2021-04-29
- Two professors in the Department of Geography and Geographic Information Science have received a $500,000 grant to bring more “big data” to the complicated process of crop yield forecasting.
The grant from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture will assist research pertaining to...
2021-04-26 - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign chemistry professors Nancy Makri and Kenneth Schweizer have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest honor societies in the nation. They are among 252 new members elected...
2021-04-23 - Graduate students from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences were well-represented among the awardees of the 2021 Image of Research contest, organized by the Scholarly Commons of the University Library and the Graduate College. The competition is an annual event which celebrates the diversity and breadth...
2021-04-20 - The state of Illinois is undergoing a rapid change in weather patterns that already has started to transform the state, according to a major new scientific assessment by researchers at several universities, government agencies, and organizations, including The Nature Conservancy and the University of Illinois. The assessment foretells long-term, serious effects on cities and rural communities...
2021-04-19 - Martha Gillette, director of the Neuroscience Program and Alumni Professor of cell and developmental biology, has been named the Beckman Institute’s 2021 winner of the Vision and Spirit Award. The annual award, which includes $150,000 in research funding, was created to honor Beckman...
2021-04-09 - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign history professor Kevin Mumford has been awarded a 2021 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. Mumford is one of 184 artists, writers, scholars and scientists who were awarded fellowships. They were chosen through a rigorous peer-review process from almost 3,000 applicants, according to the John Simon Guggenheim...
2021-04-08 - Editor's note: Andy Sima studies environmental sustainability and creative writing at Illinois, where he will graduate in May 2021. Sima received the grand prize in the 2020 Janelle Joseph Environmental Writing Contest for this essay, “Burn Zone,” which was originally published in...
2021-04-07 - College of LAS students Evan Dray and Ariel Lerman were awarded Barry M. Goldwater scholarships for their potential to contribute to the advancement of research in the natural sciences, mathematics, or engineering. They were joined by two other University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students: Emmarie Alexander and...
2021-04-01 - Tried and true ways to save on electricity include turning off lights when you leave the room or unplugging unused electronics. A University of Illinois professor, however, has developed a smart home model that uses dynamic, real-time energy pricing data to operate household appliances in a way that saves the most money. As Richard Sowers, a professor of ...
2021-03-30 - When Amanda Bjerkan Hennessy first saw “Hamilton: an American Musical” in 2019, she immediately loved the Broadway musical. She constantly listened to the soundtrack with her children, ages 8 and 6, who also began to enjoy the music. "And with that came a lot of questions!” she said. “‘Why does [Eliza Hamilton] say she’s helpless?’ ‘Why does the king say that?’ ‘Why do they want to...
2021-03-26 - With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, community service organizations scrambled to maintain their support programs. One of the ways they compensated was by increasing their social media and online presence—which they accomplished with the help of the LAS Honors Program. Last semester, some 236 students in LAS 122, a freshman...
2021-03-24 - To many outsiders, Beirut has evolved to a modern and exceptional Middle Eastern city. In reality, its inhabitants are challenged by daily violence and disruptions, caused by state sanctioned neglect and violence on its people. To Ghassan Moussawi, an ethnographer, the city reveals valuable lessons in how people adapt in the face of continuous danger and scarcity. After years...
2021-03-22 - When you spend a year and a half immersed in a place, as Karla Smalley has in Altgeld Hall, you start to develop a sense for the significant details. One day not long ago the architect was drawn to an old chair on the building’s third floor that seemed out of place, yet oddly familiar. Smalley is an associate principal and architect at Bailey Edward, a firm hired by campus to help renovate...
2021-03-17 - The Humanities Research Institute at the University of Illinois has awarded its annual Faculty and Graduate Student Fellowships to six faculty members and six graduate students in the College of LAS for the 2021–22 academic year. Several members of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences have received a fellowship, with the theme for this year being “Symptoms of Crisis.” The Humanities...
2021-03-16 - A study of the early career paths of recent University of Illinois graduates reveals that new alumni from the College of LAS are successful in finding jobs and other first destinations. About 90 percent of new LAS alumni are securing jobs (including military service), continuing education, or volunteer/service positions, according to the...
2021-03-15 - Karen P. Layng (’84, BA, international economics and French commercial studies; '87, JD) wears several hats. From leading her own consulting firm to serving as the national president of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America, Layng says the skills she picked up during her undergraduate studies have helped her find success and...
2021-03-12 - It’s difficult to picture while standing in the lobby of the Altgeld library today. However, generations ago a spectacular display of color – greens, ambers, purples, and cobalt blues – crowned one of the most special spaces on campus During construction of the building in 1896, a beautiful glass dome was installed at the top of the lobby of the Altgeld library and provided impressive...
2021-03-12 - The chronic stress of living in neighborhoods with high rates of violence and poverty alters gene activity in immune cells, according to a new study of low-income single Black mothers on the South Side of Chicago. The changes in stress-related gene expression reflect the body’s “hunker down” response to long-term threat, a physiological strategy for lying low and considering new actions...
2021-03-11 - The fall semester was unlike any other for students at the University of Illinois. Many students returned to campus for a mix of online and in-person courses, some took classes entirely online from home, and others, such as international students, were unable to go home even for breaks. Here, in their own words or as interviewed by others, LAS students share experiences and lessons learned during...
2021-03-11 - How do we move forward from here? The year 2020 was hard, but it also summoned thoughts on how to start anew. We’ve asked LAS professors for their thoughts on how—in light of the pandemic, racial tensions, isolation, environmental issues, political divisiveness, and other trials of 2020—we can still move toward a brighter future. Editor's note: Replies received in December 2020. On...
2021-03-11 - When Brendan McGovern first started working as a consultant at the Writers Workshop in 2018, he looked forward to helping people with a craft that he loves. However, he’s learned that in helping others his own writing has become better, too. “Tutoring students at the Writers Workshop over the past few years has been the best form of...
2021-03-09 - Christopher Freeburg has been named the John A. and Grace W. Nicholson Professor in recognition of his outstanding literary achievements and dedication to the Department of English and the University of Illinois as a whole. Freeburg has published numerous articles in top academic journals and is the author of “Melville and the Idea of Blackness: Race...
2021-03-08 - The College of LAS has selected winners of this year’s teaching excellence awards. Thirteen professors, graduate student teaching assistants, and an advisor have been honored for their service. The LAS Dean’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching is being awarded to professors Teresa Barnes, history and ...
2021-03-03 - With the damage inflicted to the U.S. economy by the COVID-19 pandemic, recovery will require not only restoring jobs and income, according to a professor at Illinois, but revitalizing a key industry that affects millions of families: child care. Elizabeth Powers, professor of economics who is also a senior scholar at the...
2021-03-02 - In January, many listeners were struck by the power of Amanda Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb,” read by Gorman at the presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C., as it addressed some of the nation’s most painful divisions. University of Illinois English professor and poet Christopher Kempf appreciated it on a different level: It showed how...