News Bureau

A new book by Madhu Viswanathan, the Diane and Steven N. Miller Professor in Business at Illinois, explores the author’s personal journey as a scholar studying people living in poverty as well as how the impoverished function in the marketplace as consumers and entrepreneurs.

Applications for the 2017 Alternative Academic Career Summer Workshops for Pre-Doctoral Students in the Humanities – an initiative of the Humanities Without Walls consortium – are now available at the HWW website. These workshops will showcase opportunities beyond the walls of the academy in an uncertain academic job climate. They are a continuation of a workshop series offered in 2015 and 2016 in conjunction with the Chicago Humanities Festival for students from HWW member institutions. In 2017, HWW will sponsor its first national summer workshop for graduate students interested in learning about careers outside of the academy and/or the tenure track system.

Registration is now open for Spanish classes for the 2016-17 academic year at the University Language Academy for Children for pre-kindergarten through the fifth grade, as well as middle school. The latter program is now in its second year for the academy, which opened in 2010. For pre-K through fifth grade, classes meet four times a week, Monday-Thursday from 3:15-4:10 p.m. or 4:20-5:15 p.m. Classes are at the University Primary School (Children’s Research Center), 51 E. Gerty Drive, Champaign. For middle school, classes are offered three times a week, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, from 3:45-5 p.m. Classes are at the Foreign Languages Building, 707 S. Mathew Ave., Urbana. The academy’s academic year begins Sept. 6 and ends May 20.

A research project at the University of Illinois is examining the use of mindfulness therapy in preventing drug abuse relapse among marginalized young adults.

Dana Gillon, coordinator of special programs for the U. of. I., was honored with the 2016 APPA Pacesetter Award. APPA, previously known as the Association of Physical Plant Administrators, promotes leadership in educational facilities for professionals seeking to build their careers, transform their institutions and elevate the value and recognition of facilities in education. Pacesetter award recipients were recognized July 12 during the 2016 APPA Annual Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

Despite societal perceptions that older adults’ love lives are ancient history, many seniors are anything but retired from sex, a new study suggests.

“BEAR” is the fourth performance in “The Unreliable Bestiary,” a lifelong project by University of Illinois art professor Deke Weaver to present a performance for every letter of the alphabet, each representing an endangered animal or habitat. Weaver’s project tells the stories of animals and our relationships to them.

A hazardous materials drill will take place on the University of Illinois campus July 27 from 8:30-11:30 a.m.

At the University of Illinois, an engineer teamed up with a veterinarian to test a bone cancer drug delivery system in animals bigger than the standard animal model, the mouse. They chose dogs – mammals closer in size and biology to humans – with naturally occurring bone cancers, which also are a lot like human bone tumors.

So far this year, Yellowstone has seen a record number of visitors – and what seems to be a record number of visitors disobeying the rules.

University of Illinois researchers have developed a way to etch very tall, narrow finFETs, a type of transistor that forms a tall semiconductor “fin” for the current to travel over.

University of Illinois engineers developed a model to calculate the age of nitrogen in corn and soybean fields, which could lead to improved fertilizer application techniques to promote crop growth while reducing leaching.

Audrey Hodgins ... Louise Van Buskirk Milroy ... William Gaines

We spent last night in Yellowstone’s backcountry, at Grebe Lake, a lovely lake at the base of the Washburn Range. For most of the students, this was their first experience backpacking: carrying a tent, sleeping bag and food into the backcountry. They had to learn a few new skills, like how to hang food from a bear pole. Some also had to adjust emotionally to the idea of sleeping in the middle of grizzly country.

New U. of I. chancellor Robert Jones will be introduced at a public event Wednesday

Look into any nutrient-rich pond almost anywhere in the world and you will find Daphnia pulex, a tiny crustacean (also called a water flea) that is a source of food for fish and fascination for scientists. A new study, reported in the journal Molecular Ecology, offers insights into this creature’s ability to disperse and its remarkable success in the wild.

We spent yesterday in Grand Teton National Park, hiking Cascade Canyon. Today we’re in Jackson, Wyoming, just south of the park and a very different setting

A Minute With...™ John Murphy, professor of communication and an expert on political rhetoric

University of Illinois students will have opportunities to hear musical performances, meet musicians and learn more about the arts, thanks to a $1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The four-year grant will support arts initiatives on campus by the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

Currently the executive associate dean of the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences at Washington State University, Kimberlee Kidwell will be the new U. of I. dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences effective Nov. 1, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. She also will hold the inaugural Robert A. Easter Chair.

Donald Eugene Ebeling ... E. Wayne Martin ... Jeremiah David Sullivan

Despite their significant presence in the Constitution, juries have largely disappeared from the U.S. legal system, according to a recently published book by University of Illinois law professor Suja A. Thomas.

Twenty-four U. of I. research teams have been awarded allocations on the National Center for Supercomputing Applications’ Blue Waters, the most powerful supercomputer on a university campus.

“The U. of I. is a tremendous university with plenty of talented people who can take effective advantage of a resource like Blue Waters,” said Blue Waters project director Bill Kramer. “It’s important for the project that our home institution has a close relationship with this great supercomputer, and we look forward to seeing more groundbreaking science come from the researchers at Illinois.”

A Minute With...™ Jerry Dávila, expert on the history of Brazil and director of the Lemann Institute for Brazilian Studies at Illinois

Amazon has announced an agreement with the U. of I. to open Amazon@Illinois, a staffed pickup location in the Illini Union Bookstore, 809 S. Wright St., Champaign. The first Amazon pickup location in the state of Illinois, Amazon@Illinois offers the campus community a place to pick up and return Amazon orders.

The Advanced Visualization Lab at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at Illinois was recently invited to present its recent film “Solar Superstorms” at the 2016 SIGGRAPH Conference.

 This conference will be the 43rd annual international conference and exhibition on computer graphics and interactive techniques, and will take place July 24-28 in Anaheim, California.

David Russell Opperman ... Paul Everett Parker ... Sharon Holt

A Minute With...™ political scientist Damarys Canache

I drive slowly over the hilly terrain in Fossil Basin and park near the remnants of an old campsite. In the 1950s and early 1960s, botanist Herman Becker camped here and collected fossil insects and plants from the Renova Formation’s paper shales. We are the first, since Becker, to explore this fossil bed. Our work begins where his left off.

A new study from the University of Illinois confirms a link between routine Pap smear screenings and a lower risk of developing cervical cancer in women over age 65. However, most American health guidelines discourage women in that age range from receiving screenings unless they have pre-existing risk factors.

Brendan Harley, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, has been selected to participate in the National Academy of Engineering’s 22nd annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering symposium. Each year the academy invites engineers ages 30 to 45 who are performing exceptional engineering research and technical work in a variety of disciplines to attend the event.
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Jennifer T. Bernhard, the associate dean for research in the College of Engineering, has been elected to the Engineering Research Council Executive Board of Directors for 2016-19. As part of the American Society of Engineering Education, the Engineering Research Council is composed of representatives from engineering colleges, industry and government as a forum for discussion of problems and exchange of information pertaining to the research activities of ASEE members.
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A recent analysis of online conversations about President Obama’s proposed plan for tuition-free community colleges, America’s College Promise, indicates that a significant number of people oppose the plan because it lacks measures to help them and the millions of other borrowers currently mired in student loan debt.

The chirp of screws being driven into wood and the whirr of drills filled the air in the front room of the old white house at 510 E. Chalmers St. that’s the birthplace of La Casa Cultural Latina and the former home of the U. of I.’s department of Latina/Latino studies.

Art-handling company Terry Dowd Inc. project manager Darren Martin and his work crew are creating a roughly 6 feet by 6 feet panel, part of the “bread” that will be used to make a large art “sandwich.”  The “meat” is a section of lathe, plaster and wallpaper of part of a wall covered with a vivid mural filled with bold depictions of heritage and social justice, of individual and community strength.

“We basically sandwich the walls,” Martin said. “It almost turns it into a crate.”

New research focuses on a fundamental human habit: When trying to explain something (why people give roses for Valentine’s Day, for example), we often focus on the traits of the thing itself (roses are pretty) and not its context (advertisers promote roses). In a new study, researchers found that people who tend to focus on “inherent traits” and ignore context also are more likely to assume that the patterns they see around them are good.

Nolan McNeely ... Jean Colee "Jeanie" Mullen ... Kathryn Jean Glasper ... Mary Matilda (Brownfield) Ebert ... Junetta Blythe Gillespie ... Jerome B. Kaufman

In a new report, dozens of scientists, health practitioners and children’s health advocates are calling for renewed attention to the growing evidence that many common and widely available chemicals endanger neurodevelopment in fetuses and children of all ages.

Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell will join the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as dean of the College of Applied Health Sciences effective Aug. 16, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.

I’m sitting near the top of our fossil excavation site in southwest Montana, my hammer and shovel ready. I have a perfect view of the mountains. A wall of fossil-laden shale lies before me, and I’m ready to dig in. This is our fourth day digging, and despite the early hour, I'm trembling with excitement. Today I might find something new, something no human has ever seen.

High school students investigate Ebola-like outbreaks and administer vaccines through Outbreak!, a new summer course at Illinois that uses online games to encourage critical thinking about fighting infectious diseases. 

A Minute With...™ Illinois State Geological Survey director Richard Berg

2016 graduates of the U. of I. teacher preparation programs who will begin their first teaching jobs this fall are invited to take part in a boot camp offered June 30-July 1, including joint sessions with the Illinois New Teacher Collaborative's Beginning Teacher Conference.

The creators of a novel substance abuse treatment program have received an infusion of funding from a federal agency for an expanded study of their intervention, which targets marginalized populations who struggle with problems such as racism, sexism, poverty and histories of incarceration.

Annie (Anne) Council Daley

A Minute With...™ labor expert Robert Bruno

All faculty and staff are asked to register campus automated external defibrillators (AEDs) by 5 p.m. Friday, July 8. The information will better equip the Illinois Fire Service Institute to maintain and provide access to this life-saving equipment.

 Please coordinate reporting within your unit to avoid multiple submissions. Questions should be addressed to IEMS-AED@illinois.edu.

Standing at the foot of the mountains, I look to the east. It’s still early and I have hiked up here alone to gather my thoughts. I can see why they call this “Big Sky Country.” The tree-covered foothills of the mountains behind me give way to rolling scrubland. Stunted trees mark the edges of dry creek beds cut into the soft rocks below. The sun sparkles on the surface of a reservoir in the valley several miles away, and beyond that, another mountain range rises to meet the sky. This is southwest Montana and I’m here to hunt.

Harry R. Wetenkamp

A new study begins to clarify how brain structure and chemistry give rise to specific aspects of what researchers call “fluid intelligence,” the ability to adapt to new situations and to solve problems one has never encountered before.

A Minute With...™ veterinary diagnostic laboratory professor Adam Stern

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — It’s called the latitudinal diversity gradient, a phenomenon seen today in most plant and animal species around the world: Biodiversity decreases from the equator to higher latitudes. A new study of fossils representing 63 million of the past 65 million years reveals that – for North American mammals, at least – the modern LDG is the exception rather than the rule.