News Bureau

A new resource is available to help guide teachers and school administrators as they reopen schools amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, assembled by researchers and experts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The K-12 Shield Playbook is based on the SHIELD Illinois program used to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic at the university.

Students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who have not yet been vaccinated against COVID-19 can enroll in a study to help understand the effectiveness of vaccines in reducing the spread of the coronavirus. Participants will be paid and could receive the vaccine as soon as April 1.

The Call to Action Research Program, initiated by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Robert Jones to address structures of racism and injustice, is seeking proposals from the Urbana campus and the local community.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s “With Illinois” philanthropic campaign has met its $2.25 billion mark in gifts and commitments, but the campaign will continue in light of a variety of ongoing needs.

European Union Day at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is online this year, with Sweden’s ambassador to the U.S. speaking on gender equality and a Swedish hip-hop artist discussing racial concerns. EU Day will also include a U.K.-based theater performance of an ancient Greek play focused on refugees.

The Center for Advanced Study has appointed 20 faculty members as associates or fellows for the 2021-22 academic year.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Six professors at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have been elected 2020 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Evolution, ecology and behavior professor Alison Bell; plant biology professor Carl Bernacchi; bioengineering professor Rohit Bhargava; materials science and engineering professor Paul Braun; chemistry professor Prashant Jain; and materials science and engineering professor Nancy Sottos are among the 489 scientists to be awarded the distinction of AAAS Fellow this year.

Students, faculty members and staff at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who are asked to quarantine after COVID-19 exposure or a positive test now have the opportunity to participate in a study that will help inform the national effort to manage the pandemic.

Three faculty members at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been named to the 2020 Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list. The list recognizes leading researchers in the sciences and social sciences from around the world. It is based on an analysis of journal article publication and citation data, an objective measure of a researcher’s influence, from 2009-2019.

The highly cited Illinois researchers this year are: materials science and engineering professor Axel Hoffmann, crop sciences and plant biology professor Stephen Long, and plant biology professor Donald Ort.

Researchers have completed a prototype for a mobile laboratory designed to demonstrate a way to rapidly deploy the I-COVID saliva-based test for COVID-19 developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The lab, called mobileSHIELD, also could deliver other testing capability during a public health crisis, and it will serve as a rich source of human factors engineering data.

The chief operating officer for the academy that awards the Oscars will be a featured guest for a discussion of inclusion and equity in the media, part of this year’s online Ebert Symposium.

Three prominent documentary filmmakers who’ve tackled subjects ranging from biography and history to sexual assault and hip-hop will be featured guests for an online Ebert Symposium discussion, “Documentary Film and Social Change,” on Oct. 22. Kirby Dick, Sacha Jenkins and Dawn Porter have had films aired or streamed on CNN, HBO, Netflix, PBS and Showtime, among other venues. Three documentary filmmakers on the Illinois faculty will also be on the panel.

Films and the media industry in changing times will be the subject of this year’s online Ebert Symposium, on Oct. 8 and two later dates, with filmmakers, media professionals and academics part of the discussion. Participants will explore the effects of the pandemic, the racial justice movement and other factors on the media industry, documentary filmmaking and media representation.

The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign’s new measures for undergraduate students in response to a recent upward trend in positive COVID-19 cases will be discussed at a Zoom news conference at 3:30 p.m. today. 

The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign is now performing its new rapid, saliva-based COVID-19 test on all students, faculty members and staff.

The 2021 edition of Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, or “Ebertfest,” has been moved to early September due to uncertainties related to COVID-19.

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Robert Jones will join campus experts to discuss modeling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois – at the state and campus levels – during an event Thursday. 

Since its inception in 1992, the Faculty and Staff Emergency Fund has helped more than 1,000 academic professionals, faculty members and staff.

Experts from a variety of fields at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are available to the news media to discuss COVID-19-related topics.

This year’s Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, or “Ebertfest,” has been canceled due to concerns related to the coronavirus.

Horror will get its due at this year’s Ebert Film Fest with “Hereditary” now in the lineup, which one critic described as “creepy beyond belief.” The 2018 film will be one of at least two from the horror genre at “Ebertfest,” with an Alfred Hitchcock classic due to be announced later along with the rest of the schedule.

A remastered “Cotton Club,” directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and the comedy “There’s Something About Mary” will be featured as part of this year’s Roger Ebertfest’s Film Festival, or “Ebertfest.”

A German diplomat based in Chicago but recently posted in the conflict zone of eastern Ukraine will speak on “The New Cold War: Liberal Democracy vs. Authoritarianism” as part of the annual European Union Day on Feb. 21 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

A panel of local health officials will discuss the coordinated local response to the global coronavirus concern at a 9 a.m. forum Tuesday, Jan. 28, at the Fire Service Institute, 11 Gerty Drive, Champaign. Experts will be available onsite for media interviews.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Eight professors at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been elected 2019 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Passes for the 22nd annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, or “Ebertfest,” go on sale Nov. 1.

A day-long summit on sexual harassment on Wednesday, Oct. 16 is open to the news media, but audio and visual recording will not be allowed.

Illinois Homecoming takes place Oct. 13-19 with new events, a new parade route and former University of Illinois President Stanley O. Ikenberry serving as the parade grand marshal.

Gregory Nava, director of Latino films such as “El Norte,” “My Family” and “Selena,” will discuss his career and challenges, as well as diversity in the movie industry, as part of the Chaz and Roger Ebert Symposium coming Sept. 27 to the University of Illinois.

The new freshman class at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is the largest, most academically talented and most diverse in the history of the university.

This year’s Ebert Symposium will focus on inclusion and diversity in the media industry, with a keynote address provided by Stacy Smith, director of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, a global think tank studying inequality in entertainment.

The inaugural Illinois Statewide K-12 Computer Science Education Summit will bring together teachers, lawmakers and others stakeholders to discuss computer science education in Illinois schools.

Correction: At the request of the family’s attorney, the public announcement of Yingying’s Fund scheduled for 10 a.m. Aug. 7 on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus has been postponed. A new date and time have not been yet been determined. 

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is holding Illini Fest, its first-ever downtown Chicago festival. The event will include more than 40 displays and interactive experiences from colleges and units, including robots, photo booth, virtual reality experience and a solar telescope.

Eunice Santos will become the dean of the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign effective Aug. 16, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. Andreas C. Cangellaris, the vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost, recommended the appointment to Chancellor Robert Jones after the conclusion of a yearlong national search.

Six researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign were named recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on young professionals at the outset of their independent research careers. 

Above-average rainfall continued in June, along with an elevated risk of flooding in some areas of Illinois, 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.

More than 40 capital improvement construction projects are in progress this summer on the Urbana campus. Substantial completion is expected by the start of the fall semester for the Henry Dale and Betty Smith Football Center, Foellinger Auditorium and the Education Building, along with multiple restroom renovations, roof replacements, elevator upgrades, and classroom and laboratory modernizations.

Soil temperatures are increasing after a cooling period the second week of June, according to Jennie Atkins, the Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring Program manager at the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois.

“The College Years of a Catholic Radical: Dorothy Day, University of Illinois Dropout,” scheduled for July 18 at 4 p.m. at Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, 500 S. Gregory St., Urbana, illuminates Day’s experiences as a U. of I. student, their impact on her later work and the legacy of Day’s presence on campus.

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Fox/Atkins Development LLC and the University of Illinois present a free summer concert featuring the Barcelona, Spain-based Alma Afrobeat Ensembleat 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 19, in Research Park.

Some areas of Illinois experienced record-breaking amounts of rain in May, as statewide totals mark the sixth consecutive month with above average rainfall, 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.

Through the centuries, people have devised imaginative puzzles to test our wits. Three-dimensional puzzles crafted of wood, metal, plastic and other durable materials are designed to be taken apart, rearranged or untangled. The exhibit “Fall to pieces: Ingenious mechanical puzzles from around the world,” debuts June 4 at Spurlock Museum of World Cultures and runs through July 21.

Crisis knows no season, and for as little as $5 per month, faculty members and staff can make a difference in the life of a co-worker in crisis.

After a cooling spell last weekend, soil temperatures are once again rising in Illinois, according to Jennie Atkins, Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring Program manager at the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois.

Emergency responders will take part in a full-scale emergency exercise at Willard Airport in Savoy on Monday, May 20, beginning at 6 p.m. The exercise will not affect scheduled air travel.

Illinois alumnus St. Elmo Brady was the first African American to obtain a doctorate in chemistry in the U.S. He received his degree in 1916 for work completed at Noyes Laboratory and continued his career as a professor of chemistry at historically black colleges and universities. Brady was recently honored for his accomplishment by the American Chemical Society through the designation of a national historic chemical landmark.

The Office of the State Fire Marshal will host the Illinois Fire Service Institute Training Showcase on May 15 outside the Illinois state Capitol in Springfield. The event will provide state legislators with an in-depth look at the training efforts for firefighters taking place throughout the state.

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.

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.