Among this year's newly-elected members of the National Academy of Sciences is Vallee Visiting Professor Stephen G Sligar, PhD, who has served on the faculty of the University of Illinois since 1982. He now holds the University of Illinois Swanlund Endowed Chair and is Director of the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology. His research seeks a precise understanding of the mechanisms of biological oxidation, the structure of collective assemblies of organized protein, lipid, and nucleic acid systems, the basis of molecular recognition in protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid complexes, and the detailed chemistry and physical operation of oxygenase and oxidase catalysis.