Four graduating seniors receive 2020 convocation awards

Four Department of Chemistry graduating seniors in the Class of 2020 received convocation awards in May. Each award includes a $1,000 gift to the graduating student. 

• Andria Pace received the Reynold C. Fuson Award, which recognizes outstanding undergraduate research by a graduating senior. Reynold Clayton Fuson, known as “R.C.” Fuson, was a distinguished member of the chemistry faculty from 1927 to 1963. Fuson’s stature as a research scientist was outstanding, yet his deepest interest was always in the teaching and welfare of students.
• Yuan Jia received the Carl S. Marvel Award, which was established to honor a graduating senior for distinction in undergraduate research. Carl S. Marvel, known as “Speed” Marvel, received a PhD in chemistry from the U. of I. in 1920 and went on to teach at Illinois until 1961. He was one of the world’s leading experts in polymer chemistry, what the public knows as plastics.
• David Qiu received the Worth H. Rodebush Award, which was established in 1959 and for a graduating senior with outstanding research accomplishments and intentions of pursuing a career in chemistry. Rodebush was a physical chemist who gained an international reputation while a member of the Illinois chemistry faculty.
• And Elizabeth Murphy received the John David Barnwell Memorial Award, which was established in 2000 for a graduating senior who exemplifies academic achievement along with a high personal standard of ethics and scholarship. It’s named after Barnwell, who entered Illinois as an undergraduate in 1971, majored in chemistry and English, graduated summa cum laude and earned Bronze Tablet honors in 1975. He received his PhD in chemical physics at Harvard University in 1983 and taught there and at Bowdoin College in Maine.