Okay. Well, it's quiet. Which means we can start. Good morning everyone. Thank you for
joining us on this very special day. Today is Arnold Beckman's 123rd birthday. So Arnold,
as you all know, had the vision to create the first interdisciplinary Institute on campus
with the goal of creating a better world through interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation.
And so I'm thrilled to be celebrating Arnold Beckman's birthday by announcing our 2023
Vision and Spirit Award winner. So, the Vision and Spirit Award provides unrestricted research
funding of fifty thousand dollars for the faculty member who... faculty members who most embody the
vision and spirit of the Beckman Institute. This means fostering more interdisciplinary
collaborations, while also being committed to our core values of excellence, collaboration,
integrity, transdisciplinarity, exploration and diversity. And I want to note that since
becoming Director last fall, we changed the way the Vision and Spirit Awards were
selected this year. We collected nominations from the Beckman community and all six of
our previous Vision and Spirit Award winners helped me select this year's awardee. So I am
so pleased to announce that this year's Vision and Spirit Award winner is Charles Schroeder
[Applause]
So in, in my opinion, and in that of Charles's colleagues, Charles is the embodiment of Arnold
Beckman's vision and spirit. So Charles is a great and productive scientist who has lots
of ongoing research and grants. But what sets them apart for this award is how much time,
energy, and thought he has put into other people's research and other people's success as well as the
success of the Institute as a whole. Charles worked tirelessly on the reimagined Molecular
Science and Engineering theme after a 2017 review committee recommended an overhaul. He created the
new Artificial Intelligence for Materials working group, bringing together a new set
of interdisciplinary collaborators. He proactively and responsively led the theme through an advisory
committee's site visit last fall, which is a very heavy lift for those of you who've done this
before. And the visit itself had glowing reviews. But the best way to see the effect Charles has
had is to hear from those who nominated him for this award. So I'm going to share a few
excerpts. The first one I can confidently say that my collaborative research interactions
with Charles through the Beckman are one of the absolute highlights of my time on campus.
He engages in collaboration with genuine curiosity and thoughtfulness that is almost unparalleled.
Here's another... Charles has an expansive view of what's possible in chemistry and materials
and has brought in many people who might not have otherwise been involved in Beckman. I
think the ideas he brings speak to the future of Beckman. And finally, Charles exemplifies
founder Arnold Beckman's vision of fostering collaborative research to solve big problems.
Charles's energy and singular Vision have driven a Resurgence of the MSC theme. He is
a forward-thinking leader and collaborator of the highest degree. His hard work and
dedication would make him a worthy recipient of the 2023 Vision and Spirit Award. And I couldn't
agree more. Charles is making Beckman's research, collaborations, and overall community better,
and is truly deserving of this recognition. So please join me in congratulating him. [Applause]
With the award... Arnold Beckman's bust.
Congratulations. Thanks
very much. Yeah, the camera... okay.
And if you'd like to say a few words, we'd be happy to hear from you.
Wow!
So good morning, everyone. I'd like to begin by thanking Director Mason for the really thoughtful
introduction, uh, really kind words from my colleagues. I got a little emotional actually
listening to some of that. And so I'd like to thank the award selection committee and those
who nominated me. I don't know who you are, but, but thank you so much. I'm sincerely grateful.
So I'd like to thank all my collaborators here at Illinois, there's really too many
people to mention uh to go through the entire list. You know? But I will say that meaningful
professional connections, right, and the supportive environment that's fostered in
this building, you know, truly enables all of us to pursue cutting-edge collaborative research.
Um and, you know, most importantly, I'd also like to thank my research group members... right,
standing over here, um, some of them, uh. So all the current Ph.D. students, post-docs,
undergrad students, right, and the alumni, you, you know, make all of our research accomplishments
possible. And you make my job a very fun and exciting experience. So thank you very much.
I'd also like to sincerely thank all of the Beckman staff, right, for the amazing support
that we get in this institute. Right? o this includes all the staff in the Director's Office,
right, the Business Office, Facilities and Operations, Communications and Outreach,
and my administrative support for my research group, Mary Powers is somewhere. Thank you,
Mary, so much for everything that you do, your hard work and support for our group.
You know, one of the most important aspects in scientific research really lies in building
relationships and developing connections with diverse sets of colleagues. You know? New and
creative ideas are often generated, right, by drawing connections between seemingly disparate
fields of research... things that you don't really think fit together, but they end up
actually fitting together quite nicely. This can only be accomplished by meaningful collaboration,
right? When I first joined the institute in around 2017, 2018, Beckman Director Jeff Moore
at the time, you know, really emphasized the collaborative spirit and the culture at the
Institute . And I really tried to embrace that from the start. And over the last five years,
you know, my research program, and I say this all the time, right, my research program has
undergone a fundamental transformation, right, with collaborations becoming, highly collaborative
shared projects with diverse topics, many different colleagues across campus and beyond. So
this includes the Molecule Maker Lab, Marty Burke is sitting there. So, without Marty, the Molecule
Maker Lab would not be possible. Collaborations with Jeff Moore, or Emad Tajkhorshid upstairs,
multiple people in the AIM group, you know, too many people to actually mention.
I'm getting close to the end here, it's okay. So in many ways, right, this,
this a word recognizes the collaborative spirit and the culture and the Institute and, you know,
we continue to be guided by the principles that Arnold Beckman laid out, right? And we see these,
uh, on the board displayed, almost on a daily basis, right? So his guiding vision... it really
continues to provide inspiration for all of us. And that certainly is true for me. And so,
you know, with this Vision and Spirit Award's prior recipients, and there's several people
standing here, they have demonstrated the power, I would say, of supercharging research. Right? By
seeing new collaborations, making deep connections with colleagues, and, you know, I'm extremely
fortunate to have benefited, right, from having the opportunity to, to work in this building and,
and have the support of the people, right, in the Institute to make this an amazing place. So,
with that, I'm deeply honored and deeply humbled to receive this award from the Institute.
Thank you, Director Mason, for introducing me. Thank you everyone in the institute for making
this possible. And onward and forward with, with more collaborative research! Thank you very much.
Thank you.
So we can finish our celebration of Charles and Arnold Beckman's birthday with cupcakes.
Thank you so much. Okay. This is super awesome. I didn't know I was getting one
of these. This is super cool, right, I mean, it's super awesome, yeah. Thank you so much.