News & Events

NSF-MMLI is proud to announce that Prof. Heng Ji, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has been honored as an ACL Fellow for 2025 by the Association for Computational Linguistics. This recognition celebrates her significant contributions to information extraction, multimodal and multilingual knowledge extraction, and AI for science.

The U.S. National Science Foundation has renewed its support for the Molecule Maker Lab Institute (MMLI) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a new five-year, $15 million award. As a National AI Research Institute, MMLI is pioneering artificial intelligence tools that accelerate the discovery and synthesis of functional molecules for use in medicine, energy, and industry. Led by Professor Huimin Zhao, the institute has already produced impactful innovations like AlphaSynthesis and closed-loop molecule development systems, and it now aims to develop next-generation AI agents, including large language models for chemistry and generative tools for catalyst discovery.

Nearly 80 participants including our members, industrial partners, and other researchers from academia and industry joined us in-person and online for the MMLI Symposium 2025, held April 15–16 in the Auditorium of the NCSA at the University of Illinois in Urbana, Illinois. Centered on the theme “AI Scientists? What Would It Take?”, the event featured talks and panel discussions from academic, industry, and national lab researchers. Sessions explored foundational AI, small molecule discovery, and materials development, highlighting emerging opportunities at the frontier of AI-driven science. Recorded talks and event photos are now available.

This spring has been a season of recognition and advancement for the Document and Pattern Recognition Lab. Dr. Zanibbi delivered an invited talk at the Perimeter Institute’s Theory + AI Symposium alongside AI luminaries like Geoffrey Hinton, sharing work on ReactionMiner. He was also awarded RIT’s highest faculty research honor—the Trustees Scholarship Award—highlighting contributions to the MMLI. Meanwhile, DPRL PhD students are excelling, from high-impact internships to post-graduation positions at Meta and leading startups. Read on for the full story.

Join us for our upcoming research symposium, “AI Scientists? What Would It Take?” This event will bring together researchers, industry leaders, and students to explore the intersection of artificial intelligence and chemistry, discussing what it takes to advance AI-driven scientific discovery and development in small molecule innovation.

Discover high-quality research opportunities for underrepresented undergraduate students with the Molecule Maker Lab Institute through the Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) at the University of Illinois. Join us from June 2 to July 25, 2025, for a transformative summer experience!

Looking for funding for a proof-of-concept project at the interface of AI and chemistry? The MMLI 2024 Seed Grant call for proposals is out. Check it out and apply by April 30.

AI Magazine is creating a Special Issue that focuses on the National AI Institutes including MMLI. The Early View version of the issue has been released. The issue is not only an excellent source of information about all of the National AI Institutes, but includes the overall strategy of the National AI Institutes Program. Check it out!

Join us for the 3rd annual MMLI Symposium! Click to get more details.