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...
Posted: 2025-06-18
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...Posted: 2025-06-17
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...Posted: 2025-06-17
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...Posted: 2025-06-12
2025-06-03 - 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 considerably more proficient in a variety of research techniques.“Jiang has been a very level-headed...Posted: 2025-06-03
2025-06-03 - 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 guidance as a mentor had a transformative influence on the interests and development of Zorigt and...Posted: 2025-06-03
2025-06-02 - 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 works with every department — from hard science and engineering to humanities and the arts — to support...Posted: 2025-06-02
2025-05-30 - 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 Joaquín Rodríguez-López, science begins with opportunity What does science require? Growing up...Posted: 2025-05-30
2025-05-28 - Shuming Nie, professor of bioengineering and of chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has achieved a rare milestone of 100,000 citations, according to Google Scholar1.“It is a feeling of joy and satisfaction,” said professor Nie, “knowing that my academic work has been read and cited by so...Posted: 2025-05-28
2025-05-22 - Each year during the Department of Chemistry's May Convocation ceremony, several awards are presented to graduating undergraduate and graduate students. All of the awards were established by a gift to the department, and some are in memory of an individual. All of the awards include a $1,000 monetary gift to the recipients and...Posted: 2025-05-22
2025-05-13 - Graduate student Sagnik Chakrabarti was selected as the recipient of the 2025 Theron Standish Piper Award for Outstanding Inorganic Ph.D. Thesis in the Department of Chemistry.In a special presentation to the department on May 13, 2025, Chakrabarti presented his thesis, "Low-valent Nickel and Palladium Compounds Relevant to Cross-coupling Catalysis."Advised by chemistry Prof. Liviu Mirica,...Posted: 2025-05-13
2025-05-13 - Two PhD graduates, Gavin Lindsay and Rachel Nixon, were awarded the 2025 Klemperer Award for Outstanding Materials Chemistry Ph.D. Thesis in the Department of Chemistry.In back-to-back presentations to the department on May 15, 2025, Nixon presented her thesis, “Toward the sustainable production of ammonia by integration of electrochemistry with light energy and nanostructured catalysts...Posted: 2025-05-13
2025-05-08 - A proposal for providing general chemistry students with resources and instruction to help improve their math fluency has been awarded funding through the Provost’s Initiative on Teaching Advancement (PITA).The proposal was submitted by Elise McCarren, director of the Chemistry Merit Program, and Jennifer McNeilly, director of the Math Merit Program. Their project, “Assessing and Improving...Posted: 2025-05-08
2025-05-08 - In chemistry, the right combination of essential elements can lead to scientific discoveries that impact the world.Drawing a comparison, Rosa Milagros Santos, associate provost of faculty development at Illinois, described as “essential elements” the generosity of individuals who support faculty research and the talented faculty members who benefit from their support. “Combining these two...Posted: 2025-05-08
2025-05-05 - A first-year graduate student, Eliza Asani truly enjoys chemistry, but you won’t find her in the lab. As a computational chemist, she spends most of her time in front of a computer.That would have surprised Asani several years ago when she was a freshman at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.“I had no idea what I wanted to do,” said Asani, who enjoyed English and chemistry in high...Posted: 2025-05-05