Craig Meredith

Chantz Pinder

Rebecca Smith

Sasha Glickfield

Natalie Kerr, a senior majoring in chemistry at the University of Illinois Springfield, recently won the first Falling Walls Lab Illinois competition to earn the title of Illinois Young Innovator of the Year. Kerr also won an all-expenses-paid trip to Berlin, Germany, to compete at the Falling Walls Lab global finale on Nov. 8. Di’Quan Ishmon, a sophomore in mechatronics engineering at Northern Illinois University, was the competition’s runner-up.

Hometown: Elgin, ILMajor: ChemistryAccepted to a PhD program in Chemistry Fall 2016

Hometown: Pekin, ILMajor: Chemistry, B.S.Accepted to Medical School Fall 2016

As an undergraduate student, Chemistry major and Capital Scholars Honors Program member Ashley Hollinshead got to do hands-on research at the University of Illinois Springfield. She was chosen, along with ten other UIS students, to present her research at the University of Illinois Undergraduate Research Day at the Illinois State Capitol. Her love of science led her to apply for medical school. She’s not sure what type of doctor she wants to be yet, but she knows she’ll be working in a field she loves.