UIC Summer College Lecture Day
Introduction
Summer College Lecture Days are designed to provide students with an opportunity to experience a college lecture from UIC faculty before the start of the semester!
Students participating in Summer College are required to participate.
Lecture Day Information
Monday, July 13, 2026 - Julia Oktawiec, PhD
Julia Oktawiec, PhD
Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biomedical Engineering (Affiliate) | Full Member of the University of Illinois Chicago Cancer Center
Monday, July 13, 2026
12:30pm – 1:30pm
Science and Engineering South Room 250 (SES 250)
About Dr. Oktawiec:
Julia Oktawiec is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois Chicago since July 2025. Growing up in New York City, she pursued her undergraduate studies at Columbia University from 2009 to 2013. She obtained her PhD at UC Berkeley under Prof. Jeffrey Long targeting oxygen adsorption in metal–organic frameworks and the structural characterization of materials, graduating in 2019. Afterward she pursued postdoctoral studies at Northwestern University under Prof. Nathan Gianneschi, focusing on the design of peptide brush polymers for therapeutics from 2020 to 2025, during which she was awarded an NIH NSRA F32 postdoctoral fellowship. Her lab at UIC uses peptides to influence material growth and bind metal ions for the purification of critical elements, with the overarching goal of designing bioinspired, functional materials. In her free time, she enjoys playing with her cat, baking, and watching movies.
Tuesday, July 21, 2026 - TBA
Guest faculty lecturer to be announced.
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
12:30pm-1:30pm
Academic and Residential Complex
Faculty Lecturer To Be Announced: