Seven University of Illinois chemistry students won prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships for 2020, a highly-competitive program that directly supports students in various Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields.
In addition to a three-year annual stipend of $34,000 and a $12,000 allowance for tuition and fees, NSF graduate fellows also have additional opportunities for international research and professional development and the freedom to do their own research at any accredited U.S. institution of graduate education. Typically, awardees are those who demonstrate exemplary promise as researchers and a record of using research to benefit society, according to the NSF.
Professor Joaquin Rodriguez-Lopez teaches Chemistry 592 - Preparing Graduate Fellowships, and six of this year's seven recipients took that course. Students learn about the NSF submission process, experience the importance of peer review, learn about expressing their thoughts and experiences in chemistry and develop time-management skills necessary to produce a high-quality document.
"All credit goes to the students’ effort, creativity, and desire to build an early career that highlights both intellectual and broader impact attributes," Rodgriguez-Lopez said, explaining that chemistry faculty members are glad to support students in this path. "In this process, the participation of faculty advisors and mentors is essential to help students develop their projects with intellectual rigor."
Rodriguez-Lopez was the most recent instructor of the course, which, he said, was built on excellent course development and strategies of previous course instructors, including professors So Hirata and Cathy Murphy among others.
The NSF fellows for 2020 in the Department of Chemistry include a mix of undergraduate and graduate students.
Jazmin Aguilar-Romero is a graduate student in professor Steven Zimmerman’s group, where she’s conducting research to synthesize a nanoparticle with features that could enable the targeting of acidic cancer tissues.
Jack Burke is a PhD candidate in physical chemistry who is a joint student in the research groups of professor Renske van der Veen and professor Josh Vura-Weis. Burke's work utilizes optical, extreme ultraviolet (XUV) and X-ray radiation to probe the excited-state dynamics of transition metal complexes. After completing his PhD, he said he would like to do academic research at a national laboratory.
Alayna Johnson is an undergraduate researcher in Zimmerman’s group whose research focuses on synthesizing useful, recyclable and degradable polymers to tackle global plastic pollution. In the fall, she said she will pursue her PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Program in Polymers and Soft Matter with a focus on sustainable polymers and polymers for drug delivery. After graduate school, she hopes to become a polymer scientist in research and development. Read more from Alayna on how to apply for fellowships as an undergraduate at Illinois.
Sophia McClain is a graduate student in professor Cathy Murphy’s group studying the interaction between alpha-synuclein and gold nanoparticles with lipid-mimicking surface chemistry. She said she hopes to uncover new information regarding the fundamental properties and behaviors of alpha-synuclein with the hope that improving our understanding of its native function will aid in determining the role it plays in the development of Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases. After her graduate work, she said she's keeping her options open but envisions pursuing a position in industry or at a national lab.
Elizabeth Murphy is an undergraduate research assistant in professor Paul Braun's group at the Beckman Institute where she has been working on the synthesis of a redox-active polymer brush. She is also the president of the American Chemical Society student chapter on campus, and after graduation, she will pursue her PhD in polymeric materials chemistry at the University of California, Santa Barbara. After her graduate work, she hopes to pursue a research and development polymer chemist position at a chemical manufacturing company.
Andria Pace is an undergraduate in professor M. Christina White’s research group. In the fall, she will attend Princeton University to pursue her PhD. She said she’s interested in organometallic chemistry and will be working on metallaphotoredox chemistry. Pace hopes to become a professor after she completes her graduate work, because, she said, she enjoys teaching and research as each provides a new and unique insight into the field of chemistry.
Max Tetrick is a first-year graduate student in Murphy's group, working on controlling cell migration with designed nanomaterials. After graduate school, he said, he envisions teaching chemistry at a small undergraduate college.
Six more students in the Department of Chemistry received honorable mention, Francis Alcorn, Catharine Brady, Gabriela Ibarra, Alyssa DeLucia, Laura Daigh and Kelly Gullet. And three of these students also completed Chemistry 592.