2020-05-26
- The Board of Trustees has approved schematic designs for the expansive Altgeld and Illini Hall Project, bringing closer to reality the $192 million plan to modernize and grow spaces devoted to data science and other mathematical sciences.
The project calls for the construction of a new building on the site of Illini Hall by 2023 and the...
2020-05-22 - When tested in brain cells and in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, a new compound significantly reduced the number of amyloid plaques in the brain, lessened brain inflammation, and diminished other molecular markers of the disease. The researchers who developed the compound report their findings in the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience. Amyloid plaques are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s...
2020-05-21 - How do you have a constructive political debate in a politically divided landscape? In the video below, Scott Althaus, professor of political science and communication and director of the Cline Center for Advanced Social Research, gives advice on how to...
2020-05-20 - Where did COVID-19 come from? Why is testing so complicated? What is antibody testing—and what do we know about immunity from survivors of the Spanish flu who still had antibodies to the virus almost 90 years after the pandemic? A pair of scientists from the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology recently addressed some of the fundamental questions about...
Faculty members, staff, teaching assistants honored with Campus Awards for Excellence in Instruction2020-05-19 - Faculty and staff members and graduate teaching assistants at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign this spring were honored for excellence in teaching, mentoring and advising, collectively known as Campus Awards for Excellence in Instruction. The Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching recognizes sustained excellence and innovative approaches in undergraduate teaching and...
2020-05-13 - Lindsey Dunn Burgstahler is the vice president for the American Hospital Association Center for Health Innovation where her team works with 5,000 health systems across the country that are serving on the front lines against COVID-19.
2020-05-12 - Entomologists, agriculture biologists, and beekeepers in Washington state and British Columbia have been working to stop an invasive insect pest, the Asian giant hornet (AGH) ever since it was spotted late last year. Also known as Vespa mandarinia—or, more commonly, murder hornets—the insects have captured imaginations with their size, large stingers, and practice of tearing off the...
2020-05-11 - Several weeks ago, as the COVID-19 pandemic was spreading, Ying Diao, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and her research group, including several graduate students, began thinking about how they could help fight the outbreak. Through an inspiring NPR story, Diao learned about the creation of 3D-printed ventilator parts in Italy. She...
2020-05-07 - One day in 1665, a tailor’s assistant in the English village of Eyam received a shipment of cloth from London and hung it out to dry. Unbeknownst to him, the bale of cloth was home to a colony of fleas infected with plague. Soon, that man and one-third of the population of Eyam were dead. The means by which the village prevented the pestilence from becoming far worse, however, has become a...
2020-05-04 - Every five years, Spurlock Museum inventories its emergency supplies. Coincidentally, this year’s count was occurring during the outbreak of COVID-19, which is why staff members realized that they possessed material that could help healthcare providers deal with the pandemic. Personal protective equipment—PPE—is used by Spurlock staff to protect...
2020-04-29 - Two recipients within the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences have been awarded the 2020 Heritage Award from the Preservation and Conservation Association of Champaign (PACA). Jane Bergman, office manager for the Department of Mathematics, received the award for her historical replica of the glass dome that once overlooked the library in Altgeld...
2020-04-28 - Lisa Ainsworth, a research plant physiologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service and affiliate professor of plant biology and crop sciences at the University of Illinois, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences — largely considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive. Ainsworth, known for her research on...
2020-04-23 - Going from teaching in front of an auditorium that seats 600 students to lecturing on a webcam at home requires patience and skill – and, for one professor, a lot of imagination. Martha Gillette, professor of cell and developmental biology and director of the Neuroscience Program, co-teaches...
2020-04-22 - Epidemics often bring a search for scapegoats, with anti-Asian harassment in the wake of COVID-19 the latest example. Likewise, ideas circulate that different races also differ in their susceptibility to the disease, evidenced by a myth that blacks were immune to the virus. Both are subjects familiar to Rana Hogarth, a history professor at the...
2020-04-22 - Several professors in the College of LAS have received named scholar positions for their contributions in education and research at the University of Illinois. The named positions include the inaugural LAS Dean’s Distinguished Professorial Scholars, who are receiving $10,000 for teaching and research as they are promoted to full professor. “These named scholars have been chosen for their...
2020-04-20 - Back in early March, when the COVID-19 pandemic began shuttering businesses and schools across the United States, Chris Brooke wondered how he’d teach his classes online. As the virus spread with astonishing speed, however, and it became frighteningly clear that COVID-19 threatened something far greater than just the spring semester, Brooke, a professor of...
2020-04-17 - Two professors at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been awarded a 2020 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. This year’s fellows are Janice N. Harrington, a poet and professor of English; and David Sepkoski, a professor of history. They are among 175 writers, scholars, artists and scientists...
2020-04-15 - State and local governments across the U.S. are asking people to isolate themselves at home and avoid all but the most essential trips to grocery stores, pharmacies and hospitals. This level of behavior change is unprecedented in most people’s lifetimes, and for many it represents a direct threat to their economic welfare. Dolores Albarracín, a professor of...
2020-04-14 - Editor’s note: Intelligence officials report that Russia is continuing its interference in the 2020 election by stirring controversy and spreading disinformation on social media, and it is becoming more creative and harder to track, according to intelligence officials. Richard Tempest is a professor of Slavic languages and literatures at...
2020-04-14 - What a difference a month makes. In early March, students at Illinois were attending class in places like Lincoln Hall and Natural History Building, visiting faculty during office hours, and bumping into each other on the Main Quad. Now, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the suspension of on-campus activities, students have traded classrooms for Zoom lectures and online discussion boards while...
2020-04-13 - What's one way to pass time during the COVID-19 pandemic? You can do crossword puzzles, or you can make them, as is the case with University of Illinois freshman Adam Aaronson. Aaronson is using the crossword puzzle-making skills that got him published in two of the country’s leading newspapers to keep himself occupied during the coronavirus pandemic. “Social distancing has definitely given me...
2020-04-09 - University of Illinois juniors Sriyankari Chitti and William Lyon were 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...
2020-04-07 - A new class called Careers for Humanities Majors is helping students explore job opportunities and develop skills for starting a new career. As part of HUM 275, students work on resumes and cover letters, take field trips to local organizations and businesses, practice networking with professionals, and hear from speakers working in different industries who graduated with humanities degrees. “I...
2020-04-06 - Parents sheltering at home with their kids sometimes struggle to foster their children’s continued engagement with learning. Eva Pomerantz, a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, studies the factors that promote children’s motivation and achievement at school. She spoke to News Bureau life sciences editor...
2020-04-02 - “I used to think immigrants were a problem.” When Ann Abbott read this introduction to a student’s final essay, she realized the Spanish in the Community curriculum may be one of the most unique and important experiences of which she’s been a part. “Those words, ‘I used to’—that’s really impactful,” said Abbott, director of undergraduate studies and associate professor in the Department of...