News

2014-04-01 - Scientists have solved a decades-old medical mystery – and in the process have found a potentially less toxic way to fight invasive fungal infections, which kill about 1.5 million people a year. The researchers say they now understand the mechanism of action of amphotericin, an antifungal drug that has been in use for more than 50 years – even though it is nearly as toxic to human cells as it is...

2014-03-31 - Prashant Jain was named a 2014 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow in Chemistry. The Sloan Research Fellowships are extraordinarily competitive awards involving nominations of the very best scientists of the generation from the United States and Canada. The prestigious awards are given to scientists, mathematicians, and economists and...

2014-03-01 - Illinois chemistry alumna Sara Skrabalak received the 2014 ACS Award in Pure Chemistry at the March ACS meeting. Her research involves the creation of multi-functional materials useful in catalysis, biotechnology, energy, and environmental remediation. She is presently Associate Professor at Indiana University. Skrabalak was previously honored by...

2014-03-01 - Professor Scott E. Denmark was awarded the 2014 Frederic Stanley Kipping Award in Silicon Chemistry from the American Chemical Society at the ACS Meeting in Dallas, March, 2014. This award, which has been bestowed since 1962 (Henry Gilman) was given in recognition of Prof. Denmark's creative applications of organosilicon compounds in organic synthesis and his fundamental investigations of...

2014-03-01 - Jesse A. Miller, Jr., Director of Laboratory Facilities for the Department of Chemistry, was named a recipient of the 2013-14 Campus Award for Excellence in Public Engagement. The award is administered by the Office of the Chancellor and honors extraordinary contributions of faculty, staff, students, and projects to connect the university with the broader community on issues of critical social...

2014-01-31 - Professor So Hirata has been named one of this campus’s Blue Waters Professors. The position confers a significant commitment of Blue Waters computing resources, up to 240,000 node hours, with a value of over $200,000 per year. In the call for nominations last fall, the NCSA indicated that up to eight current faculty members on campus would be selected...

2013-12-31 - Jie An Yang won the 2013 Dissertation Award in Materials Chemistry. He presented his award seminar on April 18, 2013. His advisor is Catherine J. Murphy.

2013-12-31 - Associate Professor of Chemistry Marty Burke was chosen as the 2013 Kavli Lecturer for the American Chemical Society National Meeting in Indianapolis and his speech, which highlighted the wide variety of potential uses of small molecules, was featured in U.S. News and World Report.

2013-12-31 - Professor of Chemistry and Swanlund Professor of Materials Science and Engineering John A. Rogers has led researchers in developing technology which has been getting wide-ranging press attention, including a feature article in The New Yorker called "The Body Electric".

2013-12-31 - Online education, especially in massive open online courses (MOOCs), has been growing expontentially over the last few years. Chemistry at Illinois, which has been at the forefront of chemical education since the days of Professor Stan Smith, has been incorporating these ideas and adapting to maintain the cutting-edge education we are known for. Chemistry Graduate Student Mike Evans, along with...

2013-12-31 - Alumnus and 2011 Convocation Keynote Speaker Dr. Stephen Elledge (BS '78) was named a 2013 LAS Alumni Achievement Award winner. He was honored for his research into the DNA repair process and other genetic research. College of Liberal Arts & Sciences profile

2013-12-31 - Outgoing Director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and Distinguished Chair for Research Excellence in Chemistry Thom Dunning Jr. was recently highlighted in Chemistry World for his research in sulfur chemistry.

2013-12-31 - ExxonMobil representatives Darnell Smith (BSECE '02) and Amber Massingill (BSChemE '02) made their annual visit to campus and the Department of Chemistry at Illinois, where they once again affirmed the Chemistry—Exxon relationship and delivered a pledge of unrestricted support, which the Department of Chemistry will use as in past years to address critical needs facing the department and our...

2013-12-01 - E. Richard "Dick" Nightingale, Jr., passed away Nov. 30, 2013, in Overlook Medical Center, Summit, N.J. at age 87. Richard was born on Oct. 14, 1926, in Champaign, IL. As a youth, he was an Eagle Scout with a silver palm.   He received a B.S. and M.S. from the University of Illinois and earned a Ph.D. in analytical-physical chemistry at the University of Minnesota. Richard moved to New...

2013-12-01 - I am pleased to announce that Prof. Sharon Hammes-Schiffer, Swanlund Professor of Chemistry, was named a fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science. Prof. Hammes-Schiffer, was selected for “the development of innovative theories and computational methods for studying proton, hydride and proton-coupled electron transfer reactions in chemical and biological systems.”