News Bureau

The 2019 Emerging Contaminants in the Environment Conference is May 21-22 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Champaign. This year the conference will expand beyond the aquatic environment to include air and soil studies, along with the effects of contaminants on human and animal health.

Tom Battershell ... Jeannine W. Corlas ... Keith Randall Erickson ... Philip Clayton Mitchell ... Shirley J. Smith.

The Center for Advanced Study announces the Associates, Fellows and Beckman Fellows for 2019-20.

A wet April extended the trend for above-average precipitation in Illinois. This year was the seventh-wettest December-to-April period on record, according to Brian Kerschner, a spokesperson for the Illinois State Climatologist Office at the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois.

A fortuitous conversation between two University of Illinois scientists has opened a new line of communication between biomedical researchers and the tissues they study. The new findings, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, show that high-intensity focused ultrasound waves can penetrate biological tissue to activate molecules able to perform specific tasks.

Researchers report that a protein known to be important to protein synthesis also influences muscle regeneration and regrowth in an unexpected manner. The discovery, reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, could one day lead to new methods for treating disorders that result in muscle weakness and loss of muscle mass, the researchers said.

Coca-Cola’s history is one of innovation in image-making, outsourcing and other now-common practices of global capitalism – and of adapting to challenges from activists and movements resisting its practices, says an Illinois professor in a new book.

Members of the news media may pick up stadium passes and parking passes for commencement at the Office of Public Affairs, 507 E. Green St., Champaign. Commencement is Saturday, May 11, at 9:30 a.m.

The number of Illinois high school seniors who think their peers perceive using marijuana as “cool” doubled – from 25% to 50% over the past decade, according to a new report from the latest Illinois Youth Survey.

Louisiana's Houma tribe are especially vulnerable to climate change, but mistrust fomented by overt discrimination and forcible relocation complicates efforts to help them adapt to it, new research suggests.

The Chancellor’s Distinguished Staff Award honors eight civil service staff employees for exceptional performance.

Stephen P. Long, a professor of crop sciences and plant biology at the University of Illinois, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest professional honors a scientist can receive.

ELLNORA: The Guitar Festival will feature a wide variety of musicians Sept. 5-7 at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

Recent flooding in the Midwest has brought attention to the complex agricultural problems associated with too much rain. Data from the past three decades suggest that excessive rainfall can affect crop yield as much as excessive heat and drought. In a new study, an interdisciplinary team from the University of Illinois linked crop insurance, climate, soil and corn yield data from 1981 through 2016.

Mindfulness therapy may be an effective way of mitigating the stress experienced by spouses and other informal caregivers for military veterans, a new study by researchers at the University of Illinois suggests.

Illini Emergency Medical Services, a program of the Illinois Fire Service Institute that provides nontransport care to the 58,000 students, staff and faculty members at the Urbana-Champaign campus, was recognized as a Bronze Level EMS Ready Campus at the annual conference of the National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation.

Freshmen from low-income families who received Illinois Promise loan-replacement grants at the University of Illinois were significantly more likely to graduate within five years, a new study found.

The University YMCA is seeking volunteers and donations for its 18th annual Dump & Run recycling program. Collections during the May period of Dump & Run will be held exclusively at the Stock Pavilion, 1402 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Urbana, because the MCORE construction project limits access to  the University YMCA building on Wright Street.

Penny Nigh, an administrative aide and assistant to Executive Associate Chancellor for Administration and University Relations Wanda E. Ward, was honored by the Illinois Administrative Professional at the University of Illinois (formerly The Secretariat) with the 2019 Office Professional of the Year Award.

By injecting cells that support blood vessel growth into muscles depleted by inactivity, researchers say they are able to help restore muscle mass lost as a result of immobility.

Louis H. “Bud” Mesker ... Darcy Elizabeth Strack

A good estimate of how many college students struggle with food insecurity is a difficult number to pin down, says new research from a team of University of Illinois experts who study food choice issues.

Illinois ethnomusicologist Michael Silvers, who specializes in the music of Brazil, has been awarded a 2019 Andrew Carnegie Fellowship. He’ll use the fellowship to research a book that will examine the aesthetics and natural resources of instrument-making using Brazilian woods.

Since 1982, thousands of young people have experienced the performing arts at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts by attending creative daytime programs. These performances are designed to invigorate students’ imaginations while also addressing Common Core and Illinois learning standards.

In a study reported in the journal Physical Review Physics Education Research, nearly 75% of 471 undergraduate women in physics who responded to a survey offered during a professional conference reported having experienced at least one type of sexual harassment – mostly gender harassment – in their field. U. of I. anthropology professor Kathryn Clancy, a co-author of the report, talked to News Bureau life sciences editor Diana Yates about the study, which also examined the respondents’ feelings of belonging and legitimacy as scientists and scholars.

The Lyric Theatre @ Illinois spring musical features tap dancing and Gershwin tunes in “Crazy for You.”

Award-winning poet Claudia Rankine will visit the University of Illinois this week to give a reading and meet with students.

Treating breast tumors with two cancer drugs simultaneously may prevent endocrine resistance by attacking the disease along separate gene pathways, University of Illinois scientists found in a new study.

Ronald L. Miner ... Charles Edward Olson ... James H. Wyatt Sr.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Self-assembling synthetic materials come together when tiny, uniform building blocks interact and form a structure. However, nature lets materials like proteins of varying size and shape assemble, allowing for complex architectures that can handle multiple tasks.

Notre Dame Cathedral, severely damaged by fire this week, is widely understood as “the beating heart of France,” with global significance beyond that, says one University of Illinois historian in a Q&A. Another notes how a key aspect of music as we know it today was invented for the cathedral’s unique resonant space, a soundscape lost in the fire.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Surplus industrial carbon dioxide creates an opportunity to convert waste into a valuable commodity. Excess CO2 can be a feedstock for chemicals typically derived from fossil fuels, but the process is energy-intensive and expensive. University of Illinois chemical engineers have assessed the technical and economic feasibility of a new electrolysis technology that uses a cheap biofuel byproduct to reduce the energy consumption of the waste-to-value process by 53 percent.

Chancellor Robert J. Jones and chemistry professor Catherine J. Murphy have been elected as members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

A team that studies how biological structures such as cactus spines and mantis shrimp appendages puncture living tissue has turned its attention to viper fangs. Specifically, the scientists wanted to know, what physical characteristics contribute to fangs’ sharpness and ability to puncture?

Oxidants found within living organisms are byproducts of metabolism and are essential to wound-healing and immunity. However, when their concentrations become too high, inflammation and tissue damage can occur. University of Illinois engineers have developed and tested a new drug-delivery system that senses high oxidant levels and responds by administering just the right amount of antioxidant to restore this delicate balance.

Author Richard Powers, a professor emeritus of English at the University of Illinois, has won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for his novel “The Overstory.”

The quest to satisfy the sweet tooth without adding to the waistline has a new weapon in its arsenal: a strain of yeast that can metabolize lactose, the sugar in dairy products, into tagatose, a natural sweetener with less than half the calories of table sugar.

Scientists at the University of Illinois developed new hybrids of purple corn with differing combinations of phytochemicals that may fight obesity, inflammation and diabetes, a new study in mice indicates -- and give the food industry sources of natural colorants.

Janet Lynn “Jaelyn” Jefferson ... Sharon Jo Shiu

The Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching will be presented April 11 to faculty and staff members and graduate teaching assistants at the U. of I., recognizing excellence in teaching, mentoring and advising.

Bacteria in the human body are sharing genes with one another at a higher rate than is typically seen in nature, and some of those genes appear to be traveling – independent of their microbial hosts – from one part of the body to another, researchers report in the journal Scientific Reports.

An Illinois historian dug into the history of the Midwest and found it’s never been the insular place of heartland myth, but full of global connections.

Six employees are recipients of the 2019 Chancellor's Academic Professional Excellence awards, which recognize academic professionals for their work, personal and professional contributions.

The Campus Instructional Facility Project at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is an example of a new public-private partnership model that allows for tax-exempt financing. The $75 million project also incorporates design elements that will conserve energy and reduce costs in the long term.

The Event Horizon Telescope Project announced that it has captured the first image of a black hole. The feature is located at the center of Messier 87 – a giant elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo. News Bureau physical sciences editor Lois Yoksoulian spoke with University of Illinois physics and astronomy professor Charles Gammie, who heads up the theory working group for the large, multi-institutional collaboration.

The UP Center, in collaboration with the University YMCA’s Art @ the Y program, is hosting the exhibit “Queering UP the Arts: Celebration of Queer Artists and Artworks,”  on display through May 13 in the University Y’s Murphy Gallery. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

The gallery, located at 1001 S. Wright St., Champaign, is open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The exhibition includes submissions from adult and youth artists from Champaign, Urbana, Mahomet, Saybrook and Bloomington. The artworks are of various mediums including digital prints, photographs, cyanotypes, spray paint, acrylics and many other types.

Art @ the Y seeks to engage issues of social justice through quality arts programming. The UP Center was founded in 2009 as an organization to advocate for the equality, wellness, advocacy and visibility of the LGBTQ communities in Champaign County.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association announced that CSOA-presented concerts scheduled to take place from Wednesday, April 10, to Tuesday, April 23, are canceled due to the current strike by musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts will celebrate its 50th anniversary April 12-14 with music, a gala and a global toast.

The development of place-based investment tax incentives such as opportunity zones can be explained as a predictable result of the “pro-gentrification legal, business and political environment that produced them,” said Michelle D. Layser, a professor of law at Illinois.

Nicole Krauss, an award-winning and best-selling author, will talk about her latest novel, “Forest Dark,” and her other works at two campus events April 9.