1. education
2. alumni and reunions

March 18
2015
For the community of the University of Illinois at Chicago
VOLUME 34 / NUMBER 25
uicnews.uic.edu
2
NOAH ROSENBLATT
HELPS PEOPLE
FIND BALANCE
3
UIC’S NEW
LEADER
‘What would you do if you were
chancellor?’ he asks students
more on page 5
SEEKING CHANGES IN
STATE RULES
FOR CIVIL SERVICE
7
SLOAN WINNER
NEAL MANKAD
9
LIFE HACKS FROM
GRACE HOPPER
INSIDE:
CAMPUS NEWS 4
CALENDAR 8
STUDENT VOICE 9
POLICE / PUZZLES 10
SPORTS 12
NEXT PRINT ISSUE
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— Photo: Joshua Clark
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send profile ideas to Gary Wisby, gwisby@uic.edu
PROFILE
NOAH
ROSENBLATT
Helping people find balance
By Gary Wisby — gwisby@uic.edu
Two groups of people are more at risk
of falling than the rest of us: older adults
and those who wear prosthetic legs.
Research by Noah Rosenblatt is
aimed at keeping these folks upright.
One of his studies looked at motorized feet.
“If you’re missing an ankle, they flex
the foot, and can sense where you are in
your gait cycle to keep the toe from
catching the ground,” said Rosenblatt, a
visiting clinical assistant professor of kinesiology and nutrition.
Another of his studies examined a
different technology — a vacuum suspension system.
“The stump goes into the socket like a
foot into a shoe,” he said. “The device
stays on the leg by sucking all the air out
between the limb and the socket.
“It’s supposed to make the user more
comfortable and enable them to achieve
faster walking, like tying your shoe tighter to avoid getting a blister.”
The system improves balance and
helps prevent falls.
Newer devices provide evidence for
clinicians to prescribe them, and for insurance coverage.
Fall prevention is a continuation of
the work with older adults by kinesiology
professor Mark Grabiner. “We teach
people how to catch themselves once
they start falling,” Rosenblatt said.
When he started at UIC seven years
ago, he helped train a group of women,
starting from the fact that women are at
higher risk than men of falling, and
breaking bones.
The women were given four hourlong sessions and compared with a control group that received no training.
Noah Rosenblatt’s research helps prevent falls. “We teach people how to catch themselves once they start falling,” says
Rosenblatt, visiting clinical assistant professor of kinesiology and nutrition. — Photo: Joshua Clark
“The trained group reduced the risk of
falling due to trips by 50 percent,” Rosenblatt said. “Now we’re trying to see whether we can improve on that.”
Trips account for one-third of falls. “In
the future we’ll deal with slips,” as on ice,
he said.
Another concern with older adults is
preventing losing one’s balance. “We look
at how we control our balance when we
walk, our gait patterns,” Rosenblatt said.
There are vacuum suspension systems
for both above-the-knee and below-theknee prosthetics wearers.
“Below the knee there are more bony
areas,” he said. “Above the knee there are
not as many bones, but a lot of tissue that
needs to be kept in place.”
“As prices for healthy foods go up, we have
seen obesity rates going up. As we have seen
prices for unhealthy foods going down, we
have seen obesity rates going up.”
Frank Chaloupka, distinguished professor of
economics and director of the Health Policy
Center, on a measure under consideration by
Vermont lawmakers to add an excise tax to
sugar-sweetened beverages, March 11
Burlington Free Press
Rosenblatt grew up in Bellmore, New
York, on Long Island. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Northwestern University
and a Ph.D. at Boston University, both in
biomedical engineering.
Then he did postdoctoral work at UIC
before starting work full time.
Rosenblatt enjoys running. He’s done
marathons, and most workdays he runs
from his lab to the Ogilvie Transportation
Center.
Cooking is another interest. “I follow
the recipe the first time, then I either add
or swap out ingredients I think should
have been there,” he said.
He lives in Evanston with his wife,
Emily, a program manager in advanced
analytics and cognitive computing for
“I saw children going to jail for protesting to
keep their poetry and I thought, is this
America, really?”
Luis Alberto Urrea, professor of English and
distinguished professor of liberal arts and
sciences, on the inspiration for his new book
of poetry, The Tijuana Book of the Dead, March
12 “The Takeaway,” WNYC Radio
IBM. They met on their first day at
Northwestern. “My freshman year
roommate knew her freshman year
roommate,” he said.
The Rosenblatts are quite the travelers. They recently returned from Italy,
and have been to China, Vietnam,
Cambodia, Finland, Russia, Spain, Canada, Mexico and Peru, where they swam
in the Pacific Ocean with hundreds of
sea lions.
“We climbed active volcanoes in Guatemala and roasted marshmallows over
lava flows,” he said.
“My favorite country was Iceland,
where we wore dry suits and snorkeled
in glacial water along the Continental
Divide and explored ice caves.”
“Few things are simply a women’s issue; this is
a community issue.”
Julienne Rutherford, assistant professor of
women, child and family health science, on
the incidence of sexual harassment and
assault women scientists experience during
field research, March 12 Nature
MARCH 18, 2015
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A CALL FOR CIVIL SERVICE CHANGES
University seeks more diverse applicant pool, flexibility in hiring
By Christy Levy— christyb@uic.edu
The state’s civil service statutes should
be changed to provide a more diverse applicant pool and greater flexibility in exempting certain positions from civil service
classification, university leaders said at a
hearing at UIC Friday.
University administrators, faculty and
staff spoke in support of five recommendations compiled by human resources directors from all Illinois public universities. The
recommendations were presented in November to University Civil Service Merit
Board chairman James Montgomery, a
University of Illinois trustee.
A subcommittee of Merit Board trustees — chaired by university trustee Karen
Hasara — hosted two hearings on the recommendations, one in Urbana March 11
and the other Friday at UIC with a video
conference to speakers in Urbana.
The State Universities Civil Service System statutes — written in the 1950s —
should be updated, said Maureen Parks,
executive director and associate vice president of human resources.
“There are practices and procedures that
are not exactly modern for today’s environment,” Parks said. “The HR directors believe there needs to be some reform to
make it more efficient, more productive
and more fair, and to offer opportunities
for growth.”
The recommendations call for changing
language approved by the Merit Board in
2009. Since then, audits have resulted in a
significant number of job misclassifications,
the human resources directors said in their
recommendations.
“If the language is not taken out, the
state universities will continue to have substantial audit findings for misclassification,”
they wrote. “It will be virtually impossible
for a university to exempt a person from
civil service and this will significantly impact the flexibility needed for our campuses to function efficiently.”
Their recommendations include:
• remove language that requires a position to be designated civil service if its
description matches the specifications
for a civil service classification, and that
assumes all positions are civil service
unless exempted by statute
• create an audit procedures manual and
a three-year audit cycle, rather than
two-year cycle
• modify scoring criteria to increase the
diversity and size of the candidate pool
referred for a position
• allow out-of-state recruiting for civil
service positions
• provide flexibility for campus human
resources offices to approve “specialty
factors” that enhance minimum
qualifications in the classification
specifications, which are sometimes
outdated.
Urbana Chancellor Phyllis Wise urged
the Merit Board to accept the recommendations and meet with human resources
directors from public universities to discuss the proposed changes. The Merit
Board will consider the recommendations
at its May 20 meeting in Urbana.
The changes would improve the civil
service hiring process, Wise said.
“Our workforce is complex. That means
we need people in many job classifications,” she said.
Urbana faculty member Matthew
Wheeler said he was “seriously concerned”
about the language in the civil service
statutes that provides few exemptions.
“It puts severe limitations on our ability
to recruit and retain talented individuals,”
said Wheeler, professor of animal sciences and bioengineering.
Wheeler said he was particularly concerned about the requirement that civil
service employees must be Illinois residents. In his research lab, Wheeler hired
employees from Brazil and Italy who
have specialized knowledge of regeneration — “there only may be a few dozen
around the world.”
“This may force me to leave an academic research institution that I love,” he said.
According to the current “Rule of
Three” in the statutes, hiring managers
must consider the top three candidates
who apply for a civil service position. If
the candidates do not meet the requirements the hiring manager seeks, the hir-
ing manager must close the search and
start the process again, said Susan Key,
director of portfolio human resources in
the Urbana Office of the Vice Chancellor
for Research.
“Filling positions is kind of part art
and part science,” she said. “It takes time
and effort, and any restrictions we have,
we need to find a way to get rid of those
restrictions. It shouldn’t be based on luck
or hope. It should be based on a strategic
plan.”
The university needs a long-term solution to provide a more efficient civil service hiring and classification system, said
Walter Knorr, university vice president
and chief financial officer.
“We must have the ability to define our
workforce based on the ever-changing
needs of the University of Illinois,” he
said.
“Every university in the state is in the
same situation.”
Providing a larger applicant pool for
civil service positions would support the
university’s commitment to diversity, said
Tyrone Forman, UIC associate chancellor and vice provost for diversity.
“It mirrors our goals of being more
accessible and inclusive university and
reflecting the demographics of the Chicago metropolitan area,” said Forman,
professor of African American studies.
The civil service statute and rules are
online at sucss.illinois.gov
Unity breakfast supports Chicago bids for Obama library
By Anne Brooks Ranallo— aranallo@uic.edu
“We are one Chicago” was the theme of a began by mentioning that this was one of
March 16 unity breakfast to support both
his first tasks as chancellor on his first day
UIC’s and the University of Chicago’s bids
on the job.
for the Obama Presidential Library.
“If I understand Chicago politics corMayor Rahm Emanuel called for the
rectly, if I mess this up, I’ll have the shortgathering to demonstrate that — whichever est tenure in the history of UIC,” he
bid is chosen — the library belongs in Chi- joked.
cago, where President Obama started his
“As I considered coming to UIC, I was
career in politics, rather than in New York.
struck by the passion, dedication and
Alfred Tatum, dean of the College of
commitment of the faculty and staff that
Education, set the tone when he told the
work to provide our students a quality
audience of about 300 university, civic,
education,” he continued.
religious and community leaders to put
“We believe the presidential library is
aside any rivalry between the South and
an essential, transformative institution for
West sides.
Chicago’s future, and we will work to“Balkanization has no place in this city as gether to ensure its success at whatever
we think about ways to preserve and extend site the Barack Obama Foundation
the legacy of President Obama. We are one chooses.
Chicago,” said Tatum, a member of UIC’s
“The mayor has provided unwavering
Obama Library proposal steering commitsupport to both bids and we appreciate
tee.
the commitments he has made to ensure
“There has been a tone of balkanization,
UIC and the University of Chicago subof UIC vs. U. of C., South Side versus West mitted the strongest possible proposals.”
Side, and private versus public. As a city, we
Derek Douglas, University of Chicago
have to resist this. Our commitment is to
vice president for civic engagement, said,
the president and his post-presidency.”
“Throughout this process, both UIC and
UIC Chancellor Michael Amiridis made the University of Chicago collaborated
the introduction before Emanuel spoke. He with community partners and provided
Mayor Rahm Emanuel talks with Susan Sher of the University of Chicago and UIC
Chancellor Michael Amiridis at Monday’s event. — Photo: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin
opportunities for everyone from neighbors to elected officials, to civic and business leaders, to weigh in on the library and
its role in our city.”
Emanuel, Obama’s former chief of staff,
spoke briefly of Obama’s trajectory from
the Illinois Senate to the U.S. Senate, then
the White House.
“We as a city are not done on that journey,” he said.
“It can be on the South Side, it can be
on the West Side, but it can’t be on the
Upper West Side of Manhattan,” Emanuel said of the presidential library, eliciting
a round of applause.
“The reason New York wants it is, they
see what we see. There is a reason all these
communities have come together. This is a
tremendous opportunity to say ‘yes’ on
jobs and ‘yes’ on economic development.
“That is the catalyst we want to see in
communities.”
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send information about campus news to Sonya Booth, sobooth@uic.edu
CAMPUS NEWS
Students show off talent at Art Fest
By Justin Mendoza — jmendo28@uic.edu
TanZen, who performed at last year’s event, takes the stage again tonight
during the Battle of the Bands, a competition featuring seven bands.
Bands battle it out onstage
By Matthew Pozo — mpozo4@uic.edu
Are you ready to rock, UIC?
Battle of the Bands hits the stage at 6
p.m. tonight in the Illinois Room, Student Center East. Seven bands — Starbender, Oracle, Pharaon, Ghoul For A
Goblin, Jiggawatts, The Red Flag Boys
and TanZen — will perform a free show
for the UIC community. There’s a $2
admission charge for others.
The crop of bands this year was deeper than previous years, UIC Radio organizers say.
“The number of bands who applied
increased significantly from last year,”
said Pearl Shin, UIC Radio’s music director. “Over 20 bands applied.”
With midterms wrapping up, Battle
of the Bands is the perfect event to get
students’ minds off their studies before
spring break. Students can expect a great
show with a diverse mix of genres.
“There’s really something for everyone
to enjoy,” said Austin Sellers, marketing
director for UIC Radio. “Students can
have a chance to relax, listen to some
new bands, support their peers and be a
part of something creative and cool on
campus.”
Student work created at Art Fest will be displayed in the Ward Gallery.
Picassos from the UIC community
can share their artistic skills during the
UIC Art Fest.
Students of all skill levels can sign up
through Friday at go.uic.edu/ARTFEST
Paint, a brush and a canvas will be
provided for students to work on their
projects from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March
30 through April 3 in the Campus Program offices, 340 Student Center East.
“Students are very excited. They think
they won’t finish in a week but they
end up doing so,” said Sladjana Grbic,
assistant program director for Campus
Programs.
The artwork will be displayed in the
Montgomery Ward Gallery, with
an opening reception April 4. Viewers
can vote for their favorites April 4,
4 to 6 p.m., with the top three artists
winning gift cards to the UIC Bookstore.
“It’s a great experience,” Grbic said.
“They leave very confident in their skills.”
the Undergraduate Student Success Center
(111 Stevenson Hall), the African American Academic Network (2800 Student Services Building), the Wellness Center (238
Student Center East) and the Library of
Health Sciences.
Monetary donations can be made online
at go.uic.edu/food
sixth annual UIC Day of Service, part of
activities for the national Day of Service
April 18. Groups are welcome. A list of sites
is online at go.uic.edu/dosmap15. Register at
go.uic.edu/uicdos
For information, contact Student Leadership Development and Volunteer Services
at 312-996-4500 or odesor3@uic.edu
Management on technology transfer.
The $3,500 prize will be awarded at a
reception May 19. For more information,
email innovate@uic.edu
CAREER FAIR THURSDAY
More than 75 employers will be looking
to hire UIC students and alumni for internships and full-time and part-time positions
at the All-Majors Career Thursday, 10 a.m.
to 4 p.m. in the Illinois Rooms of Student
Center East.
Students should bring a current i-card;
alumni should bring alumni association
POP-UP PANTRY THURSDAY
membership card or similar documentation.
A workshop before the career fair, 9:15–
The Pop-Up Pantry, a food pantry for
10
a.m., will offer tips on getting the most
registered UIC students, will be open Thursfrom
the event.
day, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., in 604A Student
The LinkedIn Photo Booth will offer
Center East.
professional portraits for LinkedIn profiles
The food pantry, sponsored by the Wellfrom 12:30 to 2 p.m.
ness Center and Undergraduate Student
For more information, visit careers.uic.edu
Government, offers canned goods and
non-perishable food items.
DAY OF SERVICE
Food donations for the Pop-Up Pantry
can be dropped off at the Dean of Students
Help clean up a Chicago beach, prepare
Office (3030 Student Services Building),
a community garden or paint a school at the
NEW DUSABLE EXHIBIT
A preview of the DuSable Museum’s
new interactive exhibit, “Freedom and Resistance: the Afro-American Experience,”
will be presented by DuSable curator
Charles Bethea Thursday at the African
American Cultural Center.
The permanent exhibit, set to open in
June, will take a contemporary look at the
history of African Americans in the U.S.
from the transatlantic slave trade to the 21st
century.
The brownbag presentation begins at
noon in 207 Addams Hall. For more information, visit uicaacc.wordpress.com
MYRESEARCH PORTAL UPDATE
The myResearch Portal, a university portal that provides researchers with information on current and pending grant awards,
has been updated for access to additional
information.
Part of the START myResearch project,
the portal is an electronic research administration system that includes financial and
payroll data for business managers and investigators.
The system is a collaboration between the
three campuses and Administrative IT Systems and Services. For more information
visit web.uillinois.edu/start_myresearch or
email Youngwook Song at ywsong@
uillinois.edu.
CALLING INNOVATORS, INVENTORS
April 28 is the deadline to apply for the
Innovator and Inventor of the Year Awards,
given to outstanding faculty members who
have worked with the Office of Technology
SHUTTLE BUS TO CUPPA
The campus Semester Express Shuttle
has been re-routed to provide service to
and from CUPPA Hall while building
repairs are under way.
Faculty offices and student services
have been moved to other locations in the
Student Services Building and the west
side of campus.
The service will continue throughout
the day, with the last bus leaving CUPPA
Hall at 6: 30 p.m. For more information
on intracampus bus service, visit go.uic.
edu/shuttlebus
APPLY FOR INNOVATION FUND
Deadline is April 2 for pre-proposal
applications for the Chancellor’s Innovation Fund Proof-of-Concept Awards,
project grants of up to $75,000.
Projects must be based on a UIC invention that has been disclosed to the
Office of Technology Management. For
more information, visit cif.uic.edu, email
pocgrant@uic.edu or call 312-996-7013.
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Amiridis: ‘What would you do if you were chancellor?’
By Sonya Booth — sobooth@uic.edu
By noon on his first day as chancellor,
Michael Amiridis had already had donuts with UIC groundskeepers and
breakfast with Mayor Rahm Emanuel
before attending a technology innovation
press conference held by Sen. Dick
Durbin.
But “this meeting is the most important meeting for me today,” he told the 47
UIC student leaders invited to lunch on
the 28th floor of University Hall.
“There is a lot of work to do and I need
your help.”
Amiridis asked the students for their
questions and comments. “Tell me,
what would you do if you were chancellor?” he asked.
They replied with comments that
ranged from parking prices and campus
food quality to the cost of higher education for undocumented students and
the need to strengthen the sense of community on campus.
Other topics: the importance of getting college students involved in the political process, the role of athletics and
expanded honors classes.
“He seems very supportive of students
and our initiatives,” said Annie Li,
president of Student Alumni Ambassadors and a senior in health information management. “He’s very approach-
Watch the video!
youtube.com/uicmedia
able. I’m looking forward to working
with him.”
“He could change the way people look
at UIC,” said Stephanie Tena, president
of the Collegiate Panhellenic Council and
a student in liberal arts and sciences.
“He could bridge the gap between students and staff. And he’s super funny.”
“It’s great that he wants to know how
students are feeling. He didn’t have to
do this,” said Jamel Russell, president of
Minority Students for the Advancement
of Public Health and a graduate student
in public health.
“Hopefully, he’ll follow through.”
Amiridis had his own request for students.
“The things you like about UIC, let
the world know,” he said. “The things you
don’t like, let us know and give us a
chance to correct them.”
Chancellor Michael Amiridis met with student leaders on his first day Monday
to hear their suggestions. — Photos: Joshua Clark
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Killeen prepares to begin presidential term in May
By Mike Helenthal — mhelenth@illinois.edu
Timothy Killeen will officially become
University of Illinois president May 18.
At the March 12 board of trustees
meeting in Urbana, chair Edward McMillan said Killeen is already transitioning
into the leadership position.
“It’s remarkable how much you’ve been
involved already,” McMillan told Killeen.
President Bob Easter’s last official day
will be May 17.
McMillan and the board directed
Killeen to begin developing a university-wide strategic plan to ensure the U of I
meets future needs in fulfilling its missions
of education, research, public service and
economic development.
Killeen said planning will begin soon
and the process will be inclusive, with input
from the three campuses and strategies
from their own plans. The board asked
Killeen to complete the plan within 12 to
18 months.
Killeen, who promised to update the
board at the July 22 annual retreat, said the
strategic planning process will have a
strong student focus.
“A lot of people will be called on to participate. The planning process will be inclusive,” he said, “a collaboration with our
campuses that will forge a vision to guide
our collective future.”
Killeen said there are untapped synergies the three campuses can develop to further the university’s mission and better
serve the state’s citizens.
“We must embrace those opportunities,”
he said.
STATE FUNDING CUTS
Walter Knorr, university chief financial
officer, said university officials continue to
work with state leaders on a range of issues
after Gov. Bruce Rauner announced a state
budget that would cut higher education funding by
more than 30 percent.
The proposed cuts would
reduce the university’s current $622 million appropriation to $453 million,
making the level of state
support the lowest since the
1950s in inflation-adjusted
dollars. The state lags by
more than $300 million in
promised university aid to
date and is around $6 billion
behind in payments to vendors overall.
Knorr said the university’s financial position becomes murkier when
considering legislative efforts to shift state-funded
portions of health and retirement programs to the
university’s books, as well as
ongoing efforts to reduce
the Medicaid rate, which
“It’s remarkable how much you’ve been involved,”
contributed to a $7 million
board chair Edward McMillan told President-elect
Timothy Killeen. — Photo: L. Brian Stauffer
shortfall at UI Health.
“That’s going to be in play
here this (legislative) session,” he said.
“We’re probably going to be looking at
some cost shifting.”
Students, too, are feeling pressure from
the state budget crisis. Knorr said the Feb.
22 cutoff by the Illinois Student Assistance
Commission for the Monetary Award Program was the earliest it has ever been.
Knorr said the university can’t use its
$2.3 billion endowment to blunt the proposed budget cuts because many of those
funds are donor targeted and can’t be used
as general revenue funds.
NEW TRUSTEES
Ramon Cepeda, a 1990 UIC graduate
in criminal justice, attended his first meeting as university trustee.
Rauner appointed Cepeda and Urbana
graduate Jill Smart to six-year terms, filling
the seats held by former board chairman
Christopher Kennedy and Pamela Strobel,
whose terms expired in January.
Cepeda, 47, a political independent
from Darien, is senior vice president of
Northern Trust Corp. in Chicago, where
he oversees the commercial real estate
group he created in 2010. He is managing
director of Northern Trust’s wealth management division.
Smart, 55, a Republican from Downers
Grove, is president of the National Acade-
UIC graduate Ramon Cepeda began
his term as university trustee.
— Photo: L. Brian Stauffer
my of Human Resources, a nonprofit
organization that recognizes institutions
and individuals for achievement in human
resources. She graduated from the Urbana
campus in 1981 with a degree in business
administration. She will be installed as
trustee at the May 7 meeting.
University leaders speak at state budget hearings
Top university leaders from the three U of I campuses are scheduled to testify in
Springfield Thursday at legislative hearings on the fiscal 2016 state budget.
At the same time, the Office for Governmental Relations and the Alumni Association Illinois Connection advocacy group launched a grassroots campaign to contact
state lawmakers.
Gov. Bruce Rauner proposed a fiscal 2016 state budget that includes a 31.5 percent reduction in the appropriations for public universities — a $209 million cut in
direct state support for the U of I.
A massive cut in direct state support will diminish the academic experience for
78,500 students and damage the university’s competitiveness, President Bob Easter
and campus leaders will testify.
Traveling to Springfield with Easter are UIC Chancellor Michael Amiridis, Urbana Chancellor Phyllis Wise and UIS Chancellor Susan Koch, along with vice chancellors for student affairs from the three campuses.
For more information, visit go.uic.edu/illinoisconnection and go.uic.edu/staterelations
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SCIENTIST WINS SLOAN FELLOWSHIP
Researcher Neal Mankad replaces precious metals with abundant elements
By Jeanne Galatzer-Levy — jgala@uic.edu
has solved the same problem. There are
Neal Mankad, assistant professor of
a number of biological processes that
chemistry, was awarded an Alfred P. Sloan
rely on inorganic materials, usually iron,
Research Fellowship for his research on
copper or zinc.
fundamental issues of sustainability —
“Living organisms couldn’t survive if
finding ways to replace precious metals
they had to rely on
with earth-abundant
platinum for elecelements in catalytic “THERE’S A LOT OF
tron catalysis,” he
processes.
FUNDAMENTAL SCIENCE THAT said.
The two-year
Mankad believes
Sloan fellowships are WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND.”
fundamental inorawarded to early-caganic chemistry can help explain how
reer scientists and scholars of outstanding
nature has evolved to solve these probpromise. They are given for distinguished
lems — lessons that can be used to find
performance and potential to make subnew catalysts. It’s an unfunded area of
stantial contributions.
research for his team, though, and he
“The Sloan award has no budget we have
has not been able to devote much time
to follow,” said Mankad. “It allows young
to it.
scientists to pursue work in their group
“I’m hoping that with the Sloan felthat may not be funded, that may be more
lowship, we can add resources to help us
risky, but that might, if they work, bring
build models and to help us understand
you a breakthrough result.”
how these bio-inorganic sites work,” he
There is a renewed push towards sussaid.
tainability in all areas of chemistry, said
“The more fundamental your science
Mankad. “But there is a lot of fundamental
is, the more important it is to have some
science that we need to understand before
things you’re doing that aren’t very goal
we get to the point that we can move to
oriented, that you can kind of fish
replacement technologies.”
around,” Mankad said.
Mankad wants to look at how evolution
Neal Mankad (right), assistant professor of chemistry, was awarded a Sloan
fellowship, given to early-career scholars. — Photo: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin
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Send information about campus events to Christy Levy, christyb@uic.edu
CALENDAR
MARCH 19
ALL-MAJORS CAREER FAIR
More than 60 employers looking to
hire students and alumni at the fair,
hosted by the Office of Career
Services. Free event for UIC students
and alumni only; bring i-card
10 a.m.–2:30 p.m. / SCE
go.uic.edu/allmajors
EXHIBITS
MARCH 31-APRIL 4
THROUGH APRIL 30
Gush
Visualizing Uncle Tom’s Cabin : Pictorial
Interpretations of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Novel
MFA thesis exhibition featuring Soheila
Azadi, Jessica Cobb, Meg Nafziger and Lauren C. Sudbrink on display at Gallery 400.
Reception, 5–8 p.m. April 3; artists’ talks, 5
p.m. April 3
Examining how characters and events are
represented through the years
Hours: Mon.–Tues. and Thurs.–Fri. 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Wed. 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sat. 12:30–4:30 p.m.
Hours: Tues.–Fri. 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
Sat. noon–6 p.m.
Daley Library Special Collections
go.library.uic.edu/Exhibit
Gallery 400, ADH
LECTURES
MARCH 18
MARCH 19
MARCH 19
Who Run the Classroom?
Possessed by the Past
Immaculate Conceptions
Jennifer Richardson, research assistant professor of gender and women’s studies, and
Kevin Allred, doctoral candidate at Rutgers
University, discuss how they use Beyoncé’s
music and career to engage issues of black
feminist theory with students. Part of Women’s Heritage Month
Agi Legutko, director of the Yiddish
Language Program at Columbia
University, discusses dybbuk, postmemory and modern Jewish identity.
Sponsored by the Institute for the
Humanities
Faculty fellow Rosie Hernandez, associate professor of Hispanic and Italian
studies, examines the religious imagination in Counter-Reformation Spain.
Sponsored by the Institute for the
Humanities
5–8 p.m. / Lecture Center A1
12:30 p.m. / lower level, SH
4 p.m. / lower level, SH
SPECIAL EVENTS
MARCH 18
MARCH 19
MARCH 31
Battle of the Bands
Pop-Up Pantry
Tuesdays-at-One
Seven bands — Starbender, Oracle, Pharaon,
Ghoul for a Goblin,
Jiggawatts, The Red
Flag Boys and Tanzen
— compete for an opening slot at next year’s
Spark in the Park.
Sponsored by Campus
Programs and UIC
Radio
6–10 p.m.
Illinois Room, SCE
Free nonperishable
food items for UIC
students in need.
Bring i-card. Sponsored by the UIC
Wellness Center and
the Undergraduate
Student Government
11 a.m.–4 p.m.
604A SCE
go.uic.edu/food
Violist Karl Davies
(right) and clarinetist
Gene Collerd, faculty
members in the department of music, perform chamber music by
Mozart and Schumann,
including Schumann’s
“Märchenbilder” (“Fairy
Tales”)
1–1:50 p.m.
L060 ETMSW
FOR MORE UIC EVENTS, VISIT EVENTS.UIC.EDU
MARCH 18, 2015
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UIC NEWS
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9
Want to contribute a story? Email Christy Levy, christyb@uic.edu
STUDENT VOICE
By Nicole Cardos
ncardo2@uic.edu
Hopper never forgot to credit the
female team that worked with her.
“Grace was incredible about the women
she worked with,” Pierce said. “She knew
that you should hold onto really good people and make concessions for them.”
For her own credit, Hopper is associated with the creation of the COBOL language, one of the first high-level
programming languages, Pierce said.
“But she came up with the idea of a
compiler,” she said. “A program that translates machine language into human language, which is what COBOL is based off.
“You can thank Grace for being able to
have an app on your iPhone, and the same
app on your friend’s Android.”
As a young girl, Hopper took apart
seven alarm clocks to learn how they
worked and how to fix them.
“It illustrates the point that she wasn’t
afraid to break things apart,” Pierce said.
Grace Hopper “had this spirit that students could learn from,” says Women in
Science and Engineering director Veronica Arreola. — Photo: U.S. Navy
Hopper didn’t learn how to program
until she was 37 years old.
She was a mathematics professor before
she joined the Navy on her third try during
World War II. Hopper was denied the first
two times for being underweight and
holding a job too important to national
security.
Upon acceptance, Hopper was assigned
to work on the Harvard Mark I: a 10,000pound computer used in World War II.
Hopper was a genius, but she was also
persistent.
“People are framed as geniuses just because they persist,” said Veronica Arreola,
director of the Women in Science and Engineering Program and the organizer of
the event. “From what I know of Grace,
she had this spirit that students could learn
from.
“Even rocket scientists have to persist.”
Cultural cuisine at ‘Taste’
By Justin Mendoza — jmendo28@uic.edu
Delicious entrees filled the East Terrace
in Student Center East with a delightful
aroma Thursday.
Student organizations showcased their
cooking skills while raising money during
the Taste of UIC, sponsored by Campus
Programs.
“It’s been here for many years. About
500 people come to support the event,”
said Jessica Adam, assistant program director in Campus Programs.
Students and staff members lined up to
purchase tickets and try cultural cuisine.
“We are selling great snacks with a
healthy twist,” said Jacob Mey, doctoral
student in kinesiology and nutrition and
president of the Student Nutrition Association Club. “We have kale chips.”
People tried food from organizations
such as the Hispanic Alliance for Career
Enhancement and Filipinos in Alliance.
With a handful of plates, they looked for
empty tables to enjoy their lunch.
“I got an empanada filled with ground
beef, a tamale, and a tostada tinga,” said Ian
Torres, a junior in Latin American and
Latino studies. “It’s pretty good so far.”
Sandra Li tried the Taste of UIC for
the first time.
“It’s better than expected,” said Li, a senior in psychology. “My favorite is the
spam wasabi.”
Kevin Pilarczyk, junior in teaching of mathematics, serves food while
Brenda Herrera, junior in biology, tries some. — Photos: Joseph Horejs
uicnews.uic.edu
10
I
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MARCH 18, 2015
WORD SEARCH: LANGUAGES TAUGHT AT UIC
Sudoku Puzzler by Ian Riensche, www.sudokupuzzler.com
SUDOKU: HARD
Find the words listed below in the word bank. Words can be found in any and
every direction. Enjoy! — Puzzle: Vana Povrzenic
Use logic and process of elimination to fill in the blank cells using the numbers 1
through 9. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and 3x3 block.
ARABIC
CHINESE
FRENCH
Find the answer to this week’s puzzle online at go.uic.edu/puzzle318
WORD BANK
GERMAN
GREEK
ITALIAN
JAPANESE
LATIN
LITHUANIAN
POLISH
RUSSIAN
SPANISH
POLICE
UIC Police emergency: 312-355-5555
Nonemergency: TDD: 312-996-2830
312-413-9323
Visit the UIC Police crime map
uiccrimemaps.org/map
and the Chicago Police CLEAR Map
gis.chicagopolice.org
MARCH 9–15
CRIMES REPORTED TO UIC POLICE
Theft: 8
Assault: 2
Disorderly conduct: 1
Interference with emergency equipment: 3
Criminal trespass: 1
ARRESTS BY UIC POLICE
March 11: A man was arrested for
assault at 5:12 a.m. at UI Hospital.
A female juvenile was arrested at 11:05
a.m. at UI Hospital for a battery that
occurred Feb. 15.
March 15: A man was arrested for
criminal trespass at 5:30 p.m. at 919 W.
Maxwell St.
UIC News Staff
Published on Wednesdays during the academic year (monthly during summer) by the Office
of Public and Government Affairs of the University of Illinois at Chicago.
601 S. Morgan St. - 1320 University Hall (MC 288) - Chicago, IL 60607-7113
Editorial:. . . . . . . . . . (312) 996-7758
Advertising: . . . . . . . (312) 996-3456
Fax: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (312) 413-7607
Editorial Associates
S. K. Vemmer. . . . . . . svemme1@uic.edu
Nicole Cardos . . . . . . ncardo2@uic.edu
Editor
Sonya Booth . . . . . . . sobooth@uic.edu
Associate Editor
Christy Levy. . . . . . . . christyb@uic.edu
Assistant Editor
Gary Wisby. . . . . . . . . gwisby@uic.edu
Visual Communications & Design
Anna Dworzecka . . . . adworz1@uic.edu
Associate Graphic Designer
Megan Strand . . . . . . mstran2@uic.edu
Advertising Coordinator
Samella Wright . . . . . uicnewsads@uic.edu
Editorial Interns
Justin Mendoza, Matthew Pozo
Student Photography Contributors
Timothy Nguyen, Joseph Horejs
Advertising/Marketing Intern
Vana Povrzenic, Emily Waas
Senior Director for Public Affairs
Bill Burton. . . . . . . . . burton@uic.edu
Photography, UIC Photo Services
Roberta Dupuis-Devlin & Joshua Clark
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . uicphoto@uic.edu
uicnews.uic.edu
MARCH 18, 2015
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11
DAMAGED DNA
Researchers examine how repair enzyme works
By Jeanne Galatzer-Levy — jgala@uic.edu
Our entire genetic code is made up of
6 billion base pairs, yet dozens of different
enzymes can recognize and interact with
very specific patterns, whether they are
responsible for turning on — or off — a
specific gene, or finding and repairing one
type of damage to the DNA itself.
Many, if not most, of these enzymes
have a binding site that fits into the site it
needs like a lock and key. Still, it boggles
the mind to imagine how these enzymes
home in on their targets.
UIC researchers Jung-Hyun Min and
Anjum Ansari wondered how a repair
enzyme could work if it lacked a lockand-key binding site. In research published recently in Nature Communications,
they found that the enzyme quickly sorts
through vast stretches of DNA without
wasting time on sites it wasn’t designed to
fix and quickly finding the sites where it
was needed.
Other DNA-binding enzymes may
use this strategy as well.
“If the DNA is normal, the interaction
that the protein makes with the DNA is
not very tight and the protein is able to
hop along at some speed,” said Anjum
Ansari, professor of physics and co-principal investigator.
“When the protein encounters a damaged DNA, it’s not quite like a normal
DNA, it’s a little twisted,” she said. “The
protein stumbles at that spot and gets a
little stalled, enough to give it a little bit
more time at the damaged site. The longer
it sits, the higher the probability that it
will open the DNA and initiate repair.”
This “stumble” gives the protein time
to flip out one strand of the double
strands that make up DNA and begin
repair of the other, damaged strand, said
Jung-Hyun Min, assistant professor of
chemistry and co-principal investigator.
The protein, xeroderma pigmentosum
or XPC, is unusual because it can repair
different types of damage. This makes it
important for the repair of DNA damaged by environmental hazards, like the
chemicals released by cigarette smoke,
pollutants and fuel combustion, Min said.
To see how the protein binds DNA
without this kind of specific binding site,
the researchers used a chemical trick to
bind the protein to a site on undamaged
DNA. To their surprise, they found the
protein had flipped open the undamaged
DNA.
This suggests that if you hold the repair protein in place long enough anywhere on the DNA, it will open even
undamaged DNA, Ansari said.
Using an unusual technique called
temperature-jump perturbation spectros-
Jung-Hyun Min, assistant professor of chemistry, and Anjum Ansari, professor
of physics, study DNA-binding enzymes. — Photo: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin
copy, which allowed the researchers to
observe the interaction of the protein
with DNA millisecond by millisecond,
they determined that the protein needed
seven milliseconds to flip open DNA at a
damaged site.
“We think it could take as much as
4,000 times as long to open DNA at an
undamaged versus damaged site,” Ansari
said. The XPC protein moves too quickly
to engage undamaged DNA, but it stalls
at a damaged site just long enough to
bind the DNA and begin repair.
“This has a potential to explain the
kind of phenomena that we couldn’t explain before — how the XPC protein is
recruited to unexpected places where it
has been found, like transcription sites,”
Min said. “It may be that all you need is
to bring the protein to these novel sites
and stall it for a moment.”
Now that they know what to look for,
the two researchers think delay-triggered
kinetic gating is a common mechanism,
with a role in many, or even all, DNA recognition proteins.
Xuejing Chen, UIC department of
chemistry, is first author on the study.
Co-authors include Yogambigai Velmurugu, Guanqun Zheng, Beomseok Park,
Yoonjung Shim and Chuan He, UIC;
Younchang Kim, Argonne National Laboratory; and Lili Liu and Bennett Van
Houten, University of Pittsburgh.
Nobel laureates visit UIC to mark anniversary of global peace organization
By Brian Flood — bflood@uic.edu
The Social Justice Initiative at UIC
welcomed Nobel Peace laureates Leymah
Gbowee and Jody Williams to campus
Monday to mark the 100th anniversary of
the Women’s International League for
Peace and Freedom, a group whose first
president was social reformer Jane Addams.
The nonprofit organization, with 30
international branches that promote women’s contributions to global peace efforts,
teamed with the Nobel Women’s Initiative
to sponsor the day-long event at Jane
Addams Hull-House Museum on campus.
More than 70 invited community activists, philanthropists, academics and
campus leaders joined the laureates for
discussions of gender peace movements
around the world and to strategize ways to
bring about greater social justice.
Gbowee, a 2011 Nobel recipient from
Liberia, told the group that the celebration
and Addams’ legacy as the first U.S.
woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize
brought two principles to the forefront:
human rights and nonviolence.
“When Jane Addams started the work
Nobel Peace laureates Jody Williams (left) and Leymah
Gbowee visit UIC Monday. — Photo: Al DiFranco
that she did, I can just
imagine it was not
trending,” said Gbowee,
a peace activist who
help end the second Liberian civil war in 2003.
“She began the entire
conversation of people’s
rights and that states
should pay attention to
it.”
While addressing
social justice progress,
UIC historian Barbara
Ransby reflected on the
contemporary efforts of
young people.
“I am very uplifted by
the brilliance, the courage, the determination
to really build off the
foundation of so many
women who began
fighting a hundred years
ago,” said Ransby, director of the UIC Social
Justice Initiative. “The
spirit and legacy of those fights are very
much the ground and foundation in which
young women today are not only envisioning a better world, but demanding and
making a better world for themselves and
their communities.”
Those at the conference collaborated to
develop a U.S. Peace and Freedom Statement that will be delivered next month
during the league’s centennial congress at
The Hague, Netherlands.
Closing remarks were given by Williams, the first UIC Social Justice Initiative
fellow, who received a Nobel Prize in 1997
for her international campaign to ban land
mines.
Other speakers included Eric Gislason,
interim vice chancellor for academic affairs
and provost; Astrida Orle Tantillo, dean of
the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences;
Steve Everett, dean of the College of Architecture, Design and the Arts; Terry
Mazany, Chicago Community Trust president and CEO, and Jennifer Scott, director
of Hull-House Museum, and Mary Harrison, U.S. Women’s International League
for Peace and Freedom section president.
12
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MARCH 18, 2015
SPORTS
Baseball preps for Illinois State
By Mike Laninga — mlaninga@uic.edu
Eleni Polites is on the All-Tournament Team
after batting .538. — Photo: Steve Woltmann
The baseball team hosts Illinois State this afternoon at Curtis Granderson Stadium. — Photo: Timothy Nguyen
Cheer on the baseball team today as the Flames take
on Illinois State at 3 p.m. at Curtis Granderson Stadium.
The baseball team (4-9-1, 2-1 Horizon League) beat
Valparaiso (4-10, 1-2 Horizon League) Friday, 8-2, and
Saturday, 3-2, but fell behind early Sunday at home in
the series finale, 15-1.
Redshirt freshman Gabe Dwyer gave UIC its lone
run of the day with his first career homer in the eighth
inning.
Senior Tyler Detmer has the nation’s longest reachedbase streak with 36 as he recorded a pair of singles
against the Crusaders. He improved his season batting
average to .333.
Valpo’s surge began with three runs in the opening
frame and continued with five scores in the second stanza. The Crusaders went ahead by double digits in the
third inning with three runs, which gave Valpo an 11-0
advantage.
The Flames’ bullpen struggled on the mound as seven
UIC pitchers combined to give up 17 hits, 10 walks and
four hit batters.
The Flames recorded eight hits on the day, including
seven singles and one double from sophomore Ricardo
Ramirez – his second two-bagger of the season.
Gymnastics sets
season-high scores
By Jennifer Zoellick — jennz@uic.edu
Gabrielle May earned a career-best score in her
last meet as a Flame. — Photo: Steve Woltmann
The women’s gymnastics team defeated Southeast
Missouri State, 193.625-191.800, Sunday at the UIC
Pavilion.
The Flames earned their highest team score of the
season and set team highs on bars and floor in the first
senior night held at the UIC Pavilion.
Senior captain Gabrielle May had an outstanding
final meet as a Flame, earning a career-best 39.225 in
the all-around category to take first place.
“It was so exciting to have the first senior day here at
the Pavilion,” head coach Peter Jansson said. “The girls
came out very strong. We finished off with a bang with
five great hits on floor. In the end, it all added up our
best score of the season and we will head into the conference championships with confidence.”
UIC heads to Denton, Texas, for the Midwest Independent Conference Championships Saturday at Texas
Woman’s University.
UIC started strong in the first rotation, with sophomore Nikki Woodruff scoring a career-best 9.800 to tie
for first place with May.
Softball picks up
wins at Spring Fling
By Laura White — lwhite88@uic.edu
The softball team (8-10) pulled away with a 4-3
win against Monmouth (2-6) Sunday to close out
the UCF Spring Fling Tournament in Orlando.
The Flames won two of five games during the
tournament, also beating Fairfield, 9-0, Saturday.
They lost to Butler and James Madison Friday and
UCF Saturday.
The Flames open Horizon League competition
this weekend, hosting Oakland Friday and Saturday at Flames Field.
After Monmouth tied the game in the top of
the seventh Sunday, senior Amanda Mener stepped
to the plate with junior Laura Swan on second and
hit a walk-off single to score the game-winning run.
The Flames put up eight hits against Monmouth, with Mener and senior Eleni Polites producing three each. Polites and Mener were named
to the All-Tournament Team after batting .538 and
.462 through their five games.
UIC scored an early run in the first round at the
plate. After freshman Tiana Mack-Miller reached
on a fielder’s choice and Swan walked, senior Erica
Hampton singled and Mack-Miller came in to
score on a Monmouth error.
The Flames plated two more runs in the second.
With sophomore Kaleigh Nagle and junior Dana
Capocci on after a walk and bunt single, freshman
Taylor Cairns walked and Nagle scored on the wild
pitch. Polites hit her first career triple to left field,
allowing Capocci to come across the plate.
Monmouth brought in a run in the top of the
third and in the sixth. They tied the game in the
top of the seventh.
Swan led off the bottom of the inning with a
walk and moved to second on a groundout from
Hampton. Mener came to plate with one out and
singled to bring Swan around the bases for the
game-winning run.