The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology honored three faculty and staff members who show visionary spirit and dedication on the 124th anniversary of founder Arnold Beckman’s birth.
Emad Tajkhorshid won the faculty Vision and Spirit Award, and Teppie Peyton and Michael Marana both won the inaugural Staff Spirit and Dedication Award.
Beckman Interim Director Cathy Murphy announced the winners at an April 10, 2024, ceremony at the institute.
The Vision and Spirit Award honors Beckman Institute Founder Arnold Beckman by recognizing a faculty member who has fostered collaboration in their research and exemplifies his vision. Beckman and his wife, Mabel, gave $40 million to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the 1980s to create the Beckman Institute.
The new staff award celebrates up to two Beckman staff members who embody the mission and core values of the Beckman Institute and demonstrate teamwork.
The institute accepted nominations for both awards. Past Vision and Spirit Award recipients decided this year’s awardee, and Beckman’s interim and associate directors chose the staff award winners. The winners shared their thoughts on the honor.
Emad Tajkhorshid, J. Woodland Hastings Endowed Chair in Biochemistry
What does it mean to you to win this award?
It is, of course, a great honor to have the vote of confidence from my esteemed colleagues and be recognized by this award. Being among the top colleagues in our great university who have received this award in prior years is indeed among the greatest feelings one can have. It feels similar to the time I received the University of Illinois Scholar award.
Emad Tajkhorshid.
Do you have a plan for using the research funding associated with the award?
The funds will be likely used for strengthening our computational power in Beckman for the variety of projects that the students and postdocs are engaged in. I am thinking of using some of it to augment the Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group’s educational activities, especially for the public (for example, the equipment and material needed for the Beckman Institute Open House every year).
What advice would you share for other faculty members who want to become better interdisciplinary collaborators?
One has to be open to the idea of collaboration with the whole heart. It is not just about publishing together. Collaborators need to delve themselves into the collaboration by trying to nearly fully understand what is happening in the collaborating lab and how to connect to it with their own methods and tools. Just leaving the students and postdocs [to] talk to each other does not cut it.
Teppie Peyton, core facility business manager
What does it mean to you to win this award?
Teppie Peyton.
It is truly humbling to be nominated, especially by the stellar staff here at Beckman. To know that this group of people chose myself and one other person to be recognized means the world to me. Having never won anything before makes this all the more special to me, because any award prior to this one would seem insignificant by comparison.
This award highlights a team player. Share how teamwork helped you accomplish something in your job at Beckman.
Teamwork has helped me accomplish everything I have accomplished here at Beckman. Coming from outside the university means I really knew nothing about the job I had been tasked with. Were it not for the rest of the staff here, I am confident I would not have made it this far. From administration to operations, I have worked with almost every department in Beckman to achieve our mutual goals. I have no reason to think any of that will change, meaning I am positive this good work will continue.
What do you like best about working at the Beckman Institute?
Honestly, the staff! I am not just saying that because they nominated me, and I would bet I am not the only one who would answer this way. While I believe in the mission of the Beckman Institute and all that it entails, and the work that I support in Beckman’s core facilities, it is truly the staff, my work family, that make working at Beckman the best! This is the greatest team I have ever worked with and I hope to spend many more years working alongside them. They make me better at my job and make Beckman a great workplace.
Michael Marana, facility operations coordinator
What does it mean to you to win this award?
I’m very honored and humbled to win this award! Beckman is full of amazing people, and I feel very fortunate to be nominated and picked to receive this award!
This award highlights a team player. Share how teamwork helped you accomplish something in your job at Beckman.
Michael Marana.
It’s necessary for the Operations Team to work as a team, daily. There is not a day that goes by that we don’t help each other out in one capacity or another. Every day is work in progress with a team approach; there is no other way! We have the best facilities team on campus. Yes, I’m biased!
What do you like best about working at the Beckman Institute?
The diversity of people, and the work we do to support the researchers; knowing we (facilities) play a small part in research that is for the betterment of mankind gives you a great feeling. The relationships I’ve built here will last a lifetime. I’ve met some great people through the years, some are not just colleagues, but have become close friends.
What else would you want people to know about this honor?
I appreciate the nomination and hope to see many of my colleagues nominated and win in the future. It’s very important to recognize valuable team members, and it’s nice to feel appreciated! I also want to thank the following people
who believed in me back in 2020, and asked if I was ready for a new challenge: accepting a new job and title (something I wasn’t so sure about it). Looking back now and saying yes was the greatest work life decision I’ve made
to date. Thank you, Jaclyn Patrick, Robert Fritz, and Kara Johnson for believing in me!
A video of the award ceremony is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/jKPxjYbiYGg
