News

2015-04-30 - Thomas Allen is one of a few outstanding computational science PhD students nationwide selected to receive a 2015-2016 Blue Waters Fellowship. The fellowship provides financial support as well as an allocation of up to 50,000 node-hours on the powerful Blue Waters petascale computing system. Preference is given to applicants engaged in multidisciplinary research projects. Allen is in...

2015-04-18 - Dr. Gilbert P. Haight Jr., best known for his pioneering work in chemical education, died on Monday, April 17, 2015 of natural causes. Known to family and friends as "Gil", Dr. Haight spent his professional life as a professor of chemistry, exploring and perfecting the delivery of scientific education to college students in a career that spanned the globe. Born in Seattle on June 8, 1922,...

2015-04-02 - Giving new meaning to the term "sonic boom", University of Illinois chemists have used sound to trigger microscopic explosions. Using an "ultrasonic hammer", the researchers triggered tiny but intensely hot explosions in volatile materials, giving insight into how explosives work and how to control them. Led by chemistry professors Ken Suslick and...

2015-04-01 - Four scientists associated with the Department of Chemistry have been honored by their election to the National Academy of Sciences.

2015-03-01 - A new molecule-making machine could do for chemistry what 3-D printing did for engineering: Make it fast, flexible and accessible to anyone. Chemists at the University of Illinois, led by chemistry professor and medical doctor Martin D. Burke, built the machine to assemble complex small molecules at the click of a mouse, like a 3-D printer at the...

2015-03-01 - Douglas Mitchell is the recipient of the 2015 Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry. He is cited for his outstanding work in enzyme chemistry where the presence of enzyme action is unequivocally demonstrated. The award is in recognition of fundamental research in enzyme chemistry by a scientist not over forty years of age. He states, "The Mitchell...

2015-03-01 - Kenneth Suslick, of the Bioimaging Science and Technology Group and chemistry professor at Illinois, received the Innovation Transfer Award at the 2015 Innovation Celebration. As a collaboration among the University of Illinois, Parkland College, and the community, the Innovation Celebration recognizes local innovation and entrepreneurial excellence.

2015-03-01 - A new drug that prompts cancer cells to self-destruct while sparing healthy cells is now entering phase I clinical trials in humans.

2015-02-28 - Assistant Professor of Chemistry Prashant K. Jain has received a 2015 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award, which recognizes outstanding new faculty who excel in research, experience, and academic leadership.

2015-02-28 - Professor Ryan Bailey has been named to receive the 2015 Pittcon Achievement Award. The Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy (Pittcon), is the largest meeting in the area of analytical chemistry; their Achievement Award recognizes “individuals for outstanding achievements in the fields of analytical chemistry and/or applied spectroscopy within 10 years after...

2015-02-01 - Alison Fout was selected as a 2015 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow in Chemistry. The Sloan Research Fellowship is an extremely competitive award. Nominees are from a pool of the very best U.S. and Canadian early-career scientists. "The Sloan Research Fellowships seek to stimulate fundamental research by early-career scientists and scholars of outstanding...

2015-01-31 - Miriam Ross, a sophomore at University Laboratory High School in Urbana, has been designated as one of twenty inaugural winners of the Celebrating High School Innovators Award for the state of Illinois in 2014-2015. Miriam is working with Prof. Scott Silverman and his graduate students on identification of DNA catalysts for degradation of the amino acid phenylalanine.

2015-01-31 - Two new drug compounds – one of which has already proven useful in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis – appear to be effective in treating endometriosis, a disorder that, like MS, is driven by estrogen and inflammation, scientists report in Science Translational Medicine.

2014-12-31 - Patricia Blair was selected to receive a ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry Predoctoral Fellowship, a prestigious award that has been given annually since 1991. The award represents an acknowledgement of Patricia's superior achievements as a graduate student and her potential to become an independent investigator. The fellowship is sponsored by Professor Richard B. Silverman (Northwestern...

2014-12-31 - When a large protein unfolds in transit through a cell, it slows down and can get stuck in traffic. Using a specialized microscope -- a sort of cellular traffic camera -- University of Illinois chemists now can watch the way the unfolded protein diffuses. By looking at the dynamics of how the unfolded protein moved in the cell (A), the researchers mapped areas in the cell with different rates of...