Distinguished Researcher Award: Robert Klie, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

As an undergraduate, Robert Klie wanted to be an astrophysicist, studying cosmic objects with the world’s most powerful telescopes. But he soon became fascinated with the galaxies closer to home: the atomic particles that make up the world around us. Later, as a graduate student, Klie noticed UIC was opening windows into this once-invisible world. With advanced microscope technology, scientists could examine matter at a previously unseen level of detail… Since joining the department in 2006, Klie has built on those pioneering advances to make UIC one of the world’s leading hubs for electron microscopy, drawing researchers from across the United States and dozens of countries. Through his research on new materials that hold promise for computing, energy and medicine and through his leadership of UIC’s electron microscopy core facilities, Klie has put the university at the center of nanoscale physics.