Charles N. Reilley Award in Electroanalytical Chemistry

Jill Venton is the Thomas Jefferson Professor of Chemistry at the University of Virginia. She is also affiliated with the Neuroscience Graduate Program and the UVA Brain Institute. She received her BS in Chemistry from University of Delaware (1998), her PhD in Chemistry from UNC-Chapel Hill (with Mark Wightman, 2003), and did postdoctoral research at University of Michigan (with Bob Kennedy and Terry Robinson, 2003-2005). Dr. Venton started her career at University of Virginia in 2005, and has worked her way up the ranks from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor (2011) Full Professor (2016), Department Chair (2019), and endowed chair (2023). Her research interests are in developing analytical chemistry tools for neuroscience research and her lab studies many neuroscience diseases, from Parkinson disease, to addiction, to stroke, and aging. Her lab also develops carbon nanomaterial and 3D printed sensors, and is recently multiplexing fluorescent imaging and electrochemical methods for neurotransmitter detection. She has published more than 100 scientific papers, has 3 patents, and has won numerous awards. Dr. Venton is also a passionate teacher and has developed new classes with active learning components for the undergraduate analytical chemistry curriculum. She also has run science education workshops for elementary teachers. At home, she has 2 children, Philip and Johanna, who keep her busy.