The Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois is committed to encouraging a diverse and supportive environment in chemistry, where every student is provided with the opportunities and resources necessary to succeed in their chemical career.  Our track record speaks for itself: in 1916, St. Elmo Brady graduated from our department and became the first African-American to receive a PhD degree in the U.S.

In 1993, we started our Merit Workshops for Emerging Scholars, a program aimed at increasing the retention rates of Latinos, African Americans, women and other underrepresented groups in undergraduate STEM degree programs. 

In 1999, with the generous support of an alumna of our program, Yulan Tong, the Sylvia Stoesser Lecture series was started. This lecture series focuses both on the contributions made by women chemists and the special challenges that they face within the discipline. To read more about the extraordinary life and career of Sylvia Stoesser, who has been compared with Marie Curie, and about the lecture series itself, see the link above.

Chemistry at Illinois has continued to develop or support many programs aimed at fostering the development of all future chemists in our department.  For more information on all the opportunities Chemistry at Illinois has to offer, visit Graduate Diversity and Program Climate | Department of Chemistry | Illinois.