Give to Beckman
Support Beckman's grad students, the heart of our community
Beckman's nearly 500 graduate students are the beating heart of our innovative, barrier-breaking community. They're collecting data in the labs, meeting with human research participants and creating interactive activities at the Beckman Institute Open House. They're also tackling the challenges that will help scientific research continue to change the lives of humans around the world.
We need your help to assist graduate students during challenging times
The Beckman Institute's fellowship programs have been supporting graduate students for decades. However, new uncertainty in federal funding that typically supports hundreds more students at Beckman makes the institue's support programs more important than ever. Fellowships and awards offer stable funding to students like Shagun Ajmera, who is working to understand and possibly treat complex auditory disorders like tinnitus, misophonia and hyperacusis.
"Receiving the Nadine Barrie Smith Fellowship allowed me to pursue my research on brain connectivity in hearing disorders," Shagun said. "The award supported my efforts in applying innovative artificial intelligence techniques to synthesize complex magnetic resonance scans effectively, helping me achieve a significant milestone in my Ph.D. journey.
"Thanks to the Beckman Graduate Fellowship, I was able to undertake the mammoth challenge of investigating how complex spatiotemporal patterns of neural activity across the whole brain may be altered in individuals suffering from tinnitus," she said. "I am applying a deep learning approach to the problem, which is novel in the field of tinnitus brain research and holds promise for advancing objective diagnosis of the condition."
Beckman Support Fund
Ongoing growth and evolution in scientific research requires commitment, vision, and resources. This fund supports the Beckman Institute, including for undergraduate and graduate student research, as well as ongoing upgrades to scientific equipment and facilities.
Support the Ted's Café Renovation Fund
The Beckman Café was built to offer healthy meals and space for researchers to connect and share. Its culture and coffee have nourished minds, encouraged interdisciplinary collaboration, and fueled innovative research.
The Beckman Institute is renovating the cafe and it will reopen in summer 2025 as Ted's Café, thanks to a generous gift from Founding Director Ted Brown. The enhancements will offer more accessible meal options, welcome even more researchers and residents and foster Beckman’s unique community.
It's not too late to support the café renovation, either in honor of Ted Brown and his incredible legacy at Beckman, or to help foster the community-building powers it offers the institute.
Beckman Institute Scholarship Fund
The Beckman Institute Scholarship Fund helps train students who will become the next generation of scientists, engineers, teachers, and business leaders.
Meet Beckman Institute Undergraduate Fellow Sola Adeyiga:
"The Beckman Institute Undergraduate Fellowship didn’t just support my senior thesis—it transformed how I approach scientific questions.
"Funding my work in neuroimaging algorthms allowed me to bridge gaps between technology and equity while reinforcing my commitment to research that serves underrepresented communities. This experience has been foundational as I prepare to pursue an M.D.-Ph.D. and advocate for more inclusive mental healthcare."
Your support of students like Sola will help them pursue important scientific questions and shape their futures.
Nadine Barrie Smith Memorial Fund
The Nadine Barrie Smith Memorial Fund supports a graduate fellowship in medical imaging. It memorializes Nadine Barrie Smith (B.S., '85, computer science; M.S., '89, electrical engineering; Ph.D., '96, biophysics) thanks to generous support from Jean Smith, Arnette Bosch, and Professor Andrew Webb.
Dr. Smith was passionate about promoting women in science, so the fellowship supports female graduate students whose research might include ultrasound, optical, and magnetic resonance imaging.
Erik Haferkamp Memorial Fund
This fund supports an award given to undergraduate research in neuroscience, in memory of Erik Haferkamp. Mr. Haferkamp was pursuing a double-major in molecular and cellular biology and psychology when he passed away in 2010. He was a passionate member of psychology Professor Justin Rhodes' lab at the Beckman Institute, where he was a student researcher and lab technician.The fund is made possible by the generous support of Erik's family, including Bonnie Haferkamp, Beth Haferkamp, David Haferkamp, and numerous extended family, friends, and colleagues.
Thomas & Margaret Huang Fund for Graduate Research
This fund supports students in the broad area of human-computer intelligent interaction at the Beckman Institute.
Alumni James J. Kuch (M.S., '94, electrical engineering) and Chang Wen Chen (Ph.D., ’92, electrical engineering) established it in honor of Professor Thomas Huang, the Maybelle Leland Swanlund Endowed Chair Emeritus in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and his wife, Margaret.
Professor Huang advised more than 100 students during his career, which has spanned five decades and three major research universities (MIT, Purdue, and the University of Illinois). He is remembered as a pioneer in computer vision, pattern recognition, and human-computer interaction.
Klaus Schulten Memorial Fund
Klaus Schulten was a physics professor at the University of Illinois and a long-time faculty member at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology who died in 2016. He was a pioneer in the use of computational methods to study the chemical and biological processes driving living cells. His work lives on in the Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group.
Gifts to this fund support research in computational and theoretical biophysics in memory of Professor Schulten.
Other ways to give
If you'd like to make a gift using another method, visit the University of Illinois Foundation's website.
