2026-04-28
- The School of Molecular and Cellular Biology is honored to announce that Auinash Kalsotra has been named the Phillip A. Sharp Professor in Biochemistry.Kalsotra is one of the world’s pre-eminent RNA researchers and has also been recognized as one of the University of Illinois’ leading...
2026-04-28 - The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign presents the Campus Awards for Excellence in Faculty Leadership each year to distinguished faculty who enrich the intellectual vitality of the university and the broader community.The awards were presented in three categories — faculty mentoring, distinguished executive officer and outstanding faculty leadership — to five faculty members during a...
2026-04-24 - A College of LAS faculty member has been elected members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest honorary societies in the United States. Kenneth Suslick is among the 252 inductees for 2026.Founded in 1780, the Academy recognizes scientists, artists, scholars and leaders who have distinguished themselves in the public, private...
2026-04-21 - Family, colleagues, students, and friends gathered to celebrate Tigga Kingston on Tuesday, March 31 at the Illini Union as she became the inaugural Shelford-Pitelka-Batzli Professor in Mammalian Ecology. This endowed position recognizes excellence in research, teaching, and global leadership in the field.Kingston’s research has focused on one of ecology’s central questions: how such...
2026-04-15 - English professor Christopher Kempf has been awarded a 2026 Guggenheim Fellowship.Kempf is among 223 individuals working across 55 disciplines chosen through a rigorous peer-review process from nearly 5,000 applicants, according to the...
2026-04-15 - At a calm trot, a horse’s hooves leave divots in the pale, rocky dirt. Under a brilliantly blue Arizona sky, one may wonder where the “tornado” from this artwork's title comes in. Then, the horse picks up speed, kicking up dust and pebbles in a chaotic storm. Some photos are entirely a blur. When the horse gallops through an amber creek, crystalline water droplets resemble a chandelier exploding...
2026-04-03 - By tagging neurons with molecular “barcodes,” researchers mapped connections among thousands of neurons in the mouse brain with unprecedented speed and resolution. The approach could expand understanding not only of the layout of elaborate networks in the brain, but also how the brain functions, what happens when there is dysfunction and how neurodegenerative diseases progress.“When...
2026-04-03 - Some Arctic regions regain their “greenness” within a decade of a sudden permafrost collapse, while others can take a century or more to recover, researchers report in a new study. The difference is directly related to each site’s gross primary productivity, a measure of its photosynthetic capacity, the researchers discovered. This finding will allow scientists to accurately predict how...
2026-04-03 - Scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have helped uncover how fish skin protects fish from sharp, fast attacks in the wild, and the research highlights how curiosity, creativity, and mentorship can come together to drive discovery. The study...
2026-04-03 - Three faculty members in the College of LAS have been named 2025 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society.Anthropology professor Kathryn Clancy,...
2026-03-25 - It’s a cold February day in Illinois, but I’m enjoying the view of a backcountry trail in Yellowstone National Park. I see a sunrise over Heart Lake, a lodgepole pine forest, a geyser basin, the yellow leaves of aspen trees above a canyon along the Snake River and views of Mount Sheridan.I’m experiencing this wilderness while sitting in a studio at the ...
2026-03-24 - On store shelves across the country last fall, a bright orange sports drink with a retro label and a black sports drink with an upside-down label began appearing alongside the usual rows of Gatorade bottles. For fans of Netflix’s Stranger Things, the limited-edition Citrus Coolers offered a nostalgic throwback to the 1980s, the era when the wildly popular show took place. For LAS alum Cathy...
2026-03-23 - Jessica R. Greenberg is an anthropology professor and the co-editor of the policy report “Populism and the Future of Transatlantic Relations: Challenges and Policy Options.” Greenberg spoke with News Bureau business and...
2026-03-23 - Eduardo García-Molina, professor of classics, was introduced to his future career through video games. “That’s how I got into antiquity,” he said. “It wasn’t through Homer or anything like that. It was playing Rome: Total War.”Playing this game as a grade-schooler, he learned of the Seleucid Empire. He said it stood out to him because the...
2026-03-20 - 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 chemistry professor Zan Luthey-Schulten, present their findings in the journal Cell.The team...
2026-03-20 - 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 play roles in their decisions.Stewart Coles, a professor of...
2026-03-20 - 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 researchers found that HBCUs improved local educational attainment and labor market outcomes for Black...
2026-03-20 - Following a successful launch, the LAS Academy for Educational Excellence looks forward to continuing its New Faculty Teaching Program to help new faculty members and instructional staff improve and develop teaching methods. The new...
2026-03-19 - 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 waters. Researchers predict that these surprisingly adaptable iron-dependent ammonia-oxidizing archaea...
2026-03-19 - 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 mathematics and computer science...
2026-03-09 - 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 Rebecca Oh.Oh said she was interested in how people and writers in the Global South see...
2026-03-09 - 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 epoxidation is not a process many are familiar with, but the epoxide chemicals it produces are the backbone...
2026-02-26 - Insect-human hybrids provide the scares at the 2026 Insect Fear Film Festival at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.The festival, which is hosted by the Entomology Graduate Student Association, takes place Feb. 28 at Foellinger Auditorium. It is free and open to the...
2026-02-26 - The Trump administration recently ordered the National Park Service to remove interpretive signs that discuss slavery at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, following an executive order issued last year stating that public monuments should not “inappropriately disparage Americans” and instead “focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people...
2026-02-25 - Meet Jasmin Patrón-Vargas (BA, '11, Latina/Latino studies and gender and women's studies) an assistant professor of teaching, learning, and culture at Texas A&M University. She earned her MEd in education policy studies at the University of Illinois Chicago in 2015 and her PhD in curriculum, instruction, and...