Dr. Susanna Widicus Weaver has been named Alumni of the Year for the Illinois Wesleyan University Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and will speak at the department\u2019s Senior Night Awards Banquet on April 18. Dr. Widicus Weaver is now a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Departments of Chemistry and Astronomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo me this is more important than any other award I could have received because it\u2019s really from the heart,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s such a huge honor. To know that they respect and care about me at this level is just incredible!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Widicus Weaver chose Illinois Wesleyan\u2019s undergraduate program after meeting her research advisor in a lunch line at the university\u2019s open house. That advisor showed her a meteorite collection and ignited her passion for astrochemistry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOther schools wouldn\u2019t even let me see the labs,\u201d she said. \u201cShe was telling me all about her research, so I ended up working with her for four years, and I graduated with honors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The program contained a small number of students, who interacted regularly, and when Dr. Widicus Weaver\u2019s mentor left for another job, the rest of the department stepped up to make sure she could finish her honors research, attend meetings, give talks and continue learning chemistry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe department was phenomenal at helping me navigate all of that and at helping me keep my work going,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery bit of it prepared me to get through graduate school and taught me how to think about science in terms of how to come up with a hypothesis and test it. It taught me how to get a research proposal funded and keep a project running\u2026 everything I needed to know to be a research professor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As an undergraduate, Dr. Widicus Weaver worked hard, spending evenings and weekends in the lab and sharing her excitement for chemistry with others in the department. Her enthusiasm and dedication did not go unnoticed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI realized that we had a budding research chemist in the making,\u201d said Ram Mohan, IWU Wendell and Loretta Hess Professor of Chemistry. \u201cI\u2019m pleased that my observations were correct\u2013Susanna has done wonderfully well and carved a name for herself in the field of astronomy. She has made significant contributions to the field and her research focuses on understanding the evolution of prebiotic molecules as stars and planets form. She was an independent thinker and came up with unique solutions at times to problems she ran into during the course of the lab experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her time at Illinois Wesleyan University taught her how to handle research challenges and helped her grow into a confident scientist, but it also left a lasting impression on her desire to mentor undergraduates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am always aware of the power of an undergrad research experience and how that can influence someone\u2019s career trajectory,\u201d she explained. \u201cIt was such a strong influence on mine. I always have them in my group and I really love mentoring undergrads and teaching graduate students how to mentor them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dr. Susanna Widicus Weaver has been named Alumni of the Year for the Illinois Wesleyan University Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and will speak at the department\u2019s Senior Night Awards Banquet on April 18. Dr. Widicus Weaver is now a … Continue reading