| Department of Chemistry

Jordan Axelson (BS, ’10) makes organic chemistry interesting and fun

2025-08-05

Person sitting in a desk chair with computer monitor and desk in background

As an Illinois undergraduate, Makenna Pinkham was afraid of failing Organic Chemistry I her sophomore year, but that fear quickly faded, and she started looking forward to the 8 a.m. class taught by Jordan Axelson, director of undergraduate studies, and senior lecturer.“Dr. Axelson did...

NSF reinvests in Molecule Maker Lab Institute, AI tools to solve chemistry’s challenges

2025-07-30

Huimin Zhao standing with arms crossed in front of a large bank of computer data equipment

With a new five-year, $15 million award, the U.S. National Science Foundation has renewed its support of the Molecule Maker Lab Institute, a research collaboration focused on developing artificial intelligence tools for quick, accessible discovery and...

Paul Hergenrother selected 2025 American Chemical Society Fellow

2025-07-29

Paul Hergenrother stands in front of a building with tall windows

Chemistry professor Paul J. Hergenrother has been selected an American Chemical Society Fellow for 2025 in recognition of his exceptional contributions to science. The group of 36 ACS Fellows was...

Crowdsourcing chemistry: Illinois researchers attract international interest with Kaggle Competition

2025-07-18

A blue screen showing illustrations of written molecular structures

Inspired by their own recent chemical discoveries for solar energy development using machine learning, a research team at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign was curious what other data-driven chemical discoveries could be possible if they could access a broader machine learning...

Rachel Schaaf selected a 2025 MEDI Division Predoctoral Fellow

2025-07-17

Rachel Schaaf stands on the University of Illinois quad

The ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry has selected Illinois chemistry Ph.D. student Rachel Schaaf as a recipient of this year’s Predoctoral Fellowships.These fellowships recognize outstanding predoctoral students engaged in medicinal chemistry research. Fellows are selected based on scientific...

Michelle Bishka, Yilun Li recognized by Royal Society of Chemistry for undergraduate excellence

2025-07-16

Two Illinois chemistry graduates, Michelle Bishka and Yilun Li, have been awarded 2025 Certificates of Undergraduate Excellence by the Royal Society of Chemistry.The RSC awards the certificates as part of its...

Prof. Angad Mehta receives $1 million “Ono Initiative” award for antibody, biologics research

2025-07-15

Head shot of Angad Mehta on a dark background

Inspired by the human immune system that is constantly developing antibodies to combat pathogens, University of Illinois researchers in the lab of chemistry professor Angad P. Mehta are using synthetic biology and synthetic immunology methods...

Chemistry's Viviana Palacio-Betancur joins Beckman Institute Postdoctoral Fellows Program

2025-07-15

Head shot of Viviana Palacio-Betancur standing in front of a wall of glass windows

As a Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow, Viviana Palacio-Betancur will begin research this fall on bridging molecular-scale interactions and macroscopic behavior of liquid crystal. Palacio-Betancur earned her Ph.D. in molecular engineering from the University of Chicago in 2023, and she is currently...

Flightpath Biosciences licenses microbiome-sparing antibiotic developed at Illinois

2025-07-14

Flightpath Biosciences, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the development of precision therapeutics targeting bacterial pathogens, has licensed a class of antibiotics developed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The original antibiotic agent, lolamicin,...

Dr. Taeghwan Hyeon’s work on nanoparticles yields breakthrough applications

2025-07-02

As director of the Center for Nanoparticle Research in the Institute for Basic Science at Seoul National University in South Korea, Dr. Taeghwan Hyeon (PhD, ’96, Suslick) leads efforts to develop uniformly sized nanoparticles. Measuring 1 to 100 nanometers in diameter, nanoparticles offer...

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