2024-01-25
- The smell of cut grass is one of the defining fragrances of summer. Smells like that are one of the ways plants signal their injury. Because they cannot run away from danger, plants have evolved to communicate with each other using chemical signals. They use volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for a variety of reasons: to help prepare their own defenses, to warn each other of threats, to recruit...
2024-01-19 - By one estimate, as many as 30 percent of people in the U.S. are in romantic relationships with partners who do not share their political views. In today’s hyperpartisan climate, where Democrats and Republicans have difficulty talking to each other and their views are polarized about media outlets’ credibility, how do couples with differing political perspectives decide which media to follow? And...
2024-01-12 - Five College of LAS faculty members have been named as university endowed chairs or professors, an honor awarded to the highly distinguished scholars for their excellence and prominence in research, teaching and service. They are among nine professors chosen across campus. “An endowed chair is among the highest honors bestowed to faculty at our university,” said Vice Chancellor for Academic...
2024-01-12 - Eight alumni of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences will receive recognition during the college’s 2024 alumni awards at a celebration in April. They are researchers and entrepreneurs who have made incredible impacts in their fields and communities. LAS Dean's Quadrangle Award Susan Morisato (BS, ’75, mathematics...
2024-01-11 - Craig Williams discovered his love of learning languages early in life. He began studying French in elementary school and, intrigued by the BBC series "I, Claudius," he signed up for Latin at his high school in Albany, New York. Eventually he earned his PhD in classical languages and literatures at Yale, and after 20 years on the faculty of Brooklyn College CUNY, he became a professor of...
2024-01-09 - As a top university student in India who was working toward a career in engineering, chemistry seemed far from the destiny of Prashant Jain. But his curiosity about the atomic world ultimately led him to discover his lifelong scientific passion, using light to move electrons. “I was in no way destined to become a chemist or even an academic… There...
2024-01-05 - Associate professor Catharine Fairbairn and professor Kara Federmeier of the Department of Psychology have been awarded a 5-year R01 grant from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. They will use EEG and ERP hyperscanning to look at how alcohol might impact brain processes in social contexts. This means they will be able to...
2024-01-05 - Researchers investigated the relationship between historical traumatic events experienced by Alaska Native communities and epigenetic markers on genes that previous studies have linked to trauma. The new study found a similar pattern among Alaska Native participants, with specific epigenetic differences observed in those who reported experiencing the most intense symptoms of distress when...
2024-01-04 - In a new study, an interdisciplinary team of researchers have developed nanoparticles that are able to selectively bind to activated astrocytes and microglia cells that mediate brain inflammation in Alzheimer's Disease (AD), and found that both AD and aging strongly affect the ability of nanoparticles to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and localize to the hippocampus. The BBB consists of a...
2023-12-18 - Researchers report in the journal Nature that they have found a way to get antibacterial drugs through the nearly impenetrable outer membrane of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium that – once it infects a person – is notoriously difficult to treat. By bombarding P. aeruginosa with hundreds of compounds and using machine learning to determine the physical and chemical...
2023-12-18 - It has long been known that exposure to pesticide sprays is harmful to honey bees. In a new study, researchers have uncovered the effect of such sprays on the sense of smell in bees, which could disrupt their social signals. Honey bees live in dynamic communities and constantly communicate with each other using chemicals that serve as social cues. For example, nurse bees—that are responsible for...
2023-12-18 - Two manuscripts, purportedly from medieval times, played a large role in the 19th century Czech National Revival, serving as an important source of the nation’s mythology. But these influential documents that helped revitalize the Czech language and culture were fake. Slavic languages and literatures professor David Cooper writes about the influence of...
2023-12-11 - Four staff members and academic professionals have been honored and recognized by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences for their professional contributions. Nikki Wynn and Will Mitchell have been recognized with the LAS Academic Professional Award. The honor provides a cash award as well as a salary increment funded by LAS alumni. Sherri Kiska and Emily Lange have been honored with the...
2023-12-08 - As director of the proposed Bachelor of Liberal Studies at the College of LAS, Kristen Sackley is leading the initiative that aligns her passion with an important mission to create pathways to an accessible education. The online Bachelor of Liberal Studies program...
2023-12-07 - In a joint ceremony held earlier this fall, the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences celebrated the investitures of Tim Dean as James M. Benson Professor in English and Robert Dale Parker as Frank Hodgins Chair in American Literature. These investitures, which represent one of the highest honors that faculty members can receive, recognize two of the ...
2023-12-06 - In a newly released TED Talk, Stephen Long, a professor of plant biology and crop sciences, detailed his and his colleagues’...
2023-12-06 - Phillip B. Williams (BA, '08, English) has been publishing poetry since he left the University of Illinois, whether it was in chapbooks such as “Burn” and “Bruised Gospels” or award-winning collections such “Thief in the Interior” and “Mutiny.” Now he’s publishing his first novel, a work of fiction that started as a short story that he wrote as a...
2023-12-06 - The Cline Center for Advanced Social Research and an interdisciplinary team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign experts have expanded upon their statewide registry on the use of lethal force by police officers in the state of Illinois to include national data. The Systematic Policing...
2023-11-30 - The slabs of sandstone that make Altgeld Hall one of the most recognizable buildings on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus have been covered in scaffolding for months. But the results of the renovation work going on there are apparent, as the dark gray stone is restored to a pinkish hue. Standing near Altgeld, I can see...
2023-11-21 - A new study led by chemists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign brings fresh insight into the development of semiconductor materials that can do things their traditional silicon counterparts cannot – harness the power of chirality, a non-superimposable mirror image. Chirality is one of nature’s strategies used to build complexity into structures, with the DNA double helix perhaps...
2023-11-20 - Christopher V. Rao, professor and head of the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, was invested as the Ray and Beverly Mentzer Professor. The professorship was established by ChBE alumnus Ray Mentzer (BS, '74, chemical and biomolecular engineering) and his wife, Beverly...
2023-11-20 - The American Ornithological Society recently announced that it will change all English language common names of birds that honor people, to avoid recognizing historical figures with ties to slavery, racism, and colonialism. In 2020, the society...
2023-11-17 - Six researchers in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences have been named to the 2023 Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list. The list recognizes research scientists and social scientists who have demonstrated exceptional influence – reflected through their publication of multiple papers frequently cited by their peers during the last decade. The highly cited LAS researchers...
2023-11-14 - The College of LAS welcomed 53 new tenure-track professors for the 2023-24 academic year. The new positions range from assistant to full professors in almost 24 academic units, ranging from Asian American studies to religion, sociology, statistics, atmospheric sciences, and several others. Most of the faculty members started their new roles at the beginning of the fall semester, but some arrived...
2023-11-14 - Mirelsie Velázquez learned at the University of Illinois, and now she’s helping others learn here. Velázquez (BA, ’04, political science; MA, ’07; PhD, ’10; educational policy studies) earned three degrees before leaving to start her career in academia. In 2023 she returned to Urbana-Champaign as a faculty member in the ...