Researchers can now observe the phonon dynamics and wave propagation in self-assembly of nanomaterials with unusual properties that rarely exist in nature. This advance will enable researchers to incorporate desired mechanical properties into reconfigurable, solution-processible metamaterials,...

Researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology have developed a computational model that digs into the chemical “recipe” of polymer manufacturing to provide predictive control over how materials self-organize to give rise to new textures and properties.“That means...

Mikael Backlund is one of 50 scientists selected as Scialog Fellows by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement to participate in a Quantum Matter and Information initiative that will bring together scientists from physics, chemistry, materials science,...

This past academic year, undergraduate student researcher Santiago Castro had a lot to learn when he joined the organic chemistry lab of Prof. Jeff Chan. Despite his lack of experience in an organic chemistry research lab, Castro said his graduate student mentor, Chang Jiang, has helped him become...

A third-year graduate student, Dong Ok Kim has been a mentor for the past two years to Michelle Zorigt and Martha Kubakh, two undergraduate researchers in the electrochemistry lab of professor Joaquín Rodríguez-López, who described Kim as an outstanding mentor and female role model.He said Kim’s...

Two chemistry faculty members, Liviu Mirica and Nick Jackson, have been selected by the Center for Advanced Study to pursue individual creative scientific projects in the 2025-26 academic year.The Center for Advanced Study (CAS) at the University of Illinois is an interdisciplinary center that...

Feature story about chemistry professor Joaquín Rodríguez-López appeared in the Spring 2025 edition of the College of LAS alumni magazine, The Quadrangle.Never saying no to scienceTo chemistry professor...