Five University of Illinois professors at the Urbana-Champaign campus have been named University Scholars in recognition of their excellence in teaching, scholarship and service. Two of them are CCIL members: Zeynep Madak-Erdogan and Joaquín Rodríguez-López.
The scholars program recognizes faculty excellence and provides $15,000 to each scholar for three years to enhance their academic careers. The money may be used for travel, equipment, research assistants, books or other purposes.
“The University Scholars program celebrates the remarkable achievements of the named individuals,” said Nicholas Jones, the University of Illinois System’s executive vice president and vice president for academic affairs. “Our faculty represent the strong foundation of the world-class academic experience that contributes to the betterment of society and draws students and researchers to the U. of I. System universities from across the globe. The University Scholars are exemplars of that faculty excellence.
“When you consider the diversity of scholarship across all three of our universities and the standards of academic excellence that we nurture and grow through our recruitment of esteemed educators and researchers, all of our University Scholar recipients should be deservedly proud of the honor.”
Left to right: Zeynep Madak-Erdogan and Joaquín Rodríguez-López
Zeynep Madak-Erdogan, a professor of food science and human nutrition, is actively involved in the Cancer Center at Illinois. She served as a health innovation professor at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine and is an active member of the Center for Genomic Diagnostics at Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology.
Her research has revealed cellular adaptations and molecular mechanisms that underlie the detrimental effects of specific lipids, free fatty acids and obesity in the aggressiveness of breast cancers. She published 65 papers, delivered more than 30 invited lectures and received a prestigious publishing award. She served as editor-in-chief for two endocrine-focused journals. Madak-Erdogan has been an investigator on grants totaling approximately $8 million. She was recognized as an Emerging Leader of the National Academy of Medicine and is a Big Ten Alliance Academic Leaders Program Fellow.
Much of her scholarly activity aligns with diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. She created a course on health disparities in the U.S. and organized a mini symposium on “Hormone Dependent Cancer Disparities.” She also serves as the inaugural co-lead of an Illinois Minority Serving Institutions Alliance working group, with a goal of producing underrepresented doctoral recipients by providing unique and targeted opportunities to enhance their preparation for a successful career in academia and beyond.
Professor of chemistry Joaquín Rodríguez-López has taught undergraduate and graduate lecture courses, appearing five times on the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students and receiving the 2023 School of Chemical Sciences Teaching Award. He has been outstanding as a research advisor, mentoring 30 graduate students, 10 postdocs, nine visiting graduate students, three master’s students, and 28 undergraduate students. Eleven of these undergraduates have been co-authors on research publications.
Rodríguez-López created “The Electrochemistry Bootcamp,” which combines laboratory and classroom instruction on the basics of electrochemistry for a three-day immersive experience for young scientists from all over the world.
In his 11 years of service at Illinois, Rodríguez-López has won 20 distinctions, fellowships and awards, including an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the Arthur F. Findeis Award from the American Chemical Society, Division of Analytical Chemistry, and the Zhaowu Tian Prize for Energy Electrochemistry. He has published over 115 papers and has delivered over 130 invited talks at major conferences and universities around the world.
His research with scanning electrochemical microscopy and lasers will help build better batteries and his efforts in energy storage made him a leader within the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, a $200 million initiative of the Department of Energy.
Editor’s Note:
To read the original article from the Illinois News Bureau and learn about the other professor, click here.