annual report 2011 - Office for Research - Northwestern University

2 Annual Report 2011 | Vice President’s Letter
December 2011
Dear Colleagues,
Northwestern’s strategic planning process was developed
with input from across the entire University community. If
you have not read the new plan, I encourage you to do so. It
is an inspiring view of Northwestern’s future and provides a
solid framework with opportunities for each unit across the
University to develop the tactical plans to move Northwestern
to a future of ever-greater societal impact.
The Strategic Plan is based on four pillars: Discover, Integrate,
Connect, and Engage. The prime missions of the University,
including the research missions, are integral to all four pillars.
As the plan states, its tight interconnection with research is
a result of “the enormous power of collaboration for which
Northwestern is renowned.” This collaboration is the essence of
research and a Northwestern strength that is visible every day.
Our research enterprise continued to move forward this
year with signi�cant discoveries in so many areas. You will
see evidence of this in the “Excellence in Research” articles that follow in this annual report,
showcasing the work of 25 faculty members and four graduate students from across the breadth
of the University.
A visible way in which we collaborated to bring forth new knowledge was the O�ce for Research-
sponsored “Biology by Design,” Northwestern’s �rst public forum and symposium focused
on synthetic biology. In this exciting new �eld, interchangeable biological parts and devices
are developed so they can be assembled for a wide range of purposes, including clean and
sustainable energy and manufacturing, medicine, and environmental stewardship.
More than 275 individuals registered for the May event, coming to Northwestern from as far away
as the University of Glasgow in Scotland and Imperial College in London as well as from many
US universities. Both the public forum on May 10 and the symposium on May 11 were packed.
Students, sta�, faculty, and our Evanston and Chicago neighbors came together to learn about
harnessing the potential of living systems to address major societal needs.
We learned last month that Michael Jewett, chemical and biological engineering, one of the
coorganizers of Biology by Design, has been awarded a Packard Fellowship for Science and
Engineering by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. He’s one of the 16 promising science
and engineering researchers nationwide to be named this year to receive an unrestricted research
grant of $875,000 over �ve years. With his Packard Foundation funding, Jewett will advance his
research on developing cell-free synthetic biology for biomanufacturing new classes of life-saving
drugs, sustainable fuels, and novel materials from renewable resources, both quickly and on
demand. In our usual interdisciplinary way, Jewett is not only a faculty member in the McCormick
School of Engineering and Applied Science but also a member of the Chemistry of Life Processes