Dr. Catherine Murphy is a preeminent chemist and pioneering researcher in nanomaterials who currently holds the Larry R. Faulkner Endowed Chair in Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has served as Head of the Department of Chemistry since 2020, becoming the first woman to lead the department in its more than 152-year history. Murphy earned dual bachelor's degrees in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of Illinois in 1986, followed by a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin in 1990. After completing postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology, she began her independent academic career at the University of South Carolina in 1993, where she rose to full professor before returning to her alma mater in 2009, bringing her transformative research program back to Illinois.
Dr. Murphy is internationally renowned for pioneering the colloidal synthesis of shape-controlled gold and silver nanoparticles in aqueous solution, a breakthrough that has fundamentally reshaped nanomaterials research. Her work has demonstrated how these nanoparticles in the 5-100 nm range exhibit brilliant shape-dependent optical properties that enable revolutionary applications in chemical sensing, biological imaging, mechanically improved polymer nanocomposites, and photothermal therapy for the ablation of pathogenic cells. With over 260 peer-reviewed publications cited more than 80,000 times according to Google Scholar, her research has established fundamental principles for understanding nanomaterial-biological system interactions. Murphy's laboratory has made seminal contributions to understanding surface chemistry effects on cellular response, mechanisms of nanomaterial cytotoxicity, and environmental implications of engineered nanomaterials.
As a transformative leader in her field, Dr. Murphy has mentored an exceptional number of researchers, including more than 7 visiting scientists, 12 postdoctoral researchers, 42 graduate students, and 100 undergraduate students throughout her career at UIUC. She holds multiple cross-disciplinary appointments including Bioengineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, reflecting the broad impact of her work. Murphy serves as a senior investigator for the National Science Foundation Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology and has held editorial positions with the Journal of Physical Chemistry. Her continued research focuses on developing inorganic nanomaterials for biological and energy-related applications while advancing our understanding of chemical interactions between these materials and their environments, ensuring her enduring influence on both fundamental science and practical applications.
