Beckman alumnusSteve Sullivan has contributed to morethan 40 films as headof Research andDevelopment at Industrial Lightand Magic page 7

Al Feng’s ultrasonic fro g :

Beckman researcher

leads team that makes

g ro u n d b reaking discovery

page 2

Joe Ly d i n g ’s career hasbeen built around thescanning tunnelingm i c roscope but his contributions go farbeyond developing newtechnology or innovativere s e a rc h page 5

Diane Beck is anew Beckman f a culty memberbut is alre a d ybeginning a newi n t e rd i s c i p l i n a ryre s e a rch pro j e c tpage 11

The effects of exercise on brain function and flexible electronics are just twoof the Beckman Institute re s e a rch projects making news worldwide page 9

SPRING 2006 BECKMAN INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ISSUE 1

SYNERGYSYNERGY

Feng and his fellow researchers had usedhelmet lights and flashlights to navigate therocks in Tau Hua Creek’s cool, noisy wa t e r sfor almost a week, recording instruments inh a n d, listening in vain for the mating calls ofa unique species of frog known as Amolopst o r m o t u s. They had located the small, tanamphibians whose Chinese name meanssunken ear frog among rocks in the creek,and waited patiently night after night in thatsummer of 2000, hoping for a chorus of whatscientists refer to as advertisement calls fromthe males.

F i n a l l y, one night the scientists heardsharp, musical sounds they took to be com-ing from birds – an assumption, it turned out,the locals had also made when they heardthose same calls. As the sounds of the creek’sother creatures began to die down in the late-night hours, the bird-like calls stood out to the

bored researchers. Their curiosity aroused,t h ey temporarily abandoned the quarry thatbrought them halfway around the world andheaded to the creek bank where the soundswere coming from.

“The first thing we noticed is these aren’tbirds because they are calling from the ground,”Feng said. “They turned out to be frogs. Nex tthing we know, those are our frogs. ”

The team got its recordings, but with themcame a surprise. The readouts of the frog callss h owed unlimited variations and the frequen-c i e s on the high end appeared to extend intothe ultrasound range – a discovery that con-tradicted the biology tex t b o o k s. Amphibiansweren’t thought to produce ultrasound (fre-quencies greater than 20kHz), except perhapsas a fluke byproduct of other communication.The results produced a paper, a story inN a t u r e’s online “Science Update” and media

he scientists’ surroundings were picturesque in daylight but especially hazardous at night:

mountain runoff water rushing between steep, forestedbanks that hindered moonlight from reaching the manyrocks and boulders dotting the creek bed. But it wa s n ’ tthe beauty of the central China resort area or a possiblemisstep leading to injury that occupied Albert Fe n g ’ smind. It was a mounting sense of frustration.

T

Amolops tormotus is a frog species

found only in two regions of China.

Tau Hua Creek in central China,

habitat to Amolops tormotus, was

a noisy and wild

locale for

Beckman

researcher Al

Feng to conduct

his experiments.

2 SPRING NO. 1

BIGTau Hua Creek in Central China. (Photo courtesy of Al Feng)

SYNERGY

T h e L i t t l e F r o g sWith the

S o u n d s

3

attention from NPR to the BBC for the littlefrogs capable of producing limitless soundpatterns and ultrasonic harmonies. What theydidn’t show was how far in the ultrasonicrange the calls were, or answer the largerquestion: were the ultrasonic calls just aby p r o d u c t of an ordinary mating call or we r et h ey used for communication, as is the casewith only a few groups of animals in nature.

Fast forward to May of 2002. Feng and histeam return to the area, focusing their effortso n detecting u l t r a s o n i c calls f r o m t h e A m o l o p s.This time they brought with them Germanbiologist Hans-Ulrich Schnitzler, a preemi-nent expert in ultrasound recording of ani-m a l s in their natural habitat who focuses onbats with ultrasonic echolocation capabilities.The return visit provided a repeat patternof initial frustration followed by some trulyu n expected findings, thanks to Schnitzler’sequipment and adventurous spirit. The resultsof their research, detailed in a 2004 journalarticle by the researchers, showed that bothsongbirds from the area and the Amolopsproduced ultrasound, with the frogs’ callsextending into the high ultrasonic range.

Then in May of 2005, lugging state-of-the-art, PC-based recording equipment created byS c h n i t z l e r, Feng and his associates returnedto the Huangshan Hot Springs to determinefor good whether the little frog with no vis-ible ears could prove the textbooks wrong.What they found should open up a new wayof thinking about ultrasonic communicationamong ve r t e b r a t e s.

sA few years before, Cornell biology pro-

fessor Kraig Adler had directed Feng and hisUCLA colleague Peter Narins to Amolopstormotus because it did not have externale a r d r u m s l i ke all other frog species; rather,it possessed the unique anatomical featureof an ear canal with recessed eardrums. Thatfact alone made the Chinese frog wo r t hy offurther investigation for a researcher like Fe n g ,whose focus at the Beckman Institute forAd vanced Science and Technology is on theneural basis of sound pattern recognition infrogs and bats. Amolops tormotus, or concave -e a r torrent frog, are located in just two regionsof China, both of which feature bodies ofwa t e r. The rainy season in the frog’s habitatsis known to turn meandering creeks intoboisterous venues for wildlife – creating sucha cacophony, in fact, that Feng and his col-leagues often had to shout to one anotherin order to be heard.

In the spring of 2002, it wasn’t the silenceof the Amolops that was frustrating the team,but one of Huangshan’s downpours that pre-

ve n t e d a ny serious research work gettingd o n e. Feng, the team’s leader, decided to callit a night. But Uli, as the outdoorsy Schnitzleris known, reveled at the idea of some rain-s o a ked research and set off to record bats ina nearby cave with equipment that detectsultrasound up to 128 kHz. A few minutesl a t e r, an animated Schnitzler returned withsome astounding new s. The Amolops we r ein full refrain, and their calls were off theultrasonic charts.

“About 15 minutes later he came back andsaid ‘come on up, you guys have to come up,these guys are calling like c r a z y.” Feng said.“And not only that, the call frequencies we r eextending furthest into the ultrasonic range.It went beyond the capacity of Uli’s equip-ment. He said ‘I cannot believe that this canh a p p e n .’ ”

The German biologist was shocke d, aswas Fe n g .

“Bats can do this, dolphins and whales,among underwater mammals, can do this.

But in the ve r t e b r a t e s, it was typically know nthat they are limited to these small groupsof animals that can perform this,” Feng said.“Frogs definitely would not be taken intoconsideration as a remote possibility. So thiscame as shocking news to us. We we r es t u n n e d, in fact.”

The team had another new bit of researchto report, but was still left with the questionof whether this remarkable ultrasonic capa-bility was a byproduct or actual communi-cation. Schnitzler went back to his lab tocustom build a PC-based recording dev i c eand an ultrasonic microphone to capturesounds that would then be digitalized usinga converter and saved as wavefiles. Thedevice Schnitzler created not only couldrecord at the high ultrasonic range Amolops

was capable of, but also could play backthose recorded sounds for use as a stimulus.

Another expedition in the summer of2005 followed and, using digital wavefiles ofAmolops advertising calls, Feng’s team playe dthe calls through loudspeake r s. They got“immediate” feedback, Feng said.

The group was able to see, from real-timere a d o u t s, the stimulus calls were quickly fol-l owe d by antiphonal, or prominent, responses,thus demonstrating a temporal relationshipb e t ween the playback calls and the calls thatf o l l owe d. Some of the responses were in theaudible range and some in the ultrasonicr a n g e, but the fact a chorus was formed basedon an ultrasonic stimulus left no doubt aboutthe purpose of the sounds. The frogs werein fact using ultrasound for communication– and at very high frequencies.

The discovery goes beyond one little frogin China. It has the potential to change notonly the way scientists think about amphib-i a n s, but other species as well. Feng said thisd i s c overy means that ultrasound communi-cation will be likely be found in other crea-tures once scientists are open to the possibil-i t y. “We’ll reevaluate eve r y t h i n g . ”

That reevaluation could include inve s t i-gating the calls of a species of warbler song-birds found along the same streams as theA m o l o p s.

“In the 2002 paper we found some birdsin the same region of China produce somesounds in the ultrasonic r a n g e,” Feng said.“I would not be surprised if this bird also usesultrasound to communicate. If frogs makethis adaptation, it makes sense that othercreatures in the area (also do). We have seenevidence like this, the parallel evo l u t i o n swhere different species converge into asimilar solution.”

Feng said bats use ultrasonic communi-cation in order to avoid cluttering the com-munication chann e l s, but for frogs and birdsto develop the same function is ex t r a o r d i n a r y.

“ T h ey shift the hearing to the upper fre-quencies in order to get around the soundsproduced by other creatures,” Feng said. “Thisfrog is unusual in that regard. The (frogs andbirds) converged on the same solution. Weh ave seen that before but this is probably an ovel form of parallel evolution because thisis totally unex p e c t e d. ”

Feng said the Amolops’ development ofultrasonic capability probably came about asa result of having to communicate in the noisyenvironment of rushing wa t e r s. In their 2002N a t u r w i s s e n s c h a f t e n a r t i c l e, the team reportedthat calling was more active when tempera-t u r e and humidity were high, and found

w w w . b e c k m a n . u i u c . e d u

The discovery goesb eyond one little frogin China. It has thepotential to changenot only the wayscientists think abouta m p h i b i a n s, but otherspecies as we l l .

that “ambient noise from the stream at thecalling sites was intense, especially after ah e avy rainfall.”

“Clearly there are several ways to getaround the noisy background,” Feng said.“One of them is to shift the frequency beyo n d

the spectrum of the background noise. This isseemingly what this particular species is doing.”

The Amolops males were also found toh ave a “rich vocal repertoire” and each indi-vidual male had his own distinctive call.

Feng believes ultrasonic communicationexplains why Amolops developed ear canalsand recessed eardrums. He said that in orderfor the frogs to receive very high frequenciest h ey must have thin eardrums (larger eardrumscouldn’t vibrate at those frequencies), butthat thinness also makes the eardrum vulner-a b l e. So an ear canal deve l o p e d, leading tothe recessed eardrum. At the same time, therecessed eardrum puts the eardrum muchcloser to the inner ear, reducing the mass ofthe middle ear bones that mediate transmis-sion of sound energy from the eardrum tothe inner ear for sound detection.

sIt was that recessed eardrum that caught

Feng’s attention to begin with. Feng came toChina to study a frog with an unusual mor-p h o l o g y. He left it this past year with a newp e r s p e c t i ve on what animals are capable of.The various expeditions culminated with areport in the March 16th issue of N a t u r e,“Ultrasonic Communication in Frogs”, byFeng, Narins, et al.

But this most recent report is not the endfor Feng, or other researchers willing to wa l kthrough the same door. Now that Amolopshas been found to have this capacity, whatother species can also communicate at theultrasonic level? Feng expects the work ofhis team to spur other research.

“I’m sure it will because now we reallyh ave to change the complete modus operandiof (this research),” he said. “This is no longerthe domain of limited groups of animals. ”

But in order to find out which animals,it takes the right equipment.

“This is the thing: unless you have a dev i c eto look for this, and if you don’t look for this,you’ll never find it,” Feng said.

And it takes the right amount of patience.Feng still remembers those nights back in2000 waiting in the rocks of Tau Hua Creekfor the calls that never came. “That was ve r yfrustrating because we came all this way tofind them, wanting to study them and theydidn’t show any overt behav i o r. ”

But the team’s dedication paid off – thatand a willingness to look and listen whereno one had before. Feng said the locals we r esurprised to learn the unique sounds theyheard at night were coming from frogs.

“ T h ey thought they were little birds,” hes a i d. “All of us thought the same thing too.T h ey’re hard to find if you don’t look for them.”

But they did look for them, often by ignor-i n g the advice of wo r kers at the HuangshanHot Springs hotel who warned of the creek’spossible dangers. It could be raining on theh i l l t o p s, they said, and someone in the creekmight not know it until floodwater wa scrashing down on them. Watermarks on t h eboulders 10 feet high and more above thecreek bed testified to what happens whenTau Hua Creek floods.

But the danger or frustration isn’t whatFeng remembers most about his quest tounderstand why one little frog in China hasd i s t i n c t i ve ears.

“This was a fun trip, particularly whenexploring an unknown, that’s always fun,”he said. “There’s always a reason why thingsare different and when you finally under-stand it, it’s just a rewarding ex p e r i e n c e.

“ You explore an unknown and are finallyable to explain it. That’s just tremendoussatisfaction for me.” n

Editor: Sue Johnson, johnso16@uiuc. e d uWriter: Steve Mc G a u g h ey, smcgaugh@uiuc. e d uD e s igner: Amy Harten

Contact information:Office of External Re l a t i o n sBeckman Institute for Advanced Science and Te c h n o l o g y405 N. Ma t h ew s, Urbana, IL 61 8 01w w w. b e c k m a n . u i u c. e d u

is a quarterly publication of the External Relations office of the Beckman Institute for

Ad vanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Each issue will

spotlight the people and science that make the Institute one of the premier facilities for interdisciplinary

research in the wo r l d.

I'm pleased to intro-duce the inaugural issueof S y n e rg y, the BeckmanInstitute for Ad va n c e dScience and Te c h n o l o g y ' sn ew quarterly new s l e t t e r.Synergy was deve l o p e dto highlight currentresearch and help yo u

get to know the people behind it. As youwill see, new and ongoing projects such asthose featured in this issue are putting theBeckman Institute in the spotlight aroundthe wo r l d.

As always, the primary mission at theBeckman Institute is to foster work of thehighest quality at the interface of the phy s i c a l ,computational, engineering, biological, neu-rological, behavioral, and cognitive sciences.Our research initiatives continue to prosperand push the limits, leading to exciting break-t h r o u g h s of global proportions. It is truly aplace where great minds meet.

Ad d i t i o n a l l y, we recently held an opencompetition to seed new research directionsin engineering and the physical, social andlife sciences. The competition brought manyn ew ideas to the table and from them wechose 11 new proposals to fund. These pro-posals are very promising and we hope theywill form the building blocks of a new researchi n i t i a t i ve at the Beckman Institute. You canfind more information about the seed pro-posals on our we b s i t e.

I hope this – and upcoming – issues ofS y n e rg y illustrate how the people and researchat the Beckman Institute are making an impact.

E n j oy !Pierre WiltziusD i r e c t o r

DIRECTORM E S S A G EFROM T H E

The various ex p e d i t i o n sculminated with a r e p o r tin the March 16th issueof N a t u r e, “UltrasonicCommunication in Fr o g s ” ,by Feng, Narins, et al.

4 SPRING NO. 1

SYNERGY

SYNERGY

Photo Credits:Cover Image: Amolops tormotus © Al Feng,

Imaging Technology GroupCover Image: War of the Worlds © ILMCover Image: STM © Don HamermanBeckman In the News: © Don Hamerman

His design of a series of interconnected ultra-h i g h vacuum STMs served as one of thecornerstone technologies of the BeckmanInstitute for Ad vanced Science and Te c h n o l o g yduring its early ye a r s, and today’s refinedversions remain a key part of various inter-disciplinary research projects. This newdesign has been copied worldwide and hasbeen licensed by the University of Illinoisfor commercial production

Lyding’s career as a researcher has beenintertwined with the STM, which prov i d e sboth visualization and manipulation at themicro- and nanoscale. But he has used thetechnology to branch off in many directions,including collaborations involving transistortechnology and development of an atomicresolution patterning technique.

It’s possible none of it would have hap-pened if he had stuck with his original wo r kon electrical measurements of charged den-sity wave s.

“I was already publishing in the other areaand there was sort of a clear track towardgetting tenure,” Lyding said. “But jumpingout of that safety net into the fire was fun,it was exciting, and challenging. To be hon-est with you, that’s where the action is.The safe route is boring.”

Lyding takes the same approach to teach-i n g students and working with postdoctoralresearchers and graduate students in hisgroup. Risky move s, creative research strate-g i e s, and enjoying the work are not onlywhat Lyding practices; they are also whathe preaches. And it’s a message that hasbeen soaked up over the ye a r s.

Scott Schmucker was at the top of hisclass at Case Western Re s e r ve Unive r s i t y,and had his pick of the top engineeringgraduate schools in the country, includinghis first choice of Stanford. That was untilhe visited with the Lyding group and decid-ed to go in another direction.

“When I met with Professor Lyding andthe members of his research group my plansfor graduate study changed completely, ”S c h m u c ker said.

L i ke his teacher, Schmucker’s switch inplans proved successful. Lyding teaches acourse each semester on nanotechnology inwhich he asks his students to think and actl i ke researchers. As part of a discussion ons e l e c t i ve etching of nanow i r e s, Lyding aske dhis students if anyone could come up witha way to remove a gold catalyst withoutdestroying the nanowire. Schmucker pro-posed a sacrificial layer that could be etched,thus removing the catalyst but leaving then a n owire intact.

oe Lyding came to Illinois in 1984to work with the legendary JohnBardeen and explore a research paththat seemed paved with potential.

As a young professor and researcher Lyd i n gstarted off growing crystals for the two -time Nobel Prize winner and colleague JohnTucker as part of their group’s focus oncharged density wave s.

A year later Lyding heard an invited talk ata professional meeting about a revo l u t i o n a r yn ew instrument for atomic scale microscopyand everything changed. He had never heardof the scanning tunneling microscope (STM)that IBM researcher Gerd Binnig was describ-i n g, but his initial reaction was “wow.” His sec-o n d was that he had to make one of his ow n .

It took a year and numerous after-hoursvisits to a student machine shop before Lyd i n gwas actually able to build an STM, finishingjust a month in fact before Binnig and col-league Heinrich Rohrer won the Nobel Prizein Physics for discovering the technology. Butonce the 12-foot tall, four-foot wide instru-ment was finished to Lyding’s satisfaction,the University of Illinois had one of the fewSTMs in the world and Lyding had a newcareer path.

“Once we got atomic resolution, I justdumped what I was doing before and jumpedinto that,” Lyding said. “It was kind of arisky move for an assistant professor but itwo r ked out.”

Lyding’s accomplishments attest to thewisdom of his decision. His discoveries in theareas of microscopy and micro- and nanoscaleresearch and technology are known through-out the fields of phy s i c s, materials science,and engineering.

A year after building that first STM, Lyd i n gwas mowing his lawn when an idea for anultra-stable version popped into his head.

Ly d i n gLeads ByE x a m p l eRisky moves, creative research strategies, ande n j oying the work are not only what Joe Lyding p ractices; they are also what he pre a c h e s.

5

w w w . b e c k m a n . u i u c . e d u

J

“That was just an amazing idea,” Lyd i n gs a i d. “I said to the whole class ‘you all arewitnesses that I think this is an importantidea that should be submitted as an inve n-tion disclosure.’ ”

U n f o r t u n a t e l y, a research group at North-we s t e r n beat Schmucker to the punch byproposing a similar solution in a S c i e n c earticle that appeared shortly before his pro-posal was finished. But the story demon-strates the kind of experience students getwith Lyding.

S c h m u c ker said Lyding brings “an under-standing that any fresh perspective couldyield a solution, be it from a Nobel Laureateor an undergraduate student. Not only doesProfessor Lyding regularly encourage hisstudents to bring their own ideas into theclassroom, it is often ex p e c t e d.”

Mark Hersam, an assistant professor ofMaterials Science and Engineering at North-we s t e r n , first met Lyding when the Beckmanresearcher served as Hersam’s undergraduateacademic advisor. Hersam earned his master’sdegree at Cambridge – on a British MarshallScholarship attained with Lyding’s aid – butit was his undergraduate experiences with theprofessor that drew Hersam back to UIUCfor his Ph.D. He served as a research assis-tant and collaborator with Lyding until earn-i n g his Ph.D. in 2000. Hersam said studentsfeel comfortable with Lyd i n g .

“Joe is very down-to-earth and approach-able,” Hersam said. “His demeanor is thesame in almost all situations – whether it isin class teaching undergraduates or on theb a s ketball court at Ke n n ey Gym. In addi-tion, Joe expresses complicated ideas in aclear and logical manner, which makes hislectures exceptionally understandable. ”

Lyding’s style when it comes to ex p l a i n-ing research is such that Hersam said hedoesn’t remember Lyding ever receiving aclarification question from the audiencef o ll owing a lecture at a professional meet-ing. “Clearly, Joe is a gifted teacher at leve l s,from undergraduates to Ph.Ds. ”

Perhaps that ability comes from Lyd i n g ’ steaching philosophy.

“I think it’s far more important to thinkabout what the students need than what In e e d,” Lyding said. “I’m satisfied with myc a r e e r, I’ve had a good time, and enjoy whatI’m doing. But I get a lot of satisfaction outof seeing the students excel. My philosophyis they are going to excel if they’re happy,and in order for them to be happy they needto be empowe r e d. ”

Josh Ballard has a Ph.D. in physical chem-i s t r y and collaborates with Lyding as a Beck-

m a n Fe l l ow. Ballard said Lyding’s love ofdoing research makes him an excellent rolemodel when it comes to inspiring yo u n g e rstudents and postdocs.

“ You can see that he really enjoys thescience that he’s doing by the fact that hem a kes such an effort to spend time in lab,which he doesn’t have to do,” Ballard said.“ You can see that you can go on in life afterbeing a student and a postdoc and can stillcontinue enjoying science. ”

Ballard said that quality makes Lyd i n gdifferent than most high profile researchers.

“He’s different in that he’s made a choiceto spend time in lab,” Ballard said. “I thinkhe really enjoys not only writing researchproposals and papers but doing the nittygritty stuff.”

Hersam said Lyding is different inanother way.

“Joe is the most humble professor that Ih ave ever met,” Hersam said. “In an era whenu n i versities are increasingly populated withprima donnas, Joe quietly goes about hisbusiness and lets the high quality of his wo r kdo the talking.”

Lyding’s students and postdocs like Ballards ay the approach wo r k s.

“I came here based on the reputation forproducing high quality science, but the intan-g i b l e s of working for, or rather I would liketo say with him, have far exceeded any thingI would have ex p e c t e d,” Ballard said.

While he loves doing research, Lyding saidteaching is still the most important work thatgoes on at a unive r s i t y.

“This is a university and the key outputof this university is trained students at alll eve l s,” he said. ‘At a major research unive r-s i t y, producing highly-trained M.S. and Ph.D.graduates is the most important thing.”

Lyding certainly has been successful insending young scientists off to high-level posi-

t i o n s in academia and industry. Three of hisformer students have tenured positions.

“It’s very satisfying,” Lyding said. “They ’ veall gotten tenure at other places and aredemonstrating success that has mostly todo with themselves, but I think also hassomething to do with the experience thatt h ey have at Illinois. ”

Lyding and Beckman colleague Karl Hesscollaborated on a project involving hyd r o g e n /deuterium desorption from silicon surfacesand its potential impact on transistor tech-nology. The original idea came to Lydingmuch like the one for the ultra-stable STM– a sudden insight – during a casual conve r-sation with Hess.

“I asked him ‘has anybody tried deuteri-um in transistors’ and he jumped out of hisc h a i r, ” Lyding said. “It was one of those typemoments. It was sort of perfectly obviousto him.”

As a result of that work several majorc h i p m a kers have either used deuterium inproduction or in the advanced deve l o p m e n tof their latest technologies.

The STM was part of that research project,as well as the key component in a recentproject with Martin Gruebele for single-molecule absorption spectroscopy. Lyd i n gsaid the STM allows researchers to visualizethe actual effects of technologies or methodsthat theorists can only speculate might wo r kin areas of nanoscience and nanotechnology.He said STM technology allows researchersto make and test future applications andideas and get fundamental information abouth ow they work. One project currently in theinitial stages invo l ves putting molecules andcarbon nanotubes on silicon and using opto-electronic materials like gallium arsenide aspossible precursors for making molecularscale transistors.

“That’s what the STM allows you to do,”Lyding said. “We can make now things thatare way over the horizon but could becomeextremely important as silicon technologyruns out of gas. ”

Transistors made of single molecules orcarbon nanotubes may be in the future, butLyding’s group is visualizing their potentialt o d ay. Nowa d ays the STMs are the size of aperson’s thumb and University machinistsfashion the hardware according to Lyd i n g ’ ss p e c s. But the approach is still the same.

“What I tell my students is what you needto do is have fun because the best ideas yo u ’ r egoing to have are going to come out of yo u rc r e a t i v i t y,” he said. n

Joe Lyding, standing next to the STM in hislab at Beckman, earned an excellent teacherr a t i ng in 2005 while his research efforts haveled to breakthroughs such as single-moleculeabsorption spectroscopy.

6 SPRING NO. 1

SYNERGY

A decade ago Steve Sullivan was a research assistant atthe Beckman Institute on the lookout for job opportunit i e swhen he decided against a career in academia or one ofthe traditional industry outlets for an engineer with abrand new Ph.D. Instead, he chose to go to Hollywo o d.

MAKING MOVIE MAGICSullivan Goes From Beckman to

As head of research and development

at Industrial Light & Magic, Beckman

alumnus Steve Sullivan is a key player

in the world of movie special effects.

(Photo courtesy of ILM)

w w w . b e c k m a n . u i u c . e d u

7

As an electrical engineer, Sulliva n ’ sdreams of making it in the movie businessdiffered from the standard Hollywood for-mula. Sullivan wanted to work behind thecamera and knew the computer vision tech-niques he focused on at Beckman could pro-v i d e r e a l - world solutions to mov i e m a kers whoin the 1990s were grappling with how to applyn ew digital technologies to some of the prob-l e m s inherent in traditional filmmaking.

But like many a Tinsel Town dreamer,S u l l i van was hit with a spark of inspirationemanating from the screen. He was wa t c h-ing a TV documentary about the makingof Jurassic Pa r k and instantly realized thatcomputer vision techniques could replacethe laborious and restrictive camera loca-tion methods the show was describing forcreating special effects.

“It was talking about how movies havethis problem of matchmoving and figuringout where the cameras were and objects we r eand that is computer vision,” Sullivan said.

S u l l i van began talking to people in theindustry and telling them about computervision techniques that could solve specialeffects problems. In 1996 he landed a jobwith a graphics company in Los Angelescalled Rhythm and Hues that did work forthe mov i e s.

“So that’s how I got into the industry. ”S u l l i van said. “I was applying exactly thosethings that had I wo r ked on at Beckman.”

But his dream job was to work at GeorgeLucas’ famed special effects company Indus-trial Light and Magic, located in northernCalifornia. That desire was realized in 1998and since then the Beckman alumnus hasbeen, well, living large: winner of an Ac a d e myAward for technical achievement, soon-to-beWhite House honoree, and, oh ye s, recipientof a kiss from actress Charlize Theron.

Not the usual perks for someone with aPh.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineeringfrom the University of Illinois. But thenS u l l i van is not your typical electrical engineer,according to Jean Ponce of the ArtificialIntelligence group. Ponce served as teacher,academic advisor and mentor to Sulliva nwhen he wo r ked in Ponce’s Computer Visionand Robotics group at Beckman.

“He was this kid from Missouri with af u n ny haircut. But he wanted to do some-thing with himself,” Ponce said.

Ponce said ambition wasn’t the only thingthat separated Sullivan from his peers.

“ S t eve was an interesting guy, and a funperson as well,” he said. “He had a gift forperson-to-person relationships that I think israre for a Ph.D. student because they focus

on their work. But Steve had other interests. ”S u l l i van’s early graduate studies were in

areas like medical imaging and robotics beforelater focusing on topics such as image-basedmodeling and 3-D tracking that would play arole in his future career. He joined IndustrialLight and Magic just as the movie industrywas looking to incorporate the kind of com-puter vision techniques he learned as aresearch assistant for Po n c e.

At that time, computers had widely beenused to create special effects. But the mov i e-making process was still hampered by theage-old methods of calculating camera anglesand positions by hand, while filming theeffects separately from the rest of the filmand then integrating them, sometimes clum-s i l y, into the mov i e.

S u l l i van was a pioneer in writing algo-rithms for computer-vision software for auto-m a t i c camera-tracking. The computer visionm a t c h m oving method measures two - d i m e n-sional and 3-D objects in images (a processcalled photogrammertry), and then recon-structs them for integration with specialeffects. The technique is a more efficientand robust process for creating special effectsand gives them a much more realistic lookthan before.

To d ay, computer vision methods likem a t c h m oving and photogrammertry havebecome the standard as special effects andm oviemaking in general underwent a revo-lutionary change in the last few years withthe advent of digital technology. Sulliva nsaid computer vision frees filmmakers toshoot the movie they want because the spe-cial effects can be integrated seamlessly oncefilming is done.

“It changed the kinds of stories that canh ave effects in them,” Sullivan said. “Theycan take it for granted now that you can puteffects anywhere you want to put them.”

In 2001, Sullivan won an Ac a d e my Awa r din Technical Ac h i evement for deve l o p m e n tof the ILM Motion and Structure Re c ove r ySystem (MARS) and two years later, he wa snamed Director of Research and Deve l o p m e n tat ILM. Sullivan and ILM continue to breakn ew ground in movie special effects. One oftheir major goals is to create the first com-pletely digital, realistic human actor.

“ We do basic R&D to make sure that’sgoing to be possible when the movie comesalong,” Sullivan said, “but you won’t see thatcome out on the screen until the right mov i ecomes along.”

S u l l i van said another big project, in concertwith the LucasArts video game company, isto develop a virtual reality, game-basedmethod of collaborative mov i e m a k i n g .Sullivan said this new project could be asimportant as computer vision in changingthe way movies are made. The programwould allow writers, directors and otherp l ayers to engage in virtual storyboard ses-sions that could let them know, among othert h i n g s, exact camera shots and positions priorto shooting the scenes.

“This is really about tools for the directorand tools for the artist to work collabora-t i vely with each other, rather than assembly-line fashion, which is what they do now, ”S u l l i van said. “The same way you mighth ave a multi-player video game where yo uh ave characters running around in this com-p u t e r graphics world and you have a certainv i ewpoint on that, a director could work inthat style to make their mov i e. ”

Changing the way movies are made andcontributing to special effects blockbustersl i ke Minority Re p o r t and the Star Wa r s saga isa dream career for many. But Sullivan hassome very down-to-earth advice for thosestudents who would like to follow in hisf o o t s t e p s.

“First, take as much math as you canpossibly get,” Sullivan said. “You’ll neverregret that. It’s very easy to learn programsor new systems when you’re out in the wo r k-f o r c e but very, very difficult to learn newmath on the job. ”

Su l l i van also says that anyone interested inworking on computer games should becomepart of the development process.

“Get an evaluation copy or buy a licensefor one of these 3-D packages and try makingvisual effects on your own,” he said. “Yo uh ave to try it to really understand it.”

T h i r d l y, he said, “look for applicationsoutside of what you know.

“I’m the poster child for that. I had no ideathis would apply to visual effects but just by

“Look for applicationsoutside of what you know.I’m the poster child forthat. Paying attentionto what other fields’problems are . . . it’s ag r e a t way to do s o m e t h i n gthat’s brand new.”

8 SPRING NO. 1

SYNERGY

p aying attention to what other fields’ prob-lems are, even if you don’t know the solu-tion, it’s a great way to do something that’sbrand new. “

S u l l i van said his time at Beckman paidoff in that regard.

“That was what was really great aboutBeckman is you were exposed to all thesedifferent disciplines that may have, on thes u r f a c e, very little to do with each other, ”he said. “But down at the bottom they aresolving a lot of the same problems. I thinkbeing at Beckman four years gave me thatawareness and appreciation for other fields. ”

Sullivan said there was a “very directrelationship” between what he wo r ked onat Beckman and his current work.

“Matchmoving, image-based modeling,those are exactly the things I wo r ked on atBeckman in the AI group there,” he said.

“Then there’s the second-level stuff thatis just as important,” he added, “all the classesI took at the U of I as part of the Ph.D. coursework like control theory and optimization,numerical analysis. Things at the time thatm aybe I wasn’t so interested in but had tot a ke as part of the degree. But they turnedout to be extremely important, if only forsome of the fundamental concepts like know-i n g if something is possible or knowing thatthings are related in a certain way is usefult o d ay. I don’t think I’d have that perspectivehad I not gone through that course and wo r ke din that group.”

S u l l i van enjoys the various rewards andhonors he has receive d, including the Ac a d e my

Award in 2001 when he received the peckfrom Charlize Theron.

“It was great,” he said with a laugh. “I haveno reservations on that. That was really fun.”

S u l l i van will be part of an ILM contin-gent going to the White House to be hon-ored by President Bush with the NationalMedal of Te c h n o l o g y, an award given toArnold Beckman in 1988. The NationalMedal of Technology is the highest honorawarded by the President of the UnitedStates to those who have made outstandingcontributions to America through techno-logical innova t i o n .

“ Talk about the right place at the rightt i m e,” Sullivan said. “(The National Medalof Technology is) going to George and ILMfor the scope of all their technology adva n c e sover the ye a r s, but it’s great to be invo l ve din something like that.”

Ponce said he tells his classes and audi-ences at talks that some people may not con-s i d e r computer vision useful. The he tellsthem about Sulliva n .

“I show a picture of him with one of theStars Wars robots and say his success hasnothing to do with me. It’s his success, butthe fact that this kind of work can lead to acareer and impact on movies and industryis great.”

Ponce mimicked his audiences’ custom-ary response with a reaction that would makea special effects guru proud: his eyes widenand he say s, “They are like ‘ahhhhhhh.’” n

A SA M P L I N G O F BE C K M A N IN S T I T U T E R E S E A RC H

P RO J E C TS R E C E I V I N G N AT I O N A L M E D I A AT T E N T I O N

I N JA N UA RY A N D FE B RUA RY O F 2006:

DE T E C T I O N O F DNA O N

NA N OT U B E S OF F E R S NE W SE N S I N G,SE Q U E N C I N G TE C H N O L O G I E S

February 17, 2006. Michael Stra n o of theBeckman Institute has new research show i n gthat carbon nanotubes can be used to targetspecific DNA sequences.UI NE WS RE L E A S E | PH Y SOR G.C O M | M&CSC I E N C E A N D NAT U R E | NA N OT E C H W I R E

TR A I N I N G BE N E F I TS BR A I N S I N OL D E R

PE O P L E, CO U N T E R S AG I N G FAC TO R

February 16, 2006. N ew research by theBeckman Institute’s Kirk I. Erickson a n dArt Kra m e r s h ows that training re-igniteskey areas of the brain, offsetting some age-related declines and boosting performance.UI NE WS RE L E A S E | SE N I O R JO U R N A L |HI N D U S TA N TI M E S | ME D I CA L NE WS TO DAY |JO U R N A L TI M E S | SE N I O R JO U R N A L

TO CO N C E N T R AT E, CU T T H E NO I S E

February 14, 2006. Denise Pa r k, co-directorof the Center for Healthy Minds at theU. of I.’s Beckman Institute, says if you haveto concentrate, it wouldn’t hurt to turn offthe radio, TV or other unnecessary noises.WA S H I N GTO N PO S T

CA P S U L E S CA N RE L E A S E

DRU G S O N DE M A N D

February 14, 2006. S a h raoui Chaieb, a facultymember in the Biological Sensors g r o u p ,has created temperature-sensitive capsulesthat can release drugs on demand.IN N OVAT I O N S RE P O RT | SC I E N C E DA I LY

ST U D I E S SH OW TH AT EX E RC I S E IM P ROV E S

AL L SO RTS O F BR A I N FU N C T I O N S

February 6, 2006. “The way I think about itis that fitness changes the building blocks –the structure and function – that supportnumerous cognitive abilities,” says U. of I.

R ECENT B ECK MAN I N ST I T U T E RES E A R C H

N E W S

The Chronicles of Narnia from 2006 is just one of more than 40 films Steve Sullivan has workedon since joining Industrial Light & Magic in 1998. (Photo courtesy of ILM)

w w w . b e c k m a n . u i u c . e d u

9

p s ychology professor Arthur Kra m e r, direc-t o r of the Beckman Institute’s B i o m e d i c a lImaging Center.AU S T I N AM E R I CA N- STAT E S M A N

‘ FI V E-S E C O N D RU L E’

February 3, 2006. Think twice before yo upick up that dropped Super Bowl snack. Af ew ye a r s ago, the “five-second rule” was putto the test at the Beckman Institute’sM i c ro s c o py Suite and it was found thatfood had a significant amount of bacteria onit after less than five seconds on floors thathad been purposely contaminated.SAC R A M E N TO BE E

RE S E A RC H E R S FI N D TI E S BE T W E E N

AC T I V I T Y A N D HE A LT H, HA P P I N E S S

January 29, 2006. P hysical activity not onlytends to make senior citizens more fit, butalso might improve their quality of life, andon a long-term basis, Beckman Institute fac-ulty member and UI kinesiology professorE d wa rd Mc Au l ey said recently.TH E NE WS- GA Z E T T E

D N A-W R A P P E D CA R B O N NA N OT U B E S

SE RV E A S SE N S O R S I N LI V I N G CE L L S

January 26, 2006. S i n g l e - walled carbon nan-otubes wrapped with DNA can be placedinside living cells and detect trace amountsof harmful contaminants using near infraredlight, report researchers including M i c h a e lS t ra n o; affiliate faculty member in theN a n o e l e c t ronics and B i o p h o to n i c s g r o u p .UI NE WS RE L E A S E | EU R E K AL E RT | SC I E N C E

DA I LY | PH Y SOR G.C O M | DA I LY SC I E N C E NE WS |IN N OVAT I O N S RE P O RT | ME D I CA L NE WS TO DAY |ME D G A D G E T.C O M| NA N OT E C H W I R E.C O M

| UN I T E D PR E S S IN T E R N AT I O N A L | NA N OT E C H N O L O G Y

NE WS | MO N S T E R S A N D CR I T I C S.C O M | DI G I TA L

SI L E N C E | AZONA N O.C O M | MI D D L E EA S T NO RT H

AF R I CA FI N A N C I A L NE T WO R K | PH OTO N I C S.C O M

| ME D I CA L TE C H N O L O G Y BU S I N E S S EU RO P E |LI V E SC I E N C E

FI T N E S S CO U N T E R AC TS CO G N I T I V E DE C L I N E

F ROM HO R MO N E-R E P L AC E M E N T TH E R A PY

January 24, 2006. Women pondering hormone-replacement therapy also should considerregular exe r c i s e. A new study done by K i r kE r i c k s o n, HPP faculty member A r t h u rK ra m e r, and other Beckman researcherssuggests that being physically fit offsets cog-n i t i ve declines attributed to long-term therapy.UI NE WS RE L E A S E | EU R E K A AL E RT | IN N OVAT I O N S

RE P O RT | UN I T E D PR E S S IN T E R N AT I O N A L |SC I E N C E DA I LY | MO N S T E R S A N D CR I T I C S.C O M

NE W TH E O RY EX P L A I N S EL E C T RO N I C A N D

TH E R M A L BE H AV I O R O F NA N OT U B E S

January 19, 2006. Re s e a r c h e r s, includingComputational Electro n i c s faculty memberJ e a n - P i e r re Leburto n, have made an impor-t a n t theoretical breakthrough in the under-standing of energy dissipation and thermalb r e a kd own in metallic carbon nanotubes. Theird i s c overy will help move nanotube wires fromlaboratory to marke t p l a c e.UI NE WS RE L E A S E | CA L I FO R N I A CO M P U T E R

NE WS | MO N S T E R S & CR I T I C S.C O M | SC I E N C E

DA I LY | NA N OT E C H N O L O G Y NE WS | NE W KE R A L A

| UN I T E D PR E S S IN T E R N AT I O N A L | WE B IN D I A

123 | PH Y SOR G.C O M | IN N OVAT I O N S RE P O RT |NA N OT E C H N O L O G Y NOW | EU R E KAL E RT | SM A L L

TI M E S | NA N OT E C H W I R E.C O M | CCN MAG A Z I N E

| PR E S SZO O M | LI N U XEL E C T RO N S |A ZONA N O.C O M

SE L F-H E A L I N G MAT E R I A L S

January 17, 2006. Ad vanced ChemicalSys t e m s faculty member Scott R. White i sc o l l a b o r a t i n g with Duke University engineer-ing professor Adrian Bejan on plans for self-repairing skins for airplanes and automobiles.NE WS & OB S E RV E R ( RA L E I G H, N.C.) | SPAC E.C O M

CA N YO U PR E V E N T AL Z H E I M E R’S DI S E A S E?

January 16, 2006. Human Pe rception andPe r fo r m a n c e faculty member and Psyc h o l o g yprofessor Arthur Kra m e r is among theresearchers studying the relationship betwe e nc a r d i ovascular fitness and cognitive health.TI M E MAG A Z I N E

SC I E N T I S T CR E AT E S FL E X I B L E EL E C T RO N I C S

January 16, 2006. It is expected that the flex-ible electronics device may be applied in avariety of uses, ranging from biological tissuesto integrated robot sensors. N a n o e l e c t ro n i c sand Biophoto n i c s faculty member J o h nRo ge rs is a co-author of a paper on the sub-ject that appeared in the journal S c i e n c e.DO N G A ( SE O U L) | SC I E N C E NE WS

NAT U R E MAT E R I A L S JO U R N A L COV E R

DE S I G N E D BY I TG FO R RO G E R S GRO U P

January 2006. The cover of the January 2006issue of Nature Ma t e r i a l s accompanies anarticle by John Ro ge rs’ research group onstamp-printable micro/nanostructures. ChasC o nway and Ben Grosser helped lead authorMatt Meitl photograph and prep the cove rimage in ITG’s Visualization, Media, andImaging Laboratory.NAT U R E MAT E R I A L S

AM BA S SA D O R TO U.S. WA N TS

BI L AT E R A L RE L AT I O N S ST R E N GT H E N E D

January 14, 2006. On a visit to Illinois thatincluded a tour of the Beckman Institute,Angolan ambassador to the United States ofAmerica, Josefina Pitra Diakite, said there isstill much room for the growth of relationsb e t ween the two countries, despite the cur-rent level of politico-diplomatic understand-ing she regarded as good.AN G O L APR E S S

RE S E A RC H E R S MO D E L NA N O-S I Z E

BAT T E RY TO B E IM P L A N T E D

I N EY E TO POW E R ART I F I C I A L RE T I N A

January 12, 2006. A multi-institutional, mult i-d i s c i p l i n a r y team directed by Eric Jako b s s o nof the Computational Electro n i c s g r o u p ,is developing a nano-size battery that oned ay may be implanted in the eye to powe ran artificial retina.NA N OT E C H W I R E.C O M | LI N U XEL E C T RO N S.C O M |PH Y SOR G.C O M | CH E M I E IN FO R M AT I O N SE RV I C E

| EL E C T RO N I C EN G I N E E R I N G TI M E S |NA N OT E C H N O L O G Y.C O M | SA N D I A NAT I O N A L LS

NE WS RE L E A S E | AVS | ME DGA D G E T | NSTI |ME D I CA L TE C H N O L O G Y BU S I N E S S EU RO P E |AL B U Q U E R Q U E TR I B U N E | SI T NE WS | WI N D S O R

( ON TA R I O) STA R

RE S E A RC H TI E S FI T N E S S TO

BE T T E R BR A I N FU N C T I O N

January 9, 2006. “The way I think about it isthat fitness changes the building blocks – thestructure and function – that support numer-o u s c o g n i t i ve abilities,” says Art Kra m e r,Human Pe rception and Pe r fo r m a n c egroup faculty member and director of theBiomedical Imaging Center at Illinois. LO S AN G E L E S TI M E S | TH E TI M E S- DI S PATC H

( RI C H M O N D, VA.)

IN LOV E WI T H RE A L I T Y TRU LY, MA D LY, VI RT UA L LY

January 8, 2006. Hank Kaczmars k i a n dRose Mars h a c k of the I n t e g rated Sys t e m sL a b o ra to r y discuss virtual reality in theCA N VAS project at the Krannert Art Museum.NE W YO R K TI M E S | IN T E R N AT I O N A L HE R A L D

TR I B U N E

IL L I N O I S SC I E N T I S TS ST U DY I N G HOW LI F E

EM E R G E S F ROM IN A N I M AT E MAT T E R

January 8, 2006. H ow life emerges from thei n t e r p l ay of inanimate matter is the goal ofa n ew $5 million grant from the NationalScience Foundation. Among those whose

SYNERGY

10 SPRING NO. 1

It didn’t take Diane Beck long after arriv-i n g at the Beckman Institute for Ad va n c e dScience and Technology to start doing sometruly interdisciplinary research.

Beck, a full-time faculty member in theC o g n i t i ve Neuroscience group, focuses onh ow our cognitive processes and neural struc-t u r e s both enable and limit our visual repre-sentations of the wo r l d.

“I’m interested in the sort of things likew hy is it when we’re looking right at some-one but, say we’re deep in thought or busydoing something else, that we fail to see them,”she said. “This suggests we have this limitationthat we can only process a certain amountof information at the same time.”

Beck came to Beckman and the Unive r s i t yof Illinois in the fall of 2005 chiefly, she say s,because of “the number of fantastic facultyhere that I have common interests with.

“I would call myself somebody interestedin visual cognition and the brain. There’sfantastic visual cognition people here andfantastic brain and cognition people here,so it was a perfect place for me. ”

After only a few months at the Institute,Professor Beck is already expanding her inter-e s t s to include a collaboration with Electricaland Computer Engineering Professor Fe i - Fe iLi. Beck and Li, a full-time Beckman facultymember in the Artificial Intelligence group,are starting a research line that invo l ves usingcomputer vision techniques to analyze fMRIdata. The project began when Beck and Lit a l ked at a Beckman social gathering aboutworking together and then came up with theidea during lunch at the cafe – in other wo r d s,

a classic tale of how interdisciplinary collab-o r a t i o n s often begin at the Institute.

“A nice thing is that because she’s a com-puter vision person, she actually brings a lotof mathematical sophistication that is lesscommon in the field of fMRI because theylook at data a little bit differently,” Beck said.“This is a good one for Beckman because itwouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for t h eBeckman Institute. It’s because she’s f i vedoors down that I’m even talking to her. ”

Beck is diversifying the Institute’s researchportfolio in another way by introducing animaging method called transcranial magneticstimulation (TMS) to Beckman’s Biomed-i c a l Imaging Center. She said TMS allowsresearchers to disrupt activity in certainregions of the brain as a complementarytechnique for use with functional MRI.

“Then you’ll get an idea of whether thatbrain region was at least in part responsiblefor the behav i o r,” she said.

A native of Wellington, New Zealand,Beck and her family moved to SouthernCalifornia when she was 12. She got her

Ph.D. in psychology from the Unive r s i t yof California at Berke l ey in 1998 and wa sa postdoc at Princeton University andU n i versity College London, where shebegan her current work in the limitations ofthe visual system. But her future researchwork at Beckman could be going in newd i r e c t i o n s. Even her collaboration with Libegan with an idea about one researchproject before the concept for applyingcomputer vision techniques to fMRI datacame up.

“So we decided to go down that road,which is completely different from how wes t a r t e d,” Beck said. “It is an amazing thingthat just having people in the same placeis such a good idea.” n

PROFILE

Diane Beck, a member of the Cognitive Neurosciencegroup at Beckman, joined the Institute in 2 0 0 5 w i t ha focus on the limitations of the visual system.

work is funded by the grant is chemist Z a i d aL u t h ey - S c h u l t e n, a part-time faculty memberof the T h e o retical and ComputationalB i o p hys i c s g r o u p .CH I CAG O TR I B U N E

A HE A D FO R MU S I C

January 8, 2006. In an essay, R i c h a rdPowe rs, a professor of English at Illinoisand an affiliate faculty member of theC o g n i t i ve Neuro s c i e n c e group, considersrecent research on Mozart, Beethoven andthe public fascination with unsolved med-ical my s t e r i e s.NE W YO R K TI M E S

IM P ROV I N G AI RC R A F T SA F E T Y

January 5, 2006. For the past three decades,Chris Wicke n s of the Human Pe rc e p t i o nand Pe r fo r m a n c e group, has been wo r k i n gto improve the display of visual informationin airplane cockpits.APS OB S E RV E R

AR E YO U LO S I N G IT? MI D L I F E

FO R G E T F U L N E S S MI G H T JU S T BE A

PA RT O F AG I N G

January 3, 2005. Human Pe rception andPe r fo r m a n c e faculty member Denise Pa r kis quoted in article about the memories ofmiddle-aged people as compared to oldera d u l t s.OCA L A.C O M

EX E RC I S E BE N E F I TS SE D E N TA RY SE N I O R S

January 1, 2006. Illinois researchers havefound that formerly sedentary seniors whobegan exercising experienced physical andp s ychological benefits. The study is co-authored E d wa rd Mc Au l ey, a part-timefaculty member in the Human Pe rc e p t i o nand Pe r fo r m a n c e g r o u p .BA LT I M O R E SU N | ME D I C I N ENE WS.N E T ( ITA LY)

“I’m interested in thesort of things like why isit when we’re lookingright at someone but, saywe’re deep in thought orbusy doing something else,that we fail to see t h e m . ”

11

w w w . b e c k m a n . u i u c . e d u