Arizona State University: In Memoriam: Regents Professor John Spence

Press release from Arizona State University:

June 30, 2021

John Spence, the Richard Snell Professor of Physics and an ASU Regents Professor, died peacefully Monday morning, June 28, in Boston. 

Spence’s career spanned more than 40 years at ASU, where early on he was a key contributor to ASU’s world-renowned program in electron microscopy and, most recently, was the director of science for the NSF BioXFEL Science and Technology Center on the application of X-ray free-electron (XFEL) lasers to structural biology. 

Spence’s career spanned more than 40 years at ASU, where early on he was a key contributor to ASU’s world-renowned program in electron microscopy and, most recently, was the director of science for the NSF BioXFEL Science and Technology Center on the application of X-ray free-electron (XFEL) lasers to structural biology.
Download Full Image

“John will be missed by all, like me, who loved his mind and the unlimited expression of his kind self,” said ASU President Michael Crow. “He was both a human master of the universe, as in the best we have to understand what we are, and a soulful human who was committed to the betterment of our small rural planet and our evolving species. He understood all of this and used his life to express how to move us all forward.

“We have lost a great one, and our university and our community are better off by immense measure for having known and been taught by John.”

In parallel developments over the past 40 years, electron microscopes and large particle accelerator-sized lasers have been used in biology to image the protein molecules in cells, and these same principles can now be applied to see these molecular machines within organisms at the near-atomic level.

Spence’s links to ASU began in the mid-1970s. In 1970, the same year that atoms were first observed directly by electron microscope, Professor John Cowley joined ASU’s Physics Department. Cowley, already an internationally recognized authority in electron microscopy (EM), later obtained a large NSF Regional Center grant, one of the first major research programs at ASU.

Cowley established a world-leading school of EM, with faculty appointments, many students and postdoctoral researchers and the latest equipment, including half a dozen EM instruments.

Soon after, Cowley recruited Spence and Sumio Iijima, along with Ondrej Krivanek and David Smith, all of whom made major contributions to the field.

In 1974, ASU launched the LeRoy Eyring Center for Solid State Science (CSSS), named for its founder. Eyring joined ASU in 1961 as chair of the Chemistry Department, which he helped build into one of the finest in the country. The center provides researchers with open access to sophisticated techniques for materials characterization and high-resolution EM. The Eyring Materials Center has remained a leading international center for the development of new techniques for imaging and analyzing atomic structures in matter.

Among Spence’s achievements were the first direct-detection EM cameras. A CCD (charge-coupled device camera) system for electron microscopy was first developed in 1986 at ASU in the Spence group. After seven years of research and development starting in 2001, a new sensor was invented that can make an image from electrons themselves, improving achievable resolution.

In 2012, a new home for the most sensitive electron microscopes, the Southwestern Center for Aberration Corrected Electron Microscopy, opened on ASU's Tempe campus. This building was designed to house four electron microscopes, with the fourth bay reserved for a new instrument, called cryo-EM, dedicated to biology.

Spence led a team of ASU researchers who received a three-year, $2.8 million award from the National Science Foundation to make his dream of cryo-EM a reality. ASU administration and faculty contributed additional funds, while many faculty across other Southwestern campuses have been using the new machine to publish new research in structural biology.

For his microscopy achievements, Spence received the Distinguished Scientist Award of the Microscopy Society of America in 2006, the Buerger Award of the American Crystallographic Society in 2012, the J.M. Cowley Medal of the International Federation of Societies of Microscopy in 2014, the Burton Medal of MSA and a Humboldt Senior Scientist Award.

Meanwhile, Spence had another major scientific advancement running in parallel — a high-risk, high-reward idea of using the power of particle accelerators to see the inner workings of nature at the atomic scale — and one that the scientific naysayers said would never work. But Spence and his colleagues, Janos Hajdu from Uppsala University, Sweden, and Henry Chapman from Hamburg University and DESY laboratory in Germany, proved them wrong.

The Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University has named Sarah J. Tracy as interim director beginning July 1.

Tracy replaces Paul Mongeau, a professor of interpersonal communication who served the school as interim director for the 2020–2021 academic year.

The work of Sarah J. Tracy, who has taught and researched at ASU for 21 years, is focused on cultivating human flourishing, wisdom and connection at work.
Download Full Image

In her new appointment as interim director, Tracy will continue the school’s leadership of research and pedagogy related to human communication in relationships, workplaces, communities and society.

A professor of organizational communication and qualitative methodology, Tracy (PhD 2000, University of Colorado) has taught and researched at ASU for 21 years. Her work is focused on cultivating human flourishing, wisdom and connection at work. She is the recipient of multiple teaching honors, including the Distinguished Scholar Award from the National Communication Association (NCA) in 2020, the association’s highest accolade honoring a lifetime of scholarly achievement in human communication, as well as the Western States Communication Association’s Distinguished Teacher Award in 2019. 

“As an outstanding professor and award-winning researcher in the field of communication, I am confident Sarah will provide the innovative leadership needed as the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication’s new interim director,” said Pardis Mahdavi, dean of social sciences in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

“I commend Paul Mongeau for his service as interim director and am grateful for his tremendous leadership during a challenging year.”

In returning to his faculty role, Mongeau will investigate the role of artificial intelligence in the persuasion process. He will also continue his long-standing research interest in the variety of “friends with benefits” relationships. 

Tracy’s research — which includes ethnographies on cruise ships, 911 call centers, correctional facilities and detailed case analyses of burnout, bullying, leadership and compassion — is regularly featured in courses and books related to organizational communication and qualitative research methods. Her scholarship has extended knowledge about organizational leadership, workplace well-being, conversation, identity and emotion. This research has garnered a number of top articles, papers and disciplinary awards, including the prestigious Charles Woolbert Award from the NCA.

Tracy co-founded the Transformation Project, a consortium of faculty, students and community members who seek to discover and promote creative change processes that encourage healthy communication patterns, collaborative group behavior and equitable forms of social organization.

Hugh Downs School Assistant Professor Elissa Adame has collaborated with Tracy through the Transformation Project and through developing, practicing and testing a transformational leadership approach.

NCA’s Organizational Communication Division’s 2020 Outstanding Textbook of the Year Award went to Professor Sarah J. Tracy's "Qualitative Research Methods."

“I have seen through our work together how Sarah is dedicated to leading in a way that will create a future that meets the needs and concerns of a range of stakeholders," said Adame. "Not only does Sarah study transformational leadership, she lives it, and she gives others the courage and resources to do the same.”

Tracy has several key goals as she moves into the interim director role.

“Given the disruptions of the pandemic, I hope to provide a platform for meaningful connection, recreation and growth among faculty and students while also building the school’s momentum of innovative research, dedication to justice and equity, and historical excellence in incisive and inclusive pedagogy,” she said.

She has taught a mix of over 20 courses and advised more than 45 graduate students at ASU. Her most recent book, “Qualitative Research Methods: Collecting Evidence, Crafting Analysis, Communication Impact” received NCA’s Organizational Communication Division’s 2020 Outstanding Textbook of the Year Award.

One of Tracy’s favorite adages in terms of work and play is: “Anything worth doing well is worth doing badly in the beginning.” She is currently keeping busy outside of work by “doing badly” as she gets back into playing the piano. Additionally, she provides interdisciplinary and public outreach workshops, mentors through Big Brothers/Big Sisters, contributes to her “Possibility Detective” blog and hosts a YouTube channel called “Get Your Qual On.” 

This press release was produced by Arizona State University. The views expressed here are the author’s own.