Beckman Institute faculty members Narendra Ahuja and Daniel Simons have been selected by the Center for Advanced Study for appointment as full-time CAS Associates for one semester during the 2006-07 academic year.

Ahuja and Simons were chosen as part of an annual competition among tenured faculty members at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who submit proposals for carrying out an individual scholarly or creative project. The appointments grant one semester of teaching release time in order to carry out their proposed studies.

Ahuja's research topic is "Integration of Spatial and Frequency Representations for Periodic Motions." Ahuja is a member of the Artificial Intelligence group at Beckman with a research focus on computer vision and robotics.

Simons' proposal is to write a book on the topic of "Consequences of Perceptual and Cognitive Illusions." He is a member of the Human Perception and Performance group at Beckman. Simons studies the cognitive and perceptual underpinnings of conscious visual experience.

The Center for Advanced Study was established in 1959 to encourage creative achievement and scholarship in the UIUC academic community. William Greenough, Co-chair of the Biological Intelligence research initiative at Beckman, is Director of the Center for Advanced Study.

As Associates, Ahuja and Simons will join CAS Professors and Fellows in a yearly roundtable discussion of research interests and are invited to offer a future CAS presentation.