2025 Chicago Regional Inorganic Colloquium recap
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (12/5/2025) – The University of Minnesota Department of Chemistry was proud to host the 6th annual Chicago Regional Inorganic Colloquium (CRIC) on October 4, 2025. CRIC is a one-day regional meeting that connects inorganic chemists from across the Midwest. Held annually since 2014, CRIC provides a platform for students and postdocs to present their research through oral presentations and poster sessions and network with academic and industrial scientists in a supportive, collegial environment.
CRIC-2025 was held at the brand new Fraser Hall, the state-of-the-art undergraduate teaching laboratory building that reopened in September after a $144.7 million renovation and expansion. The transformation of the historic 1928 building now provides cutting-edge facilities for undergraduate chemistry education, with seven general chemistry labs, four life sciences labs, and seven organic chemistry labs, along with dedicated tutoring and student collaboration spaces. The building's modern lecture halls and meeting spaces provided an ideal venue for CRIC's lectures and poster sessions.
This year's meeting brought together over 100 attendees from 20 institutions across the greater Midwest, including major research universities, liberal arts colleges, and industry. The day featured three keynote lectures from distinguished scientists—including Prof. Laura Gagliardi (University of Chicago), Prof. Eszter Boros (UW-Madison), and Prof. Ian Tonks (UMN)—along with six invited talks from faculty and industrial scientists, and 12 selected talks from graduate students and postdocs.
A highlight of CRIC is its commitment to accessibility: registration is completely free to all attendees, encouraging participation from undergraduates through senior faculty. Two lively poster sessions showcased research from approximately 45 undergraduate and graduate students, with poster prizes awarded to six outstanding presenters. With a faculty-to-student ratio of approximately 1:4, trainees received valuable feedback and mentorship throughout the day.
CRIC-2025 was made possible through the generous support of the ACS Minnesota Local Section, Pine Research Instruments, MBraun, Bruker, the ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry, Millipore Sigma, and UMN Department of Chemistry.