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Mikael Backlund selected Scialog Fellow for Quantum Matter & Information initiative
Mikael Backlund is one of 50 scientists selected as Scialog Fellows by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement to participate in a Quantum Matter and Information initiative that will bring together scientists from physics, chemistry, materials science,...
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Graduate student Chang Jiang receives Gary Schuster mentoring award
This past academic year, undergraduate student researcher Santiago Castro had a lot to learn when he joined the organic chemistry lab of Prof. Jeff Chan. Despite his lack of experience in an organic chemistry research lab, Castro said his graduate student mentor, Chang Jiang, has helped him become...
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Graduate student Dong Ok Kim receives Dr. Sandra Murawski mentoring award
A third-year graduate student, Dong Ok Kim has been a mentor for the past two years to Michelle Zorigt and Martha Kubakh, two undergraduate researchers in the electrochemistry lab of professor Joaquín Rodríguez-López, who described Kim as an outstanding mentor and female role model.He said Kim’s...
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Center for Advanced Study selects Liviu Mirica and Nick Jackson to pursue individual projects
Two chemistry faculty members, Liviu Mirica and Nick Jackson, have been selected by the Center for Advanced Study to pursue individual creative scientific projects in the 2025-26 academic year.The Center for Advanced Study (CAS) at the University of Illinois is an interdisciplinary center that...
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Joaquín Rodríguez-López featured in Quadrangle magazine
Feature story about chemistry professor Joaquín Rodríguez-López appeared in the Spring 2025 edition of the College of LAS alumni magazine, The Quadrangle.Never saying no to scienceTo chemistry professor...

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Spotlight: Charles Getz and Aerosol Whip Cream

Spray whip cream or “Instantwhip” was invented at the University of Illinois during the depression by Charles Getz, a graduate student in the Chemistry Department and student of Professor George Frederick Smith. Getz found that milk would foam if pressurized carbon dioxide (CO2) was forced into it and the pressure release. Getz found that the carbon dioxide altered the taste of the whip cream. After numerous experiments, Getz and Smith discovered that nitrous oxide was the solution to the problem because it did not change the taste. This led to the development of instant whip cream in a...