PASADENA—Richard M. Murray has been named chair of the Division of Engineering and Applied Science at the California Institute of Technology. The announcement was made by Steve Koonin, vice president and provost.

Murray replaces John Seinfeld, who is returning to full-time faculty and research duties after serving 10 years in the office. The appointment becomes effective June 1, and has been approved by the Caltech Board of Trustees.

PASADENA—In the world of engineering and applied science, ideas that look good on the drawing board often turn out to have annoying real-world problems, even though the finished products still look pretty good. An example is the aluminum car engine, which has the advantage of being lightweight, but tends to wear out more quickly than its heavier steel counterpart.

In a novel process that makes the evolution of species look like an engineering design contest, California Institute of Technology scientists have forced a bacterial strain to "evolve" a beta caratenoid enzyme . The evolved enzyme can carry out reactions that normally require other proteins and expensive agents. These reactions are important for making drugs and chemicals.

Dr. Richard Roberts, an assistant professor of chemistry at the California Institute of Technology, has been named a Beckman Young Investigator by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation of Irvine, California.

Peter Dervan, chair of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, and David Ho, a Caltech trustee and graduate, have been elected members of the Institute of Medicine.

Researchers have recently achieved a certain amount of success in using laser light to see through scattering media such as human tissue. The new technology could eventually have medical applications in situations where X rays are ineffective or downright dangerous. Researchers develop new plastic recording materialthat can be used to see through tissue without X rays February 1998 98

Dr. Ahmed H. Zewail, who has pioneered the field of femtochemistry, has been named the 1997 recipient of the Robert A. Welch Award in Chemistry. The Welch Foundation, based in Houston, annually presents the award, which consists of a $300,000 monetary prize, a certificate, and a gold medallion, to recognize outstanding contributions to chemistry for the betterment of humankind.