2023-05-30
- Maybe it’s because Runhuan Feng works so much in analyzing risk and uncertainty—in finance, insurance, retirement planning, healthcare, and otherwise—that soon after joining the University of Illinois as a professor in mathematics he began to wonder: “How did the study of these things begin at U of I?”
The answer turned out to be one of the biggest...
2023-05-30 - Thirteen University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students and recent graduates, including 10 from the College of LAS, were offered Fulbright grants to pursue international education, research, and teaching experiences around the globe this coming year. Another six Illinois students were named Fulbright alternates. Eleven of the students have accepted grants from the ...
2023-05-23 - Economics professor Marcelo Cunha Medeiros was named the Jorge Paulo Lemann Chair in Brazilian Economy in a recent ceremony. While he joined the faculty of the University of Illinois less than a year ago, Medeiros brings a history of research, scholarship, and teaching. He was previously with the Department of Economics at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro for 22 years after...
2023-05-19 - Early on a sunny Sunday morning, the chimes tower in Altgeld Hall is filling up with people. Students climb the steep staircase to the tower, several of them carrying snacks. They are all chimes players who will perform for a recording of chimes music. Chimesmaster Michael Broussard, a doctoral student in ethnomusicology, is coordinating the recording session. He’s on his cell phone with sound...
2023-05-19 - Hundreds of millions of years before the evolution of animals with segmented bodies, jointed skeletons or appendages, soft-bodied invertebrates like sea slugs ruled the seas. A new study finds parallels between the brain architecture that drives locomotion in sea slugs and that of more complex segmented creatures with jointed skeletons and appendages. Reported in the Journal of...
2023-05-12 - When you come to a new country to attend college, sometimes the problems you face can be the most basic kind—such as housing. Yuyan Liu, a psychology major, recalled how her friends encountered a problem that many international students have dealt with when they come to school partway around the world: If there’s a period of time between the end of...
2023-05-12 - A team of scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Rice University, and Danville Area Community College has created an affordable laboratory curriculum for teaching advanced data analysis techniques and instrument building to first-year general chemistry students. Students in the course at DACC get a first-hand look at the inside of a spectrometer by building a simple one from...
2023-05-08 - Chemistry professor Nancy Makri has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest professional honors a scientist can receive. She is among 120 members and 23 international members elected this year to recognize their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Makri is recognized for her...
2023-05-04 - Anyone near campus with a green thumb—or at least an appreciation for it—has likely heard of the Plant Biology Greenhouse, including its popular 2,000 square-foot conservatory. As noteworthy as the local attraction has become in the past 30-plus years, efforts are underway to make the space even more educational and interactive. “We’ve done a lot of changes,” said Heather Lash, coordinator of...
2023-05-02 - In the post-World War II period, Hong Kong became a battleground for the competing ideologies of China, Taiwan, and the U.S. in a cultural cold war. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign history professor Po-Shek Fu described how the propaganda and psychological warfare intertwined...
2023-04-27 - Two College of Liberal Arts & Sciences students have received prestigious Boren Awards for study abroad during the 2023-24 academic year. David L. Boren Scholarships and Fellowships are funded by the National Security Education Program, a federal initiative designed to increase U.S. expertise in languages and cultures in...
2023-04-26 - A new look at decades of data from museum collections and surveys of leaf-litter ants in Florida reveals a steady decline in native ants and simultaneous increase in nonnative ants – even in protected natural areas of the state, researchers report. The study tracked leaf-litter ant abundance from 1965 to 2019. Nonnative ants represented 30 percent of the 177 ground-dwelling species...
2023-04-25 - Researchers at the University of Illinois have partnered with Immerse, a virtual reality language learning platform, and Meta—formerly Facebook, Inc.—to provide underserved high school students with headsets to participate in virtual reality language learning courses. Randall Sadler, professor of linguistics and director of the...
2023-04-24 - The recent rise in cases of a drug-resistant fungus called Candida auris has prompted hospitals and nursing homes to be on alert and sparked concern among scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which deemed it an “urgent microbial resistance threat.” The emergence of an infectious superbug is not a new occurrence though; it is the latest in a growing number...- 2023-04-21 - Doug Hoffman graduated from the newly formed Program in Religious Studies in 1975. This year, what is now known as the Department of Religion is belatedly celebrating its 50th anniversary. Hoffman and his longtime friend and mentor Gary Porton, professor emeritus, are helping to organize the anniversary event along with Jonathan Ebel, head of the...
- 2023-04-21 - It's hard to talk about fish in Illinois without talking about Lawrence M. Page. In fact, it’s difficult to talk about the fishes of North America and Southeast Asia without mentioning Larry Page. That’s because Page has spent much of his career researching, identifying, collecting data about and specimens of, teaching about, curating collections of, and publishing on freshwater fishes,...
- 2023-04-21 - When you look at a résumé like T. Markus Funk’s (BA, '91, Germanic languages and literatures; BS, '92, business administration), there’s one thing you’ll likely notice right off the bat: the variety. From his studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University, and Oxford University, where he earned...
- 2023-04-21 - Dr. Lance Rodewald (BS, '76, chemistry; MS, '84, computer science) has dedicated more than 30 years of his career working in the public health sector to protect people from vaccine preventable diseases. He retired in 2018 from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control as an immunization advisor to the World Health Organization in China. A few months...
2023-04-21 - Nine alumni from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences will receive the college’s 2023 annual alumni awards at a celebration on April 21. They are researchers, entrepreneurs, lawyers, and public servants who have had impressive impact on their fields and communities. LAS Alumni Achievement Award Maria C. Carrillo (BS, '91,...- 2023-04-20 - Jacob Becraft had always dreamed of attending the U of I. Little did he know that not only would his dreams come true, but within 10 years of graduating he would be invited back to his alma mater to accept a prestigious alumni award. Becraft graduated from Illinois in the Spring of 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. From there, he went...
- 2023-04-20 - For Maria C. Carrillo, returning to campus for the 2023 LAS Alumni Awards feels like going home. The 1991 psychology graduate is the chief science officer at the Alzheimer’s Association. Under her leadership, the association has invested $167 million in more than 500 research projects that prioritize increasing understanding of Alzheimer’s...
- 2023-04-20 - Eric Whitaker has spent a lot of time away from Illinois. After spending the last three decades representing the United States of America in the Foreign Service at the Department of State, however, he will return to his alma mater to receive the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Alumni Achievement Award. Whitaker was a student at U of I from 1974-1981, during which time he received a...
- 2023-04-20 - College of LAS alumna Britney Robbins is transforming entrepreneurship through her non-profit organization The Gray Matter Experience. In 2016, Robbins (BA, ’10, rhetoric/creative writing) founded the organization at the age of 28 with the goal of helping Black high school students in Chicago...
- 2023-04-20 - They say numbers tell the story, but if that’s true, how do you explain Jerry Levy’s story? Levy’s long and successful career was defined by numbers and smart financial decisions, but now he’s being honored for something beyond the realm of any numerical calculation. That an actuary’s career can run much deeper than the job description is evident once you get to know Levy (BS, ’73,...
2023-04-19 - College of Liberal Arts & Sciences students Max Fan and Aidan Lindsay have been awarded Barry M. Goldwater scholarships for their potential to contribute to the advancement of research in the natural sciences, mathematics or engineering. The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986 to honor Goldwater, who served 30...