Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Museum presents chess exhibit

The new exhibit “Chess: Gymnasium of the Mind” opens April 4 in Spurlock Museum of World Culture’s central core gallery, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana. The display features a variety of chess sets from around the world highlighting unique pieces, boards and moves, and runs through July 7.

The project is part of thesecond annual Spring Symposium held by Playful by Design, an interdisciplinary game studies consortium at the University of Illinois.The sets are on loan from local game enthusiasts David Dubin, Dan Cermak and Judith Pintar.

Playful by Design will also host a special exhibit-opening event Thursday, April 4, from 2-4:45 p.m. Watch a demonstration of chess hacks games created by U. of I. students that are variations in pieces, boards or rules.  At 3 p.m., Allen Turner of the DePaul University College of Computing and Digital Media will give the keynote address. Turner isa black/Lakota/Irish game designer, storyteller, artist, dancer, author, performer and a 20-year veteran of the video games industry. A reception follows his speech.

The Playful by Design Spring Symposium will be held from April 4-6 at locations around the U. of I. campus, including the Armory Innovation Spaces and CU Community Fablab. More information about the event is online. Playful by Design is sponsored by the Illinois Project for Research in the Humanities, Spurlock Museum, Illinois Informatics, CU Community FabLab, CITL and the School of Information Sciences at Illinois.

Read Next

Engineering Researchers seated behind a hand scale prototype of their new multilayer material.

Study finds that individual layers of synthetic materials can collaborate for greater impact

Millions of years of evolution have enabled some marine animals to grow complex protective shells composed of multiple layers that work together to dissipate physical stress. In a new study, engineers have found a way to mimic the behavior of this type of layered material, such as seashell nacre, by programming individual layers of synthetic material to work collaboratively under stress. The new material design is poised to enhance energy-absorbing systems such as wearable bandages and car bumpers with multistage responses that adapt to collision severity.

Campus news Vikram Adve, Rohit Bhargava, Andrew Suarez and Jennifer Teper.

Faculty members honored with 2025 Campus Awards for Excellence in Faculty Leadership

Four University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty members were honored by the Office of the Provost with the 2025 Campus Awards for Excellence in Faculty Leadership.

Campus news University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students Lindsay Bitner-Mitchell and Cecelia Escobar have been selected to participate in the U.S.-U.K. Fulbright Commission’s Summer Institutes program. Photo collage: Fred Zwicky

Two Illinois students selected for Fulbright’s Summer Institute to the UK

Two University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students received places in the Fulbright Commission’s Summer Institutes program.

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

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

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010