December 7, 2021    
 
Short List
 
News for the UChicago community
 
 
 
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, UChicago infectious disease specialist Emily Landon emerged as a beacon of knowledge and comfort—not just for the immediate community, but for the United States and even beyond. She found herself an unlikely celebrity of sorts—a pandemic pundit—and according to a hometown magazine, a Chicagoan of the year.
 
As yet another coronavirus variant emerges, we’ll keep turning to Landon and her colleagues for guidance for the foreseeable future. For now, you’ll find her in this issue’s UChicagoan section. Keep reading for another woman of the year: US Masters swimmer and newly minted centenarian Maurine Kornfeld, AB’42, AM’48.
 
 
       
  Top of mind    
 
 
1. Unending sentences
 
For the formerly incarcerated, argues Crown Family School associate professor Reuben Jonathan Miller, AM’07, homecoming is both a gift and an obstacle course. UChicago Magazine brings you an excerpt from his acclaimed book on the cost of freedom. More ➞
 
Listen to Miller talk about the book on NPR’s Fresh Air.
 
Hear Miller discuss the “afterlife” of mass incarceration on Big Brains.
 
 
 
2. Action!
 
As a scholar of early Black cinema, Cinema and Media Studies’ Allyson Nadia Field has brought seminal filmmakers to the public eye—including the founder of Chicago’s Foster Photoplay Company. More ➞
 
Read about Field’s identification of a groundbreaking silent film.
 
 
 
3. A deep dive into water sustainability
 
How can artificial intelligence and machine learning combat the global water crisis? Pritzker Molecular Engineering and Argonne scientist Junhong Chen joins Big Brains to explain. More ➞
 
Learn about PME’s history of research into water resources.
 
 
       
  Plus . . .    
 
 
Two Thanksgiving heart transplants  +  The economics of discrimination  +  Remembering the Reader’s undergraduate food critic  +  Campus North’s art gallery  +  Breaking a law—of physics  +  See more stories
 
 
       
  Things to do    
 
December 9
 
 
 
While space remains!
 
Book a spring trip to Italy with UChicago Alumni’s travel program ➞
 
         
         
    See more things to do    
         
         
 
       
  On the job    
 
Job of the week
 
Trusts and estates paralegal, Handler Thayer ➞
 
         
         
    See more jobs    
         
         
 
 
 
Professional development
 
January 19
 
Learn to speak tech ➞
 
         
         
    See more job resources    
         
         
 
 
       
  UChicagoan    
 
 
Emily Landon
 
 
Surge protector
 
Hailing the infectious disease specialist as a sorely needed voice of reason, Chicago magazine named Emily Landon one of its Chicagoans of the Year. More ➞
 
       
  Postscript    
 
 
Another lap
 
Record-setting masters swimmer Maurine Kornfeld, AB’42, AM’48, started competing at 60, turned 100 last month, and has no plans to slow down. More ➞
 
 
 
The editors welcome letters about our content or about the life of the University. Send your comments or updates for Alumni News to uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu.
 
 
 
The University of Chicago Alumni and Friends
 
 
 
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