LAS Natural Sciences Chair Russel J. Hemley to Lead New Research Center Funded by a Five-Year $2.25M Grant from the U.S. Army to UIC

The University of Illinois Chicago has been awarded a $2.25 million, five-year grant to establish a Research Center of Excellence by the U.S. Army through a program that aims to expand and diversify its research base through partnerships with historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions, or HBCU/MI.

The award to UIC will found EXtreme EnErgy Density, or EXEED, a research center dedicated to multidisciplinary, collaborative research focused on the discovery, characterization and synthesis of next generation energetic materials.

“We are excited to launch this bold new basic science effort to discover new materials with unprecedented amounts of stored energy and other useful properties. We are also grateful to the U.S. Army Research Office for its recognition of UIC’s potential in training students from underrepresented groups in this field,” said EXEED director Russell J. Hemley, LAS Chair in the Natural Sciences and professor of physics and chemistry.