Awards and Honors
We celebrate the awards and honors our QCB faculty and trainees have received for their achievements.
Faculty
2026
Fellow, American Physical Society
Ido Golding, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
I.C. Gunsalus Scholar
College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Angad Mehta
International Chemical Biology Society (ICBS) Young Chemical Biologist Award
Angad Mehta, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award
Sangjin Kim, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Peter Debye Award in Physical Chemistry, American Chemical Society
Martin Gruebele, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
2025
Fellow, National Academy of Inventors
Rohit Bhargava, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Ono Pharma Breakthrough Science Initiative Award
Angad Mehta, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Sloan Research Fellowship
Angad Mehta, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Yingjie Zhang, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Windy City Innovation Award — Chicago Biomedical Consortium Hub for Innovative Technology and Entrepreneurship in the Sciences (CBC-HITES)
Angad Mehta, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
2024
Dean’s Distinguished Lecture
College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Zaida (Zan) Luthey-Schulten
Trainees
2026
Student Research Achievement Award (SRAA), Biopolymers in vivo Subgroup, Biophysical
Society Annual Meeting
Yu-Huan Wang (S. Kim Lab), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Poster: “Fluorescence Imaging of Gene Loci in Escherichia Coli Reveals Marker Size-Dependent
Dynamics and Spatially Heterogeneous Chromosome Confinement”
2025
Best Paper Award, Optical Interactions with Tissue and Cells — SPIE Photonics West
Kevin K. D. Tan (Boppart Lab), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
4D Minecraft cell models from label-free optical imaging (Conference Presentation)
Co-authors: Tianyu Wu, Zane R. Thornburg, David J. Whang, Gokul Sriramasubramanian, Stephen A. Taylor, Martin Gruebele, Zaida Luthey-Schulten and Stephen A. Boppart
Editor’s Pick Selection, JCP Emerging Investigators Special Collection – The Journal of Chemical Physics
Armine I. Dingilian (Backlund Lab), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
“Quantifying classical and quantum bounds for resolving closely spaced, non-interacting, simultaneously emitting dipole sources in optical microscopy”Co-authors: Aarnah Kurella, Div Chamria, Cheyenne S. Mitchell, Dhananjay Dhruva, David J. Durden, Mikael P. Backlund
Student Research Achievement Award (SRAA), Single-Molecule Forces, Manipulation, and Visualization Subgroup, Biophysical Society Annual Meeting
Devinda Wijewardena (Selvin Lab), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Poster: “Insights into Back-Steps, Rotations, and Cargo-Size Effects of Kinesin Motility with Minflux”
2024
Best Poster Award — Molecular Genetics of Bacteria and Phages Conference
Stephanie Puentes-Rodriguez (Mera Lab), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign