2022-04-19
- Mariama Mwilambwe, a junior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was awarded a $30,000 Truman Scholarship. Mwilambwe was one of 58 Truman Scholars selected from a pool of 705 nominees from colleges and universities across the country.
Mwilambwe,...
LAS News Archive
2022-04-15 - A research team from the Department of Chemistry has discovered a way to produce a special class of molecule that could open the door for new drugs to treat currently untreatable diseases. Open the household medicine cabinet and you will likely find...
2022-04-15 - At a hospital on Chicago’s Northside, Jason Robin (BS, ‘98, biology) is the director of cardio oncology, managing the full spectrum of cardiovascular disease. Current occupation: Cardiologist, director of...
2022-04-15 - Two professors from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences have been awarded 2022 Guggenheim Fellowships. This year’s fellows are chemistry professors So Hirata and Prashant Jain. They are among 180 artists, writers, scholars, and scientists...
2022-04-12 - We rely on scientists to understand the structure and behavior of our world. What happens when a scientist’s ability to separate science from ideology comes into question—and they happen to be one of the most renowned scientists in their field? David Sepkoski, the Thomas M. Siebel Chair in the...
2022-04-07 - Two University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers are developing resources for studying the Deseret Alphabet, which was created by the Mormons and used briefly in the 19th century. Linguistics professor Ryan Shosted and...
2022-04-04 - A typical day for Matthew Doppelt (BA, ’11, economics) is hard to come by as assistant director for international scouting for the Los Angeles Dodgers. His home base is in Pheonix, Ariz., where he lives with his wife Anne and 6-month-old daughter Moonie...
2022-04-01 - Cynthia Buckley is an Illinois sociology professor and demographer, and a co-leader of a U.S. Department of Defense-funded project looking for keys to stability and security in Ukraine and two other former Soviet republics, Estonia and Georgia. She...
2022-03-30 - To many of us, the idea of testing brings to mind bright lights, biting pencils, filling ovals, and (hopefully) the sweet relief of proving that you know the material. Xun Yan, a professor of linguistics at U of I, however, wants to know more about...
2022-03-29 - Past instances of racism in medical care and the resulting distrust among Black Americans have been cited as factors in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Rana Hogarth is a medical historian and a history professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign...
2022-03-29 - Researchers studying epileptic seizures of the temporal lobe – the most common type of epilepsy – discovered a compound that reduces seizures in the hippocampus, a brain region where many such seizures originate. The compound, known as TC-2153, lessened the severity of seizures in mice. The...
2022-03-28 - Navigating the pandemic hasn’t been an easy task for anyone. Along with health concerns, it’s brought about worries about jobs, finances, housing, and more. But some communities have people like Anthony Erlinger and Kathleen Flores standing behind them. “It’s been a really hard time for everyone...
2022-03-25 - What does it mean to make a rational decision? As defined by centuries of philosophical thought, a rational decision is the action you choose that can be expected to result in better outcomes than any alternatives. This is how humans define it, anyway. What about artificial intelligence?...
2022-03-23 - Adrienne Harris has worked on campus for 20 years and in the Department of Communication since January 2018. Her primary role is to oversee the department's finances, and, in her office, a healthy work culture is a priority. “I am very proud to be a...
2022-03-11 - With the crisis raging in Ukraine, professors in the Department of Political Science recently met to publicly discuss some of the issues arising from the conflict. Why did Putin invade? Will Ukraine join the European Union? Will China become involved? How...
2022-03-11 - Regional economies are routinely subject to the whims of the business cycle that can lead to job losses and lower incomes for residents when a recession hits or an industry declines. But new research co-written by a team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign economists finds that counties that...
2022-03-11 - A professor of sociology is part of an important new effort to increase the sustainability of phosphorous, a key element in food fertilizers that comes largely from non-renewable deposits outside of the United States. Anna Marshall is a co-principal...
2022-03-11 - Travis L. Dixon, a professor and director of graduate studies in communication, will deliver the annual College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Dean’s Distinguished Lecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on March 23. Dixon’s talk,...
2022-03-10 - When Disha Hegde was little, her father, a software engineer, would play math games with her. He wanted her to learn mathematical and logical concepts, and it worked: by the time she was in fifth grade she was known as the riddle queen and was asked to give other students a chance to answer her...
2022-03-10 - As an interviewer, I’ve always felt there’s one question that tells me pretty much everything I need to know about a person. It’s not about who they root for in the playoffs or their latest TV binge. It’s just nine simple words. “Are you a dog person or a cat person?” After spending some time...
2022-03-10 - Two LAS professors, Kathryn Oberdeck and Esther Ngumbi, recently received Campus Excellence in Public Engagement Awards. Here’s what they’re up to. Helping the community find its place in history The perceived gap—real or not—between a university and the surrounding community has...
2022-03-09 - An annual study of the early career paths of recent University of Illinois graduates reveals that new alumni from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences remain successful in finding jobs and other first destinations. More than 93 percent of LAS alumni who graduated during the 2020-21 academic...
2022-03-09 - Sometimes the spark for something great is literally a spark. In August 1896 a thunderstorm rolled across east central Illinois and unleashed a lightning bolt on the roof of the U of I’s Chemical Laboratory, with the resulting fire destroying much of the building. Out of the ashes rose one of the...
2022-03-09 - It makes sense to think that successful people are living out a childhood dream. With Deon Thomas (BS, ’94, political science), that’s not true. “You look at your life and you think how it’s going to be, (and) when it turns out not to be the way you thought...
2022-03-07 - Richard Etheridge was a biracial former slave who fought in the Civil War and led a regiment of Black troops. A fictionalized account of Etheridge and his military service drives the narrative in a recently published novel by David Wright Faladé, an English...