2017-01-13
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Scientists have confirmed that Miscanthus, long speculated to be the top biofuel producer, yields more than twice as much as switchgrass in the U.S. using an open-source bioenergy crop database gaining traction in plant science, climate change, and ecology research.
"To understand yield trends and variation across the country for our major food crops, extensive databases are...
- 2017-01-09 - Two longtime faculty members have been selected to serve as interim associate deans of the College of LAS, starting January 16.David Tewksbury, professor and head of the Department of Communication, has been appointed to serve as interim associate dean for social and behavioral sciences. Carla Cáceres, professor of...
- 2017-01-05 - Lydia Kisley, a postdoctoral fellow and researcher at Illinois, has been featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 List for 2017. The annual list highlights innovators who are under 30 years old and work in a variety of different industries, from media to manufacturing. Kisley was included on the healthcare list. She was selected from a competitive pool of some 15,000 nominees,...
- 2017-01-04 - Just in time to put those New Year’s resolutions to the test, Thursday is National Whipped Cream Day—a date that’s particularly sweet at Illinois. While the day falls on the birthday of the late Aaron “Bunny” Lapin, who founded Reddi-wip, a big dollop of credit for one of the most popular dessert toppings goes to Charles Getz (BS, ’32; MS, ’34; PhD, ’38;...
- 2016-12-22 - An associate dean and accomplished professor has been selected to serve as the next Harry E. Preble Dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.Feng Sheng Hu, professor of plant biology and Ralph E. Grim Professor in Geology, will assume duties as dean on January 1, pending approval by the...
- 2016-12-20 - White House photographers once shot mostly for history; today their photos are as likely to be used for daily image-making and social media, thanks to changes under President Obama. Communication professor Cara Finnegan took an early look in 2010 at Obama’s White...
- 2016-12-19 - When most living creatures get hurt, they can self-heal and recover from the injury. But, when damage occurs to inanimate objects, they don’t have that same ability and typically either lose functionality or have their useful lifecycle reduced. Researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology are working to change that. For more than 15 years, Jeff Moore...
- 2016-12-15 - Two LAS faculty members, Erik McDuffie and Carol Symes, have been awarded National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships for 2017. McDuffie is a professor of African American studies and of history, and Symes is a professor of history and of ...
- 2016-12-13 - A professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois has been nationally recognized for demonstrating a “prolific spirit of innovation.” Kenneth Suslick, Marvin T. Schmidt Professor of Chemistry and professor of materials science and engineering, has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). The...
- 2016-12-09 - A recently discovered galaxy is forming stars at an extraordinary pace. Astronomers have shown that, compared to the Milky Way, which forms roughly one Sun-sized star per year, stars in the galaxy SPT 0346-32 are forming at a rate of about 4,500 times the mass of the Sun every year—one of the highest rates seen. The finding presents an opportunity to study one of the mysteries...
- 2016-12-09 - How does a history degree lead to a career in clinical health research? The path isn’t as winding as you might think, according to Katie Arrigo-Wozniak, who has been employed at Sage Products LLC, a medical technology company, for seven years and running. She’s also becoming a leader in her community, being named one of the “Best Under 40” in McHenry County (...
- 2016-12-05 - Murugesu “Siva” Sivapalan, professor in the departments of Geography & GIScience and Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been awarded the 2017 European Geosciences Union’s (EGU) Alfred Wegener Medal, which recognizes scientists who have achieved exceptional international standing in atmospheric, hydrological or ocean sciences...
- 2016-12-01 - Researchers at the U of I report in the journal Science that they can increase plant productivity by boosting levels of three proteins involved in photosynthesis. In field trials, the scientists saw increases of 14 percent to 20 percent in the growth of their modified tobacco plants. The work confirms that photosynthesis can be made more efficient to increase plant yield, a...
- 2016-11-30 - Devin Weiss, of Northbrook, Illinois, has been named a Marshall Scholar. A 2013 graduate of Glenbrook North High School, Weiss is a senior at the University of Illinois majoring in sociology. Funded by the British government, the Marshall Scholarship fully funds outstanding young Americans for two years of graduate study in any field at a...
- 2016-11-28 - A student in the College of LAS has been chosen for this year’s Lincoln Academy Student Laureate Award, given to university seniors for excellence in curricular and extracurricular activities. Shivaliben “Shivali” Bhargavkumar Patel, a double-major in global studies and molecular and...
- 2016-11-23 - To say Robert Carr remembers clearly his first college scholarship might be the biggest understatement you’ll hear today. He was a senior at Lockport (Illinois) Township High School, coming from a working class family, when he received a $250 college scholarship from the Lockport Woman’s Club. “The $250 to me (meant) somebody believed in me,” Carr said, years later, “and wanted...
- 2016-11-21 - Two faculty in the College of LAS are among six at the University of Illinois who have been elected 2016 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Bruce L. Rhoads, a professor of geography and geographic information science, and Chad M. Rienstra, a professor of...
- 2016-11-21 - There’s more than one way to approach questions of social science. To gauge the stress that mathematics causes the typical middle schooler, for example, a researcher could ask about recent math tests or conduct interviews with parents. On the other hand, an engineer could create a sensing patch for students to wear in order to identify heart rate differences before, during, and...
- 2016-11-18 - When Susan Martinis studied at the University of Illinois as a doctoral student in the late 1980s, she had no idea that she would someday become a professor here, let alone the head of the Department of Biochemistry. Now, she has also received a professorship—one of the highest honors bestowed upon faculty at...
- 2016-11-18 - Eight University of Illinois researchers, including six from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, have been named to the Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list for 2016 (previously known as the Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researchers list). The list identifies scientists “whose research has had significant global impact within their respective fields of...
- 2016-11-17 - Andrew Zipkin isn’t your everyday archaeologist.As a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Anthropology, his work begins with archaeology. But Zipkin’s research requires a few other techniques. By applying methods from geology and...
- 2016-11-11 - This year’s U.S. presidential election has been called one of the biggest political upsets in history. Just weeks ago, Hillary Clinton seemed headed for a big win. And though the race tightened in the lead-up to Nov. 8, almost every respected election forecast had her as a strong favorite over Donald Trump. Betting markets were predicting Clinton as well. And so was Illinois...
- 2016-11-07 - When speaking of college recruitment, the first thing that may come to mind is football or basketball programs scouring the nation for top athletes. But the same holds true for Illinois’ Department of Mathematics, which recently restructured its scholarship program to help elite math students choose Illinois. After consideration by...
- 2016-11-04 - Six assistant professors have been recognized for their exceptional accomplishments in teaching and research as part of a new program to highlight and encourage the contributions of outstanding junior faculty in the College of LAS.Selected faculty will retain the Lincoln Excellence for Assistant Professors Award for two years, receiving $5,000 in discretionary research funding each of those years...
- 2016-11-02 - I was first drawn to Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park as a natural laboratory for a NASA project to study how microbes form fossilized “markers” in ancient travertine rock deposits. The water temperature, chemistry and flow at Mammoth are similar to that found on the early Earth, and the hot springs still harbor microbial life that evolved billions of years ago....