The Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois

The Harry G. Drickamer fund supports graduate fellowships in the Department of Chemistry, the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and the Department of Physics.  Each student is known as a Drickamer Research Fellow, and is chosen based upon multiple factors, including their significant and demonstrated ability at research. 

Harry G. Drickamer, a pioneer in chemical research, served on the faculty of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from 1946 until his retirement in 1989.  He was Head of the Division of Chemical Engineering from 1955-58 as well. 

On October 18, 1989, President George Bush Sr. awarded Drickamer the National Medal of Science.  In announcing the award, the White House praised Drickamer as a pioneer in the field of pressure tuning spectroscopy "which has contributed greatly to the world's understanding of modern science including chemistry, physics, biochemistry, geology and other disciplines."

In an address regarding Drickamer, Bill Greenough noted that apart from receiving the National Medal of Science, Drickamer also earned the Welch Prize in Chemistry (1987) of the Robert A. Welch Foundation; the Oliver E. Buckley Solid State Physics Award (1967) of the American Physical Society; the Ipatieff Prize (1956), the Langmuir Award (1974), and the Peter Debye Award (1987) of the American Chemical Society; the Colburn Award (1947), the Alpha Chi Sigma Award (1967), the William H. Walker Award (1972), and the Warren K. Lewis Teaching Award (1986) of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; the Bendix Research Prize (1968) of the American Society for Engineering Education; the Chemical Pioneers Award (1983) and the Gold Medal (1996) of the American Institute of Chemists; the Michelson-Morley Award (1978) of Case Western Reserve University; the John Scott Award (1984) of the City of Philadelphia; the Eliot Cresson Medal (1988) of the Franklin Institute; the P. W. Bridgman Award (1977) of the International Association for the Advancement of High Pressure Science and Technology; the Outstanding Materials Chemistry Award (1985) of the Department of Energy, and Alexander von Humbolt Award (1986) of the Federal Republic of Germany, and a Doctor of Chemical Sciences degree Honoris Causa (1994) from the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Click here to make a donation to the Harry G. Drickamer Fund.