Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

After-school program teaches plant biology

The American Society of Plant Biologists’ Education Foundation will provide nearly $20,000 in funding for a new after-school program on plant biology at Urbana Middle School. With the support of faculty members from several departments, plant biology graduate students will develop the program, called Plants iView, which will have a strong online component.

“The fact that the Plants iView program is student-driven was a key feature in our selection for funding and something for us to be proud of, I think,” said plant biology professor Andrew Leakey, principal investigator of the project.

“Many students in our department felt strongly that we could and should put more effort into community outreach, but we didn’t yet have the organization or resources in place for it,” said Ryan Kelly, student leader of the project. “Plants iView is our homegrown solution to provide both.”

Plant biology professor Tom Jacobs, cell and developmental biology professor Mary Schuler, curriculum and instruction professor Barbara Hug, and entomology professor and department head May Berenbaum are supporting the initiative. Plant biology graduate students Cody Markelz, Rhiannon Peery, Miranda Segura, Sharon Gray, Courtney Leisner and Rebecca Slattery will work with Kelly and the faculty members to develop and implement the program.

Read Next

Life sciences Photo of Michael Ward standing in tall grass on a riverbank.

How are migrating wild birds affected by H5N1 infection in the U.S.?

Each spring, roughly 3.5 billion wild birds migrate from their warm winter havens to their breeding grounds across North America, eating insects, distributing plant seeds and providing a variety of other ecosystem services to stopping sites along the way. Some also carry diseases like avian influenza, a worry for agricultural, environmental and public health authorities. […]

Announcements Marcelo Garcia, professor of civil and environmental engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering.

Illinois faculty member elected to National Academy of Engineering

Champaign, Ill. — Marcelo Garcia, a professor of civil and environmental engineering in The Grainger College of Engineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Social sciences Male and female student embracing on the quad with flowering redbud tree and the ACES library in the background. Photo by Michelle Hassel

Dating is not broken, but the trajectories of relationships have changed

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — According to some popular culture writers and online posts by discouraged singles lamenting their inability to find romantic partners, dating is “broken,” fractured by the social isolation created by technology, pandemic lockdowns and potential partners’ unrealistic expectations. Yet two studies of college students conducted a decade apart found that their ideas about […]

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

507 E. Green St
MC-426
Champaign, IL 61820

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010