News Bureau

Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities on Illinois’ Medicaid wait list who are minorities, in poor health or unable to speak are more likely to have unmet service needs, a new study by University of Illinois researchers found.

Juvenile offenders who have a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder are at 67 percent greater risk of entering substance abuse treatment within seven years, a new study led by a University of Illinois scholar found.

Preschoolers may express awareness about body-image issues – but their parents may miss opportunities to promote positive body-image formation in their children because parents believe them to be too young to have these concerns, new research suggests.

University of Illinois art professor Conrad Bakker's interest in Henry David Thoreau, and in the artificiality of objects, led him to create a sculpture of Thoreau's cabin.

A new study offers evidence that one’s motivation is just as important for sustained attention to a task as is the ease with which the task is done.

The 60,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art facility will cultivate interdisciplinary design thinking and will foster innovation in undergraduate and graduate curricula in multiple colleges.

The Illinois School of Architecture’s Master of Architecture degree program is among DesignIntelligence Quarterly’s “Top 25 Programs 2016-17 According to Hiring Professionals.” The ranking of National Architectural Accrediting Board-accredited degree programs appears in DesignIntelligence’s third quarter 2016 issue. DesignIntelligence compiles the rankings from a survey of professional practitioners who hire and supervise graduates of architecture programs.

The Audiology Clinic at Illinois is offering free hearing screenings through Nov. 18. Screenings appointments may be scheduled by calling 217-333-2230. The clinic does not schedule appointments via email.

Younger, more cosmopolitan Chinese consumers tend to favor brand translations that keep both the sound and the meaning of the original name, says U. of I. business professor and branding expert Carlos J. Torelli.

The polarization and dysfunction in Congress has spread in recent years to the voting public, says professor Thomas Rudolph, but it’s more about simply disliking political opponents than differences over ideology.

A systematic review of the scientific studies cited by brain-training companies as evidence that their products improve cognition in daily life finds no convincing evidence to support those claims. While people tend to improve on the specific tasks they practice, the researchers report, the conclusion that computerized brain-training programs yield broader cognitive benefits or improve real-world outcomes for their users is premature at best.

The Champaign Park District invites the community to celebrate the 25th year of the Tribute to Olympic and Paralympic Athletes monument on Saturday, Oct. 1, at noon at Dodds Park.

An advanced imaging technique used to map Earth’s outer shell also can provide a measure of strength, finding weak spots and magma upwellings that could point to volcanic or earthquake activity, according to a new study by geologists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Adelaide in Australia.

Beverly Louise Casey ... Dawn Ellen Corey ... Berniece A. Lincoln ... Marilyn V. Lynch ... Jesse Robinson ... Gloria A. Von Behren

Two Brazilian musicians who play different instruments and represent two distinct regional musical styles will perform together for the first time on the University of Illinois campus.

Lighting-design students from the University of Illinois theatre department get a backstage look at the technical aspects of the musical "Hamilton."

A new study of older adults finds an association between higher blood levels of phosphatidylcholine, a source of the dietary nutrient choline, and the ability to regulate attention to manage competing tasks. The study also identified a brain structure that appears to play a role in this association.

Qian Chen, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering, has been named to Science News SN10: Scientists to Watch. Chen is coaxing nanomaterials to self-assemble in new and unexpected ways to mimic the machinery that living cells have already perfected. 
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University Primary School, the laboratory school of the College of Education, will host an open house for the community on Wednesday, Oct. 19, at Children’s Research Center, 51 Gerty Drive, Champaign.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers and instructors have the opportunity to learn about the information technology services that are available to them by attending the Faculty Technology Summit. The event will take place in Illini Union Rooms A, B, and C on Wednesday, Oct. 5, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Six Urbana campus faculty members have been named University Scholars and will be honored at a campus reception Sept. 26 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the ballroom of the Alice Campbell Alumni Center, 601 S. Lincoln Ave., Urbana.

A new book, “Pious Irreverence: Confronting God in Rabbinic Judaism,” by University of Illinois religion professor Dov Weiss, is the first comprehensive academic look at the Jewish tradition of protes.

Cara A. Finnegan, a professor of communication at Illinois, recently received the National Communication Association’s 2016 James A. Winans and Herbert A. Wichelns Memorial Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Rhetoric and Public Address.

Peter Feuille ... Leonard Heumann ... Ruth Marilyn Newman ... William H. "Bill" Peterson

Although Americans overwhelmingly support nondiscrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, no state has enacted significant new legislation protecting them against discrimination in housing, hiring and public accommodations since 2008, says Robin Fretwell Wilson, the Roger and Stephany Joslin Professor of Law and the director of the Program in Family Law and Policy at the University of Illinois College of Law.

An exhibition to open at Krannert Art Museum in fall 2017, “World on the Horizon: Swahili Arts Across the Indian Ocean,” will be an unprecedented look at the arts of the Swahili coast of Africa.

Immigration, migration and refugees – topics that have loomed over both the U.S. presidential campaign and world politics – will be the subject of a two-day conference Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 26-27) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Detailed findings from the Sexual Misconduct and Perceived Campus Response Climate survey, which was administered to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign students in fall 2015, are available online.

The Office of Volunteer Programs is co-sponsoring the Campus and Community Food Drive with the Eastern Illinois Foodbank, iHelp and Student Alumni Ambassadors on Saturday, Sept. 24 and Tuesday, Sept. 27.

This year’s collection goal is 3,000 meals, with every 1.2 pounds of food equaling one meal. The state of hunger in Illinois is alarming: 22 percent of children live in poverty, 33 percent of the population is in poverty or very close to it, and 7 percent are in extreme poverty.  In Champaign County, 40,848 people live in poverty.

“This year, we are modifying what was previously known as Cans Across the Quad,” said John Race, program advisor for the Office of Volunteer Programs. “We are excited about this new format and think it will be more accessible for people to participate in and meet our goal.”

Participants should bring nonperishable packaged or canned goods. Meats and fish, complete meals, fruit and peanut butter are the most requested items. The Eastern Illinois Foodbank will collect all donations at the end of the event and distribute the contributions to food shelters across the county.

Drop-off times are Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the Quad and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center. On Tuesday, donations will be accepted at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Quad is located directly south of the Illini Union, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana. The Alice Campbell Alumni Center is located at 601 S. Lincoln Ave., Urbana. Cans that are dented, rusted or expired cannot be accepted.

High-quality reproductions of medieval Irish metalwork – acquired by the University of Illinois 100 years ago – are the centerpiece of a new exhibit at Spurlock Museum of World Cultures.

The University of Illinois Press announced the debut of a new logo in anticipation of its upcoming 100-year anniversary.

Founded in 1918, the University of Illinois Press publishes 33 scholarly journals and 100 new books per year, distributed worldwide, with 2,500 books currently in print. The Press's publishing program promotes research and education, enriches cultural and intellectual life and fosters regional pride and accomplishments, enhancing and extending the reputation of the University of Illinois.

Pressures to maintain a facade of a perfect family and other values associated with the “culture of affluence” discourage some affluent women from leaving violent spouses or disclosing that they are being abused, a new study suggests.

U. of I. anthropology professor Kathryn Clancy supports a federal legislative effort that would require universities to report – and federal funding agencies to consider – findings that any university professor engaged in discrimination on the basis of sex. 

Bree Newsome, the community organizer and activist who removed the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina Statehouse in 2015 after the Charleston shootings, will be the keynote speaker for this year’s iUnite Week.

Her talk, titled “Tearing Hatred from the Sky,” will be presented Tuesday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m. in rooms A, B and C at the Illini Union, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana. The event is sponsored by the Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Relations, Inclusive Illinois and the Illini Union Board. The event is open to the public.

Newsome established herself as a touchstone of empowerment for disenfranchised people around the world when she tore down the Confederate flag  in the name of social justice and equality. A graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Newsome blends her artistic talents with her activism, encouraging audiences to transform society into a world where the lives and contributions of all individuals are recognized equally.

Each year, faculty members are invited to submit scholarly and creative proposals for consideration by the Center for Advanced Study’s permanent professors. Faculty members with winning proposals are appointed associates (tenured) or fellows (untenured) and are awarded one semester of release time to pursue their projects in the coming year.

Robert Sapolsky, a science writer, biologist, neuroscientist and stress expert, will present his lecture “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: Stress and Health” Thursday, Sept. 22, at 6:30 p.m. at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Colwell Playhouse.

A project called the Human Library is designed to challenge stereotypes by bringing people together to talk. A newly formed Champaign-Urbana chapter of the Human Library will hold its first event Sept. 22 as part of the Pygmalion Festival.

Robert G. "Bob" Carlier ... Melvin Thomas "Tom" Davisson ... Danny A. Goad ... Leonard Heumann

The dedication of Wassaja Hall began Thursday with the sound of drums and a song sung in Comanche by the OtterTrail drum group, from the Peoria Tribe in Oklahoma. The dedication of the new student residence hall, held in the Student Dining and Residential Program Building due to inclement weather, is a celebration of the legacy of Wassaja, later known as Carlos Montezuma, who in 1884 became the first Native American to graduate from the University of Illinois, said Alma Sealine, the director of University Housing, the first of six speakers at the event.

Resistance to multiple herbicides is the new norm for populations of waterhemp, a common agricultural weed. With their herbicide options dwindling and nothing new on the horizon, Illinois growers must be strategic in how they manage waterhemp-infested fields, says a University of Illinois expert on crop weed management.

A new 30-minute documentary tells the story of Tim Nugent, known by many as the “Father of Accessibility,” who founded the first comprehensive program for college students with physical disabilities at the University of Illinois. Prior to the start of that program, people with disabilities were not expected to go to school, find employment or play sports.

The Campus Faculty Association will award up to five $1,000 scholarships to undergraduate students at the University of Illinois’ Urbana campus who demonstrate a commitment to social justice in the community.

The least convincing arguments can reverberate in the public consciousness over time – provided they’re delivered by a credible source, says new research from U. of I. psychology professor Dolores Albarracin.

Four doctoral students were honored for the quality of their work using survey research methodology. The two winners of the 2016 Robert Ferber and Seymour Sudman Dissertation Awards received $2,000 awards and plaques commemorating their achievement. Two other students each received an honorable mention certificate and $200. Ferber and Sudman, in whose memory the awards were established, were eminent scholars at Illinois in the field of survey research.

The Campus Safety Health and Environmental Management Association gave Peter Ashbrook the Honorary Life Award – its highest individual honor – at its annual meeting in Austin, Texas, last month.

Ashbrook, who retired last year, served the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for 21 years, most recently as the director of the Division of Research Safety. Ashbrook organized the first College and University Hazardous Waste Conference in 1982, wrote regular columns on laboratory waste minimization and laboratory safety in academia for 14 years for the Journal of Chemical Health and Safety, served in several leadership positions for CSHEMA, and made numerous presentations on laboratory safety issues at professional conferences.

A University of Illinois professor who lived through the Iranian Revolution, included three years on death row in an infamous prison, reflects on the experience in a new autobiographic novel.

Researchers at the University of Illinois and collaborators have identified the active form of an iron-containing catalyst for the trickiest part of the process: reducing oxygen gas. The finding could help researchers refine better catalysts, making fuel cells a more energy- and cost-efficient option for powering vehicles and other applications.

Several galleries at Krannert Art Museum reopened at the start of the fall semester, and some of the paintings hung there now have a fresher, brighter look.

Joseph (Joe) William McGuire ... Avis Marie (Kuhns) Bennett ... Mary Kay Simmons/Kappes ... Jan M. Lenz

University of Illinois professor Ben Grosser says software design is directing the way all of us move as we use our technology, yet we pay little attention to these human-tech interactions. Grosser recently made a video supercut of scenes from the Netflix series “House of Cards” showing characters in the show using technology – the first in a series of three videos for his “Touching Software” project.