The Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois

Every Gift Leaves an Impact...

Matthew Luchansky: Recipient of the Springborn Fellowship

"As a first-year analytical student working for Ryan Bailey," says Matt Luchansky, recipient of the Springborn Fellowship in 2008, "the generous Springborn Fellowship has definitely improved the quality of my graduate experience thus far and will continue to be a great blessing in my life. By providing me with a compelling and unmatched funding opportunity, the Springborn was a large factor in my decision to choose the University of Illinois over other prestigious programs. This fellowship substantially adds to the wealth of opportunities and resources already available to chemistry students at Illinois. Without the need to be funded as a teaching assistant, this fellowship has allowed me to focus on research from the start of my graduate student career. I am very thankful to Robert and Carolyn Springborn for creating this fellowship.

Professor Benjamin McCall - Recipient of The Packard Fellowship

Dr. Benjamin McCall of the University of Illinois Chemistry Department is the recipient of the prestigious Packard Fellowship.  Established in 1988 and maintained by the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, this award grants McCall $625,000 over a five-year period to support his research efforts.  This gift was established with the purpose of supporting outstandingly creative researchers early in their scientific careers, with a focus on innovative individual research efforts. 

In support of this Fellowship, the University of Illinois Foundation states that "the Foundation hopes to develop scientific leaders, further the work of promising young scientists and engineers, and support efforts to attract talented graduate students into university research in the United States."

"McCall is one of the most spectacular young physical chemists in the United States," said Dr. Steven Zimmerman, Head of Chemistry at Illinois. "His research has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the spectra of ions in the gas phase and of the chemistry of interstellar clouds."

Robert and Connie Springborn - Establishing Graduate Fellowships

Recently, Dr. Robert and Connie Springborn donated to establish the Springborn Graduate Fellowship. This fellowship consists not only of a generous stipend, but also of a waiver of tuition and fees, and support for travel to conferences and other laboratories. The fellowship continues for three years, allowing the recipients unprecedented freedom to pursue their research goals.

"The Springborn Fellowship has been one of the greatest honors I could have received upon entering graduate school," said Jessica Klinkenberg, one of the first Springborn Fellowship recipients and a student in the Hartwig Group. "The freedom to choose a research group without the added pressure of available funding has allowed me to focus on the research in which I'm most interested. While on fellowship, I will be able to concentrate my efforts nearly exclusively on research. I am so honored to have been chosen from a field of well-qualified incoming graduate students, and the award will stand out as quite an achievement as I go on in my career as a scientist."