Chad Rienstra, professor in the Department of Biochemistry and co-director of the National Magnetic Resonance Facility at Madison (NMRFAM), is among 10 faculty members in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) selected this academic year to receive college and department professorships or chairships.
Rienstra has been appointed as the Evelyn Mercer Professor in Biochemical Sciences. The award was established with funds from Samuel T. Mercer, in honor of his sister Evelyn, and recognizes a distinguished professor engaged in research to understand fundamental life processes. Rienstra’s research group has pioneered nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods and technologies that have helped solve high-resolution structures of small proteins. They have also discovered innovative approaches to understand larger structures. Their efforts are having a major impact on understanding Parkinson’s disease, fungicidal drug action and protein-lipid interactions in blood coagulation.
“I am honored and thankful to be selected as the Evelyn Mercer Professor in Biochemical Sciences. We are very fortunate in Madison to have the support of alumni in the University of Wisconsin community, including the Mercer family,” says Rienstra. “The resources will support new directions in my research program, especially those projects led by undergraduates and incoming graduate students whose innovative ideas are not yet funded by external grants.”
Rienstra and all of this year’s recipients will be honored during an investiture ceremony on February 10, 2026. Read more about this year’s recipients.