Family endows fellowship in Robert Sachs' honor

He should know. Robert Sachs is Professor Emeritus in Physics and former Director of the Enrico Fermi Institute.

"Bob told me that the Physics Department sometimes lost out on the very best students because they could get support during the school year but not during the first summer," Carolyn Sachs said.

The endowed fellowship, a gift from Carolyn Sachs and the couple's eight children, will provide summer stipends for first-year graduate students in the Physics Department.

The Robert G. Sachs Fellowship Fund in the Physical Sciences honors the teaching and research contributions of Sachs, whose 60-year career has traced the history of subatomic physics. He is prominent for his research into subatomic phenomena, and he has served as mentor to numerous graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.

Sachs remains active in research at the Fermi Institute, and the fellowship fund will be officially announced at a reception in honor of his 80th birthday in May.

"Often, these funds are set up to honor departed loved ones," said Carolyn Sachs, a retired personal trust officer at Northern Trust Bank. "What is special about this gift is that Bob could tell me exactly what was needed, and we could all have the satisfaction of seeing students benefiting from it during his lifetime."