News

2025-07-18 -  Inspired by their own recent chemical discoveries for solar energy development using machine learning, a research team at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign was curious what other data-driven chemical discoveries could be possible if they could access a broader machine learning approach.The team, which included chemistry professors ...

2025-07-17 - The ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry has selected Illinois chemistry Ph.D. student Rachel Schaaf as a recipient of this year’s Predoctoral Fellowships.These fellowships recognize outstanding predoctoral students engaged in medicinal chemistry research. Fellows are selected based on scientific merit, research potential, and academic record, and receive stipend support for continued graduate...

2025-07-16 - Two Illinois chemistry graduates, Michelle Bishka and Yilun Li, have been awarded 2025 Certificates of Undergraduate Excellence by the Royal Society of Chemistry.The RSC awards the certificates as part of its recognition program for university students in North America who have shown...

2025-07-15 -  Inspired by the human immune system that is constantly developing antibodies to combat pathogens, University of Illinois researchers in the lab of chemistry professor Angad P. Mehta are using synthetic biology and synthetic immunology methods to develop new antibodies and medical treatments with the hope of combating viruses, drug-resistant...

2025-07-15 - As a Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow, Viviana Palacio-Betancur will begin research this fall on bridging molecular-scale interactions and macroscopic behavior of liquid crystal. Palacio-Betancur earned her Ph.D. in molecular engineering from the University of Chicago in 2023, and she is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemistry at Illinois. She will collaborate this fall...

2025-07-14 - Flightpath Biosciences, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the development of precision therapeutics targeting bacterial pathogens, has licensed a class of antibiotics developed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The original antibiotic agent, lolamicin, effectively treated bacterial infections in animal models of disease — without wiping out beneficial microbes...

2024-06-30 - The School of Chemical Sciences (SCS) and the Department of Chemistry have recognized a group of faculty members and graduate students for their commitment to excellence in the classroom in the 2023-24 academic year.Two chemistry faculty members and four graduate students in chemistry received the annual SCS awards for excellence in teaching and five additional chemistry graduate students...

2025-07-02 -  As director of the Center for Nanoparticle Research in the Institute for Basic Science at Seoul National University in South Korea, Dr. Taeghwan Hyeon (PhD, ’96, Suslick) leads efforts to develop uniformly sized nanoparticles. Measuring 1 to 100 nanometers in diameter, nanoparticles offer increased strength and durability, as well as improved electrical conductivity, over traditional...

2025-06-24 - Chemistry Ph.D. student Anna DeBernardo has had an interest in chemistry since high school and planned, at least, to minor in chemistry in college. But her interest in coding led her to computational chemistry and ultimately, she discovered a strong connection with theoretical chemistry. "Especially in how it allows me to apply rigorous mathematics to meaningful problems," said DeBernardo,...

2025-06-23 - The School of Chemical Sciences (SCS) and the Department of Chemistry have recognized a group of faculty members and graduate students for their commitment to excellence in the classroom in the 2024-25 academic year.Two chemistry faculty members and four graduate students in chemistry received the annual SCS awards for excellence in teaching and five additional chemistry graduate students...

2025-06-23 -  For Michael Strauss, this summer marks an exciting time in his career as a new assistant professor of chemistry at Illinois for many reasons, but especially because he is eager to launch his research group and blend creativity with organic and materials chemistry in order to challenge traditional approaches to materials...

2025-06-18 -  Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have discovered important new clues in the mystery of how an ancient enzyme can turn atmospheric carbon into biomolecules, a natural process that could be helpful in developing new methods for converting greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide into useful chemicals. As deforestation and the use of fossil fuels cause atmospheric...

2025-06-17 - Researchers can now observe the phonon dynamics and wave propagation in self-assembly of nanomaterials with unusual properties that rarely exist in nature. This advance will enable researchers to incorporate desired mechanical properties into reconfigurable, solution-processible metamaterials, which have wide-ranging applications — from shock absorption to devices that guide acoustic and optical...

2025-06-17 - Researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology have developed a computational model that digs into the chemical “recipe” of polymer manufacturing to provide predictive control over how materials self-organize to give rise to new textures and properties.“That means manufacturers can design and simulate materials with built-in patterns – enhancing toughness, reducing...

2025-06-12 - 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, surface science, applied mathematics, computer science, engineering, and related fields to develop new...