2026 IIN Rosemary Schnell Symposium
Light activates nanoparticles inside tumors, drives chemical reactions without heat, and allows scientists to image living tissue at cellular resolution without ever making a cut. On Thursday, October 15, 2026, the International Institute for Nanotechnology brings together six of the world’s foremost nanoscientists for a full day of landmark talks, rigorous exchange, and cross-disciplinary energy that has always defined the IIN.
The 2026 IIN Rosemary Schnell Symposium takes place at the Hilton Orrington Hotel in Evanston, Illinois. This year’s program features researchers who have redefined what is possible in their areas of science, spanning nanophotonics, synthetic biology, single-molecule imaging, biomedical nanomaterials, and flexible electronics.
Check out the lineup below, and then save the date for an incredible event! Click HERE to add the 2026 IIN Rosemary Schnell Symposium to your calendar.
Hosted by Chad Mirkin; George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry; Director, IIN
Featured Speakers
Hongjie Dai– J.G. Jackson and C.J. Wood Professor of Chemistry Emeritus, Stanford University
For over three decades at Stanford, Hongjie Dai’s lab has produced foundational work in carbon nanotube synthesis, electrocatalysis, energy storage, and biomedical imaging, often opening subfields that other researchers spend years exploring. His development of near-infrared-II fluorescence imaging gave scientists a way to see deep into living tissue in real time, with implications still unfolding in neuroscience and oncology. A member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Dai is a recipient of the ACS Pure Chemistry Award, the APS James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials, and the 2017 NIH Director’s Pioneer Award.
Neal Devaraj – Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Murray Goodman Endowed Chair; Chair, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, UC San Diego
Neal Devaraj’s lab works on one of the most consequential unsolved problems in chemistry: how simple molecules organize themselves into living systems. His group at UC San Diego synthesized the first artificial cell membrane capable of continuous, self-directed growth, demonstrating that the chemistry underlying life’s origins may be more accessible than previously thought. His tetrazine-based bioorthogonal reactions have since become standard tools for labeling and imaging molecules inside living cells. He is a 2018 Blavatnik National Award Laureate in Chemistry and has received the ACS Award in Pure Chemistry and the Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry.
Naomi Halas – University Professor; Stanley C. Moore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice University; Founding Director, Laboratory for Nanophotonics
Naomi Halas invented a class of nanoparticles whose optical properties could be dialed in by design. That breakthrough, the plasmonic nanoshell, launched the field of nanophotonics as we know it today and seeded a generation of applications in cancer therapy, chemical sensing, and solar-powered water purification. The first Rice faculty member ever elected to both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering for work done at the university, she was awarded the 2025 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry and the 2024 Mildred Dresselhaus Prize from the American Physical Society.
Taeghwan Hyeon – Director, Center for Nanoparticle Research, Institute for Basic Science; SNU Distinguished Professor, Seoul National University
Taeghwan Hyeon solved a problem that had stalled the field for years: how to synthesize nanoparticles that are truly uniform in size, reliably and at scale. His heat-up process, introduced in a landmark 2001 paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, gave researchers a practical, generalizable method and effectively established inorganic nanomaterials synthesis as a discipline. He has published over 500 papers with more than 130,000 citations, and in 2020 was named a Clarivate Citation Laureate. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and a recipient of the Korea Science and Technology Award, South Korea’s highest scientific honor.
Christy Landes – Jerry A. Walker Endowed Chair in Chemistry; Professor of Chemistry, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Christy Landes builds the instruments and methods that let scientists watch chemistry happen one molecule at a time. Her work in single-molecule spectroscopy and super-resolution imaging has produced tools now used to study protein behavior at interfaces, ion transport through polymers, and the dynamics governing chromatographic separations. By imaging separations at the single-analyte limit, her group has generated insights beginning to inform how biopharmaceuticals are purified at industrial scale. She is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society, a 2019 Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, and the recipient of the 2023 Kinosita Award in Single-Molecule Biophysics from the Biophysical Society.
Xiaodong Chen – Distinguished University Professor, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Editor-in-Chief, ACS Nano
Xiaodong Chen’s lab at NTU Singapore develops soft, mechanically adaptive materials that interface with the body, sense physiological signals, and process information in ways that rigid electronics cannot. A Fellow of the Royal Society and a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Chen holds the Singapore President’s Science Award, the Dan Maydan Prize in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, and the Kabiller Young Investigator Award. He completed his postdoctoral training in Chad Mirkin’s laboratory at Northwestern, making his return to the IIN stage a particularly fitting one.
Thank you to our event sponsors!
Support from our sponsors makes it possible to offer this event to all attendees at no charge.
