Lillian Chong, a professor of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh, has been named the University of California, San Francisco’s Graduate and Postdoc Alum of the Year for her pioneering contributions to computational biophysics, leadership in open science, and dedication to scientific training. An internationally recognized researcher, Chong is known for developing rare-event molecular simulations and the open-source WESTPA tool, which has advanced biomolecular research and contributed to award-winning SARS-CoV-2 studies.