News Bureau

Judith Adanma Johnson premiered her exhibition “Energy” last week in the Illini Union Art Gallery. The exhibition will be on display in the gallery through Nov. 29. Located in the northwest wing of the Illini Union, the exhibition is free and open to the public.

Between Sept. 1, 2014, and Aug. 31, 2015, 40 faculty members and 59 academic professionals retired from the U. of I., according to the Office of Academic Human Resources.

Campus leaders say administrative changes in the Center for Advanced Study would not affect academic programs or its mission.

A report on honors, awards, appointments and other outstanding achievements of faculty and staff members. 

The campus is starting to feel the pinch of the state budget impasse.

Brian A. Boyd, an expert on autism spectrum and related developmental disorders, will give the annual Goldstick Family Lecture in the Study of Communication Disorders at the University of Illinois.

Bianca Da Costa Martins is a new assistant professor of ophthalmology in the department of veterinary clinical medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Printmaker and University of Illinois art professor Guen Montgomery used a woodblock carving project, “National Mandate: Run, Hide, Fight,” to deal with her feelings of discomfort over Homeland Security directives on active shooter situations on college campuses.

A new machine-learning simulation system developed at the University of Illinois promises cosmologists an expanded suite of galaxy models – a necessary first step to developing more accurate and relevant insights into the formation of the universe.

University of Illinois engineers have found an energy-efficient material for removing salt from seawater that could provide a rebuttal to poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s lament, “Water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink.”

Brian A. Boyd, an expert on autism spectrum and related developmental disorders, will give the annual Goldstick Family Lecture in the Study of Communication Disorders at the University of Illinois.

Jake Bowers, a University of Illinois political science professor, has been appointed to a White House team that’s applying insights from social and behavioral science to improve access to federal programs. Bowers began his stint with President Obama’s year-old Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (SBST) last month.

Efforts to treat myotonic dystrophy type 1, the most common form of muscular dystrophy, are in their infancy. In a new study, researchers report they have added new capabilities to an experimental drug agent that previously defeated only one of DM1’s many modes of action. Their retooled compounds interrupt the disease’s pathology in three ways.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Interim Chancellor Barbara Wilson announced today the campus will make a change in leadership of its Division of Intercollegiate Athletics by exercising a “without cause” separation clause in Director of Athletics Mike Thomas’ contract. 

By studying the behavior of living cells and combining them with synthetic tissue, researchers are creating “biological machines” to deliver drugs more effectively, function as internal diagnostic tools or serve as contaminant sensors in the field.

In a project funded by the National Institute of Justice, experts on youth violence, bullying and school climate issues in Illinois and Oregon are teaming up to develop a comprehensive school safety intervention that will use mobile apps and high school youths as key change agents in preventing school violence.

The Jupiter String Quartet performs a series of three concerts this week that will feature the six string quartets by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. The string quartets are among Bartók’s greatest works and among the greatest in the genre.

Almost 50 million people in the United States are food insecure – that is, they lack access to adequate food because of limited money or other resources. University of Illinois economist Craig Gundersen and University of Kentucky’s James P. Ziliak examined recent research on food insecurity and its association with poor health, and offer suggestions including that doctors screen for hunger.

A new study shows that age-related differences in brain health – specifically the strength of connections between different regions of the brain – vary with fitness level in older adults.

Despite government regulations, ground-level ozone – an odorless gas that forms as polluting nitrogen oxides drift in sunlight across the countryside – continues to threaten crop quality and yield. In a new study, researchers quantify this loss from historical yield data for the first time. They show that over the last 30 years, ozone emissions have reduced soybean and corn yields by 5 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

A two-day Arts Exchange for the College of Fine and Applied Arts allowed FAA students to enroll in workshops to learn about other disciplines within the college, from hip-hop dance to stage lighting design to sustainable papermaking.

The effort to create awareness and learn more about sexual misconduct on campus is being expanded to include a campuswide student survey.

Mobility has long been associated with success, power and adaptability. However, relocation of families, neighborhoods or whole ethnic groups has often been a matter of necessity or hardship. The College of Fine and Applied Arts will address how the worlds of art, culture and commerce have been marked by recent or historical migrations at Uncorked and On Topic at 5:15 p.m. Nov. 12 in the Tryon Festival Theatre foyer at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

The Educational Technology Leadership Summit will be from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Dec. 9 at the I Hotel and Conference Center. The summit will bring state educational leaders to the U. of I. to participate in a unique professional learning opportunity on educational technology.

Illinois International Programs invites faculty members to “Globalization at Illinois: A Faculty Dialogue,” a town-hall style conversation about globalization at Illinois at noon Nov. 10 in Room 104 of the Illini Union. 

The U. of I. ROTC units will host a Veterans Day ceremony at 5 p.m. Nov. 11 at the indoor track of the Armory Building. The event is designed to commemorate veterans of all branches of the United States military. The event is organized by the Naval, Army and Air Force ROTC units of the U. of I.

Zaida “Zan” Luthey-Schulten, a part-time faculty member in the Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, will present “Stochastic Simulations of Cellular Processes: From Single Cells to Colonies.” The lecture will begin at noon Nov. 5 in Room 1005 of the Beckman Institute as part of the Beckman Institute Director’s Seminar. Lunch will be provided.

Dr. Neil Vasdev will discuss “Cutting-edge Radiochemical Methods and Technologies for Human PET Imaging” at noon Nov. 13, in Room 1005 of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.

Richard Levin, CEO of Coursera and president emeritus of Yale University, will present two upcoming lectures on the U. of I. campus.

The University Library invites the campus community to a Library Research Showcase from 1 to 4 p.m. Nov. 10 at the Main Library. Library faculty members and academic professionals will present their research, which impacts a wide variety of library services as well as the global library and information science profession and other scholarly fields.

The Illini Union Office of Volunteer Programs is sponsoring its annual Thanksgiving Basket Drive to provide families with a basket of nonperishable food items and a $25 gift card, which can furnish a Thanksgiving meal. The entire Illinois campus is invited to participate. The drive will run through Nov. 16.

Some say a good elevator mechanic is not seen.

Ramón Soto-Crespo, an associate professor of English in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, is among the new faculty members to be included in our New Faces feature.

Supervolcanoes, massive eruptions with potential global consequences, appear not to follow the conventional volcano mechanics of internal pressure building until the volcano blows. Instead, a new study finds, such massive magma chambers might erupt when the roof above them cracks or collapses.

Cele Otnes, Investors in Business Education Professor in the College of Business at Illinois, is the co-author of the recently published book “Royal Fever: The British Monarchy in Consumer Culture.”

Point your phone or tablet at the poster with a cow image and a small 3-D cow appears before you – Desktop Bessie, with her skeleton, circulatory, digestive and nervous systems, and various organs visible as you move around her.

If you’re a veterinary student, the augmented reality cow is a great way to learn a cow’s anatomy.

A new study explores how a young cowbird, left as an egg in the nest of a different species, grows up to know it’s a cowbird and not a warbler, thrush or sparrow.

By sequencing its genome, scientists are homing in on the genes and genetic pathways that allow the juicy pineapple plant to thrive in water-limited environments. The new findings, reported in the journal Nature Genetics, also open a new window on the complicated evolutionary history of grasses like sorghum and rice, which share a distant ancestor with pineapple.

Leaders of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Carle Health System announced the completion of a set of agreements and policies related to joint research practices and governance of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine.

Dance at Illinois will celebrate its history of excellence in choreography and commemorate the life of Beverly Blossom with its “November Dance: Attachment” performances.

University of Illinois music professor Carlos Carrillo is one of 10 composers chosen for a Copland House Residency Award.

Even as larvae, honey bees are tuned in to the social culture of the hive, becoming more or less aggressive depending on who raises them, researchers report.

Conventional methods of assessing cardiorespiratory fitness and muscular strength among people with multiple sclerosis may underestimate participants’ capabilities, prompting clinicians to prescribe exercise therapies that are less effective than they could be, according to new research by scientists at the University of Illinois.

The University of Illinois contributes $13.9 billion in annual income to the state’s economy – and a 19.3 percent return on the public’s investment – through spending by its campuses, employees and students and the increased earning power of its graduates, according to a new economic impact study released Oct. 21.

Recently retired and long-serving staff employees will be honored at the 2015 Staff Service Recognition Banquet Nov. 5 at the I Hotel and Conference Center. The program will honor 110 employees who retired between Sept. 1, 2014, and Aug. 31, 2015. In addition employess will be honored for service completed during that time.

The chancellor's search committee is nearly formed, with senators last week choosing seven members and selecting two faculty members for chairman consideration.

The university's top administrators covered a wide variety of topics at the Urbana-Champaign Senate-sponsored annual meeting of the faculty, held Oct. 26 in the Illini Union Ballroom.

Interim Chancellor Barbara J. Wilson said removing the U. of I. from the American Association of University Professors censure list continues to be a top concern on campus and a top priority of her administration.