LAS News Archive

2012-11-01 - 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...

2012-11-01 - Learning occurs when you are introduced to a new fact or discovery. But you also learn when a familiar topic is presented to you from a new angle, which is the idea behind a new, non-traditional course initiative in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences that brings together typically separate...

2012-11-01 - Douglas Barnes was visiting a remote village in southern India in the 1990s when he ducked into a small thatched-roof house and found a woman sitting on the earthen floor and lighting a wood fire on a traditional stove made of clay. Smoke filled the entire two-room house, and Barnes suddenly...

2012-11-01 - When describing an online course to his parents, LAS junior Maxwell Norris told them to imagine that they are in front of a professor in a lecture hall. “But, instead, the professor is now on your computer screen,” he explained. When the University of Illinois decided earlier this year to partner...

2012-11-01 - There’s nothing like a beautiful outdoor dinner with hors d’oeuvres, refreshments, lively conversation, and several million bats. In the 1990s, when David Schmidly was educating the public on the importance of bats, his Texas A & M-Galveston department would sponsor conservation fundraisers,...

2012-11-01 -     The year was 1970, and Yale University had just broken from its centuries-old all-male tradition by accepting its first female undergraduates. There was only one catch. The Yale president said the institution could not start recruiting freshmen women until there was a woman on the...

2012-11-01 - Life in all of its forms is represented in the work of the 2012 LAS alumni award winners—everything from ground squirrels, bats, and whales to rivers, plants, and people. The three LAS Alumni Achievement Award winners include a leading paleobotanist, renowned for his work on the evolution of...

2012-11-01 - Research in the humanities is often an independent endeavor. A new initiative originating at the University of Illinois, however, is designed to expand scholarship in the liberal arts by inspiring cross-university collaboration. “Humanities Without Walls” brings together the scholarship of liberal...

2012-11-01 - LAS alum Karl Niklas recalls one of the early scenes in the movie Jurassic Park, when paleobotanist Ellie Sattler is sitting in a jeep and staring at an enormous leaf. “This species of vermiform has been extinct since the Cretaceous period,” Ellie exclaims. Suddenly, she looks up and is...

2012-11-01 - Ameena Matthews, a petite African American woman, is surrounded by over a dozen men who tower over her. She holds up the picture of a young boy, slain by Chicago’s gang violence, and declares, “This is unacceptable for me to be holding this young man’s obituary!” All remain silent as she spins...

2012-10-01 - Yes, there is such a thing as obese mice—and recently they have helped scientists take a step toward reversing the ill effects of obesity in humans. A study led at the University of Illinois identified a key molecular player in a chain of events that can lead to fatty liver disease, Type II...

2012-10-01 - When Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation almost 150 years ago, he made ending slavery a Union goal in the Civil War, then more than a year and a half old. Less widely understood is how the demands of war also were destroying slavery from within and dramatically upending southern...

2012-10-01 - A dozen years after the end of her storied racing career, a visit with Jean Driscoll feels like a Sunday drive. Amidst lots of laughing and reflections on kayaking in Wisconsin, she jokes that anyone who saw a story about her now would ask, “Who?” That’s doubtful. A person who’s won the Boston...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...