Professor and Racheff Faculty Scholar Qian Chen from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has been awarded the 2025 Langmuir Lectureship by the American Chemical Society for her groundbreaking work in transforming electron microscopy to understand the manufacturing, interactions and self-assembly of colloidal nanoparticles.
Why it matters
The Langmuir Lectureship is among the highest honors granted by the ACS Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry, awarded annually to only two leading researchers in the interdisciplinary field of colloid and surface chemistry to recognize exceptional research. The award honors Irving Langmuir, the American chemist and physicist who won the 1932 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in surface chemistry and was the first industrial chemist to become a Nobel laureate.
The big picture
Chen becomes only the second faculty member in Materials Science and Engineering at Illinois to receive this award, following in the footsteps of her own Ph.D. advisor, Professor Steve Granick, who received the honor more than a decade ago. The award includes complimentary registration for the Fall ACS meeting, $1,500 in travel support, and a $3,000 honorarium.
- Chen will deliver her Langmuir Lecture at the ACS Fall Meeting in Washington DC (August 16-21) during the awards session expected on Tuesday, August 19.
- This award reinforces Illinois Grainger Engineering's leadership in materials science research and its impact on advancing fundamental understanding in nanoscale systems.
- The lectureship continues a legacy of excellence in surface chemistry research at the university.
"I feel honored to receive the 2025 Langmuir Lectureship from ACS. This Lectureship recognizes my group's efforts on imaging and understanding colloids and surfaces at the nanoscale, where many remarkable applications occur such as nanomanufacturing, catalysis, energy storage and separation. I look forward to continuing making more breakthroughs and pushing the boundaries of the field." - Professor and Racheff Faculty Scholar Qian Chen
Illinois Grainger Engineering Affiliations
Qian Chen is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and is affiliated with the Materials Research Laboratory, the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, the Department of Chemistry, the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. She serves as an investigator for Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago and holds the Racheff Faculty Scholar appointment.