University of Chicago names Vice President for Research and Argonne National Laboratory

Thomas Rosenbaum, the James Franck Professor in Physics at the University of Chicago, has been appointed the University’s Vice President for Research and for Argonne National Laboratory, President Don Michael Randel announced today. The five-year appointment will be effective July 1.

“I remain deeply committed to our scientific enterprise and in particular to an ever stronger and more effective scientific relationship with Argonne,” Randel said. “I know that Tom will be effective in this endeavor, and I look forward very much to working with him on it.”

As Vice President for Research and for Argonne, Rosenbaum will oversee a combined research enterprise of more than $700 million. In addition to his responsibilities for research across the University and for Argonne, Rosenbaum will chair a new Science Council, charged with the coordination and promotion of scientific research at the University and Argonne. The Science Council will include the Provost, the deans of the Biological Sciences Division and of the Physical Sciences Division, and both the Director and Chief Scientist of Argonne.

“I am excited by the University’s commitment to scientific inquiry that crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries,” Rosenbaum said. “In the months to come, we anticipate making some first-rate appointments in programs specifically designed to cross these boundaries of particular interest to both University and Argonne researchers, including the Computation Institute, the Institute for Biophysical Dynamics and the Nanoscience Consortium.”

Rosenbaum succeeds Robert Zimmer, who was recently named provost of Brown University.

Rosenbaum is an expert on the quantum mechanical nature of materials–the physics of electronic, magnetic and optical materials at the atomic level–that are best observed at temperatures near absolute zero (minus 460 degrees Fahrenheit). He conducted research at Bell Laboratories and at IBM Watson Research Center before he joined the Chicago faculty in 1983. He directed the University’s Materials Research Laboratory from 1991 to 1994, and the University’s James Franck Institute from 1995 to 2001. He presently serves on the National Research Council Solid State Sciences Committee and on the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee to Argonne National Laboratory.

His honors include an Alfred Sloan Research Fellowship, a Presidential Young Investigator Award and the William McMillan Award for Outstanding Contributions to Condensed Matter Physics. He is an elected fellow and Centennial Lecturer of the American Physical Society.

Rosenbaum received his bachelor’s degree in physics with honors from Harvard University, and both an M.A. and Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University.

The University has a faculty of 2,100 and earned $267.7 million in research funding for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2001. More than 70 University of Chicago faculty, researchers and alumni have earned Nobel Prizes since the institution was founded in 1890.

Argonne was the nation’s first national laboratory, chartered in 1946. With sites in Argonne, Illinois, and in Idaho, Argonne is one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s largest research centers. Approximately 4,200 employees perform research and engineering work in fields ranging from energy technology to high-speed computing. Argonne’s annual operating budget is approximately $465 million.