More than twenty years ago, the students and friends of Harold R. Snyder established an endowment fund in his honor to support undergraduate students with an interest in organic chemistry. This includes students who are interested in applying organic chemistry principles to the creation and characterization of biological and biologically relevant molecules. Each year the Department of Chemistry uses these funds, supplemented by funds from other sources, to host students from other institutions to work with some of our Illinois faculty for a 10-week period over the summer.

The fellowship provides: 

  • $5,000 award for a ten-week stay in our department
  • $750 for research expenses to the hosting laboratory
  • Travel to/from Urbana, reimbursed as allowable per University of Illinois policy
  • Student housing (pre-arranged and paid by our department)

Students must have completed two semesters of organic chemistry lecture and two chemistry-related laboratory courses by the time the fellowship begins. They should be committed to pursuing Ph.D. studies in organic chemistry, including studies related to chemical biology. We strongly prefer nominations of juniors (i.e., those students with one full academic year remaining as an undergraduate), although truly exceptional sophomores may instead be nominated. Seniors will not be considered. Only one nominee is allowed per department.

Only U.S. citizens and permanent residents will be considered for these fellowships.

For detailed information about the research areas of the individual faculty members, please see the organic chemistry faculty website.

Students must be nominated by and have a letter of recommendation submitted by their nominator. The nomination materials must be submitted by the deadline and must include the student's CV/resume, an unofficial transcript, and a personal statement of research interests. The personal statement should include the names of several Illinois organic chemistry faculty who interest the student, as well as an explanation of how working with these faculty will match the student's research interests in the context of their career goals.

The 2025 Snyder Scholar nominations are due by the deadline of Friday, January 10, 2025 at 3 pm Central Time. The ten-week Snyder Scholar stay begins on Tuesday, May 27, 2025 and ends on Friday, August 1, 2025.

For more information on this program, please contact:

Administrative Questions
Kara Metcalf
Organic Chemistry/Chemical Biology Office
61 Roger Adams Laboratory, Box 68-5
600 South Mathews Avenue
University of Illinois
Urbana, IL 61801
Phone: 217-244-0769
metclf@illinois.edu

Program Questions
Prof. Angad Mehta
Department of Chemistry
166 Roger Adams Laboratory, Box 67-5
600 South Mathews Avenue
University of Illinois
Urbana, IL 61801
Phone: 217-300-9925
apm8@illinois.edu

Prof. Scott Silverman
Department of Chemistry
140 Roger Adams Laboratory, Box 57-5
600 South Mathews Avenue
University of Illinois
Urbana, IL 61801
Phone: 217-244-4489
sks@illinois.edu