Professor Courtney Roberts receives Amgen Young Investigators Award

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (8/18/2023) – Assistant Professor Courtney Roberts recently received the 2023 Amgen Young Investigators Award. The award is designed to support academic excellence from early career investigators who are making significant contributions in the fields of biology, chemical biology and chemistry. Award recipients will receive a $25,000 research grant. 

Roberts joined the University of Minnesota Department of Chemistry in 2019, founding a research group that uses inorganic and organometallic chemistry and catalysis to solve fundamental problems in organic chemistry related to energy and pharmaceuticals. Made up of twelve students and one postdoctoral researcher, the Roberts Group received both an NSF CAREER award and a $1.9M MIRA grant from the National Institutes of Health in the past year to support their ongoing catalysis research. The group was selected for Amgen’s award based on their demonstrated and anticipated impact on the field of chemistry; the awarding company considers these factors solely, in lieu of applications or nominations. In October, Roberts will be speaking at the Amgen Young Investigator Award Symposium in Thousand Oaks, California and receiving the group’s research award.

For 21 years, Amgen has supported this award program to recognize the next generation of scientific leaders in their career journeys to build top-notch research laboratories. Amgen aims to empower early career investigators to continue to pursue their passions, train students in their respective fields, and strengthen their impact on cutting-edge science. Roberts was chosen for the award along with four other recipients. The 2023 winners are as follows: Michael Bollong, Ph.D., Scripps Research, Courtney Roberts, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Zachary Wickens, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, Brandon DeKosky, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Eunyong Park, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley.