2012-10-01
- Finey Ruan knows she’ll have to work hard to become a doctor. Not that it’ll be a new concept—in order to attend college she’s been working every summer since the eighth grade.
Finey (pronounced “Finnie”), now in her freshman year at the U of I, grew up in the Chinatown district of Chicago. Her parents immigrated to America before Finey was born and raised their family here, running a restaurant...
2012-09-01 - The reopening of renovated Lincoln Hall has been the spotlight event on campus this fall. Directly tied to the inspiring new surroundings, however, is the initiation of a growing scholarship program that for the first time is helping students attend the University of Illinois. Nine LAS freshmen who arrived on campus this fall have received scholarships under the Lincoln Scholars program,...
2012-09-01 - After a four-year pause for a much-needed building renovation, students at the University of Illinois are once again heading to Lincoln Hall for class. Classes had been on hold at the historic building since fall 2008, when the University began scaling down operations there in anticipation of the renovation. But thousands of students have finally returned this fall, and most of them have never...
2012-09-01 - It’s unpredictable. It has sexual issues. It has a complicated past. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that the tropical fruit papaya could offer scientists insights into how humans evolved. Research originating at the University of Illinois has revealed that papaya sex chromosomes have undergone dramatic changes in their relatively short evolutionary histories. The changes that scientists observe...
2012-09-01 - Timothy Wedig was in Rwanda this past June, walking through the capital city of Kigali, when he spotted a man by the side of the road, swinging a machete. “I instinctively thought, ‘Oh my God, what is he doing?’” says Wedig, an LAS lecturer in global studies. He immediately associated the machete to the genocidal violence that tore Rwanda...
2012-07-01 - Rather than teach students by the hundreds, four LAS professors are now able to reach out to thousands at a time, across the globe. And their courses won’t cost students a cent. The University of Illinois is one of a dozen top universities joining Coursera, an open online course company that offers Web-based courses for free. Partnering with this global network puts Illinois at the leading edge...
2012-07-01 - Units on the second floor of Lincoln Hall LAS Office of the Dean LAS Student Academic Affairs (including LAS Honors Programs and New Student Advising) ATLAS Units on the third floor of Lincoln Hall Department of Communication Department of Sociology Other LAS units in newer locations Department of Political Science, 420 David Kinley Hall, 1407...
2012-06-01 - Several College of Liberal Arts and Sciences students and recent LAS graduates will be spending the 2012-13 academic year overseas pursuing fully funded research, studies, or English teaching under Fulbright grants.“We’re thrilled by the richness and creativity of the projects that our Fulbright awardees will pursue. Our Illinois students can really make a difference,” says Laura Hastings, a co-...
2012-06-01 - Seven College of Liberal Arts and Sciences undergraduates were offered federally funded Gilman Scholarships to study abroad during the fall and academic year 2012-13, helping place Illinois among the top 10 institutions nationally this year in number of recipients, with 11 total. The scholarship provides financially disadvantaged students eligible for federal Pell Grants with scholarships of up...
2012-05-01 - When Sri Mulyani Indrawati came to U of I in 1988 to obtain her PhD in economics, the world was still gripped by the Cold War and emerging economic giants such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China—the so-called BRIC countries—had no voice in world economic decisions.Today, the world and Indrawati’s place in it have changed dramatically. The BRIC...
2012-05-01 - Joanna Chromik, a junior double majoring in communication and English at the University of Illinois, has been awarded a Beinecke Scholarship, which awards $34,000 for future graduate study in the arts, humanities, or social sciences.Chromik, of Chicago, is a James Scholar honors student in the...
2012-05-01 - Some like it hot—very, very hot. One such creature is the archaea, which have been described as among the strangest forms of life on the planet.University of Illinois researchers are studying archaea that live near volcanoes in Naples, Italy, trying to unlock the mystery of how some forms of these microbial creatures can live in temperatures close to 180 F, and how they can devour sulfur.While...
2012-05-01 - Sometimes we prefer to forget. But how do we put negative memories behind us when they're always there in our rear-view mirror? For men and women, what works seems quite similar, but what backfires can be dramatically different, according to a new study from the University of Illinois. Also, basic personality differences play a big part, says Florin Dolcos, U of I...
2012-05-01 - In separate federal competitions, seven LAS students earned scholarship awards to fund their studies abroad as part of a U.S. government effort to expand the number of Americans studying and mastering critical languages. Andrew Barr, a junior from Mount Prospect, Ill., majoring in political science, won a $10,000 Boren Scholarship. He...
2012-05-01 - “Every two seconds, an area of forest the size of a football field is clear-cut by illegal loggers around the globe,” says a World Bank report just released in March. The report went on to say that “forestry’s criminal justice system is broken. Despite compelling data and evidence showing that illegal logging is a worldwide epidemic, most forest crimes go undetected, unreported, or are ignored.”...
2012-05-01 - Does hearing that you are a member of an elite group—of chess players, say, or scholars—enhance your performance on tasks related to your alleged area of expertise? Not necessarily, say researchers who tested how sweeping pronouncements about the skills or likely success of social groups can influence children’s performance. The researchers found that broad generalizations about the likely...-
2012-05-01 - Some like it hot—very, very hot. One such creature is the archaea, which have been described as among the strangest forms of life on the planet.University of Illinois researchers are studying archaea that live near volcanoes in Naples, Italy, trying to unlock the mystery of how some forms of these microbial creatures can live in temperatures close to 180 F, and how they can devour sulfur.While...
2012-05-01 - LAS junior Jacob Becraft is one of two University of Illinois students awarded Barry M. Goldwater scholarships for 2012-13. The scholarship—awarded to highly qualified sophomores and juniors in science, mathematics, and engineering who intend to pursue careers in those fields—covers the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year. Becraft, of Peoria, Ill...
2012-04-01 - A new study describes how bacteria use a previously unknown means to defeat an antibiotic. The researchers found that the bacteria have modified a common “housekeeping” enzyme in a way that enables the enzyme to recognize and disarm the antibiotic.The study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Bacteria often engage in chemical warfare with one another, and many...
2012-04-01 - Researchers from LAS are fitting contributors for an ongoing art exhibition linking science, communities, and art. Images in the exhibit, called The Art of Science: Images from the Institute for Genomic Biology 2.0, are derived from research at the U of I that addresses issues in the environment, health, and energy use and production....
2012-04-01 - In the wake of the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, authorities initially searched for a second bomber working with the perpetrator Timothy McVeigh. The manhunt was triggered when a key eyewitness claimed that another person was with McVeigh when he rented the truck that carried the explosives. However, authorities eventually discovered that this particular eyewitness had...
2012-04-01 - The Irish were essentially America’s first ethnic group, with more than 3 million flooding into the United States between 1840 and 1890. By 1900, in fact, there were more Irish in America than in Ireland.The Irish also became the model for other ethnic groups that followed, says University of Illinois historian James Barrett. As new immigrants from...
2012-03-01 - Osteoporosis drugs strengthen bones, but it looks like they can also be modified to strengthen the body’s defenses against malaria. The parasite that causes malaria has a knack for evolving resistance to the drugs used to combat it, so scientists are always on the hunt for new weapons against this deadly disease. Now, Illinois researchers have found possibilities among an unlikely source—Actonel...
2012-03-01 - Not that long ago in a hot spring in Kamchatka, Russia, two groups of genetically indistinguishable microbes parted ways. They began evolving into different species—despite the fact that they still encountered one another in their acidic, boiling habitat and even exchanged some genes from time to time, researchers report. This is the first example of what the researchers call sympatric speciation...
2012-03-01 - Each year the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences recognizes a handful of staff members and academic professionals for their outstanding contributions to the college and service to others. These individuals, who were nominated by members of the campus community, demonstrate excellence and enhance the image of the college. LAS Academic Professional Award Scott...