The relative quiet of summer has once again descended upon much of campus, after the seasonal migration of thousands of students back to their homes or on to their next adventure. However quiet the Quad might be, Noyes Lab, RAL, CLSL, and Chem Annex are always humming with activity from our faculty, postdocs, grad students, and staff—for whom summer offers a chance to get more research and other work done!
I invite you to catch up on our busy spring and upcoming activities.
SPRING HAPPENINGS
Please join me in congratulating our most recent graduates—the class of 2019. The department’s annual convocation ceremony was held on Sunday, May 12, with May D. Lee (PhD, ‘76, Rinehart) and Ving J. Lee (PhD, ‘75, Rinehart) giving a heartfelt address about women in science and how to be entrepreneurial in all stages of one’s life.
May and Ving were doing double-duty that week, as they were also part of an alumni panel, held just prior to convocation, on Thursday, May 9. Joining them on the panel were Stephen Miller (MS, ‘72; PhD, ‘74; Wetmur), Joseph Peterson (PhD, ‘17, Luthey-Schulten), and Sam Hamedi Rad (MS, ‘14; PhD, ‘18; Zhao). The event was moderated by Alveda Williams (PhD, ’02, Gupta), now corporate director of inclusion at Dow. We look forward to hosting similar panels on a variety of topics in the future, as there’s nothing quite so helpful for our students as hearing from those who have already walked along a similar path. If you’re interested in being part of one of these events, please let us know!
ALUMNI GATHERING AT NALCO
As our Chicagoland alumni may know, we have occasionally held alumni events downtown in the past. This year, we took advantage of a generous offer from alumnus Steve Govoni (BS, ‘88), vice president for research development and engineering (RD&E) at Nalco Water (Ecolab) in Naperville, to host a reception in the suburbs.
Steve and fellow Illinois Chemistry alumnus and Nalco colleague Daniel Hay (BS, ‘97), RD&E director, took guests on tours of Nalco Water’s interactive Water University. The event provided an opportunity for former classmates and current students and faculty to re-connect with each other and with the department at a business that works with arguably one of the most important molecules on Earth – H2O.
Govoni said, “I thought it would be great to give the students exposure to a venue that employs chemists and the opportunity to learn about a company that works for such a noble mission as ours – helping our customers save water.” Hay added, “It was great to have alumni of various professions, sharing a similar chemistry background, gathered to talk and exchange individual experiences and perspectives.”
Thanks to all who attended. We look forward to hosting our Chicagoland alumni at similar events in the future.
AWARDS AND HONORS
It has been a busy spring for our faculty and students, and their hard work has paid off in what might be a record for our e-News in number of awards to report. I am especially proud of our students, whose individual recognitions have surpassed even those of our faculty this time around, as you can see by the long list that follows.
Faculty
Jefferson Chan received a 2019-20 Beckman Fellow Award from the Center for Advanced Study. Don DeCoste received a School of Chemical Sciences (SCS) Teaching Award for his excellent instruction in our Accelerated Chemistry sequence and co-authorship of important textbooks. Scott Denmark received the EROS Best Reagent Award for 2019. Prashant Jain received the Beilby Medal and Prize, sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, and the Society of Chemical Industry. Cathy Murphy was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Christian Ray received the 2019 Karen Wold ‘Level the Learning Field’ Award. David Sarlah received the 2019 Bristol-Myers Squibb Unrestricted Grant in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, as well as Young Investigator Awards from both Amgen and the 2019 National Organic Symposium. And Christina White received the 2019 American Chemical Society (ACS) Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, the first woman to ever win this award.
Graduate Students
Lucas Akin (Chan group) was awarded a 2019 Beckman Institute Graduate Fellowship. Zachary Gossage (Rodríguez-López group) received the 2019 ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry (DAC) Graduate Fellowship, sponsored by the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh. Daniel Najera (Fout group) received a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, a graduate school program for immigrants and the children of immigrants. Elizabeth Neumann (Sweedler group) received the Graduate College’s 2019 Graduate Student Leadership Award. And Joe Nugent (Fout group) received a TechnipFMC Fellowship for 2019-20.
Recent graduate (technically now an alum!) Rianna Greer (BS, ‘19), current graduate students Anand Poozhikunnel and Alison Wallum, and incoming graduate student Nafisa Ibrahim all received NSF Graduate Research Fellowships. Greer (Fout group) will attend Northwestern this fall to pursue her PhD. Poozhikunnel is a second-year graduate student in the Zimmerman group. Wallum is also in her second year and is co-advised by Martin Gruebele and Joseph Lyding (electrical and computer engineering). Ibrahim recently graduated from the College of St. Scholastica and will begin her PhD in chemistry at Illinois in the fall.
Laura Daigh, Reshmi Dani, Clare Leahy, and Zane Thornburg each received an SCS Teaching Award. And Lucas Akin, Amanda East, Sohang Kundu, Daniel Najera, and Alex Schrader each received a Chemistry Teaching Excellence Fellowship.
Undergraduate Students
Douglas Chan, a junior in the Chan group, received the Beckman Institute Undergraduate Fellowship. HexNest, a start-up co-founded by Rachel Circelli (chemistry and political science) to create a safer and affordable sports mat, won the $10,000 second place prize in the Cozad New Venture Challenge, and won the EnterpriseWorks Incubation Space Prize, the Research Park I-Start Prize, the Meyer Capel Prize, and the mHUB Prize. Philip Kocheril, a third-year chemistry major in the Zimmerman group, was awarded a Barry M. Goldwater scholarship for 2019-20 and 2020-21. Elizabeth Murphy, a junior in the Braun group, received the Susan Teegarden Morrison Leadership Scholarship from the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs based on her roles as secretary and outreach chair in the ACS Student Chapter. Rana Youssef, a junior majoring in molecular and cellular biology honors, with minors in chemistry and Arabic studies, received the Erik Haferkamp Memorial Award for Undergraduate Research, awarded for research in neuroscience at the Beckman Institute.
Staff
Dr. Lloyd Munjanja, assistant director for graduate diversity and program climate, received the Commitment to Students Award, one of the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center’s Ebony Excellence Awards. Todd Spinner, academic adviser for SCS, received a 2018-19 Liberal Arts & Sciences (LAS) Award for Excellence in Academic Advising.
Congratulations to all our recent honorees. For more information on the above awards and for the most up-to-date listing of new awards, visit our website.
HIRING UPDATES
I am excited to announce our two newest faculty: Mei Shen in the analytical area and Angad Mehta in chemical biology. Shen will not have to travel far, as she was a 100% research assistant professor of chemistry at Illinois until May. Mehta comes to us from The Scripps Research Institute, where he was previously a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Professor Peter Schultz. You can read more about our newest hires here.
LOOKING AHEAD
This summer, we have a couple opportunities to connect with Illinois. Campus has recently announced Illini Fest, a celebration of Illini pride in Chicago’s Millennium Park, on Thursday, July 18.
Of course, we will also have our usual alumni reception in conjunction with the ACS National Meeting. That will take place on Sunday, August 25. If you’re attending the convention, we certainly hope you’ll take a moment to stop by, enjoy some drink and food, and say hello!
Until next time.
Cheers,
Martin
Martin Gruebele
Head, Department of Chemistry
James R. Eiszner Chair in Chemistry
Professor in the Center for Advanced Study
Professor of Physics
Professor of Biophysics and Quantitative Biology