The Zumdahl Teaching of Chemistry Award was established with contributions from former students and friends in honor of Steven Zumdahl.
Steven S. Zumdahl received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from Wheaton College (Illinois) in 1964 and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois (Urbana) in 1968. He taught at the University of Illinois for over 35 years, where he served as a Professor and Associate Head of Chemistry and Director of the General Chemistry Program.
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The Anuj Khandelwal Memorial Fund was established in 2019 in memory of Anuj Khandelwal, who was a postdoctoral researcher in the Marty Burke Lab from 2016 until his tragic passing in 2017. Created by his friends and family, the fund supports the Anuj Khandelwal Memorial Travel Award, which provides conference travel funding for postdoctoral researchers in the Department of Chemistry.
Anuj was a man of great conviction and always showed light in the times of darkness. He always went a mile ahead in helping friends and family in need. His charismatic personality, confidence, and positive aura has touched hundreds and thousands of lives. He left us so soon at the young age of 32 but a piece of his legacy will forever live through this fund and benefit postdoctoral researchers like him.
The Carlos Montezuma Memorial Scholarship in Chemistry Fund was established in 2019 by a UIUC Chemistry alumnus, in honor of Carlos Montezuma, the University’s first Native American graduate.
Montezuma, whose birth name was Wassaja (Yavapai Nation), earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1884, and later went on to earn a medical degree. He was a physician, writer, and lifelong advocate for Native American rights. Learn more about his legacy in the short documentary, Changing is not Vanishing, or on our website.
The Carlos Montezuma Memorial Scholarship in Chemistry supports undergraduate scholarships with a preference for students from populations which are underrepresented in the chemical sciences.
The Chuanjing Xu Memorial Scholarship Fund was established in 2022 in memory of Dr. Chuanjing “Charlie” Xu (PhD, ’92, Faulkner) by his family and friends.
Dr. Chuanjing “Charlie” Xu was born in 1948, in Shanghai, China. During the turbulent years after the Chinese civil war, his father was lost to a Communist re-education camp, and he, along with his three siblings, were raised by his mother—a school teacher. He began learning English and the violin in his late teenage years, as simple acts of rebellion amidst the tides of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Charlie spent his early twenties working in a Shanghainese steel mill. In 1977, he gained entrance to the Shanghai Normal University (SHNU) through competitive exams, and graduated in 1981 with an undergraduate degree in Chemistry. Charlie married his wife, Meizhen Shen, in June 1979, and the couple expanded their family with a child in the summer of 1980.
Upon graduation from SHNU, Charlie was invited to remain at the university as a teaching fellow, an honor reserved for top graduates. In 1986 Charlie served as a translator for an American visiting scholar, Dr. Larry R. Faulkner. During a subsequent visit by Dr. Faulkner in 1988, Charlie was invited to University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign as a Visiting Fellow. Charlie started his fellowship in February 1988, and gained acceptance into the PhD program in 1990, under the guidance and direction of Dr. Faulkner in the Chemistry Department. Charlie successfully defended his dissertation in 1992, and earned his PhD specializing in electro-chemistry.
Charlie completed his post-doctoral work from 1994 to 1996 at the University of New Mexico and Texas A&M University, and subsequently entered the private sector. He is credited as an inventor on 12 separate patents through the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and 15 separate patents through the European Patent Office. Charlie made significant contributions to the field of high-density fuel cell research, particularly in lithium-ion batteries.
Charlie passed away on May 5, 2020, after a battle with lung cancer. He lived his life as an open-minded student, traveler, and teacher. To his family, he was a beloved son, brother, husband, father; to his peers, he was a respected scientist, inventor, colleague, and friend.
The David W. Robertson Endowment Fund was established in 2003 by Pfizer, Inc. to provide graduate fellowships in memory of Illinois Chemistry alumnus and Pfizer employee David W. Robertson (M.S., '78; Ph.D., '81; Katzenellenbogen).
Dr. Robertson had a highly successful career and an international reputation as a scientist. He published more than 120 papers and held more than 60 U.S. patents. He and his research teams were responsible for placing more than 40 new drug candidates into clinical development. Robertson was also one of the inventors of Cymbalta, a mechanistically-novel medication for the treatment of depressive illness that accounted for as much as 22% of Lilly's sales at one point.
The Dr. Eugene Kent Borchart Memorial Award in Chemistry Fund was established in 2022 by Kate (Kathleen) Yvonne Wallace in memory of her father, Eugene Kent Borchart, to recognize outstanding graduating seniors in Chemistry.
Eugene Kent Borchart was born in 1932 in Des Plaines, Illinois. A lifelong academic who was passionate about the study of the sciences, Eugene attended Maine East High School, graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1955 with a degree in chemistry, and received his degree in medicine from the University of Illinois Chicago in 1959.
Eugene was a devoted physician, practicing radiology for over five decades at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois before retiring in 1998 to spend more time with his family. He was a voracious reader, a talented artist and a self-taught musician—Eugene was at his finest playing Chopin's famous Prelude in C Minor on the piano and performing various classical tunes on his harmonica. He was extremely supportive of Chicago's abundant art scene, but especially the opera. A contemplative man, in his later years, he discovered a manner of self-expression through poetry, devoting many of these rhythmic compositions to his wife, close friends, and family.
Eugene sought to live each day with purpose and intrigue. A man of great character with the highest level of integrity, Eugene was very proud of his support for the “underdog”. He was consummately generous with all that he possessed—his wealth, his time, his knowledge, and above all, his enormous and gentle heart. He had a passion for the human condition.
Never wavering in his attempt to make the world a better place for the marginalized in society, Eugene reminded all of us that kindness begins where necessity ends.
In memory of Eunice (Su) Wu (MS, ‘61), family and friends created the Eunice S. Wu Memorial Fund for Chinese American Women in Chemistry in 2015. In 2021, an endowed gift established a permanent scholarship to ensure the continuation of Eunice Wu’s legacy in perpetuity. This gift supports undergraduate scholarships in Chemistry.
Eunice Su was born in Beijing, China on May 26, 1937. Eunice and her family fled to Taiwan in 1949, where she later graduated from Tunghai University in Taichung, Taiwan in 1959 with a degree in chemistry. Eunice received her Master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Illinois where her father, Jasen Su, (MS, '43, PhD, '46, economics) had graduated.
Eunice began her career working for Dr. Henry A. Lardy at the Institute for Enzyme Research in Madison, Wisconsin between 1961 and 1963. In 1964, Eunice worked as a chemist for Pabst Blue Ribbon in Milwaukee before joining the staff of the Blood Center of Wisconsin. In 1967, Eunice worked as a clinical chemist at the Montefiore Hospital outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before moving with her husband to Cherry Hill, New Jersey in 1970 to raise their three children. Beginning in 1971, Eunice supervised the Radioimmunoassay Laboratory at the Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from which she retired in 1987.
This lecture series was established to honor G. Frederick Smith through the generosity of Smith's descendants, via GFS, Inc. and the Delaware County Foundation. G. Frederick Smith was a professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois from 1921 until his death in 1976.
Professor Smith, one of the most colorful chemists of the century, was a man of enormous vitality, who devoted himself to analytical chemistry in teaching, research, and business. Smith authored 173 papers, 25 of which reported work done after his retirement. He is most famous for championing the use of perchloric acid as an analytical reagent, and his efforts in cerate oxidimetry are also noteworthy. In addition, he (together with Charles Goetz) developed the use of nitrous oxide as a propellant for whipped cream, the first spray product in a pressurized can ever marketed.
He and his brothers founded the G. Frederick Smith Chemical Company, known today as GFS, Incorporated. It still operates in Columbus, Ohio, and is the largest manufacturer of perchlorates, for uses other than rocket propulsion or explosives, in the world.
The Harold R. Snyder Fund in Organic Chemistry for Current Use supports a research program for students with the potential for and interest in the study of organic chemistry at the graduate level. These students originate either from the University of Illinois or from outside four-year institutions.
Harold R. Snyder began his relationship with the University of Illinois as an undergraduate student, receiving his B.S. in chemistry in 1931, after having done senior research with Professor R. C. Fuson. He completed his Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1935, where he carried out his thesis research with Professor John R. Johnson, who had previously been on the faculty at Illinois. He spent only a year in industry before seeking an academic position. In 1937 Roger Adams brought him to Illinois where he joined the teaching staff. Together with Roger Adams, Carl "Speed" Marvel, and R. C. Fuson, they became known as the "Big Four" at Illinois.
This scholarship was established by the leadership of University of Illinois Professor Emeritus Cliff Dykstra to honor Professor Herbert S. Gutowsky.
Herbert Sander Gutowsky was a pioneer in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, showing how this technique could be used as an important experimental tool for studying the structure and dynamics of molecules in solids, liquids, and gasses. He was the first chemist to apply the NMR method to chemical research, and his investigations into the principles of NMR and its uses had a monumental effect on virtually all scientific investigations requiring the analysis of molecular structure. In short, Gutowsky’s breakthrough discoveries made NMR one of the most important spectroscopic tools in chemical and biochemical research.
Gutowsky became head of the Department of Chemistry at Illinois in 1967, and in 1970 he oversaw the creation of the School of Chemical Sciences, which included the departments of chemistry and chemical engineering. He served as Director of SCS from 1970 to 1983. Gutowsky’s many achievements were recognized by his election to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. He was also elected a fellow of the American Physical Society and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The J. C. Martin Memorial Fund was created to support graduate students by awarding them travel grants to allow attendance at professional meetings.
This fund was established in 1999 to honor Professor James Cullen Martin, who served on the Chemistry faculty at the University of Illinois from 1956 untill his retirement in 1985. As an organic chemistry professor, J.C. Martin served on the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Organic Chemistry in 1972 and on the executive committee of organic chemistry for the American Chemical Society from 1971-1973.
The Jerry A. Walker Endowed Chair Fund was established in 2021 by Christine Walker to support an endowed chair in memory of her husband, Jerry A. Walker.
Jerry Arnold Walker started at the University of Illinois in September 1966 and graduated with high honors and highest distinction in the chemistry curriculum in May 1969. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. From September 1969 to August 1973, Jerry was a doctoral candidate with Professor Jack E. Baldwin at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jerry was awarded a PhD degree in the field of organic chemistry for his thesis on studies in sigma tropic rearrangements. This four-year period included 10 months of research at the University of London, King’s College. Dr. Walker completed postdoctoral studies in synthetic methodologies for prostaglandins with Professor David A. Evans at the University of California at Los Angeles and at the California Institute of Technology.
Although both Dr. Walker and his wife (Christine) had advanced degrees in chemistry, they worked for most of their careers in the pharmaceutical industry in non-laboratory positions. However, their belief was always unerring that there is no substitute for a quality education in the sciences. They considered the Midwest their home. Naming a chemistry chair at Jerry’s alma mater is an expression of this belief and of their commitment to their home.
Dr. Walker obtained a position as a research scientist in the Chemical Process Research and Development Division of The Upjohn Company in January 1975. The goal in the laboratory was to find innovative and commercially viable chemical processes for large scale manufacture of pharmaceutical compounds. Jerry progressed quickly through the scientific ranks and was promoted to his first management position in 1983. Jerry was cited as playing a distinguished role in the development of new processes for clindamycin phosphate, anti-inflammatories and corticosteroids. He was a leader in the development of cephalosporin technology, cefpimazole and ceftiofur, and the, then current, synthesis of clindamycin. He was author or co-author of several technical patents.
From 1985 to 1996, Dr. Walker was, successively, director of Research Preparations, of Process R & D, and then of Analytical Methods and Services. In 1996, Jerry was promoted to Vice President, Bulk Drug Process Research & Development and Quality/Environmental Compliance, Chemical & Fermentation Operations. Two years later, Jerry assumed responsibility for global active pharmaceutical ingredient process R & D being conducted in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Nerviano, Italy and Stockholm, Sweden, in what had become by then the Pharmacia & Upjohn Company.
Dr. Walker was an active member of PhRMA, serving as chairman of the bulk pharmaceuticals committee (1999-2000). After successfully overseeing project transfers for Midwest pharmaceutical sciences, due to the next two industry mergers, Jerry left his chemistry career early in 2004.
Shortly after his retirement, Jerry decided to embark on a new “career” as a golf rules official. He completed studies and tests to achieve the highest level of rating with regards to knowledge of the rules of golf as prescribed by the Professional Golf Association and the United States Golf Association (USGA). Jerry worked as a rules official at numerous high school, college and amateur golf tournaments in the states of Michigan and Georgia. He was selected by the USGA to be a member of the US Mid-Am Championship Committee, thus acting as one of the rules officials in national tournaments in the states of Illinois, Alabama, and Pennsylvania. Jerry was also named to the inaugural USGA US Amateur Four Ball Championship Committee.
The Klaus Schulten Distinguished Speaker Series in Biological Physics Fund was established in 2023 by a gift from Prof. Zaida (Zan) Luthey-Schulten to support a speaker series in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Physics in memory of Prof. Klaus J. Schulten.
The Yu Family established a Graduate Education Award to commemorate the legacy of their parents, Mr. Shin-Cheng Yu and Professor June Chien-Yu Tsao-Yu, who came from China to receive their graduate education at the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign.
After graduation from Illinois, they returned to China and dedicated their professional lives to the modernization of China and education of the younger generations in that country. It was the very fine education that they received at the University of Illinois that enabled them to establish their legacy in education, science, and public service in China. It also inspired their children to come to this country for higher education and to pursue their dreams.
The Professor Douglas E. Applequist Chemistry Fund was established in 2020 by Dr. Manley R. Johnston and Mrs. Marian F. Johnston in memory of Dr. Johnston's PhD advisor, Professor Douglas Applequist, who served on the Illinois chemistry faculty from 1955 to 1985. The fund provides unrestricted support for the department.
The Professor Gary Schuster Mentoring Scholarship Fund was established by Dr. De-Kai Loo and Dr. Jianjian Zhang in 2018 in honor of Gary Schuster, professor of chemistry at Illinois from 1975 to 1994. The scholarship recognizes graduate students who demonstrate outstanding mentorship of undergraduate students.
The Professor Gregory S. Girolami Undergraduate Scholarship Fund was established in 2020 by Dr. James Priepot (BS, 1999, Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; MD, 2003, University of Illinois at Chicago) in honor of Prof. Gregory S. Girolami, to support undergraduate scholarships in Chemistry.
Professor Girolami received his B.S. degrees in chemistry and physics from the University of Texas at Austin and his Ph.D. degree from the University of California at Berkeley. Thereafter, he was a NATO postdoctoral fellow with Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson at Imperial College of Science and Technology. He has been on the Illinois faculty since 1983, where he currently serves as the William H. and Janet G. Lycan Professor.
This award was established by Dr. David B. Reitz (PhD, ’77, chemistry) and Mrs. Beverly A. Reitz (BSLAS, ’76, psychology) in 2023 in honor of Dr. Reitz’s graduate research advisor, Professor Peter Beak, who was professor of chemistry at Illinois from 1961 to 2008. The fund recognizes outstanding graduate student teaching assistants.
The Professor Peter Beak Graduate Travel Scholarship was established by Dr. De-Kai Loo and Dr. Jianjian Zhang in 2018 in honor of Peter Beak, professor of chemistry at Illinois from 1961 to 2008. The fund provides travel scholarships for graduate students traveling for academic purposes.
The Reynold C. Fuson Memorial Award in Chemistry Fund provides unrestricted funds for use on immediate or vital Department of Chemistry needs. Since its inception, this fund has been used to support awards, scholarships, new academic and research programs, and student loans, among other equally vital uses.
Reynold Clayton Fuson, known to his friends and colleagues as "R.C.," was a distinguished member of the University of Illinois faculty in Chemistry for 35 years. A devoted educator, he supervised 76 undergraduate researchers, 154 doctoral candidates and 15 postdoctoral fellows during his tenure at Illinois. His accolades are many and include authorship or co-authorship of five textbooks - including the well-known "Systematic Identification of Organic Compounds," which remains a classic to this day. Among his many scientific contributions was the origination of the principle of vinylogy. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, he also was hailed as a charter member of the Center for Advanced Study at the University of Illinois and received honorary degrees from the University of Illinois and the University of Minnesota. Though held in high esteem throughout the chemical field, Fuson's deepest interest always remained with the welfare and education of his students.
Gregory Linn Schmidt established the Robert Lyle Schmidt Memorial Scholarship in his father’s memory to be awarded to a student from a Chicago public high school.
Robert Lyle Schmidt was born in Cicero, Illinois in 1920. With the exception of his college years and the years of World War II, he lived his entire life in the Chicago area. He was a dedicated lifelong fan of the Cubs, Bears, and Blackhawks. He received his B.S. in Chemistry in 1942 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. At the start of his senior year, he earned a fellowship for graduate study at the University of North Carolina.
On December 7, 1941, those plans were changed. Immediately after graduation, he was hired to help run a new factory which produced TNT, but within a year, he enlisted in the Navy. He entered officers' training and specialized in the new technology of radar. Upon discharge from the Navy in 1946, he returned to his wife and newborn son and began working in the chemical industry. At the same time, he and his father, a chemical company salesman, started a company in his father's garage. That company became Riverside Laboratories. Initially its primary product was industrial enamels, including the red paint on Radio Flyer wagons. But, Bob Schmidt was not content to produce a single product. He was an inventor and a chemist with the ability to visualize novel polymeric structures. The primary
product of his creativity was the first successful use of resin-impregnated paper to put a high quality surface on soft wood and particleboard, a process which became the standard of the furniture industry.
Bob Schmidt was an athlete, a singer, a violinist, a pilot, and a loving father to his two sons, but nothing was more important to him than the value of a good education. His experience at the University of Illinois was his model. His deep affection for the university was present throughout his life and he was very happy to have two sons and a grandson follow his footsteps to Urbana-Champaign.
The Suslick-Sessler Lecture in Materials Chemistry was established in 2017 by a generous lead gift from Dr. Jonathan L. Sessler in honor of his colleague Kenneth S. Suslick.
Dr. Sessler is the Doherty-Welch Chair Professor of Chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Suslick is the Marvin T. Schmidt Research Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois.
The Timothy Nieman Memorial Scholarship fund provides support for undergraduate students who have demonstrated exceptional achievement and dedication to the field.
Established in 1998, the fund honors Timothy A. Nieman, who served the Department of Chemistry as a Professor of Analytical Chemistry from 1975 to 1997. An accomplished professor and scientist, Dr. Nieman also published works with collaborators such as Douglas Skoog, F. James Holler and James J. Leary.
This award is presented each year to the 4th year graduate student(s) with the most creative Independent Research Proposal in honor of Vanderveer Voorhees.
Dr. Voorhees was a graduate student with Professor Roger Adams and was the coauthor on the seminal paper describing catalytic hydrogenation with palladium oxide (J. Am. Chem. Soc 1922, 44, 1397-405), which came to be known as Adams' catalyst.
The William H. Pirkle Endowment Fund was established in 2007 by friends and family of William H. Pirkle, to support the Department of Chemistry and to help future students experience the unique teaching environment and learning resources at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The Willis H. Flygare Memorial fund supports the Flygare Memorial Lectures held each year by the Department of Chemistry in honor of Dr. Willis Flygare.
Willis "Bill" Flygare was a professor of Chemistry at Illinois from 1961 until his death in 1981. During that time he directed more than 30 PhD students. A visionary chemist, he developed a new experimental method involving the molecular Zeeman effect. Utilizing this effect, he measured most of the known molecular quadrupole moments and magnetic susceptibility anisotropies. He developed a highly sensitive microwave spectrometer by combining molecular beams with Fourier transform techniques.
Dr. Flygare was a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Following his death in 1981, a special issue of the Journal of Chemical Physics was published in his memory, with 117 articles written by friends and colleagues.
The Zumdahl Teaching of Chemistry Award was established with contributions from former students and friends in honor of Steven Zumdahl.
Steven S. Zumdahl received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from Wheaton College (Illinois) in 1964 and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois (Urbana) in 1968. He taught at the University of Illinois for over 35 years, where he served as a Professor and Associate Head of Chemistry and Director of the General Chemistry Program.