May 22, 2024
Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to announce that the 2024 recipient of the Arthur L. Kelly Faculty Prize for Exceptional Service in the Physical Sciences Division is John Carlstrom.
The prize was established in the Division in 2013 by Arthur L. Kelly, who received his MBA from the University in 1964 and established the same faculty prize at Chicago Booth in 1999. In addition to his contributions to finance, business, international relations, and geography, Kelly served as Trustee of the University from 1988–2008 and has served two decades on the PSD Council, including ten years as chair. It is fitting that his contributions to the Division and the University are honored through this award.
The Kelly Prize celebrates faculty who, outside of their teaching and research, have made exceptional efforts in promoting and supporting the Division. Previous winners include Ka Yee Lee and John Frederick (2013); Anne Rogers and Michael Hopkins (2014); Robert Fefferman and Robert Wald (2015); Michael Foote (2016); Michael Stein (2017); Richard Jordan (2018); Stephen Stigler (2019); Bryan Dickinson, Margaret Gardel, and Chuan He (2020); Aaron Dinner and Stuart Kurtz (2021); Young-Kee Kim and Edward "Rocky" Kolb (2022); and Michael J. Franklin and Dan Nicolae (2023).
John Carlstrom, Subramanyan Chandrasekhar Distinguished Service Professor in the Departments of Astronomy & Astrophysics and Physics, the Enrico Fermi Institute, and the College, receives this prize in recognition of his critical contributions to the Physical Sciences Division and the continued success of both academic departments. Carlstrom served as Director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics from 2005 to 2008, helping establish and strengthen the University’s preeminence in cosmology and related fields, and working to ensure the institute’s future as an endowed unit. He then served as Chair of the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics from 2017 to 2022. During this time, he led the hiring of eight new tenure-line faculty members, transforming the department into a vibrant, forward-looking, and world-leading research unit; oversaw the launch and growth of the undergraduate Astronomy & Astrophysics major; and shepherded and successfully steered the department through the COVID-19 pandemic. His work established the University of Chicago as the international hub for cosmic microwave background research, leading a flagship endeavor for the Physical Sciences Division that will culminate in the University’s central role in the CMB-S4 project.
The Kelly Prize will be awarded at the PSD Convocation ceremony on June 1. Please join me in congratulating John on this much-deserved honor.
All the best,
Ka Yee C. Lee
Interim Dean, Physical Sciences Division | The University of Chicago
David Lee Shillinglaw Distinguished Service Professor