Gifts in Action - Todd Martinez

MEET TODD MARTINEZ

Todd Martinez, a theoretical chemist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is a researcher at the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, the Materials Computation Center and at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. His research focuses on on understanding the reactions of molecules in ultrafine detail: to specify exactly how atoms move in space and how the energies of molecules change over time. He was named a MacArthur Fellow by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Martinez will receive $500,000 in “no strings attached” support for a period of five years.

THE MACARTHUR FELLOWSHIP

One of the nation’s largest private philanthropic foundations, the MacArthur Foundation has awarded more than $3 billion in grants since it began operations in 1978. MacArthur Fellows are selected for their creativity, originality and potential. By providing resources without stipulations, the MacArthur Foundation offers the opportunity for fellows to accelerate their current activities or take their work in new directions.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

“This is an exemplary honor for Professor Martinez, his department and, of course, the university,” said Richard Herman, the chancellor of the Urbana campus. “Designation as a MacArthur Fellow signifies the recipient has been singled out as a person of extraordinary talent and we are enormously proud to have him on our faculty.”