Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Forum Feb. 1 to explore world response to tsunami disaster

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – How the world has responded to the Dec. 26 tsunami will be the topic of a 90-minute forum beginning at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 1 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The free, public forum, sponsored by the U. of I. Center for Global Studies, will take place in Illini Rooms A and B of the Illini Union, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana.

Speakers will explore the implications of the ongoing relief effort for future cooperation needed to address mounting and pending natural catastrophes of global proportions. Expert panelists will identify the dimensions of other natural disasters and propose strategies and solutions to these problems. Audience participation will be encouraged.

The topics and speakers:

• “Relief Efforts for the Tsunami: A Critique and Evaluation”; Christopher Silver, professor and head of the U. of I. department of urban and regional planning. A former USAID urban development adviser to Indonesia, he was in Jakarta shortly after the tsunami.

• “Ecological Disasters and Planning: A Multiple Choice Examination”; Val Beasley, professor of veterinary biosciences and the director of the Envirovet Program in Wildlife and Ecosystem Health, and the chairperson of the Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology.

• “Food Security and Famine: Preparation and Responses”; Robert L. Thompson, Gardner Chair in Agricultural Policy. Formerly director for rural development at the World Bank, Thompson is the chairman of the International Food & Agricultural Trade Policy Council.

• “Disease Outbreaks: We All Share the Same Backyard”; Uriel Kitron, professor of epidemiology and co-director of the Center for Zoonoses Research in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Kitron is an expert on the epidemiology and ecology of infectious disease and conducts research on West Nile virus and Lyme disease in the United States, malaria and schistosomiasis in Kenya, Chagas disease in Argentina and dengue in Trinidad.

For more information, call Steven Witt, associate director of the Center for Global Studies, 265-7518.

Read Next

Life sciences Portrait of the research team posing together.

Minecraft players can now explore whole cells and their contents

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists have translated nanoscale experimental and computational data into precise 3D representations of bacteria, yeast and human epithelial, breast and breast cancer cells in Minecraft, a video game that allows players to explore, build and manipulate structures in three dimensions. The innovation will allow researchers and students of all ages to navigate […]

Arts Photo of seven dancers onstage wearing blue tops and orange or yellow flowing skirts. The backdrop is a Persian design.

February Dance includes works experimenting with live music, technology and a ‘sneaker ballet’

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The dance department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will present February Dance 2025: Fast Forward this week at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. February Dance will be one of the first performances in the newly renovated Colwell Playhouse Theatre since its reopening. The performances are Jan. 30-Feb. 1. Dance professor […]

Honors portraits of four Illinois researchers

Four Illinois researchers receive Presidential Early Career Award

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Four researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign were named recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on young professionals at the outset of their independent research careers. The winners this year are health and kinesiology professor Marni Boppart, physics professor Barry Bradlyn, chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Ying […]

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

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

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010