Parrish, Meganathan and Bloom win prestigious Presidential Research Professorships

by Tom Parisi

NIU has named three veteran professors with long track records of producing acclaimed research as this year's Presidential Research Professors.

They are biologist and paleontologist J. Michael Parrish, microbiologist Rangaswamy "Nathan" Meganathan and mathematician Frederick Bloom.

"The Presidential Research Professors represent the upper echelon of research scientists, not only at NIU but in their respective fields," NIU Provost Ivan Legg said. "The work of each of this year's award recipients is internationally acclaimed. We take pride in the fact that our students benefit from, and often participate in, the research efforts of these three faculty members as they continue to explore new frontiers in biology, microbiology and mathematics."

NIU President John Peters will formally recognize this year's Presidential Research Professors during the May 11 Graduate School Commencement ceremonies.

Presidential Research Professorships recognize outstanding faculty scholarship. Since 1982, the university has named a total of 60 Presidential Research Professors from 17 academic departments in four colleges. The award recipients receive special financial support of their research for four years, after which they carry the title of Distinguished Research Professor.

"The people we recognize not only have very substantial records of scholarly research but also are people who hold great promise for further advancement of their fields," said Jerrold Zar, Graduate School dean and vice provost for graduate studies and research.

Here's a closer look at this year's Presidential Research Professors.

Passion for paleontology

J. Michael Parrish

It's safe to say Professor J. Michael Parrish wears more than one hat. He's equally adept at spotting rare fossils while on digs in the forests of Madagascar as he is running the NIU Department of Biological Sciences, which he oversees as chair. He also teaches courses in biology, is recognized worldwide for his scholarly work and edits the Journal of Paleontology, the leading scientific journal in his field. The post requires that Parrish read and/or critique about 100 research manuscripts a year.

And did we mention that he somehow finds time to write rock, jazz, folk and world music reviews for the Chicago Tribune?

While the reviews may be something of a hobby, Parrish has long pursued his passion for paleontology, dating back to his boyhood interest in dinosaurs. He renewed this interest during the 1970s as a student at the University of California at Santa Cruz and later at the University of Chicago, where he earned his Ph.D.

He since has authored numerous scholarly articles on the evolution and biology of vertebrates, focusing primarily on dinosaurs and other extinct reptiles.

In 1988, Parrish arrived at NIU, where his research has garnered national media attention. He and collaborators at the Field Museum in Chicago reported in the prestigious journal, Science, on their discovery in Madagascar of the 230-million-year-old jaws of two dinosaur-like creatures.

He and other researchers also published on their discovery of a jawbone fragment that pushes the age of modern mammals back by 25 million years. In another groundbreaking study, Parrish used computer models to determine the neck movement of the giant sauropod dinosaurs.

Parrish recently received a National Science Foundation grant to expand the computer modeling research to learn more about dinosaur mobility. He also has two book chapters coming out later this year and continues his mammal research in Madagascar.

"It is a real plus for NIU to have Mike and to have him bring his reputation, energy and abilities to the very demanding job of chair of one of our largest and most important departments," said Distinguished Research Professor Fred Smith, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Parrish said he believes his research and teaching efforts complement each other. His fieldwork provides fresh and often cutting-edge lecture material, and students regularly work in his laboratory.

"I always liken research to mining a vein of ore," Parrish said. "It takes a direction of its own and you never quite know where it's going to turn."

Vitamin K(ing)

Rangaswamy Meganathan

Over the past 25 years, the work of Professor Rangaswamy "Nathan" Meganathan has shed new light on scientists' understanding of vitamin K biosynthesis. "It's safe to say that Nathan is the world's expert on vitamin K," said biology chair Parrish. "His steady stream of research funding over the years speaks to how highly he is regarded in the microbiology community."

A native of India, Meganathan earned his Ph.D. in microbiology from Oklahoma State University. He began his pursuit of understanding the complex workings of vitamin K in the laboratory of Professor Ronald Bentley at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1982, he joined the faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences at NIU, where he has continued to unravel how bacteria produce vitamin K and how the vitamin works at the molecular level in bacteria.

His basic research also has provided important insights into how cells breathe and into how organisms get energy from food through vitamins. Because vitamin K plays a key role in plants as well as the clotting of blood in humans and other mammals, Meganathan's discoveries could have far reaching effects on agriculture, medicine, pharmaceuticals and other industries.

Meganathan has published more than 80 research articles and abstracts, has won numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health and in 1998 was named a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. He also is known as a rigorous teacher at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

"He's somebody who feels very strongly about providing students with a top-notch education," said Distinguished Research Professor Patricia Vary, former biological sciences chair and a friend of Meganathan's.

"I like the combination of teaching and researching," Meganathan said. "If you're not a researcher, then you can't be up-to-date in the classroom. And in science, being up-to-date is more important than just reading the textbook and regurgitating facts."

He has directed four Ph.D. dissertations, and about 50 graduate and undergraduate students have worked in his laboratory. Meganathan said he owes much of his own success to the hard work of his students, post-doctoral fellows and collaborators. When he's not in his lab or in the classroom, Meganathan often can be found with a book in hand.

"His idea of fun," Vary said, "is reading biographies about famous scientists. He's extremely knowledgeable about science. I call him the walking encyclopedia of bacterial physiology. You can ask him about any little-known organism, and he'll know all about it."

Mathematical bent

Frederick Bloom

True story: It's the fall of 1991. Frederick Bloom is lying on an operating table, awaiting surgery on a herniated disk in his back. Just before they put him out, the surgeon recalls that Bloom is a math professor. "Do you know I had a horrible time passing calculus?" the surgeon complains to Bloom, only half jokingly. "Why do pre-med students have to take calculus?"

Such is the life of a mathematician. While some wonder how complex mathematics relates to real life, Bloom wonders how the physical world could be understood without the sublime language of mathematics.

His research has real-world applications.

For example, Bloom developed a system of non-linear partial differential equations to describe how moisture buckles a sheet of paper, a problem that results in the yearly waste of millions of tons of product worldwide. His model of thermal cycling of elastic-plastic materials helped the U.S. military understand how intense thermal energies destabilize antennae on satellites intended for use in the Star Wars defense initiative. And his mathematical shock-wave models helped the U.S. Navy determine the most optimal way to detonate offshore mines.

Bloom's interest and aptitude in math began at an early age. He attended the Bronx High School of Science, one of the country's premier high schools. Years later, he earned his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Cornell University. After spending time at other universities, he arrived at NIU in 1983.

Today the author of more than 80 journal articles and four research monographs, Bloom is internationally recognized for his research related to applications of mathematics in physics and engineering.

"Professor Bloom is interested in solving problems that have direct applications in the world today," said NIU Professor Hamid Bellout, a friend and frequent collaborator. "Throughout his career, he has shown himself to be a very dedicated and productive scientist."

Those qualities have attracted substantial financial support for Bloom's research from the likes of the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Naval Research and Air Force Office of Scientific Research "I've always enjoyed mathematics," Bloom said. "But I also believe that if you're going to do scientific research at a certain level, you do it because it's a compulsion—you're meant to do it and you do it all the time."

Bloom teaches applied mathematics, differential equations and calculus. He has directed two Ph.D. dissertations at NIU and served as the first director of the mathematics department's internship program for doctoral students.