2016-12-15
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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 - 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 (...
2016-12-09 - 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...
2016-12-05 - 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 - 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...
2016-11-18 - 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...
2016-11-17 - 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....
2016-11-01 - One student spent the summer tracking prairie chickens near Salem, Illinois, returning to the lab to help analyze their DNA. Another co-wrote a study of the marsupial intervertebral disc, research he and his colleagues hope will offer new insights into human health. Another is designing his own experiments on the evolution of fish behavior. Two others are working on research related to mosquitoes...
2016-10-29 - Martin Camargo, a professor of English and the associate dean for humanities and interdisciplinary programs at the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, has been designated interim dean of LAS while the university conducts an internal search for a new dean to lead the college. Camargo has been appointed in “designate” status...
2016-10-27 - Benjamin L. Hankin, a professor of psychology at Illinois, has been named the Fred and Ruby Kanfer Professor of Psychology. It is the first ever endowed named position in the Department of Psychology. An investiture is one of the highest honors that a faculty member can receive. The position is named for the late Frederick...
2016-10-26 - Artist Horace Pippin was well-known in the 1930s and 1940s for his paintings of African-American life and for his commentary on war. But his work also was described by some as crude and unsophisticated.Poet Janie Harrington found inspiration for her latest book of poetry in the life and art of Pippin. Her book “Primitive: The Art and Life of Horace H. Pippin” is both a critique of the...
2016-10-24 - Elizabeth Pieroth is the first to point out that she is not gifted athletically. Growing up, her family nicknamed her “Grace” because of her lack of that quality in sports. But when it comes to protecting an athlete’s most important body part—the head—Pieroth is the go-to person for many athletic programs around the country, including major professional teams. Today, Pieroth (...
2016-10-24 - A mysterious ailment struck Deborah Paul’s younger brother, Tim, in 1982, when lymph glands all over his body suddenly became swollen. He recovered, but it took two years for doctors to finally figure out what had triggered the problem. In 1984, Paul’s brother developed pneumocystis pneumonia—a type of pneumonia that was beginning to afflict many men in different parts of the...
2016-10-24 - Doris Derby remembers the exact moment her life changed. It was May 1963, just three months before the March on Washington and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. She was watching the television news and saw violence against protestors who were trying to integrate businesses down South. “The police had German Shepherd dogs and billy clubs, and they were...