I. Joseph Kroll Named Robert I. Williams Endowed Term Professor of Physics and Astronomy

I. Joseph Kroll has been named Robert I. Williams Endowed Term Professor of Physics and Astronomy. Kroll’s research is in accelerator-based experimental particle physics, and he has worked on the study of proton-proton collisions, proton-antiproton collisions, and electron-positron collisions. He is currently a member of the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider in Geneva. There, his group has played a leading role in the search and discovery of the Higgs boson and in searches for as-yet-undiscovered particles that may explain unanswered questions in the current standard model of particle physics.

Kroll is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the co-recipient of the 2013 European Physical Society (EPS) High Energy and Particle Physics prize for the discovery of the Higgs boson and the 2019 EPS High Energy and Particle Physics prize for the discovery of the top quark.

Paul C. Williams, W’67, established the Robert I. Williams Endowed Term Chair in memory of his father. At Penn, Williams is an engaged volunteer leader and has served in a variety of leadership roles. He is an emeritus trustee of the University, an emeritus member of the Penn Arts & Sciences Board of Advisors, and a former president of Penn Alumni. In 2011, he earned the University’s Alumni Award of Merit. He also served on the former Biology Department Advisory Board. In addition to his volunteer engagement, Williams has been a generous supporter of faculty, students, capital projects, and programs across the University.