11/19/2012 This article was posted on October 15th, 2012 by William Bowman.
Written by This article was posted on October 15th, 2012 by William Bowman.
MechSE professor Mark Shannon passed away on Sunday, October 14. He was 56 years old.
In 2009, Professor Shannon was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Despite battling this debilitating disease’s effects, he continued to teach and hold office hours for students up until his final days, to the amazement of all around him.
The dedication he showed throughout his illness was truly an extension of the passion he brought to his work during his entire career. As a scientist and engineer, Professor Shannon took on some of our grandest challenges, contributing significantly to the fields of water purification and desalination, micro-fabrication, medicine, and energy production. His passion for his work was evident whether he was teaching students or testifying before Congress. Through his boundless energy and tenacity, Professor Shannon was able to attract colleagues from across our campus and around the world to share his vision and work to solve society’s problems.
MechSE Department Head Placid Ferreira shared: "I cannot begin to express in words how indebted our department is to Mark. A true visionary, Mark was an extraordinary person who dedicated his work and efforts to our students. He was an inspiration to all of us and we will always remember his generosity and strength. He will be missed in every facet of our academic endeavor. Our condolences go to his wife, Mona, and his family."
Born December 2, 1955, Professor Shannon received his B.S., M.S., and PhD degrees from the University of California at Berkeley, where he also held a post-doctoral appointment. In 1994, he joined the University of Illinois faculty, where he made many significant and lasting contributions to the department, the university, and throughout the world.
After becoming a Kritzer Faculty Scholar in 2003 and a Willett Faculty Scholar in 2004, Professor Shannon was named the James W. Bayne Professor in 2006. In addition to teaching, Professor Shannon was the director of the WaterCAMPWS Center and the MNMS Laboratory. Colleagues said he had a passion for "advancing the state of knowledge" in science and technology and teaching his students how to do the same.
Throughout his career, Professor Shannon greatly advanced nanoscale, microscale, and mesoscale science and technologies that address real-world problems. His research developed new micro- and nano-fabrication methods that utilize electric fields, plasmas, and chemistry. He also created new NEMS, MEMS, and mesoscale energetic devices and water purification systems.
Professor Shannon was the co-inventor of a gate that is able to move and filter materials at the molecular level. The molecular gate—which is critical to the work of both NSF centers—may one day be used in devices that diagnose and treat illnesses, infections, and contaminations. He also co-developed a fluidic chip that uses molecular gates to separate, manipulate, and analyze minute amounts of specified molecular compounds, such as toxins and proteins, from blood, saliva, and natural water.
He made it his mission to bring attention to the impending problems associated with the world’s highly vulnerable fresh water resources. Professor Shannon gained an international reputation as a leading expert in water purification research through this numerous talks and keynote lectures on the topic. He lectured in Canada, China, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Switzerland on this topic and also testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Science and Technology Committee and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee about the need to secure and sustain the fresh water resources in the U.S.
He received numerous teaching and research awards and honors, including nominations for Water Technology of the Year at the Global Waters Conference in Zurich, Switzerland in 2009 and was appointed to the U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board Environmental Engineering Committee in 2009.
The MechSE Department has recently established the Mark A. Shannon Scholarship Fund in honor of Professor Shannon. It will be awarded to undergraduate students beginning in the 2013-14 academic year. Professor Shannon was very pleased with this scholarship, having been the recipient of similar awards when he was in school.
"When I graduated I received scholarships that allowed me to go on to graduate school, without them I could not have afforded to go to graduate school," he said earlier this month, through use of an assistive device. "The $4,500 in scholarships that I received changed my life and that of my family's forever. I think this will provide more opportunity for students to achieve their dreams and that thrills me."
Gifts to this fund are accepted at MechSE’s online donation page.
A visitation will be held at Renner-Wickoff, 1900 Philo Rd., Urbana on Sunday, Oct. 21 from 2 to 4 p.m. and a memorial celebration of Professor Shannon’s life will be held on Monday, Oct. 22 at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 309 W. Green St., Urbana at 4 p.m. Condolences may be offered online at www.renner-wikoffchapel.com.
An obituary is now online at the News-Gazette: http://www.news-gazette.com/obituaries/2012-10-17/mark-shannon.html.