career in academia but initially was more interested in mathematics, physics and biology than chemistry. "I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that chemistry was my least favorite science subject in high school. It was boring, and basically just a lot of memorization."

It wasn't until his years as an undergraduate at Japan's Kyoto University that chemistry, mixed with biology and other science, formed the solution to Ishii's career choice.

His interdisciplinary work involves biology, material sciences and other fields. Ishii is regarded as a pioneer in the clever manipulation of NMR, using it to analyze molecules in solid materials rather than in solutions, as it is more commonly used. His current focus is on protein structures and the amyloid plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. He wants to find ways to characterize structures of these microscopic particles so scientists can target drugs that treat or cure neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and mad cow disease.

Ishii hopes to use part of his University Scholar funds to send more of his students to scientific conferences to "open their minds to different types of research and interact with students from other schools." He also initiated a program to send UIC students to Kyoto University for a month of laboratory work. “Many American undergraduates travel to foreign countries, but few work in academic environments," he says. “They don't know how research is done. This way they learn it."

Here in America, Ishii stresses more must be done to support science research. "Science and advanced science education need lots of instruments. They require more support from universities. The United States and UIC can and should do better."

Adapted from a UIC News article by Paul Francuch, September 24, 2008.

Walter Benn Michaels
Professor of English

Controversy is familiar terrain for Walter Benn Michaels, who is known for candid opinions concerning American literature, issues of race and class, and meaning and intention in interpretation.

Walter Benn Michaels

In the early 1980s, he created a stir in scholarly circles for arguing against the status quo in literary criticism in a co-authored series of essays titled "Against Theory." He declared that literary texts and all works of art mean only, and always, what their authors intend them to signify. "Against Theory" has since become required reading for anyone studying the history of literary interpretation.

Michaels gained further notoriety and significant media coverage for The Trouble with Diversity, his 2006 book in which he argues that American society’s focus on cultural diversity overshadows a more important need for economic equality.

Michaels’ prominence as a humanities scholar has led to speaking engagements all over the world, with distinguished lectureships at Columbia University, Tel Aviv University and Free University of Berlin. In 2006-07 he was designated a Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholar, one of the top honors liberal arts researchers can receive.

At UIC Michaels has taken an active leadership role. Head of the English department for five years, he has also been a member of the UIC 2010 Strategic Thinking Committee, the Campus Promotion and Tenure Committee and the UIC Mission Statement Committee.

"Coming to UIC has given me a wider experience of academic life. Having different kinds of students, a different kind of social setting, and different kinds of institutional problems just energized me in a way to which I am very grateful," he says.

Michaels describes his move to UIC as "the best thing I ever did."

Adapted from a UIC News article by Brian Flood, September 24, 2008.