News

2020-06-05 - First-generation college student from Ghana in Western Africa chose Illinois to pursue his PhD, because of the inter-disciplinary and cutting-edge research conducted by the faculty in the Department of Chemistry.

2020-06-03 - A documentary about Illinois chemistry alumnus St. Elmo Brady, the first African American to earn a PhD in chemistry in the United States, has garnered a Telly Award.

2020-06-02 - Professor Lisa Olshansky is one of 15 researchers chosen for the Searle Scholars Program, a national biomedical research grant program primarily focused on the potential of applicants to make innovative and high-impact contributions to research over an extended period of time.

2020-06-02 - The American Chemical Society’s Division of Physical Chemistry has awarded recent graduate David Qiu an undergraduate award, recognizing and honoring talented young chemists across the country.

2020-06-01 - As an alumna and faculty member, Professor Cathy Murphy brings a rare perspective to her new role as head of the Department of Chemistry, and her role also marks a historic moment as the first woman to lead the department in its 152-year history.

2020-05-26 - A senior researcher with appointments in biomedical engineering, chemistry and cell and developmental biology at Northwestern University, Alumnus Milan Mrksich was serving as interim when he was officially named vice president of research on May 14, 2020.

2020-05-12 - A research team, including chemistry's Jonathan Sweedler, has developed a mass spectrometry-based screening technique to rapidly profile certain fatty acids and identified new genetically-engineered mutants of a certain yeast that produce higher levels of those acids as part of an overall goal to convert renewable plant biomass to fuels and chemicals.

2020-05-22 - Professor Prashant Jain receives special recognition in promotion to full professor and is named to Alumni Scholar position in the Department of Chemistry.

2020-05-21 - The Sweedler Research Group has developed a new technique to measure the amount and distribution of lipids in rat brain samples. The technique can have potential applications in determining how the lipids change as a result of exposure to drugs of abuse.

2020-05-10 - Namuunzul Otgontseren, a junior studying chemistry who also works in Professor Jefferson Chan’s research group, has been awarded a Beckman Institute Undergraduate Fellowship.

2020-05-09 - Three chemistry graduates, Elizabeth McDaniel, Elizabeth Murphy and Alayna Johnson are part of a select group, Senior 100 Honorary, which recognizes students who are academically successful, but more heavily focuses on campus involvement and service.

2020-05-11 - For demonstrating exceptional leadership on campus, chemistry senior Elizabeth Murphy has been awarded the Patricia E. Askew Leadership Award for 2020.

2020-05-11 - More than 60 years ago, Eunice S. Wu left her home in Taiwan for the United States to study chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, following in the footsteps of her father who had graduated from Illinois. Since 2015, a scholarship in her memory helps other women seeking a degree in chemistry.

2020-05-08 - Seven University of Illinois graduate students have been named 2020 Beckman Institute Graduate Fellows, including chemistry graduate student Amanda East. The program offers University of Illinois graduate students the opportunity to pursue interdisciplinary research at the institute.

2020-05-08 - When tested in brain cells and in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, a new compound significantly reduced the number of amyloid plaques in the brain, lessened brain inflammation and diminished other molecular markers of the disease.