Catherine J. Murphy

Catherine J. Murphy (born 1964) is an American chemist and materials scientist, and is the Larry Faulkner Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The first woman to serve as the head of the department of chemistry at UIUC, National Academy of Sciences, She attended junior high and high school in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, after her family moved to the Chicago suburbs in 1974. During her undergraduate studies, Murphy conducted research in the lab of Thomas B. Rauchfuss. She graduated with Bachelor of Science degrees in both chemistry and biochemistry in 1986. At UIUC, Murphy also holds affiliations with the departments of Bioengineering, Material Science and Engineering, the Materials Research Lab, the Micro and Nanotechnology Lab, the Center for Advanced Study, the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.

During her career at UIUC, Murphy has mentored and advised more than 7 visiting scientists, 12 postdoctoral researchers, 42 graduate students, 100 undergraduate students, 3 high school students, and 2 high school teachers. While at South Carolina, she advised 12 postdoctoral researchers/visiting scientists, 24 graduate students, 55 undergraduate students, and 14 high school students. She has received recognition for this service including the Siemens-Westinghouse High School Science Mentor Award in 2002 and the University of South Carolina Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award in 2003.

Murphy has published over 295 research publications. and the second in 2002 titled “Biomedical Nanotechnology Architectures and Applications” Since 2008, Murphy has been a coauthor of the general chemistry textbook Chemistry: The Central Science. , she has an h-index of 104 according to Google Scholar and of 96 according to Scopus. Murphy holds three patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Murphy is the chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Welch Foundation. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Research Corporation for Science Advancement.

Research Her research focuses on inorganic nanomaterials and the biophysical properties of DNA. Murphy is known for her work on the seed-mediated synthesis of gold nanorods of controlled aspect ratio. Her laboratory has developed the surface chemistry, biological applications, and environmental implications of these nanomaterials.

Awards Murphy has won numerous awards and recognition for her scholarship, research, teaching, mentoring, and overall career. In 2008, Murphy was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019. Murphy has been recognized as a Fellow of her field's associated professional societies including the American Chemical Society (2011), the Royal Society of Chemistry (2014), and the Materials Research Society (2017).

Murphy's career has included a number of firsts for women, some previously mentioned, such as the first woman on a tenure track at USC Chemistry and the first woman to be department head at UIUC. In 2013, Murphy received the Carol Tyler Award from the International Precious Metals Institute, which recognizes women who have made contributions to field of precious metals. In 2015, she received the Inspiring Women in STEM Award from Insight into Diversity.

Specifically recognizing her research, Murphy has won the National Science Foundation CAREER Award (1995), Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship (1997), National Science Foundation Award for Special Creativity (1998), Division of Inorganic Chemistry of the American Chemical Society Inorganic Nanoscience Award (2011), TREE (Transformational Research and Excellence in Education) Award (2015), American Chemical Society Linus Pauling Medal (2019), Materials Research Society MRS Medal (2019), and PROTEOMASS Scientific Society Career Award (2020). In 2020, Murphy received the American Chemical Society's Award in Inorganic Chemistry. She is the first woman to receive this recognition.

In 2011, Thomson Reuters ranked Murphy as number 10 in their Top 100 Materials Scientists of 2000–2010, as number 32 in their Top 100 Chemists of 2000–2010, a Highly Cited Researcher in Material Science in 2014 and 2015, Highly Cited Researcher designations are given to the top 1% of researchers based on the number of times their work was cited by others in a given year as determined on Web of Science.

For her teaching contributions, Murphy has won the Cottrell Scholar Award (1996), USC Mortar Board Excellence in Teaching Award (1996), Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (1998), U of SC Golden Key Faculty Award for Creative Integration of Research and Undergraduate Teaching (1998),

Previous Heads, UIUC Department of Chemistry

Personal life Catherine is married to Bob Murphy. They met while undergraduate students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Bob Murphy was a mathematics instructor at the University of South Carolina and then the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. They currently reside in Urbana, Illinois.