Three Institute of Technology faculty named McKnight Professors

Mechanical engineering professor John Bischof and chemistry professors Karin Musier-Forsyth and J. Ilja Siepmann are recipients of the 2006 Distinguished McKnight University Professorship, which recognizes and rewards outstanding mid-career faculty.

Recipients of the University-wide honor are chosen on the merit of their scholarly achievement and potential for greater attainment, the quality of their teaching and advising, and their contributions to the wider community. Three of the four individuals chosen to receive the award this year are Institute of Technology faculty.

Bischof, who holds a joint appointment in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, is a world leader in the area of cryobiology and thermal therapies. Among his previous honors are the McKnight Land-Grant Professorship, the George W. Taylor Award for Distinguished Research, an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship, and a fellowship from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science. He was recently elected a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He received a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.

Musier-Forsyth is being honored for her work on biochemical and biophysical studies of protein-nucleic acid interactions. Among her previous honors are the Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry from the American Chemical Society, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, the George W. Taylor Award for Distinguished Research, a National Institutes of Health Research Career Development Award, and the McKnight Land-Grant Professorship. Musier-Forsyth received a Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry in 1989 from Cornell University.

Siepmann is being honored for his research on molecular simulation of complex chemical systems and processes. His previous honors include the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, the Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award, the Bush Foundation Fellowship, and the McKnight Land-Grant Professorship. Siepmann, who received a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, also serves as director of graduate studies in chemical physics, an interdisciplinary program.