We are delighted to announce that Alain Connes (http://www.alainconnes.org/en/) of the Collège de France, IHES, and Vanderbilt University, is also joining our department as  Distinguished Professor of Mathematics. Professor Connes won the Fields Medal in 1982 (http://www.mathunion.org/general/prizes/fields/details/), the Crafoord Prize in 2001 (http://www.alainconnes.org/docs/crafoord_en.html), and the CNRS Gold Medal in 2004 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNRS_Gold_medal).