WHERE CURIOSITY DRIVES IMPACT

Change begins with curiosity.

From exploring new ideas to solving the world’s biggest issues, LAS empowers thinkers and doers to transform curiosity into measurable impact.

We believe that education is more than lectures and textbooks. It’s about cultivating minds that question, explore, and act with purpose. And we know that when curiosity meets opportunity, innovation follows—and the impossible becomes possible. 

Explore where curiosity drives impact

LAS News

People at a conference
Taking research to the next level
 When Annie Zeng walked into her first research conference last May, she didn’t arrive with a lab group or a familiar cohort of classmates. She arrived alone, and she immediately felt like it.“I honestly felt very nervous,” said Annie, a senior pursuing a double degree in...
New faculty members in a classroom
Empowering teaching for today's world
 Following a successful launch, the LAS Academy for Educational Excellence looks forward to continuing its New Faculty Teaching Program to...
Research team
Team simulates a living cell that grows and divides
 By simulating the life cycle of a minimal bacterial cell — from DNA replication to protein translation to metabolism and cell division — scientists have opened a new frontier of computer vision into the essential processes of life.The researchers, led by...
Stewart Coles
Racial, political cues on social media shape TV audiences’ choices
 Social media users are more likely to watch TV programs that are endorsed by members of their political party, a recent study suggests. However, individuals’ racial identity and their perceptions of racial and political ingroup norms and the demographics of a program’s intended audience also...
Greg Howard, a professor of economics, and Russell Weinstein, a professor of labor and employment relations and of economics
Paper: HBCUs promote social, economic mobility for Black children who live nearby
 New research from a team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign economists estimates the social mobility effects of four-year public historically Black colleges and universities on Black children who live in the same county as an HBCU.Using data on children born around 1980, the...
Petri dishes and deep ocean microbes
New study finds deep ocean microbes already prepared to tackle climate change
 Deep-sea waters are warming due to heat waves and climate change, and it could spell trouble for the oceans’ delicate chemical and biological balance. A new study, however, demonstrates that the microbe Nitrosopumilus maritimus may already be adapting well to warmer, nutrient-poor...
Rebecca Oh and book cover
Book chronicles how citizens, writers remain hopeful in face of environmental harms
 Citizens and writers remain hopeful in the face of environmental harms in “Reading Better States: Utopian Method and Environmental Harm in the Global South,” the new book by English professor...
Researcher wearing protective glasses while using a laser to activate an specialized electrochemical reaction inside of an reaction cell.
Shrinking the carbon footprint of chemical manufacturing with lasers, solar radiation
 Researchers have found a way to use solar energy to power a key chemical reaction that drives many manufacturing industries. This new method can significantly reduce the energy required to run these operations, eliminate harsh oxidizing byproducts, and minimize carbon emissions.Olefin...

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