News Bureau

Esther Ngumbi, a postdoctoral researcher at Illinois, has been selected as the Society for Experimental Biology’s SEB+ section 2018 President’s Medallist. Candidates for the medal are selected on the basis of their outstanding contribution to one of the four fields of research represented by the SEB’s four sections (SEB+, plant, cell and animal biology).

Three University of Illinois students have been nationally recognized with Barry M. Goldwater scholarships, which support students with potential to contribute to the advancement of research in the natural sciences, mathematics or engineering.  A fourth Illinois student was selected for honorable mention

The University of Illinois is honoring 21 faculty and staff members and graduate teaching assistants for excellence in teaching, mentoring and advising.

University of Illinois professor of geography Jesse Ribot has been awarded a 2018 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship.

The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities at the U. of I. has awarded its annual faculty and graduate student fellowships for the 2018-19 academic year to seven faculty members and seven graduate students. IPRH also announced the Ragdale Residential Creative Fellow for 2018.

Ruth Nicole Brown, a professor of gender and women’s studies at Illinois, received a Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship for $50,000 to expand Black Girls Genius Week, a series of humanities-based workshops for African-American middle school- and high school-aged girls, from central Illinois to Chicago, San Diego and Columbia, South Carolina.

The Ecological Society of America has named Wendy H. Yang, a professor of plant biology and geology at Illinois, as an Early Career Fellow. The society’s fellowship program recognizes the many ways in which its members contribute to ecological research and discovery, communication, education, pedagogy, management and policy.

Leah Matchett, of Grand Haven, Michigan, and an alumna of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is one of 49 students selected in the first year of the Knight-Hennessy Scholar program for postgraduate study at Stanford University.

The National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students recognized Holly Herrera, the coordinator of transfer advising at Illinois, with the Bonita C. Jacobs Transfer Champion Rising Star Award. She will be honored Wednesday, Feb. 7, during the opening session of the 16th Annual Conference of the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students at Loews Atlanta Hotel.

The American Concrete Pavement Association presented its 2017 Hartmann-Hirschman-Egan Award to Michael I. Darter, principal engineer with Applied Research Associates, Inc. and a professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering at Illinois.

Six University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign faculty members have been awarded National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships for 2018. It is the third year in the last four that the Urbana campus has garnered more fellowship awards than any other single institution.

The Secretariat organization at Illinois announced that Susan Key, the director of portfolio human resources in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research has been named the 2017 Boss of the Year. 

The Secretariat is comprised of U. of I. staff members in certain civil services classifications. Kate Day nominated Key, her supervisor, for the annual award, which is celebrated during Bosses Week each year.

Susan L. Conrad, the office manager for the Department of Journalism in the College of Media, received the Bess G. Matteson Award at a Nov. 15 luncheon. The Secretariat, an on-campus organization comprised of U. of I. staff members in certain civil services classifications, makes the award.  

Thomas Dowling, a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is among 32 U.S. students selected as Rhodes Scholars. Dowling is the first Rhodes Scholar on the Urbana campus since 1998.

Gaines Hall, an associate dean emeritus in the College of Fine and Applied Arts, received the 2017 Gold Medal Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects Illinois Council. The Gold Medal Honor Award is the organization’s highest honor, recognizing exemplary contributions to the discipline and profession of architecture.

Pinshane Huang, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is among 18 early career researchers to receive 2017 Packard Fellowships from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

Sharon M. Donovan, a professor of nutrition and the Melissa M. Noel Endowed Chair in Nutrition and Health at the University of Illinois, was elected today (Oct. 16) to the National Academy of Medicine.

John Lynn, a professor emeritus of history at Illinois, has received a selective NEH Public Scholar award less than six months after receiving the highest career award in the field of military history.

The Institute of Contemporary Art’s “artful book club,” ICA Reads, has selected “Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation” as its 2017 pick for a book of critical and societal importance. A reinterpretation of Octavia E. Butler’s science-fiction masterpiece “Kindred,” the book was adapted by School of Information Sciences at Illinois alumnus and adjunct lecturer Damian Duffy and illustrated by John Jennings. A New York Times bestseller, the novel tells the story of a young black woman’s time-travel between her home in 1970s California and a plantation in the antebellum South.

James H. Kuklinski, a professor emeritus of political science at Illinois, has been honored with the 2017 Hazel Gaudet Erskine Political Psychology Career Achievement Award, given by the American Political Science Association’s Political Psychology Section.

Brian Brauer, the associate director for the Illinois Fire Service Institute, will receive the 2017 Outstanding Dissertation Award on June 21 at Auburn University. Brauer’s doctoral dissertation presented a case study of an Illinois fire department that underwent organizational culture change following a firefighter’s line-of-duty death. 

Fourteen University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign students and young alumni will pursue international educational, research and teaching experiences this coming year via student Fulbright grants. Applications are open for Fulbright grants for the 2018-19 academic year.

Three Illinois students have been awarded Critical Language Scholarships to study a foreign language this summer: Adam LoBue, of Brooklyn, New York; Jenny Peruski, of Bangkok; and Eileen Witthoff, of DeKalb, Illinois.

Twelve faculty members were honored with the Provost’s Campus Distinguished Promotion Award for 2017. During its annual promotion review process, the Campus Committee on Promotion and Tenure identifies scholars whose contributions have been extraordinary in terms of quality of work and overall achievement.

Derek Hoot of Middleton, Wisconsin, a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was awarded an $18,500 Boren Scholarship for a 2017-18 study abroad experience in Jordan.

U. of I. student Amber Winters, a resident of Colona, Illinois, is one of four U.S. students selected for a three-week cultural and academic summer program in Scotland.

Yue Zhuo, a postdoctorate fellow in the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory and at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at Illinois, has been awarded a Postdoctoral Scholar Award for a paper that was submitted to the annual Microscopy and Microanalysis Conference.

Four University of Illinois professors have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest professional honors a scientist can receive.

Three University of Illinois students have been nationally recognized for their potential to contribute to the advancement of research in the natural sciences, mathematics or engineering.  One student was awarded a Barry M. Goldwater scholarships for the next two academic years, and two others earned honorable mentions.

Champaign, Ill. – Faculty and staff members and graduate teaching assistants at the U. of I. were honored for excellence in teaching, mentoring and advising at an April 26 reception at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center.

Anne Price received the 2017 Office Professional of the Year Award from the Secretariat at Illinois.

Four Illinois faculty will be formally honored with Campus Awards for Excellence in Faculty Leadership at an April 25 dinner tonight.

College of education faculty member Hua-Hua Chang will receive 2017 E.F. Lindquist Award from the American Educational Research Association and the American College Testing Program at the AERA Awards Luncheon on April 29. The luncheon will take place during the AERA’s annual meeting, April 27-May 1 in San Antonio.

Scott E. Denmark, a professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Thomas Dowling, a junior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Chicago native, was selected from a nationwide pool of nominees as one of 62 Truman Scholars.

Seven academic professionals were honored with 2017 Chancellor's Academic Professional Excellence awards at a reception April 6. Now in its 29th year, the program honors the accomplishments and contributions of academic professionals, who provide critical support for administration, research laboratories and educational programs, and offer important outreach programs throughout the state.

University of Illinois professor Erik S. McDuffie is the recipient of a 2017 fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies.

Princess U II Imoukhuede, a professor of bioengineering, is the recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER award for her proposal “qBio+cBio=sBio; Identifying the role of cross-family signaling in angiogenesis.”
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The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities at the U. of I. awarded its annual faculty and graduate student fellowships for the 2017-18 academic year to seven faculty members and seven graduate students. IPRH also announced its inaugural class of New Horizons summer research fellows for 2017. The program supports faculty summer research and pays for an undergraduate research assistant to support the project.

Illini Emergency Medical Services recently won three competitive awards: Striving for Excellence in Campus EMS, Collegiate EMS Video of the Year and Collegiate EMS Advisor of the Year.  The awards were presented at the 24th annual National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation conference in Baltimore in late February. IEMS is one of 246 campus-based emergency medical services organizations in North America, and one of 100 that attended the conference. 

Aerospace engineering professor John Lambros and his Ph.D. student, Owen Kingstedt, were recognized with the 2017 Society of Experimental Mechanics M. Hetényi Award. An aerospace engineering faculty member since 2000, Lambros has simultaneously garnered SEM’s 2017 P.S. Theocaris Award, which recognizes a senior individual for distinguished, innovative and outstanding work in optical methods and experimental mechanics.
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Illinois professors Erik McDuffie and Carol Symes have been awarded National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships for 2017.

For the third consecutive year, a U. of I. student has been named a Marshall Scholar. Devin Weiss, of Northbrook, Illinois, is a senior majoring in sociology. 

Paul Fischer, a professor of computer science and of mechanical science and engineering, and research colleague Misun Min at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory recently earned an R&D 100 Award, which recognizes top technologies of the year. Known as the “Oscars of Invention,” the awards are organized by R&D Magazine.
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Six University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign faculty members have been elected 2016 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science: Jianjun Cheng, Brian T. Cunningham, Kevin T. Pitts, Bruce L. Rhoads, Chad M. Rienstra and Josep Torrellas.

Eight University of Illinois researchers have been named to the Thomson Reuters / Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list for 2016. The list identifies scientists “whose research has had significant global impact within their respective fields of study."

The Secretariat honored Marlah Bonner McDuffie, an associate dean for advancement at the College of Media at Illinois, with the 2016 Boss of the Year Award. The Secretariat is comprised of Illinois employees in certain civil service classifications.  

Bonner McDuffie was honored at the Oct. 19 awards luncheon and was nominated by Colleen Hammel.  Kathleen Harleman, the acting dean in the College of Fine and Applied Arts, was nominated by Rebecca Nash. 

More information about The Secretariat may be found online.

The Illinois Art Education Association has named Anne Sautman of the Krannert Art Museum at Illinois the 2016 Museum Art Educator of the Year.  The award annually recognizes exemplary contributions, service and achievements of one outstanding IAEA member.  The award was presented at the IAEA conference in Normal, Illinois, on Nov. 4.  

Dipanjan Pan, a professor of bioengineering, has been named a Fellow of the American Heart Association in the organization’s Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences.

Chelsea Guillen, the early intervention ombudsman for the Early Intervention Training Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will serve as a statewide ambassador to spearhead use of newly recommended practices for the care and education of young children with disabilities. Guillen joins a group of 16 experts chosen by the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute.