Academia

Susan P. Gilbert has joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as head of its biology department. She comes from a 12-year stint at the University of Pittsburgh, where she served on the faculty of the department of biological sciences and was a member of the molecular biophysics & structural biology graduate program and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. Gilbert is recognized for her research on cell motility. She studies the nanoscale molecular motors of the cell, including a family known as kinesins, which may be the target of some future drugs.

Javier B. Giorgi has been awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor in the chemistry department at the University of Ottawa, in Ontario. He will also work in the department of physics and the university's Center for Catalysis Research & Innovation. Giorgi's research deals with catalysis in solid-oxide fuel cells.

Roy A. Periana, has been appointed professor of chemistry at Scripps Research Institute, in Jupiter, Fla. Periana's research will support Scripp's efforts to develop more efficient synthetic methodologies in chemistry and make new medicines. In addition, he will help Scripps Florida move into the areas of energy and alternative fuels. A cofounder of Catalytica Advanced Technologies in Silicon Valley, Periana most recently had been professor of chemistry at the University of Southern California and its Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute.

Rodney S. Ruoff, a nanoscience pioneer and physical chemist, is joining the University of Texas, Austin, faculty as a Cockrell Family Regents Chair in Engineering. Ruoff comes from a post as the John Evans Chair of Nanoengineering at Northwestern University and director of its Biologically Inspired Materials Institute. He is a leader in the study of novel forms of carbon and in the mechanics of nanostructures. In his new position, Ruoff will investigate ways to chemically modify the properties of graphene oxide paper, among other research endeavors.