University trustees offer permanent positions to eight professors

In addition to their highly publicized approval of the 500-student increase in the size of the student body, the University Board of Trustees recently offered eight professors the opportunity to call Princeton home — permanently.

At their April 15 meeting, the trustees bestowed the title of professor on Athanassoios Panagiotopoulos of the University of Maryland and Elizabeth Gould of the University psychology department. Bonnie Bassler, Luigi Martinelli, Kenneth Mills, Catherine Peters, Eileen Reeves and Rob Wegman were also promoted to the rank of associate professor. All these promotions represent tenured positions.

Currently a professor at Maryland's Institute for Physical Science and Technology, Panagiotopoulos focuses his research on the self-assembly of biological molecules.

"I'm trying to determine that, using a control system, if [the molecules] will aggregate," he explained, noting that such knowledge would allow the development of new materials with desired optical, chemical and electrical properties.

Panagiotopoulos said the University's faculty and research opportunities attracted him to Princeton. He will join the chemical engineering department in July.

"There are a lot of people I could interact with in my research," he explained. "It is an excellent environment to do scholarly work."

In addition to his research, Panagiotopoulos will teach a graduate course in advanced statistical mechanics and an undergraduate course in molecular modeling methods.

Mills, an expert in colonial Latin American history, said he is excited about his promotion to associate professor because it will allow him to continue to spend time both researching and teaching. "I feel very lucky," Mills said. "Unlike a lot of places, there's an interesting balance between research and teaching here. Teaching is not set aside, and you're never far from that part of your job."

"If you teach at other places, that balance is not there," he continued.

Mills' research focuses on the Spanish exploration of the New World and the dynamic interaction between organized Catholicism and indigenous beliefs.

The former Rhodes Scholar is writing a book about a Castillian monk "who traveled to the Andes at the end of the 16th century and who was promoting the veneration of holy images."

Also promoted to associate professor, Peters — a civil and environmental engineering professor — is working to improve water quality by using bacteria to degrade pollutants.

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"I started out in chemical engineering and soon realized that engineering could do a lot to apply engineering techniques toward protecting the environment," Peters said of her research.

As a molecular biologist, Bassler studies bacteria — organisms she describes as the "ultimate in sophistication." Her work includes research on how bacteria behave in communities, and how they resemble multi-molecular organisms in such a setting.

"They're perfected, stripped-down versions of us," Bassler explained. "Everything we do they do in a single cell without a nucleus."

Like Mills, Bassler said her promotion to associate professor will allow her to teach and simultaneously continue her research.

"Princeton has treated me really well. It's better than I thought it would be," she said. "The students are great — what we do in labs is beyond what I dreamed of."

For Martinelli, a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor, tenure means a continuation of research at Princeton that has lasted for 18 years. Having arrived as a graduate student from Italy in 1982, Martinelli joined the University research staff in 1987 and became an assistant professor in 1994.

"Princeton is home for me, so I'm glad to have the opportunity to continue serving my community," said Martinelli, whose work focuses on using large-scale calculations in engineering design.

Newly promoted music professor Wegman's research centers on late medieval music. He said he was pleased to receive tenure. "It's just one big opportunity for tremendous intellectual growth," he said.