Purdue Chemistry's Julia Laskin receives prestigious Humboldt Research Award

2026-03-16

Julia Laskin, William F. and Patty J. Miller Professor at Purdue University, has been honored with the Humboldt Research Award, one of the most prestigious international research recognitions in the world, presented by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany.

The Humboldt Research Award recognizes outstanding researchers outside of Germany for their lifetime achievements. The honor is reserved for internationally renowned scientists and scholars whose fundamental discoveries, theories or insights have had a significant and lasting impact on their field. Laskin was recognized for her contributions to the development of innovative instrumentation for preparative and imaging mass spectrometry, and for advancing understanding of the fundamental processes governing collisions of complex ions with surfaces.

The award carries funding of 80,000 euros to support an extended research stay in Germany of up to one year, which may be divided into multiple visits. The funding is designed to foster new and sustained research collaborations with scientists in Germany, enabling recipients to pursue ambitious, high-risk ideas, combine complementary expertise and strengthen long-term international partnerships. "I am excited to explore new research directions with my colleagues in Germany and to build collaborations that will continue well beyond the award period," Laskin said.

Laskin, who joined Purdue in 2017, directs her research toward tackling challenging scientific problems through a deep understanding of physical and chemical phenomena underlying measurement science and building new instruments and methods based on that understanding.

She credited her students and postdocs as indispensable to that work. "Receiving this award is deeply meaningful to me, not only as recognition of past contributions, but also as an opportunity to broaden the range of scientific questions we address, bring our tools to new research fields and strengthen international collaborations that advance our field," she said. "I am especially grateful to my students and postdocs, whose creativity, initiative and dedication make this work possible."

About Purdue Chemistry

The James Tarpo Jr. and Margaret Tarpo Department of Chemistry is internationally acclaimed for its excellence in chemical education and innovation, boasting two Nobel laureates in organic chemistry, the #1 ranked analytical chemistry program, and a highly successful drug discovery initiative that has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties. Learn more about chem.purdue.edu.

Written by: Alison Harmeson, senior communications specialist for the Purdue University College of Science

Contributors: Julia Laskin, William F. and Patty J. Miller Professor. Photo provided by Julia Laskin.