Catherine J. Murphy
Catherine "Cathy" J. Murphy (born 1964) is an American chemist and materials scientist, and is the Larry Faulkner Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). The first woman to serve as the head of the department of chemistry at UIUC, Murphy is known for her work on nanomaterials, specifically the seed-mediated synthesis of gold nanorods of controlled aspect ratio. She is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019. Early life and education Murphy was born in Morris Plains New, Jersey in 1964. She attended junior high and high school in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, after her family moved to the Chicago suburbs in 1974. Murphy attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) as a first-generation college student. During her undergraduate studies, Murphy conducted research in the lab of Thomas B. Rauchfuss. She graduated with Bachelor of Science degrees in both chemistry and biochemistry in 1986. After graduating, she did a summer internship with Amoco Research Center in Naperville, Illinois. Murphy earned her doctorate degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison under the direction of Arthur B. Ellis in 1990.