Sottos, Moore earn inaugural campus Discovery to Impact Award

Professor Nancy Sottos and Stanley O. Ikenberry Research Professor Jeffrey Moore have earned the inaugural Discovery to Impact Award from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 

The honor was announced during Founders Week 2026 and recognizes the team's efforts to innovate in the area of frontal polymerization research, which promises impact in the manufacturing industry. The below video from Entrepreneurship at Illinois explains the research. 

Illinois Grainger Engineering Affiliations 

Jeffrey S. Moore is an Illinois Grainger Engineering affiliate professor of materials science and engineering in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He is a research professor of chemistry in the Department of Chemistry, housed in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. He holds the titles of Stanley O. Ikenberry Research Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor. 

Nancy Sottos is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of materials science and engineering in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and holds the Maybelle Leland Swanlund Endowed Chair appointment. She also serves as co-leader of the Autonomous Materials Systems Group at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and is a Center for Advanced Study professor.