News Bureau

Managing the downside risks of technology in a health care setting poses a serious challenge to firms, doctors and patients, said Ujjal Kumar Mukherjee, a professor of business administration at the Gies College of Business at Illinois.

February Dance, presented by the University of Illinois dance department, will include performances that explore responses to crisis, look at protest in an airport setting and celebrate the music of Tom Petty.

Rick Frederick ... Frank M. Williams

Researchers have identified a mechanism that triggers shape-memory phenomena in organic crystals used in plastic electronics. Shape-shifting structural materials are made with metal alloys, but the new generation of economical printable plastic electronics is poised to benefit from this phenomenon, too. Shape-memory materials science and plastic electronics technology, when merged, could open the door to advancements in low-power electronics, medical electronics devices and multifunctional shape-memory materials.

The University YMCA’s Art at the Y initiative presents “Seeds of Resistance,” featuring works by artist Ricardo Levins Morales, from Jan. 25 to March 2 at Murphy Gallery, 1001 S. Wright St., Champaign. The display is a selection of Morales’ work for social justice and liberation. Admission is free and the display is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Targeted marketing threatens to end the 'Super Bowl of ads' and to further erode privacy, says an Illinois advertising professor.

Krannert Art Museum will open two exhibitions on Jan. 25: Artist Allan deSouza looks at the legacy of colonial imperialism, and Palestinian artists Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme will have the U.S. premiere of their work, which offers new narratives from the Middle East.

Four University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign faculty members have been selected for endowed chairs deemed to be among the most distinguished honors on the campus.

The Audiology Clinic at Illinois is offering free adult hearing screenings Jan. 23 through April 27. Appointments may be scheduled by calling 217-333-2230. No scheduling is available by email.

University Primary School’s preschool to fifth-grade classrooms are now accepting enrollment applications for the 2018-19 academic year. University Primary School is the U. of I. College of Education’s lab school. The curriculum is meaningful, engaging and project-based. For more information, visit the school website or call 217-333-3996. University Primary School is located on campus at 51 Gerty Drive, Champaign, in the Children's Research Center. Children must be 3 years old on or before Sept. 1 to enroll in the preschool classroom and 5 years old on or before Sept. 1 to enroll in kindergarten.

Illinois researchers have demonstrated that sound waves can be used to produce ultraminiature optical diodes that are tiny enough to fit onto a computer chip. These devices, called optical isolators, may help solve major data capacity and system size challenges for photonic integrated circuits, the light-based equivalent of electronic circuits, which are used for computing and communications.

Rosalee June Cobb ... Margie “Pud” Eastin ... Belva M. Edwards ... Joe B. Vermillion Jr.

Americans believe they have less stamina for strenuous mental activity than their European counterparts -- an indication that people in the U.S. perceive their willpower or self-control as being in limited supply, suggests a new study led by a researcher at the University of Illinois.

The University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra will perform some of Mozart’s best-loved works and less familiar pieces in celebration of the composer’s Jan. 27 birthday.

Third-graders who spend a class session in a natural outdoor setting are more engaged and less distracted in their regular classroom afterward than when they remain indoors, scientists found in a new study.

Opera singer and University of Illinois School of Music alumnus Nathan Gunn will make his directorial debut at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts with Lyric Theatre at Illinois’ production of “Don Giovanni,” in addition to singing the title role.

Preterm babies born early in the third trimester of pregnancy are likely to experience delays in the development of the auditory cortex, a brain region essential to hearing and understanding sound, a new study reveals. Such delays are associated with speech and language impairments at age 2, the researchers found.

Elizabeth “Betty” Jeanette Baniassadi ... Edward Eugene Jones ... Rosanne Janice Koehler ... Helen Lucille Wheatley

"Stoking the Flames of Passionate Teaching" will be the theme for the Illinois New Teacher Collaborative's Winter Leadership Summit on Jan. 26.

Astronomers from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey announced new measurements of the masses of a large sample of supermassive black holes far beyond our universe.

Children who experience high rates of bullying, fighting or absenteeism during seventh grade are at significantly greater risk of not graduating high school on time, a new University of Illinois study suggests.

Nearly everyone is. And the culprits, Meltdown and Spectre, could wreak havoc on personal security if ignored, says computer science professor Chris Fletcher

The University of Illinois Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee organized a series of events celebrating the life of civil rights leader, under the theme of “Dream, Believe, Do.”

When given the choice, honey bee foragers prefer to collect sugar syrup laced with the fungicide chlorothalonil over sugar syrup alone, researchers report in the journal Scientific Reports.

A new book co-written by U. of I. business professor and branding expert Carlos J. Torelli offers a concise, flexible and modern take on global brand management.

Gardeners hoping to celebrate the beauty of American bittersweet – a native vine that produces orange berries in the fall and is used for wreaths – may be unwittingly buying an invasive bittersweet instead. That’s because many Midwestern retailers are selling oriental bittersweet with labels misidentifying it as the native plant, researchers report. These sales are occurring in stores and online.

Jeanne Synon Folts ... Marjory A. Hudson ... David Bruce Langendorf ... David B. “Dave” Lawrence ... Eva Claire Rosenfield

2017 was the sixth-warmest year on record in Illinois, with a statewide average temperature of 54.3 degrees, or 2 degrees above normal, in spite of the extremely cold ending to December.

Eight of the 12 months in 2017 brought above-normal temperatures, according to Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel of the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois. The state experienced the warmest February on record with a statewide average of 41 degrees, 10.1 degrees above normal.

Miriam Centeno, the collections care coordinator for the University of Illinois Library, will spend two weeks in January in Puerto Rico helping librarians assess and repair damage to their collections from Hurricane Maria.

Ronald Dean Bagley ... Mary Elizabeth Butts Creech ... Teddy Georgia Eddleman ... Jean Frazier Patterson ... Barbara J. Perrero ... Randy B. Rogers ... Phillip Andrew Wassom ... John Wrinkle Welch 

Treating ovariectomized mice with a combination of conjugated estrogens and the drug bazedoxifene triggers the expression of genes that improve metabolism and prevent weight gain – without stimulating the uterus and increasing risks of reproductive cancer, a new study at the University of Illinois suggests.

OUTSIDE VALLES, MEXICO — When we first arrived at this stream, I knew we were in a special location. The clear, turquoise blue water rivals that of any picture from a Caribbean tour magazine. When I put my snorkeled face in the water, I can actually see mussels in the streambed below, something that doesn’t happen very often in Illinois streams. Collecting the mussels, however, is proving difficult.

More than $44 million in student funding will go toward modernizing teaching and learning environments that will benefit the Illinois campus, Facilities and Services announced. Capital improvement projects were selected and approved by the Academic Facilities Maintenance Fund Assessment Oversight Committee and are in development. 

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.

“Illinois Icons,” a new 30-minute documentary premiering Jan. 16 on BTN, tells the stories of three men who left enduring marks on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Max Abramovitz, Robert Zuppke and Lorado Taft.

The current tax bill fits with a 30-year trend that doesn’t favor income from work, says sociologist Kevin Leicht

People who consume 18 grams of protein from whole eggs or from egg whites after engaging in resistance exercise differ dramatically in how their muscles build protein, a process called protein synthesis, during the post-workout period, researchers report in a new study. Specifically, the post-workout muscle-building response in those eating whole eggs is 40 percent greater than in those consuming an equivalent amount of protein from egg whites, the team found.

Tamer Basar has been named the interim dean of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's College of Engineering effective Jan. 16, subject to approval of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.

Recent stories in the national media are magnifying fears of a catastrophic eruption of the Yellowstone volcanic area, but scientists remain uncertain about the likelihood of such an event. To better understand the region’s subsurface geology, University of Illinois geologists have rewound and played back a portion of its geologic history, finding that Yellowstone volcanism is more far more complex and dynamic than previously thought. 

Charles Edward “Chuck” Matz

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.

Illinois experienced wide temperature swings in November, with colder-than-normal temperatures canceling out the warmer-than normal days. By month’s end, November was slightly cooler than average in Illinois, according to Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel at the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois.

The Dads Association at the U. of I.  named Christopher Thilmany of Schaumburg, Illinois, King Dad 2017 during the annual Dads Weekend on Nov. 11. Thilmany was recognized on the field during the football game with Indiana University. He was nominated by his daughter Gabriella Welch, a sophomore studying public policy and law.

Approaching the second half of the century, the United States is likely to experience increases in the number of days with extreme heat, the frequency and duration of heat waves, and the length of the growing season. In response, it is anticipated that societal, agricultural and ecological needs will increase the demand on already-strained natural resources like water and energy. University of Illinois researchers have developed new, high-resolution climate models that may help policymakers mitigate these effects at a local level.

University of Illinois students developed ideas to revitalize an industrial area in Chicago, as part of an interdisciplinary collaboration involving graduate students in architecture, landscape architecture and urban and regional planning.

Women often don’t report sexual harassment because grievance procedures frequently take on the feel of litigation, an Illinois professor says.

Barbara Ledora Butts Anderson ... Barbara Ann Armstrong ... Sharol L. "Sherry" Hanson ... Robert J. Mosborg ... Steven Nicholas ... Bernard Spodek ... Ralph R. Swarr

Even though several states have these regulations on the books, they’re really a last resort for collecting student loan debt, says Professor Angela Lyons

Japan House will hold its annual Mottainai Holiday Bazaar this weekend. The bazaar will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17, at Japan House, 2000 S. Lincoln Ave., Urbana.

Mottainai is a Japanese word meaning “what a waste” or “don't waste” and is a treasured Japanese concept.

The University of Illinois Library has added its 14 millionth volume to its collection -- “The University of Illinois: Engine of Innovation” by Frederick E. Hoxie, a professor emeritus of history and American Indian studies, written to commemorate the U. of I.’s sesquicentennial. The Library will create a new, permanent display to recognize all its millionth volumes.