2016-03-18
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How does an English major end up as owner and president of a successful engineering firm? Through perseverance, following his heart and utilizing skills he learned by studying the humanities. Meet Darrell C. Nance, the first profile in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences’ LAS@Work alumni series. Here’s the...
2016-03-18 - Mosquito bites are an itchy and annoying drawback to the fact that warmer days are upon us. But for many this year, mosquitoes could prove to be more than a mild nuisance, but rather a serious health hazard.In mid-January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a travel alert for Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean because of the outbreak of Zika virus in...
2016-03-16 - When you think of a laboratory, you may think of test tubes, chemistry or some other kind of science. You might also think of teamwork, solving problems and testing solutions. Could there be such a lab for history?Some faculty and students at Illinois are working on one. It’s called SourceLab. The problem they’re addressing is one of...
2016-03-09 - Almost 50 University of Illinois students will spend their spring break not on the beach, but on the bus, taking a 2,500-mile trip through key cities and sites significant in the history of civil rights for African-Americans.This will be the sixth year for the Civil Rights Pilgrimage, and 48 students are scheduled to go, according to January Boten, a staff member in University Housing, which...
2016-03-07 - Economics professor Jose Vazquez enjoys the occasional game of basketball. Luckily for him, he knows he can go to the ARC every day at noon, without fail, to find a court full of challengers ready to hit the hardwood.“I wanted to have something similar for teaching,” Vazquez said.With the environment and accessibility of an open gym in mind, Vazquez has revamped the LAS Teaching Academy since...
2016-03-03 - A new study from the University of Illinois found that addiction to—but not simply use of—mobile technology is linked to anxiety and depression in college-age students. Psychology professor Alejandro Lleras said his study, which was published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, revealed that people who described...
2016-03-02 - Two graduate students from the University of Illinois have been named 2016 Pre-Doctoral Fellows as part of a program by the Humanities Without Walls (HWW) Consortium to prepare students for careers both inside and outside the academy, or the university environment. John Moore from the Department of...
2016-03-01 - A study of rats given regular, high doses of amphetamine finds that those exposed to the drug at an age corresponding to human adolescence experience long-term changes in brain function that persist into adulthood. The study, reported in the journal Neuroscience, found that amphetamine leads to changes in dopamine signaling. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a role in...
2016-03-01 - Two alumni, a professor and two students have received 2015 International Achievement Awards from Illinois International Programs in honor of their work to improve lives overseas. The award recipients are M.T. Geoffrey Yeh (Madhuri and Jagdish N. Sheth International Alumni Award for Exceptional Achievement); Elvira Gonzalez de Mejia (Sheth Distinguished Faculty Award for International...
2016-02-26 - Thanks to a new, successful and widely recognized internship program, exciting opportunities that allow graduate students in the Department of Mathematics to use their skills for real-life applications are becoming easier to find—and they’re not limited to academia.The Program for Interdisciplinary and Industrial Internships at Illinois—PI4 for short—is...
2016-02-23 - Five University of Illinois faculty members, including four in the College of LAS, have received the 2016 Sloan Research Fellowship for early-career scientists from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.This year, 126 Sloan Research Fellowships were awarded to early-career scientists and scholars from 52 colleges and universities across the United States and Canada. Senior scholars chose awardees from...
2016-02-22 - We have good news and bad news. The good news is that May Berenbaum would like to use this year’s Insect Fear Film Festival to set the record straight about Hollywood’s portrayal of exploding bugs. The bad news is that there actually are such things as exploding bugs.“Exploding Arthropods” is the theme for the 2016 Insect Fear Film Festival on Feb. 27 at the University of Illinois. Festival...
2016-02-19 - When scientists recently announced that they observed ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves, thus confirming a major prediction in Albert Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity, astronomers and physicists at Illinois were electrified with excitement—and not just because a new window was opened into the universe. Illinois also had much to do with the discovery.Thirty...
2016-02-18 - A new study from the University of Illinois using an advanced computer model casts doubt on previously held theories about the Yellowstone supervolcano’s origins, adding to the mystery of Yellowstone’s formation. “Our model covered the entire history of Yellowstone volcanic activities,” said Lijun Liu,...
2016-02-17 - New research has identified regions in the United States where bioenergy crops would grow best while minimizing effects on water quantity and quality.Researchers at the University of Illinois used detailed models to examine impacts on water quantity and quality in soils that would occur if existing vegetation was replaced by various bioenergy crops in the name of ethanol production.“We expect the...
2016-02-12 - The Center for African Studies and Department of African American Studies at Illinois have been selected to host part of an initiative by President Obama to develop education, public service and community organizational skills in young leaders from Africa.In mid-June, Illinois will welcome 50 young leaders from Africa as part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, which...
2016-02-10 - Boxer Muhammad Ali famously declared his intent to “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee,” but perhaps boxers should look to another type of insect for inspiration: the trap-jaw ant.In a new study, entomologists at the University of Illinois and North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences measured the speed at which different species of trap-jaw ants strike one another during antenna-boxing...
2016-02-09 - Four graduate students affiliated with the College of LAS were winners during the first ever Research Live! campus competition that focused on participants’ abilities to present their findings clearly and succinctly in less than three minutes.Ipek Tasan, Marc Ryan Gancayo, Vahid Mirshafiee and Robin Holland received top honors among 65 graduate students who entered the competition, which was...
2016-02-03 - Kelly Ritter may not be teaching any classes right now, but she’s taken on a key role rethinking how students learn at Illinois. The English professor and current director of the Department of English’s Undergraduate Rhetoric Program has joined the Office of the Provost, helping to expand a new interdisciplinary course initiative in general education.Following a campuswide call for applications,...
2016-02-01 - Images of disease and suffering should move smokers to kick the habit—at least, that’s the thinking behind graphic warning labels used on cigarette packages in much of the world, and maybe someday in the U.S. According to a University of Illinois study, however, “the good intentions of this tobacco control measure may be for naught.” The reason: Those graphic images are...
2016-01-26 - Five years ago this month, the Tunisians had brought down a dictator and the Egyptians were on their way to doing the same, beginning with massive demonstrations that grabbed the world’s attention. Protest and revolution would soon spread throughout the Middle East; it would be labeled as the “Arab Spring.”Five years later, however, there seems little but despair, with repressive rulers once...
2016-01-21 - It’s not exactly Pink Floyd declaring we don’t need no education, but according to a new study from U of I, children who participate in a collaborative group to learn about significant social issues become better decision-makers than those who learn the same curriculum through teacher-led discussions.More than 760 fifth-grade students were involved in the study. The research compared the efficacy...
2016-01-15 - Jan. 28 will mark the 30th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, when a space shuttle exploded shortly after liftoff, killing all seven crew members, including a school teacher. For Americans, it was one of those “where were you when” events, like the Kennedy assassination before it and 9/11 after. Communication professor Ned O’Gorman wanted...
2016-01-12 - The Earned Income Tax Credit aids millions of Americans each year, lifting many out of poverty—but a U of I study suggests that spacing out the credit in multiple payments could significantly reduce recipients’ dependence on payday loans and borrowing from family and friends.Study participants who took half their estimated EITC in four periodic payments between May and December cut their number...
2016-01-07 - Most historical accounts describe the Illinois Indians of the late 1600s as a weak and beleaguered people, shattered by war. Their Grand Village of the Kaskaskia, near present-day Starved Rock State Park, 80 miles southwest of Chicago, was depicted as little more than a refugee center, propped up by a French outpost.The reality, however, is quite different, argues University of Illinois...