News Bureau

Four University of Illinois students received U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarships to study foreign languages this summer.

The Campus Awards for Excellence in Instruction are awarded for excellence in teaching, mentoring and advising.

Two University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professors have been awarded 2024 Guggenheim Fellowships.

The School of Art and Design Master of Fine Arts Exhibition at Krannert Art Museum presents the artistic work of Illinois graduate students.

Low-cost, wearable sensors could increase access to care for patients with Parkinson’s disease. New machine-learning approaches and a baseline of data from healthy older adults improve the accuracy of the results from such sensors, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers and clinical collaborators found in a new study.

Consumers who highly identify with a brand take a dim view of the short-term renting of consumer goods via “branded access offers,” according to research co-written by Tiffany Barnett White, a professor of business administration at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an expert in consumer-brand relationships.

Voids, or empty spaces, exist within matter at all scales, from the astronomical to the microscopic. In a new study, researchers used high-powered microscopy and mathematical theory to unveil nanoscale voids in three dimensions. This advancement is poised to improve the performance of many materials used in the home and in the chemical, energy and medical industries — particularly in the area of filtration. 

Recent graduates from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign landed postgraduation opportunities at high rates and with increased starting salaries, according to data compiled from the annual Illini Success report.

Understanding how social media is used during a disaster can help with disaster preparedness and recovery for future events, says urban and regional planning professor Omar Pérez Figueroa.

University of Illinois students Syliva E, Amelia Korveziroska, Daniel Feng, Alice Gao and Riley Trendler were awarded Barry M. Goldwater scholarships for their potential to contribute to the advancement of research in the natural sciences, mathematics or engineering.

Perinatal women of Mexican descent living in San Diego proposed solutions to the hardships they faced obtaining food and mental health treatment during the pandemic in a study led by kinesiology and community health professor Sandraluz Lara-Cinisomo at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Illinois art history professor Hermann von Hesse has been awarded a 2024 American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship.

Significant reforms in U.S. health care and antipoverty policies are needed to mitigate the stark disparities in perinatal mental health care that place women of color at greater risk of mortality, according to a team of researchers that includes social work professor Karen Tabb Dina.

Scientists across the U.S. and Mexico are engaging in a one-day data-gathering operation to record how the 2024 total solar eclipse affects various aspects of life on Earth. At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, crop sciences and plant biology professor Carl Bernacchi and his colleagues will focus on atmospheric and ecosystem-scale responses to the eclipse. Bernacchi describes what is planned and how it fits into the bigger research effort.

Before his service as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and science advisor in 2019, meteorology professor Kelvin Droegemeier developed an online course designed to give researchers from all disciplines the skills needed to navigate the complex landscape of scholarly endeavor. Droegemeier thought that there was a lot of valuable information in those videos, so he wanted to share them with a much broader audience. 

Artist Guen Montgomery’s work examines our relationship with our possessions, archetypes of femininity and our animal biology.

The Lyric Theatre program at Illinois will perform “Fugitive Songs,” expressing the restlessness of young people on the run, at three venues in April.

Some political figures seek to remove references to slavery from the study of American history, adding to the vast knowledge gaps that stem from the transatlantic slave trade. To better understand these histories, scholars and individuals are turning to genetic genealogy to discover and retrace descendant-family lineages. In a recent paper published in the journal American Anthropologist, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign anthropology professor LaKisha David described these efforts. She spoke about the work to News Bureau life sciences editor Diana Yates. 

The popularity of bulldogs and other flat-faced pets is at an all-time high. According to the American Kennel Club, from 2006-2016, the number of registered bulldogs and French bulldogs in the U.S. increased by 60% and 476%, respectively. In 2023, the French bulldog topped the AKC’s most popular breeds list. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign veterinary surgeon Dr. Heidi Phillips devotes much of her practice to treating the respiratory problems of flat-faced breeds like bulldogs. She argues for better breeding practices to avoid perpetuating the many health problems these breeds experience.

Diminshed humanitarian and miliary assistance for Ukraine has severe implications and is critical to U.S. national security and its influence within NATO and around the globe, says University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign sociology professor and demographer Cynthia Buckley.

Leslie Looney is an astronomy professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and director of the Laboratory for Astronomical Imaging. He spoke with News Bureau physical sciences and media editor Lois Yoksoulian about the significance of solar eclipses and what to expect on April 8.

A new method safely extracts valuable metals locked up in discarded electronics and low-grade ore using dramatically less energy and fewer chemical materials than current methods, report University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers in the journal Nature Chemical Engineering

Global South countries' greenhouse gas emissions rose after borrowing from the International Monetary Fund using a structural loan, and rose even faster with additional loans, sociology professor Matthew Soener at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found.

How should voters feel about polls heading into the presidential election? With the small number of swing states in play, national polls will be of limited value, says University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign political science professor Brian Gaines.

The Center for Prevention Research and Development invites Illinois schools to participate in its biennial Illinois Youth Survey, an online assessment of substance use and school climate issues among the state’s eighth, 10^th and 12^th grade students.

Go Behind the Scenes with postdoctoral researcher Jordan Hartman as she travels to a cooperative prawn and rice farm in Southeast Vietnam to learn about sustainability and adaptation to climate change. Hartman is a postdoctoral researcher at the Illinois Natural History Survey at the U. of I.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign announced Dean’s List honorees and graduates for the fall semester 2023, and the graduates for August 2023.
 

New, highly stretchable sensors can monitor and transmit plant growth information without human intervention, report University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers in the journal Device. The polymer sensors are resilient to humidity and temperature, can stretch over 400% while remaining attached to a plant as it grows and send a wireless signal to a remote monitoring location, said chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Ying Diao, who led the study with plant biology professor and department head Andrew Leakey.

Schools adopting a test-to-stay program in which students were regularly tested for COVID-19 unless they proactively “opted out” of testing experienced an 84% higher testing rate and a 30% lower positivity rate than schools with a voluntary “opt-in” testing model, says a study co-written by Anton Ivanov and Ujjal Kumar Mukherjee, both professors of business administration at Illinois.

Americans struggle to tell the difference between statements of fact and statements of opinion – a troubling trend that has grave implications for civic discourse in the U.S., says research co-written by U. of I. political scientist Jeffery J. Mondak and graduate student Matthew Mettler.

It’s estimated that $12 billion will be spent on political ads this election cycle – 30% more than in 2020. The sheer volume of ads is remarkable, and there is vast potential to use this political information to contribute to democracy: to reach more potential voters and provide accurate information. There's also more potential than ever for generative artificial intelligence to misrepresent candidates and policies, leading to confusion in the voting booth. News Bureau editor Lois Yoksoulian spoke with advertising professor and department head Michelle Nelson about the topic.

A computational model of the more than 26 million atoms in a DNA-packed viral capsid expands our understanding of virus structure and DNA dynamics, insights that could provide new research avenues and drug targets, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers report in the journal Nature.

Historic racial covenants in property deeds continue to influence who is most at risk from exposure to extreme heat today, according to a study by Rebecca Walker, a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

A surge of a neural-specific protein in the brain is the earliest-yet biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease, report University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers studying a mouse model of the disease. Furthermore, the increased protein activity leads to the seizures associated with the earliest stages of neurodegeneration, and inhibiting the protein in the mice slowed the onset and progression of seizure activity.

Elizabeth Hoiem, an information sciences professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, examines how children’s literature and material culture responded to industrialization and shaped the class politics of playful learning in her new book “The Education of Things.”

University of Illinois piano professors and students participated in a remote masterclass with technology that allows the exact performance being played on one piano to be reproduced on a remote piano.

On a scorching summer day, I’m at work in the heart of the arthropod containment laboratory of the Medical Entomology Program. I place my hands in the rubber gloves that reach into a sealed workspace called the glove box, swiftly maneuvering to grab fully engorged mosquitoes. These insects have just fed on a blood meal infected with live dengue virus. They are now resting calmly on a chilled Petri dish, thanks to the low temperatures provided by the ice below.

The findings of a study in mice led by scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign may shed light on the reasons why postmenopausal women have higher incidence of metabolic problems, such as obesity, Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

The University of Illinois theatre department’s production of “Airness” at Fat City Bar and Grill follows several air guitarists on the competition circuit as they try to reach the pinnacle of self-expression – “airness.”

Russian dissident Aleksei Navalny possessed a unique ability to unite activists and set the agenda for the anti-Putin movement. Now that he’s gone, the coalition he built might splinter, says Richard Tempest, a professor of Slavic languages and literatures at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The 2024 Insect Fear Film Festival will feature films in which humans are shrunk to the size of ants and participate in ant societies.

State scientists are a critical part of research efforts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign – as well as helping to inform state policy, working with industry and educating the public on issues of scientific importance. Praveen Kumar, the executive director of the Prairie Research Institute, discusses the importance of Illinois state scientists and the roles they play as experts for the state with News Bureau staff writer Maeve Reilly.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is one of the top university and college producers of Fulbright student grant recipients in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, which announced the 2023-24 awards.

With the prospects of a more sympathetic U.S. president taking office in 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin almost certainly won’t seek an off-ramp this year from the war in Ukraine, says University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign political science professor and international relations expert Nicholas Grossman.

White internet users surveyed in a recent study co-written by communication professor Stewart Coles said they would be more likely to confront the authors of racist social media posts to reinforce norms for online discussions rather than to attempt to change others’ prejudiced beliefs.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign dance professor Cynthia Oliver is leading the chancellor’s arts integration initiative for campus.

Two University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty members from The Grainger College of Engineering have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. The new members are Kiruba Haran, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and the Grainger Endowed Director’s Chair in Electric Machinery and Electromechanics, and Taher Saif, the Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Professor in mechanical science and engineering.

The same phosphorous that fertilizes the thriving agriculture of the Midwest is also responsible for a vast “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico near the Mississippi Delta. Efforts to reduce the amount of phosphorus that enters the Mississippi River system are underway, but research led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign suggests that remnants of the contaminant are left behind in riverbeds for years after introduction and pose an overlooked – and lingering – problem.  

The Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has acquired a first edition of Plato’s works printed in Greek in the 16th century by the famous Venetian printing house Aldine Press.

Scientists have found a way to boost ethanol production via yeast fermentation, a standard method for converting plant sugars into biofuels. Their approach, detailed in the journal Nature Communications, relies on careful timing and a tight division of labor among synthetic yeast strains to yield more ethanol per unit of plant sugars than previous approaches have achieved.