achieve ments

civil service scholarships
Three employees and four dependents of employees were recognized as recipients of 2001-2002 UI Civil Service Employees and Dependents Scholarships at a reception in June. The employees are Angelique J. Kuehl, community worker, UI Extension, Jackson County office; Lyn Petrie, library technical assistant, Grainger Engineering Library; and Regina K. Winfrey, medical assistant, McKinley Health Center. The dependent recipients are Michael A. Bosley, son of Carol Bosley, administrative assistant, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs; Christen Herriott, daughter of Pamela Herriott, secretary III, UI Extension Area II; Tami Mast, daughter of Bruce Mast, accountant III, Grants and Contracts; and Sandra Shannon, daughter of Peggy Shannon, staff clerk, Curriculum, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The scholarship fund was established by Civil Service employees for Civil Service employees and their dependents to provide recipients with financial assistance in their pursuit of an undergraduate degree.

communications
Jay Rosenstein, professor of journalism, was awarded First Place for the Best Radio News Story by a non-Native journalist by the Native American Journalists Association. The awards were presented at the group’s annual convention in June. Rosenstein’s story, about the Chief Illiniwek intake session, was broadcast on National Native News last year.

engineering
Carolyn L. Beck, professor of engineering, was selected as an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator. The program is designed to attract young scientists and engineers who show exceptional promise for research and teaching careers. Beck was one of 26 investigators selected for awards from a group of 191 applicants.

Thomas S. Huang, William L. Everitt distinguished professor in electrical and computer engineering, received the Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for his "pioneering and sustained contributions to image sequence processing and its applications to digital TV, to pattern recognition and computer animation." Huang shares the award with Arun Netravali, the president of Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, N.J.
The medal is sponsored by Texas Instruments and is named in honor of Kilby, a UI alumnus who won a Nobel Prize in physics in 2000.

fine and applied arts
Albert Z. Guttenberg, professor emeritus of urban and regional planning, was inducted as a member of the College of Fellows in the American Institute of Certified Planners. Guttenberg was chosen because of his individual achievements in the field of urban and rural planning. Fifty-five planners from 27 states and the District of Columbia were inducted into the institute’s College of Fellows. "As a practitioner and scholar, Guttenberg conceived and led the implementation of multidimensional land use classification; synthesized social, economic, and physical aspects of urban structure in relation to plans; and contributed to the social interpretation of planning history. His ideas continue to influence planning theory and practice today," said Glenn Coyne, director of the institute.

Debra Richtmeyer, professor of music, coached the Red Onion Saxophone Quartet to a second-place finish at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition held in May in South Bend, Ind. The student group received $2,000 and silver medals. The event was covered by A&E for an upcoming TV program.

Daniel Sullivan, professor of theater, directed a 90-minute TV adaptation of A.R. Gurney’s play "Far East." Drawing on events from Gurney’s own life, the adaptation tells the story of a young American naval officer in occupied Japan in 1954 who becomes trapped between his love for a Japanese woman and his family’s value system.

Christos Tsitsaros, professor of music, was selected to have two piano compositions, "Snow Games" and "Gallop," featured in the "Celebration Series," 3rd edition, subtitled "Piano Odyssey." The Celebration Series, the largest anthology of multi-period piano composition in print, is marketed throughout North America and abroad, and is the primary source for all piano exams in Canada.

liberal arts and sciences
Gerald M. Browne, professor of classics and linguistics, translated and edited the "Abbreviated Psalter of the Venerable Bede." Crafted for personal prayer and meditation, the book consists of carefully condensed renderings of each of the Psalms. This new edition of Bede’s masterpiece is based on Browne’s own critical edition of the Latin text, "Collectio Psalterii Bedae Venerabili adscripta."

Dana D. Dlott, professor of chemistry, received the 2001 Charles E. Ives Award sponsored by the Society for Imaging Science and Technology. The award is given for the best engineering paper published in the Journal of Imaging Science and Technology. Dlott’s paper, "Focus Fluctuations in Laser Photothermal Imaging" in collaboration with S.G. Koulikov, was published in the January/February 2000 issue.

Robert Gennis, professor of biochemistry and of biophysics in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, was named a 2002 Fellow by the Biophysical Society. Gennis was cited for his work in bacterial bioenergetics, pioneering the combination of state-of-the-art molecular genetics and physical chemical tools to dissect complex events in membranes that defy exploration by standard high-resolution structural methods.

Abigail Salyers, professor of microbiology, was elected president of the American Society for Microbiology. The society is the oldest and largest single life science membership organization in the world, with more than 42,000 members.

Edmund Seebauer, professor of chemical engineering, was elected a fellow of the American Vacuum Society. Seebauer was cited for his exceptional contributions to the understanding of surface chemical kinetics in electronics materials processing. To be eligible, fellows must have made sustained and outstanding technical advancement, academic education, or managerial leadership for at least 10 years. The society comprises 6,000 members worldwide.

intercollegiate athletics
Ron Guenther, the UI director of intercollegiate athletics, was named 2000-2001 Division 1-A Central Regional NACDA/Continental Airlines Athletic Director of the Year. NACDA is the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. Guenther accepted the award at NACDA’s 36th annual convention in Salt Lake City in June.

UI library
Lyn Jones, director of development of the UI Library, was awarded the 2001 ATHENATM Award by the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce. Jones is the 13th recipient of the award, which honors individuals who demonstrate excellence, creativity and initiative in their professions, provide valuable service by devoting time and energy to improving the quality of life for others in the community, and assist others in reaching their full leadership potential.

university laboratory high school
The 2001 graduating class of University Laboratory High School achieved the highest average composite score in the nation on the ACT exam among U.S. high schools with 30 or more students from that class taking the exam. More than 45 students in the 2001 class at Uni High took the ACT exam, earning an average composite score of 31.6. Across the nation, 8,976 high schools had 30 or more 2001 graduates take the exam. In Illinois, the 2001 average ACT composite score was 21.6, while the national average ACT composite score was 21. Graduating classes at the laboratory school have earned average composite scores above 29 in each of the past nine years. Uni High also recorded the highest average composite score in the nation in 1997.

The ACT assessment is one of the two major standardized college entrance exams taken by U.S. high school students. It consists of four multiple-choice tests of educational development – English, mathematics, reading and science reasoning. The highest possible composite score that a student can earn on the test is 36.