LAS News Archive

2006-08-01 - Apalai shaman's parrot-feather cape.The skillfully handcrafted, turtle-shaped, wooden stool offers a simple but eloquent greeting to visitors entering the South American exhibit at the University of Illinois Spurlock Museum. However, this...

2006-06-01 - It is often said that aging is not for the faint of heart. Today, we can also add that aging is not for the faint of mind. As we get older our ability to perform a whole range of cognitive tasks decreases. Those tasks, which begin to decline in our 30s, include information retrieval, reaction time...

2006-06-01 - President George W. Bush frequently has been criticized for being verbally challenged, but a new rhetorical analysis of the Bush White House, based on the public record, argues that the president and his colleagues have demonstrated an impressive facility with the language.According to the...

2006-06-01 - The Volcan Reventador volcano erupted in 2002, emitting a plume of ash unlike anything seen before-and potentially more dangerous. Now, a team of University of Illinois researchers has published a groundbreaking theory explaining why the plume from this volcano in Ecuador was scallop-shaped,...

2006-06-01 - Tracking down the specific genes that trigger a disease is more than just searching for individual needles in a "genetic haystack." It requires sorting through massive amounts of data to look for clusters of genes that work together to influence human traits. To make this formidable task...

2006-06-01 - The blue-white glow of the computer reflects across Ashley Houtsma's face as she leans in towards the screen, scanning for any updates on her Facebook profile."It's like Christmas," says Houtsma, a senior in molecular and cellular biology, curled up in her black office chair. "Will there be a...

2006-06-01 - Seated, far left, is Elizabeth Narvaez-Luna (first place); next to her is Zoe Robles (third place). At the podium is Associate Professor Joyce Tolliver.On a balmy spring evening filled with the scent of lilacs and the poignant memories of a much-beloved LAS professor, the Foreign Language Building'...

2006-06-01 - The house looks like a typical, small, farm-style home-with one major difference. Thousands of people cross its threshold every year. Tucked in among the larger buildings on the University of Illinois campus in Urbana, this ordinary house is home to some extraordinary work by the advising staff of...

2006-06-01 - Nisin, a powerful, naturally occurring antibiotic, has been created in a test tube for the first time, opening the door to variations that may become important new weapons in the battle against infections in humans. This groundbreaking research comes from a University of Illinois team led by LAS...

2006-06-01 - Two students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois have been named Goldwater Scholars for the 2006-2007 academic year. The students are among 323 winners nationwide, including another U. of I. student, Gleb Akselrod, from the College of Engineering. The...

2006-06-01 - Just call it CSI: Interstellar Space.Like deep-space forensic experts, astronomers Rosa Williams and You-Hua Chu from U. of I.'s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences approach the death scenes of exploding stars as if they were crime scene investigations. And...

2006-06-01 - More women are pursuing higher education and doctoral degrees than ever before, breaking down barriers in formerly male-dominated fields. But women still are a rare commodity in math-related professions. Is there truth to the stereotype that males are inherently stronger in math than females? Not...

2006-06-01 - Three graduates of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences-a renowned molecular biologist, a "people's judge," and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee-have been named winners of the 2006 University of Illinois Alumni Achievement Award. The award, established in 1957, is the highest honor given to alumni...

2006-05-01 - Microbiologist Carl Woese of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been elected as a foreign member of the Royal Society, the world's oldest continuously active scientific academy in...

2006-05-01 - Four students from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at U. of I. earned National Security Education Program (NSEP) Boren Undergraduate Scholarships for study abroad during the 2006-07 academic year."Over the past five years, U. of I. has been among the national leaders in numbers of...

2006-04-01 - In honor of the Latina/Latino Studies Program's 10th anniversary, artist Oscar Martinez restored, completed, and added to murals on the walls of the house at 510 E. Chalmers Street in Champaign where the program is located. Martinez started the murals 30 years ago when he was a student, using his...

2006-04-01 - Surviving the frigid waters surrounding Antarctica requires ingenious adaptations, such as the antifreeze protein discovered in fish by a U. of I. biologist in 1968. Following several trips to the Ross Sea at McMurdo Sound in the early 1960s, Arthur DeVries identified a protein in the bloodstream...

2006-04-01 - Cary Nelson, a professor emeritus of English and Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been elected president of the American Association of University Professors.His two-...

2006-04-01 - William T. Greenough, a researcher in the Departments of Psychology and Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Illinois was named a Fellow of the...

2006-04-01 - Fuel cells powered the space program to the Moon, but the quest continues to make fuel cells more economical and practical for Earth-bound uses. University of Illinois researchers have nudged the technology farther down that path with a small, innovative, new fuel cell that "breathes" air and...

2006-04-01 - The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences gratefully acknowledges the following individuals for their excellence in teaching and advising in 2005. Their contributions are vital to maintaining LAS as a great college. Academic Advising Award David Skadden,...

2006-04-01 - How can the United States reconcile its own interests with the needs of the global community? This global balancing act was the focus of the annual Cline Symposium on April 18 at the University of Illinois. This year's Cline Symposium featured G. John Ikenberry, a renowned expert on U.S. foreign...

2006-04-01 -   Eleven faculty and staff from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences were recently honored for excellence in teaching and advising at the University of Illinois. They comprised half of the 21 faculty and staff recognized across the Urbana-Champaign campus. LAS winners were honored in the...

2006-04-01 - Five faculty members from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign-four of them from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences-have been awarded prestigious Guggenheim Fellowships for 2006. This is the sixth time in 40 years that the U. of I. has won five Guggenheims in one year. Only New York...

2006-04-01 - "The jury is still out" on whether violent video games trigger violent behavior in youth, said Dmitri Williams, a University of Illinois speech communication professor, speaking before a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee last week. The subcommittee, chaired by U.S. Senator Sam Brownback, R-Kan., is...