Materials students will have greater opportunities to create and innovate after a significant financial contribution from alumnus Atef Eltoukhy ('76, PhD, Metallurgical Engineering) and his family came to fruition.

On Friday, April 17, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering held a ceremony recognizing the completed Eltoukhy Family Innovation Lab, a state-of-the-art maker space powered by a gift from Atef and his wife, Fofa. The lab, located on the first floor of the Materials Science and Engineering Building at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is designed with student innovation and collaboration at the forefront.

Dale Wright, U. of I. vice chancellor for advancement, recalled the Eltoukhy family had been searching for the right project to back and were thrilled when the innovation lab concept was pitched.

"It was amazing when Department Head Nancy Sottos came back (after talking with Dr. Eltoukhy in 2021) and said, 'I think we found the thing that they want to do,'" Wright said. "They wanted to have a profound impact on all of the students here who are going to study materials science."

That shared vision drew Wright, Illinois Grainger Engineering Dean Rashid Bashir, the materials department alumni board and faculty to join Sottos at the Friday ceremony. Sottos was thrilled as she delivered a speech, remembering the extensive planning that went into building a dedicated space for students to imagine, test and prototype their materials projects.

"There's really nothing more satisfying than starting with an idea — with student feedback about the senior design course and with faculty feedback," she said. "Gathering people together, including the Eltoukhy (family), to make this a reality is something that will have a significant impact on our material science students now and to come."

“Gathering people together, including the Eltoukhy (family), to make this a reality is something that will have a significant impact on our materials science students now and to come." - Department Head Nancy Sottos, Materials Science and Engineering

Bashir sees immense value in the new Eltoukhy space, as students will have access to high-level equipment as they work together on their projects, including optical and electron microscopes, 3D printers, advanced software, and additional tools.

"Our educational lab experience is so important here. That defines us and is so distinctive of us as a college and as departments from almost any of our peers," said Bashir. "We really want to continue that journey. This is another great example of providing that hands-on undergraduate lab experience to our students in material science and engineering."

"Our educational lab experience is so important here. That defines us and is so distinctive of us as a college and as departments from almost any of our peers." - Illinois Grainger Engineering Dean Rashid Bashir

Bringing that vision to life required a significant construction effort. Interior construction efforts, coordinated through the hard work of Ou Kim, executive director of facilities, planning and construction for Illinois Grainger Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering Associate Director of Facilities and Operations Nicole Robards, began in May 2024 and concluded in August 2025. A large viewing window was installed, allowing people passing through the Materials Science and Engineering Building to catch a glimpse of students hard at work on projects. Graphics installed at lab entrances recognized the Eltoukhys for their generosity.

Robards didn't just oversee the physical transformation of the space; she also helped architect how it would be run day-to-day. She and lecturer Matthew Goodman, who leads the department's senior design capstone program, developed an innovative student-led management model that puts undergraduate students in charge of everything from schedules to equipment training. The materials community made sure to recognize Robards, alongside these student leaders, during the proceedings.

When all remarks concluded, Sottos was joined by Bashir and Wright for the defining moment of the morning. Together, they held a pair of oversized scissors and officially cut a ribbon in front of the lab's hallway entrance, publicly recognizing the space as open. All guests then had the chance to tour the lab space and see up close the equipment students will have access to.

The completed lab stands as a milestone for enhancements to the student experience. The ribbon-cutting moment lines up with a series of significant achievements The Grainger College of Engineering reached in April 2026.

"Earlier (during the week of April 17), we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Coordinated Science Laboratory," Bashir noted. "Thursday morning, we celebrated the renewal of the IBM Illinois Discovery Accelerator Institute. Yesterday, we announced that our cancer center is going to get a National Cancer Institute designation — the first basic science cancer center in over 40 years from NCI. And today we have this. Illinois is on a run."

For Sottos, the moment represented the culmination of years of collaboration between students, faculty, donors and university leadership all working toward a shared vision of what materials science education at Illinois could look like. With the ribbon cut, this vision is now a reality.

"We are so thankful to Atef and Fofa for choosing to invest in us in this way," she said. "Your gift has been transformative for our program and our students, and we look forward to all the activities that will occur in the space."

Illinois Grainger Engineering Affiliations 

Rashid Bashir is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of bioengineering in the Department of Bioengineering. He serves as dean of The Grainger College of Engineering and holds the Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering appointment.

Nancy Sottos is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of materials science and engineering and serves as department head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. She also serves as a Center for Advanced Study professor and holds a Swanlund Endowed Chair appointment.