The Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois

Fellowships

A large number of fellowships are awarded to graduate students in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois. These range from Departmental fellowships sponsored by chemical companies and private donations to national fellowships from various federal and private foundations.

Fuson Travel Award | Seemon Pines Award |
Pines Travel Award | Vandeveer Voorhees Award

Fuson Travel Award

Up to six Fuson travel awards are given annually to organic students to present their research at the ACS National Meetings or at other professional meetings such as Gordon Research Conferences. The awards are made to honor and celebrate the accomplishments of R.C. Fuson who was a distinguished faculty member at the University of Illinois for 35 years. The Fuson endowment also funds the annual R.C. Fuson lectureship series. Recent recipients of the Fuson travel awards and the lectures they gave or will give at ACS meetings are listed below.

Fall 2012 - Philadelphia, PA (ACS Meeting)
	Paul Gormisky (White) "Synthetic Versatility in C-H Oxidation" Shauna Paradine (White) "Iron-Catalyzed Intramolecular Allylic C-H Amination" Yanxiang (Nancy) Shi (van der Donk) "Heterologous Production of Actagardine in E. coli"
Spring 2012- San Diego, CA (ACS Meeting)
	Noah Bindman (van der Donk) "Flourescent Labeling of Lantipeptides" Junqi Li (Burke) "Pinene-Derived Iminodiacetic Acid (PIDA): A Powerful Ligand for Stereoselective Synthesis and Iterative Cross-Coupling of C(sp3)Boronate Building Blocks" Karen Morrison (Hergenrother) "Accessing Stereochemically Complex and Structurally Diverse Compounds through Chemical Modification of Gibberellic Acid, and their Activity in Biological Systems"

Fall 2011- Denver, C0 (ACS Meeting)
	Marinus Bigi (White) "Carboxylic acid-directed C-H oxidations using a non-heme iron catalyst: mixed oxygenase/desaturase activity" (Natural Products GRC) Seiko Fujii (Burke) "Total Synthesis of Synechoxanthin via Umpolung Iterative Cross-Coupling" Lawrence Wolf (Denmark) "The Application of QSAR/QSSR Methods for Catalyst Evaluation and Development in Phase Transfer Catalysis"

Spring 2011- Anaheim, CA (ACS Meeting)
	Trent Oman (van der Donk) "Sublancin is not a Lantibiotic but an S-linked Glycopeptide" Eric Woerly (Burke) "Stereocontrolled Total Synthesis of Peridinin and the Mechanism of Carotenoid Antilipoperoxidant Activity" Chun-Ho Wong (Zimmerman) "Binding Mode Studies of Small Molecule Inhibition for Myotonic Dystrophy"

 

Seemon Pines Award

The Seemon Pines Award is sponsored by the late Dr. Seemon Pines, alumnus of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois who went on to establish an illustrious career at Merck after receiving his Ph.D. with Prof. Nelson Leonard. At Merck he helped develop a large number of life-enhancing therapeutic drugs, such as cortisone, easing the suffering of millions. He served as Vice President of Pharmaceutical Process R&D and was awarded Merck's highest scientific honor, the Director's Scientific Award. Dr. Pines used this cash prize to establish the Seemon Pines Award and the Pines Travel Award to foster student development at UIUC. The Seemon Pines award is granted each year for the most outstanding research presentation at the Annual Beak-Pines Organic Area Allerton Conference. Recipients in recent years:

 

 

Pines Travel Award

Each year a number of students receive a travel grant to present their Ph.D. research in the form of a seminar at the institution from which they received their undergraduate degree in chemistry. This award is made possible by the generous donation of the late Dr. Seemon Pines, former Vice President of Pharmaceutical Process R&D at Merck. Recent awardees and their undergraduate institutions are:

 

2012
Noah Bindman (van der Donk)	Grinnell College
Benjamin Brandsen (Silverman)	Calvin College
Seiko Fujii (Burke)	Smith College
Claire Knezevic (Hergenrother)	Scripps College
David Kornfilt (Denmark)	Swarthmore College
Joel Melby (Mitchell)	University of Evansville
Shauna Paradine (White)	Albion College
2011
Ian Dailey (Burke)	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Patrick Knerr (van der Donk)	University of Delaware
Karen Morrison (Hergenrother)	Harvey Mudd College
2010
Joseph Bair (Hergenrother)	Brigham Young University
Eric Woerly (Burke)	Indiana University/ Purdue University
2009
Mary Caruso (Moore)	Elon College
Douglas Davis (Moore)	University of Tennesse
Giang Vo (Hartwig)	Illinois Institute of Technology
Nathan Werner (Denmark)	Southern Utah University
Diana West (Hergenrother)	College of William and Mary
John Whitteck (van der Donk)	University of Missouri
2008
Brad Carrow (Hartwig)	University of Missouri
Mirth Hoyt (Hergenrother)	College of William and Mary
Nathan Duncan-Gould (Denmark)	College of Charleston
Leigh Anne Ihnken (van der Donk)	Lake Forest College
Dan Palacious (Burke)	University of California- San Diego
Darrel Kuykendall (Zimmerman)	California State University
2007
Erin Elliott (Moore)	University of Alberta
Eric Gillis (Burke)	Grinnell College
Jackie Murphy (Hartwig)	University of Massachusetts
Matthew Levengood (van der Donk)	Elizabethtown College
Amanda Nottbohm (Hergenrother)	Albion College
Stephanie Potisek (Moore)	Cornell University
Chris Regens (Denmark)	Lake Forest College
2006
Bill Collins (Denmark)	New Mexico Institute of Technology
Charles Hickenboth (Moore)	University of Richmond
Benjamin Leslie (Hergenrother)	Colgate University
Greg Patton (van der Donk)	Miami University at Ohio
2005
John Baird (Denmark)	Allegheny University
Brandon Miles (Coates)	University of Texas, Dallas
Dinty Musk (Hergenrother)	Taylor University
Ephraim Parent (Katzenellenbogen)	Brigham Young University
2004
Ramil Baiazitov (Denmark)	University of Minnesota, Duluth
David Goode (Hergenrother)	Mercer University
Jennifer Heemstra (Moore)	University of California, Irvine
2003
Kim Deaton (M. Gin)	Carthage College
Shinji Fujimori (Denmark)	Lake Forest College
Justin Montgomery (Denmark)	Miami University
Mary Smalley (Silverman)	University of Northern Iowa
Matthew Stone (Moore)	Michigan State University

 

Vandeveer Voorhees Award

This award is presented each year to the 4th year graduate student(s) with the most creative Independent Research Proposal. 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. Recent recipients of the Vandeveer Voorhees Award: