CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Two University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty members have been named as university endowed chairs, an honor awarded to highly distinguished scholars for their excellence and prominence in research, teaching and service.
“An endowed chair represents one of the university’s highest and most distinguished faculty honors,” said Provost John Coleman. “These scholars exemplify excellence at the highest level, earning international recognition as leaders and innovators in their fields. We are proud of their contributions to our university’s excellence and to the lasting societal impact of their research, teaching and service worldwide.”
Andrew Belmont, a professor of cell and developmental biology in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, has been named a Gutgsell Endowed Chair. Gutgsell endowed appointments were established by Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell to promote faculty development and ensure high achievement.
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Belmont has spent nearly four decades at the U. of I., joining the faculty ranks in 1989. A Gutgsell appointment honors stellar professors who have achieved the highest levels of distinction in their fields, and Belmont has reached the pinnacle of his research focus as a leading authority on the study of large-scale chromatin organization. Belmont’s major contributions are in 3D genome organization and live-cell chromatin imaging. He developed foundational methods to visualize specific DNA loci in living cells and helped establish how chromatin moves, folds and is positioned within the nucleus. His group also created TSA-seq to map genomic proximity to nuclear compartments, revealing that nuclear location is dynamically linked to transcriptional regulation and genome function. Belmont earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Princeton University and both a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) and a Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics from Temple University. He also holds a professorship in the Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology at Illinois.
Carla Cáceres, the director of the School of Integrative Biology and a professor of evolution, ecology and behavior, has been named an Ikenberry Endowed Chair. Established in honor of Stanley Ikenberry’s tenure as the 14th president of the university, the Ikenberry Chair honors a distinguished faculty member at the U. of I.
Cáceres studies the ecological and evolutionary processes that shape natural communities, with a focus on freshwater ecosystems and infectious disease dynamics. Through field-based, experimental and collaborative research, she has helped establish new connections among community ecology, limnology and disease ecology. Her pioneering research accomplishments have been honored through her election as a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Cáceres has also displayed unwavering leadership at the helm of the School of Integrative Biology since 2013. She earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from Cornell University. She holds additional affiliations at Illinois with the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, the Prairie Research Institute and the Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Environment.
Learn more about the named chairs across the university and the faculty who hold those positions. Belmont and Cáceres will be honored in an investiture ceremony, hosted by the Office of the Provost, during the spring semester.
