News Bureau

Screenwriter and Illinois alumnus David Magee wrote the script for "Mary Poppins Returns."

Celebrating five generations of Illinois students

If you visit a women’s volleyball practice you might be surprised to see one or two men on the court. There they are, playing against the women, spiking the ball over the net or jumping high to block a shot. These men are practice players, helping the women hone their skills. The men serve as hitters, blockers, motivators or whatever else the team needs.

Amelia Lee wasn’t sure she wanted to attend the University of Illinois. As a serious oboist, her idea of college was an arts institution such as Oberlin Conservatory or the Manhattan School of Music. Her mother, however, wanted Lee to get a more well-rounded education, and with a top-10 ranked music school, the U. of I. suited them both.

Last spring, a Cinderella team from the U. of I. clinched a berth in the Final Four of a major college tournament. But this unheralded group of undergraduates used pawns, bishops and queens – not basketballs – to work their tournament magic.

“Fabricating flexible electronics is my thing. I love it!” said Seung Yun “Simone” Heo, her enthusiasm evident even while speaking about the technical processes of metal vapor deposition and electron beam lithography. “We’re making everything from scratch. I can do it myself from step one. It’s not that hard to do, it’s more about time and effort.”

Journeys that foster self-discovery are not always easy or pleasant – but can be empowering and liberating, says Elka Kazmierczak, a slender woman with short gray hair and sparkling brown eyes. She seems to vibrate with energy and purpose. At the first meeting of the semester for the Illini Art Therapy Association, Kazmierczak invites participants to take such a journey with her.

This summer, 10 undergraduate students performed research using advanced imaging and microscopy technologies through the Discoveries in Bioimaging Research Experience for Undergraduates.

Students, alumni share what shaped them most 

Escape the room if you can, but the physics is inescapable.

CubeSat students prepare for launch

Don’t be fooled by the name, the wildlife and chronic wasting disease research group has a broader mission than you might think. Yes, the research focuses on white-tailed deer, primarily, and on CWD, a baffliing affliction of deer and elk. But for the dozens of undergraduate students who have joined this collaborative effort over the years, the group also is a portal, of sorts, to wide-ranging adventures in research.

Student groups offer camaraderie, opportunities to lead

When Pierce Hadley came to the University of Illinois, he wanted access to professors, a chance to do research in a lab, and a perspective on how his classes and research in bioengineering could relate to medicine. He found all of that when he became one of 12 students who are the first cohortof the Illinois Cancer Scholars Program, a new undergraduate training program launched in fall 2014 in the department of bioengineering.

They show up in rubber boots and load their backpacks with gear: GPS units, latex gloves and data collection notebooks. The other equipment–calipers, syringes, scales and folding tables–will be used later when the students bring turtles here to their temporary laboratory alongside a park road.

Nurturing student entrepreneurs' startup ambitions

Milestones and relevant connections to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's 150th anniversary. 

Have you ever been on the field at Memorial Stadium, standing next to the cheerleaders as they lead an “I-L-L” call-and-response during a football game? Or have you been onstage at Foellinger Great Hall at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts while world-class musicians play?

With the help of a new interdisciplinary project from students in advertising and computer science, those and a few other quintessential Illinois experiences are just a mouse click – and a pair of virtual reality goggles – away.

U. of I. students Alex Tran and Angela Annarino prefer to work in the dark. While their peers are studying, sleeping or unwinding at the end of a long day of class, Tran, from Chicago, Illinois, and Annarino, from Lamont, strap on their work vests and radios. It’s during the night when they are needed the most.

It was 6 a.m. and the campers were quietly preparing for the day. Suddenly, a voice called out from the camp manager’s tent.

“Girls? We’re going to have to wait. I can see a lion from my window.”

The next industrial revolution has arrived at the Universityof Illinois, but it’s not happening on the side of Green Street that anyone familiar with the Urbana campus would expect. Located on the third floor of the Business Instructional Facility, the Illinois MakerLab is touted as the world’s first 3-D printing lab in a business school.

Exercises set for May 14

Although the inscription on the base of the Alma Mater statue hasn’t changed, the statue’s location did Aug. 7 as workers lifted the 5-ton sculpture onto a truck and took it to Chicago for extensive conservation work.

The student who chooses English as a major should be prepared. Prepared for the questions, concerns and even mocking about the value of their degree.

Teaching was part of the environment Mark Micale grew up in. His father taught high school history and economics. “There was a lot of talk in the household about schools and classes and students,” Micale said – though it didn’t prompt him, as he started college, to pursue a career in education. Two great college teachers did that.

Murphy Lab Participant/Observer Program creates interdisciplinary learning environment

Sport-focused RSO is a Slam Dunk

Gardeners, cross-country runners (and skiers), stressed-out students, soccer players, bug enthusiasts, Japanese tea aficionados, bird watchers, architects and scientists of nearly every stripe find something of value at the UI Arboretum, a vibrant, 57-acre swath of green near the south end of the Urbana-Champaign campus.

Madeline Kull didn’t know much about sustainability initiatives before starting an internship at the Illinois Sustainability Technology Center, but found that the field fit her like a recycled glove.

Attend a charity fundraiser on the University of Illinois campus, and you might hear one of the many student a cappella groups singing a classic song such as “Blue Skies.” Or you might hear a group at a student event performing a recent Rihanna hit, or singing a blend of Indian and American pop music at the chancellor’s pre-game party on a football Saturday.

Illinois student Dexter Smith knew he wanted to study at the U. of I. since the eighth grade. But he needed financial help to stay at Illinois, and found it through some fellow classmates.

University of Illinois students designed a seating area inspired by zen gardens for a major art and design show in Chicago last fall.

Chinese culture and language camp promotes international outlook

Interactive art studio at University of Illinois teaches students coding, building circuits

Chalk one up for the pedestrians after Illinois lawmakers last year changed the state’s crosswalk law, forcing motorists to stop – not just yield – if a walker has already entered a crosswalk.

UI students have access to some of the best professors in the country using the most current data and teaching techniques – but funding challenges have made campus classroom space the final educational frontier.

Fall semester fair helps students find local employers.

TED Talks have nothing on Illinois Athletic Director and Illinois alumnus Josh Whitman

Visiting Australia was on Lindsay Duffy’s bucket list since the seventh grade, the U.of I. junior said. So Duffy “did a little happy dance” when she learned she’d be studying abroad Down Under.

Student group leads in membership, awards and enthusiasm

Student uses YouTube to help others finish bucket lists

Journalism project creates a space for dialogue.

The day Loreal Latimer arrived at the U. of I., her parents dropped her off at Taft-Van Doren residence hall and drove away. Because she graduated fifth in her class at Chicago’s Corliss High School – while leading extracurricular activities and working 17 hours a week at a food service job – the Latimer family figured she could easily navigate a bucolic college campus. 

When Stephanie Mazariegos was a small child, her parents struggled to pay their bills. During the day, her parents worked alternating shifts – her father in a restaurant and as a janitor at a synagogue, her mother cleaning a woman’s home – so that one parent could be at home to care for the children.

Administrative Posts

History students unearth the unknown about artifacts on the Web

Finding the right book in the library these days doesn’t involve a card catalog. In fact, it doesn’t necessarily involve a computer terminal or even a librarian, thanks to a mobile phone application called Minrva, developed by student interns in the undergraduate library’s Technology Prototyping Service (TPS).

UI Police say the Urbana campus is as peaceful as it has been in years – not because there are fewer bad guys, but because of the implementation of several integrated security upgrades over the past two years.

Startup develops wearable systems for road safety

If curiosity gets the better of the passersby, and they pause to read the card attached to the brightly colored ceramic hearts or hands, they’ll find that the chimes, called Ben’s Bells, are part of a nationwide grassroots movement for spreading kindness. The bells are gifts for whomever happens upon them, but they come with strings attached: Those who pluck the bells from their perches and take them home are volunteering to spread kindness wherever they go.