2018-07-30
- As online programs allow for almost limitless connection across the world, the University of Illinois recently served as host to an international conference that discussed the future of learning language.
The annual Computer-Assisted Language Instruction Consortium 2018 Conference (CALICO) took place this summer on campus, thanks to the efforts of ...
2018-07-27 - Even several years after retiring from the University of Illinois, Elaine Johnson Copeland continues to help students. Copeland, an associate professor emerita of counseling psychology at Illinois, spent much of her time in Champaign-Urbana trying to recruit underrepresented students and help those with the need and desire for education. A South Carolina native, Copeland has received several...
2018-07-26 - Bela Gandhi always had a knack for matchmaking. It was no small talent, either; many of the people she set up on dates eventually married and had children. Finally, Gandhi turned her talent for making love connections into a career and launched the Smart Dating Academy in 2009. Today it’s one of the top companies...
2018-07-24 - Illinois has selected 14 proposed campus projects, including three in the College of LAS, to receive a total of more than $5 million of Investment for Growth funding. Now in its second year, the Investment for Growth program is aimed at generating new sources of revenue while continuing to invest in the university’s missions of education, research, and public engagement. “As we...
2018-07-23 - A university professor has received a grant to conduct large-scale experiments on how certain pesticides are affecting soil and, subsequently, contributing to the overall decline in bee populations. “We’re really interested in how pesticides—specifically neonicotinoids—affect pollinators in natural communities, particularly how they affect the soils,” said Alexandra Harmon-...
2018-07-20 - Researchers have identified a key protein involved in the irregular brain cell activity seen in autism spectrum disorders and epilepsy. The protein, p53, is well-known in cancer biology as a tumor suppressor. The findings, reported in the journal Human Molecular Genetics and Neuropharmacology, will open new avenues for understanding the factors that contribute to these...
2018-07-20 - When a man in a group wins, he’s likely to win again—thanks to a natural boost of testosterone, according to a study conducted by a university professor. For women, meanwhile, the effects of victories on biology are not so clear-cut. Psychology professor Joey Cheng, and her two colleagues, Olga Kornienko (George Mason University...
2018-07-17 - Murugesu “Siva” Sivapalan, professor of geography and civil and environmental engineering, has been awarded the eighth biennial Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water, a renowned global scientific award that recognizes scientists, researchers, and inventors for their creative and effective methods of addressing water scarcity....
2018-07-13 - The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences has announced the recipients of its 2018 annual alumni awards. The recipients represent a variety of backgrounds and degrees, from microbiology and economics to history, psychology, and mathematics. Their remarkable achievements are linked to their experiences and connections at the University of Illinois.Most recipients will be honored on campus during...
2018-07-11 - Since the 1940s, an introductory course sequence in oral and written communication has taught skills in critical thinking and argumentation to generations of Illinois students. Now, support from anonymous donors—along with the spirit of competition—has encouraged students to delve into the material even more enthusiastically by offering scholarships for exceptional performance...
2018-07-06 - The Supreme Court in June sidestepped a chance to rule on the limits of partisan redistricting, or gerrymandering. Wendy K. Tam Cho, an Illinois professor of political science, statistics, mathematics, and law, and research colleague...
2018-07-03 - Since joining the Illinois faculty in 2005, Jon Ebel, professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Religion, has studied the religious history of the United States. The author of two books (with two more in the works) brings to light the influence of religion in battlefields, weapons plants,...
2018-07-02 - Editor’s note: The number of tick-borne illnesses diagnosed in the United States doubled between 2004 and 2016, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Summer is prime tick season, and people spending time outdoors should be vigilant, says University of...
2018-06-29 - As the closest biological relatives of humans, nonhuman primates such as lemurs, monkeys, and apes offer unique insights into human evolution, behavior, and the threat of emerging disease. And, according to a study by a professor emeritus of anthropology at Illinois, they are also in extreme danger of going extinct. According to a new...
2018-06-29 - Three College of LAS alumni have been offered highly prestigious Fulbright grants this year, awarding them the opportunity to pursue international research, educational, and teaching experiences.Victoria Prince (BA, ’17, global studies), Brian Robinson (BA, ’17, psychology and...
2018-06-27 - An Illinois psychology professor has created a new psychological scale that could change the way researchers study schizophrenia—by learning more about those who are showing milder symptoms of the mental illness. Thomas Kwapil and his team created the Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale (MSS) and Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale-Brief (MSS-B),...
2018-06-25 - Geology professor Patricia Gregg has been awarded a highly competitive National Science Foundation grant for faculty early in their careers. The award affords her five fully-funded years of research, which she will use to develop volcano eruption forecasting. Gregg received the NSF CAREER Grant titled "CAREER: Investigating the...
2018-06-21 - Nina Baym, an internationally recognized scholar of American literature and women’s writings, and a University of Illinois professor emerita of English, died June 15 at age 82. Baym helped establish the field of study of American women writers with her 1978 book “Woman’s Fiction: A Guide to Novels by and about Women in America, 1820-1870.” With the...
2018-06-18 - Nineteen Illinois students experienced a unique spring break this year with help from donors to the College of LAS: They traveled deep into the communities and landscape of Costa Rica and came back with knowledge that can only come from a special kind of immersion in the everyday dealings of the environment and the people who sustain it. They were part of the...
2018-06-18 - A fund established by donors almost 30 years ago in honor of the late Illinois chemistry professor and alumnus Harold R. Snyder (BS, ’31, chemistry) continues to benefit students by allowing them an opportunity to experience graduate school the summer before their senior year. Although the research experience was originally intended...
2018-06-15 - An undergraduate in the College of LAS has gotten a taste of entrepreneurship by going back to her roots. Shayne Chammavanijakul, a junior in linguistics, is the founder of Dill magazine, which, on the verge of releasing its third issue, has received wide recognition for connecting people to...
2018-06-08 - Small sample sizes in studies using functional MRI to investigate brain connectivity and function are common in neuroscience, despite years of warnings that such studies likely lack sufficient statistical power. A new analysis reveals that task-based fMRI experiments involving typical sample sizes of about 30 participants are only modestly replicable. This means that independent...
2018-06-07 - A U of I professor has published the first critical study of one of Nepal’s most cherished narrative traditions. Jessica Vantine Birkenholtz, professor of religion, recently published “Reciting the Goddess: Narratives of Place and the Making of Hinduism in Nepal” (Oxford University Press). The book focuses on the history and...
2018-06-05 - Researchers report in a new study that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori – a major contributor to gastritis, ulcers and stomach cancer – resists the body’s immune defenses by shutting down energy production within the cells of the stomach lining that serve as a barrier to infection. The new findings, reported in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, will aid efforts to better understand...
2018-06-04 - A new genetic study of ancient individuals in the Americas and their contemporary descendants finds that two populations that diverged from one another 18,000 to 15,000 years ago remained apart for millennia before mixing again. This historic “reconvergence” occurred before or during their expansion to the southern continent. The study, reported in the journal Science,...