2023-11-02
- A University of Illinois team led by chemistry professor Joaquín Rodríguez-López is launching a new project that aims to produce clean hydrogen, sequester carbon dioxide, and store renewable energies like wind and solar inexpensively and sustainably by packaging electrochemical reactions in smaller-than-standard serving sizes....
2023-10-27 - Researchers report that a single, simplified model can predict population fluctuations in three unrelated realms: urban employment, human gut microbiomes, and tropical forests. The model will help economists, ecologists, public health authorities, and others predict and respond to variability in multiple domains, the researchers say. The new findings are detailed in the Proceedings of the...
2023-10-26 - As if frogs aren’t reason enough to leap into this profile, researchers are starting to see more clearly what the creatures can tell us about animal behavior and biological organization. Eva Fischer, professor of evolution, ecology, and behavior and Lincoln Excellence for Assistant Professors Scholar, is uncovering...
2023-10-24 - Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker recently announced new funding to support communities working to preserve and celebrate their unique cultural heritage. The “State Designated Cultural District” initiative will provide $3 million to selected cultural districts to aid such efforts. U of I anthropology professor Helaine Silverman, whose work focuses on the...
2023-10-23 - As much of the U.S. has dealt with record-setting temperatures, wildfires, and fierce storms, a new study suggests that the science learning standards for many public schools are not preparing young people to understand and respond to problems such as climate change that will dramatically impact their lives and those of millions of people around the globe. Published in the Proceedings of...
2023-10-23 - In the late 1950s, two talented students, both originally from China, arrived at Illinois’ College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. Hung-Chao "Paul" Tai had earned a prestigious scholarship for graduate study in the United States and was pursuing a degree in political science, while Ming-Jen “Julia” Chow had completed her master’s at the University of Oklahoma before selecting Illinois for her PhD...
2023-10-20 - After 16 years on campus, Don Marrow, associate director of budget & resource planning for the School of Chemical Sciences, said he’s been a part of great projects, opportunities, and professional growth.
2023-10-20 - Graduate students in the humanities and social and behavioral sciences spent part of last summer supporting worthwhile causes: They worked with community organizations in the Urbana-Champaign area to help them achieve everything from running shelters to preparing incarcerated individuals for life outside of prison. They did so through the...
2023-10-18 - Charles S. Parker was a pioneering Black botanist who traveled all over the country collecting plants. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign English professor Janice Harrington wrote a children’s biography of Parker, “Rooting for Plants: The Unstoppable Charles S. Parker, Black Botanist...
2023-10-17 - According to a new paper, ancient Maya reservoirs, which used aquatic plants to filter and clean the water, “can serve as archetypes for natural, sustainable water systems to address future water needs.” The Maya built and maintained reservoirs that were in use for more than 1,000 years, wrote anthropology professor Lisa Lucero in a...
2023-10-10 - Xinzhu Yu, a professor of molecular and integrative physiology, is a recipient of the National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award from the NIH Common Fund’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program. According to the NIH, the New...
2023-10-05 - When she arrived at the U of I as an undergraduate student, Cydnee Weber had not yet considered what her role could be as a descendant of the Cherokee and Pamunkey tribes. After she experienced some of the tension over the university mascot and other matters, however, she began to explore her own heritage in a way that would expand awareness of Native American influence on campus. Weber (BA, ’...
2023-10-04 - From LAS Liftoff to seminar courses throughout the academic year, Darrell Hunter II helps incoming students adjust to campus life through community building events and programs. He is the director of first-year experience with the Student Academic Affairs Office and has played an instrumental role in creating new programs including We Got Each Other and My Auntie's House.
2023-10-04 - When Eryn Schneider joined the LAS Leaders organization as a student, she had no idea how it would lead to a decade-long (and counting) successful career at one of the largest energy companies in the world. Schneider (BS, ’09, chemical engineering), a Waukesha, Wisconsin native, came to the U of I with plans to pursue chemical engineering. Her parents’...
2023-10-02 - Intelligence can mean many things. For most people, it describes the general ability to learn and use knowledge in different areas, such as technology, science, and even personal relationships. At the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, researchers study the origins of human...
2023-09-28 - Ruby Mendenhall’s unwavering energy toward her work and community outreach has become a hallmark of her highly successful academic career. She was recently named the Kathryn Lee Baynes Dallenbach Professor in Liberal Arts & Sciences. Mendenhall is a professor of sociology and African American studies. She...
2023-09-27 - Joe Bonomo (BS, ‘12, statistics) has a number of skills listed on his resume. However, he’s built his career on being a creative problem solver, a skill he honed during his undergraduate studies in the Department of Statistics. Eleven years later,...
2023-09-27 - When huge herds of bison roamed the Great Plains, the animals were not only a source of livelihood for Native Americans. They also were a vital part of the ecology and a religious icon. History professor Rosalyn LaPier is featured in the forthcoming Ken Burns documentary “The American Buffalo...
2023-09-21 - The College of LAS has named six faculty members as recipients of the Marjorie Roberts Professorships in Liberal Arts & Sciences and the Robert W. Schaefer Professorships in Liberal Arts & Sciences. Professors Wendy Heller, Bo Li, Silvina Montrul, and Harriet Murav have received Marjorie Roberts Professorships in Liberal Arts & Sciences. The professorship is named for the late...
2023-09-20 - Christiana Lewis, a junior in psychology, has received the Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service. Known as the Voyager Scholarship, the award was created by former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama along with Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, to foster emerging leaders dedicated to addressing global...
2023-09-19 - The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign welcomed a record-breaking freshman class for the 2023-24 academic year, with 8,325 new freshmen (up from last record of 8,303 in 2021) enrolling this fall. They help boost undergraduate student enrollment to 35,467, the largest ever in university history. Total student enrollment is 56,403. Of the total number of new freshmen who arrived on campus...
2023-09-11 - Bobby J. Smith II remembers the day that changed his professional life. He was a graduate student at Cornell University when he began to read “I’ve Got the Light of Freedom,” a seminal study of the community organizing tradition in the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi and across the South, by Charles Payne. On page 158 he read the lines that altered the arc of his career. Now, a few...
2023-09-08 - New research led by a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign expert who studies personnel psychology shows a better way to assess noncognitive abilities such as a job candidate’s personality and vocational interests using the “graded forced-choice format.” The scientific study of a person’s soft skills heavily relies on self-reported measures – for example, respondents are often presented with...
2023-09-07 - Artificial roosts for bats come in many forms — bat boxes, condos, bark mimics, clay roosts, and cinder block structures, to name a few — but a new conservation practice and policy article from researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign suggests the structures haven’t been studied rigorously enough and may harm bats in some scenarios. The article, published in Conservation Biology...
2023-09-07 - Director of graduate studies doesn’t necessarily sound like a show-stopping role. At Illinois, it’s an essential job reserved for faculty members who are ready for the challenges that come with largely unnoticed tasks. It’s a job that, if done correctly, is noted very little by those who benefit most — the students. However, in the Department of History...