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  • power lines

    Three new DOE-funded PRI projects set to design energy storage systems for power plants

    May 7, 2021 10:15 am

    It is challenging to integrate renewable resources into the distribution grid of fossil-fueled power plants when energy is most needed. The results are often intermittent and unpredictable, which makes it difficult to match energy demand with supply.

    In three new U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded projects, scientists in the Prairie Research Institute will design systems and explore the feasibility of combining the use of renewable and fossil energy sources to ensure both short and long-term reliability in electric power delivery.

  • Network now monitors air temperature inversions in several locations

    May 14, 2018 8:30 am

  • Endangered bumblebees to be counted and studied this summer

    May 31, 2018 8:45 am

  • Researchers need your brown marmorated stink bugs

    Oct 1, 2013 12:00 pm

    Fall is the time for many insects to start making their ways indoors for the winter. The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), Halyomorpha halys is believed to have been introduced from Asia and can be a pest on tress and crops. Researchers are still trying to determine the range of the BMSB and need your help. If you believe you have BMSB, we would be very interested in looking at it.

  • Southern White Pelicans at Rend Lake in large numbers

    Nov 4, 2011 12:00 pm

    INHS Ornithologist T.J. Benson was featured in an article about the Southern White Pelicans currently being seen in large numbers at Rend Lake. Unlike the Brown Pelicans, which dive into the water for food, White Pelicans align themselves in a circle and scoop up the fish. Benson stated that in the spring the birds might migrate through more quickly needing to get to the breeding grounds, the fall migration can be more spread out, with birds lingering in places with good resources. Asked about the number of birds, he stated that "Anecdotally, you're definitely seeing more and more. It's kind of true that wetland birds in general are tending to do better over time. Some of that is habitat restoration and cleaning up waterways."

  • part of the biphasic solvent system

    Technology to absorb CO₂ at power plants is promising

    Apr 22, 2022 9:00 am

    Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) researchers have given the thumbs up to an innovative biphasic solvent system for its efficiency and effectiveness in absorbing CO₂ from flue gas in a coal-fired power plant at the University of Illinois (U of I).

  • ISTC engineer Stephanie Brownstein gestures toward carbon capture equipment at Abbott Power Plant while speaking to visitors from the Department of Energy and Doosan Corporation

    ISTC leads extensive portfolio of carbon capture projects

    Jul 8, 2022 1:00 pm

    Visitors from the U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE-NETL) recently toured multiple carbon capture projects led by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC).

    Because the unique geology of Illinois provides extensive potential to store carbon dioxide deep underground, the state is also an ideal location to develop, demonstrate, and deploy technologies to capture CO2 from point sources, remove CO2 from the ambient air, and beneficially use CO2. ISTC scientists and engineers are leaders in this research, conducting a number of carbon capture, removal, and use projects backed by funding from the Department of Energy.

  • Working with scientists better informs managers’ decisions on bird conservation

    Jun 9, 2021 10:45 am

    Scientists studying birds have the data, and conservation managers make the decisions in the field, but if the two groups collaborate, together they can form the best outcomes on real-world bird conservation issues.

  • Study Finds Recent Size Changes in Illinois River Mussel Shells

    Oct 12, 2016 8:00 am

    Man-made levees and water pollution have made an impact on the fish and other fauna of the Illinois River throughout the 20th century, but researchers at the Prairie Research Institute (PRI), University of Illinois, have taken an even longer view of human-induced changes in freshwater mussels, dating back to pre-Columbian times.

  • Upwind Lakes Can Influence the Intensity of Lake-Effect Snowstorms over Downwind Lakes

    Apr 11, 2013 2:45 am

    Research shows that small lakes even hundreds of miles away can cause lake-effect snows to intensify around the Great Lakes, a phenomenon that may occur more often with climate change, according to David Kristovich, head of the Center for Atmospheric Science at the Illinois State Water Survey, University of Illinois.

  • In 2021, ISAS tested a non-invasive technique called electromagnetic induction (EMI) on Mound 37 at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Collinsville, Illinois. Using EMI, ISAS was able to detect the architecture of Mound 37 and confirm that the mound was circular in shape. Monks Mound, the largest Indigenous earthwork in the Americas rises prominently in the background.

    ISAS awarded $100,000 grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities

    Dec 13, 2022 1:45 pm

    The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded $100,000 to the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS) for a two-year noninvasive geophysical survey of 24 mounds at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site and three surrounding mound sites.

  • Dr. Misganaw Demissie

    Remembering Dr. Misganaw "Mike" Demissie 1949 - 2023

    May 1, 2023 12:15 pm

    The PRI family recently lost one of our own, Dr. Misganaw (known to many as Mike) Demissie, who made a positive difference worldwide through his work and made a lasting impression on the legacy of the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS). Demissie passed away on April 20, 2023.

  • Recorded bird calls entice warblers to nest in conservation areas

    Oct 10, 2017 10:15 am

    Some species of migrating songbirds return each year to their favorite summer home in the Midwest, where food and nesting sites are plentiful. A University of Illinois scientist and a biologist from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources found that recorded birdsongs could coax endangered Kirtland’s warblers to a new breeding site hundreds of miles from their usual destination for their own protection.

  • the water testing laboratory at the Water Survey

    ISWS analysis can provide answers to water questions

    Jul 14, 2020 12:00 pm

    When Illinoisans have questions about their home water supply, the Water Survey’s Public Service Lab can provide answers. The Water Survey’s chemists customize each water analysis depending on where the water came from, how it will be used, and the symptoms of the problem. 

  • Researchers survey and study mosquito vectors for the Zika virus in Illinois

    Sep 7, 2017 9:15 am

    Researchers at the Illinois Natural History Survey are surveying and collecting adult female mosquitoes in Illinois and testing how effective insecticides are against them, particularly the Asian tiger mosquito, a species capable of transmitting the Zika virus.

     

  • Drilling for the geothermal exchange system at the U of I campus

    A geothermal exchange system on the U of I campus proves its benefits

    Aug 24, 2022 8:00 am

    Last year, a multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers helped build a geothermal exchange system to heat and cool a new building at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I), saving electrical usage and marking another step in the quest for a carbon-neutral campus. This type of heating and cooling system is also used successfully in homes, businesses, and industry, according to Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) scientist Andrew Stumpf.

  • Black bear in a field of lupines

    Translocation is a viable option for problem bears

    Apr 2, 2021 9:00 am

    One way to manage bears who damage property and crops is to move them to a different area within their geographic range. Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) scientists studying translocation have found that capture and release does not lower bears’ survival rates, so it’s a good option for handling nuisance bears.

  • Doug Brown, CWLP, Chief Engineer 2. State Senator Sally Turner 3. State Senator Doris Turner 4. Alderman Ralph Hanauer 5. President Timothy Killeen, U of I 6. Mayor Jim Langfelder of Springfield 7. Lynn Brickett, DOE HQ, Point Source Carbon Capture Director 8. Dr. Praveen Kumar, U of I, Prairie Research Institute, Executive Director 9. Todd Spengeman, BASF, Director of Standard Amines & Gas Treatment 10. Susan Martinis 11. Domonic Cianchetti, Linde (engineering for capture system), Senior Vice President 12. Dr. Kevin OBrien, Director Illinois Sustainable Technology Center & Illinois State Water Survey (Principal Investigator), U of I

    Prairie Research Institute breaks ground for carbon capture pilot at CWLP

    Dec 19, 2022 8:00 am

    Officials from the University of Illinois, the City of Springfield, the State of Illinois, and the U.S. Department of Energy for a groundbreaking ceremony for a 10-megawatt carbon capture project at City, Water, Light, and Power’s (CWLP) in Springfield, Ill. The post-combustion carbon capture system is recognized as one of the world’s largest carbon capture pilots.

  • wastewater treatment plant

    Study tracks emerging contaminants from landfill to treatment plant to application

    Feb 6, 2024 9:30 am

    In a recent study published in an Illinois Sustainable Technology Center report, John Scott, analytical chemist at ISTC in the University of Illinois, studied the fate of microplastics and PFAS as they moved from landfill leachate, or water that filters though the mound of trash, to wastewater treatment plants and beyond. 

  • James "Jimmy" Burns

    Remembering James “Jimmy” Burns

    Nov 10, 2023 3:45 pm

    It is with profound sadness that we share the news that James “Jimmy” Burns passed away on November 7, 2023. Jimmy was a consummate field archaeologist who worked extensively across the Midwest, Far West, and Southeast over a 40-year career in both cultural resource management and academic settings. Above all, Jimmy was the best friend a person could be and he will be missed forever across ISAS, PRI, and beyond. 

  • Microplastics on the move: research projects detect microplastics in water and on land

    Mar 14, 2022 8:00 am

    At the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC), researcher John Scott is studying microplastics in landfills, rural streams, and city drinking water to further understand where they are coming from and how they move in the environment.

  • ISTC scientist is set to develop technology addressing water contaminated with PFAS

    Feb 6, 2023 8:45 am

    Man-made per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS), known as “forever chemicals,” withstand many treatment options and bioaccumulate in the environment, posing serious environmental and health concerns. With a three-year, nearly $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP), Illinois Sustainable Technology Center  (SERDP), Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) scientists are developing a new technology to remove and destroy PFAS from contaminated water using a designer biochar produced from woody biomass or agricultural residues such as corn stalks and cobs.

  • INHS Reports: Angler survey on Lake Michigan fishing

    Jun 15, 2017 12:00 pm

    INHS researchers examined Lake Michigan fishing from social and economic perspectives. They surveyed anglers to collect information about angler expectations and needs in the Lake Michigan fishery and to ascertain the economic importance of fishing as a recreational activity. 

  • Western corn rootworm behavior in soybeans offers clues to understanding rotation resistance

    Oct 28, 2021 8:45 am

    Illinois farmers’ concerns about increasing western corn rootworm populations and plant damage in rotated cornfields have University of Illinois researchers taking a closer look at how rootworm diets affect the beetles’ flights from soybeans to cornfields.

  • Corn field and blue sky

    Growing degree day calculator provides site-specific weather data

    Sep 2, 2020 9:00 am

    The Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) growing degree day (GDD) calculator is updated daily through local weather stations for users to calculate projections on crop development and maturity specifically for their location.

  • Illinois mp of water supply planning regions.

    Water Supply Planning team helps Illinois meet water needs

    May 11, 2020 9:45 am

    Due to projected growth of the population and economy, Illinois could require 20 to 50 percent more water in coming decades. Ensuring adequate and reliable supplies of clean water for all requires us to think ahead. We need to know how much water will be available, how much water we will need, what the options are for providing additional supplies, reducing demand, and what the impacts and costs will be.

    Since 2006 the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has tasked the Water Survey with leading regional water supply planning activities for 11 Illinois regions. Learn more about the team that carries out this important activity.

  • Heavenly history and the moon

    Mar 19, 2024 8:45 am

    From Ohio's lunar-aligned monuments to Cahokia's sacred rituals, journey through time to explore the profound connection between humanity and the cosmos, culminating in the anticipation of the upcoming total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. 

  • Researchers find link between avian malarial infections and body condition in migrating ducks

    Jun 13, 2018 4:15 pm
  • aerial view of Illinois River

    Sediment causes economic and environmental concerns in the Illinois River valley

    Mar 27, 2017 4:15 pm

    Researchers at the Prairie Research Institute's Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) have computed a sediment budget over 35 years to determine the amount of sediment coming into the river valley and the amount going out to the Mississippi River

  • Archaeologist Marie Meizis of the Illinois State Archaeological Survey uses a magnetic gradiometer. Photo credit: Matt Dayhoff, Peoria Journal Star

    Seeing an Indigenous settlement

    Dec 12, 2022 8:00 am

    ISAS helped researchers from the University of California-Santa Barbara and Northern Illinois University conduct a geophysical survey at the Heldenmeyer settlement, which was home to two different cultures, people from historically distinct western and northern Illinois regions. Archaeologists can tell this based on the varieties of broken pottery cookware found on the site’s plow-churned surface. This makes it historically and culturally unique, a place in need of documentation and preservation. 

  • ISWS researcher contributes to award-winning Chicago Regional Climate Action Planning Partnership

    Oct 22, 2021 2:00 pm

    Illinois State Water Survey climate researcher Ashish Sharma contributed his expertise on climate change and its impacts on urban communities and associated solutions to the recently released Climate Action Plan for the Chicago Region. Last week the collaborative group behind the plan, which includes non-profits, universities, Argonne National Laboratory and municipalities, received a 2021 Climate Leadership Award from the Climate Registry and Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.

  • Direct air capture system

    PRI tapped to lead feasibility studies for three regional Direct Air Capture (DAC) hubs

    Oct 5, 2023 8:00 am

    This once-in-a-generation investment in infrastructure will support efforts to build a clean and equitable energy economy that achieves a zero-carbon energy system by 2035 and to put the United States on a path to strengthen energy prosperity and achieve net-zero emissions economy-wide by no later than 2050. 

    PRI is specifically tasked with executing feasibility and pre-feasibility studies of potential DAC Hub locations, ownership structures, business models, CO2 storage/utilization option(s), and technology partner(s) outlined in the following stage 1 of potential multi-stage projects in Illlinois, Colorado, and Florida.

  • Leaves turn at Volo Bog Nature Preserve in the fall. Photo credit: Bill Batalden

    Groundwater experts help industries and nature preserves thrive

    Jul 7, 2022 8:00 am

    ISGS and ISWS began monitoring the intersections between industry and the state-protected nature preserves in 1998, letting science and groundwater testing lead the way. Then-graduate student Randy Locke embarked on what was intended to be a two-year groundwater monitoring project; that project is now in its 24th year and has expanded to 414 dedicated nature preserves across 62,270 acres in Illinois.

  • Google Earth image of the shooting range showing the actual flood extent.

    Case study on flooding highlights usefulness of topographical tool

    Jun 18, 2020 10:45 am

    After a downpour in early June, Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) hydrographer Ryan Meekma compared images from the Topographic Wetness Index (TWI), which outlines low-lying areas in Illinois that could flood, with actual flooding at a gun range in Champaign, Illinois, to study the tool’s effectiveness.

  • Water Survey to receive $1M for rural outreach programs

    Apr 18, 2018 3:30 pm

    The Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) will receive more than $1 million in funding through 2021 to support its drinking water outreach programs for private well owners and small, rural communities.

  • Archaeology returns to Allerton

    Jun 28, 2018 10:15 am

    The Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS) will again partner with Parkland College to bring archaeology to Allerton Park for the second year in a row. This year the Parkland College field school will be led by ISAS research archaeologist and Parkland College instructor Dr. B. Jacob Skousen.

  • PRI scientists bring expertise to study of critical interfaces

    Nov 16, 2020 8:30 am

    PRI scientists from the Illinois State Water Survey and Illinois State Geological Survey are part of a collaborative project to study “critical interfaces” in the environment.

  • Corn stalks in summer

    Climatologist: Vegetation plays a role in developing flash droughts

    Apr 22, 2021 1:30 pm

    Farmland vegetation and grasses can affect both the frequency and extent of flash droughts, say scientists at the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS), who hope to better understand the phenomenon and improve early warnings.

  • Kevin OBrien, Stephanie Brownstein, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm, Susan Martinis, and Jeff Stein stand outside Abbott Power Plant

    U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm tours PRI carbon management projects

    Dec 10, 2021 8:30 am

    On Dec. 9, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm toured several U of I sustainable energy projects, including PRI’s carbon capture efforts at Abbott Power Plant. During the visit she also heard about PRI's extensive work in carbon sequestration.

  • Aquatic biology team showing the mussels they've found

    Surveys and relocations protect vulnerable mussel populations

    Apr 5, 2022 9:00 am

    In the summer’s heat, an Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) aquatic biology team can be found in shallow rivers or streams under bridges slated for reconstruction, wading in water and sliding their fingers through the rocks and sediment below, searching for the edge of mussel shells. They’ll move the mussels they find out of harm’s way of construction equipment that will soon roll into the area.

  • mining Illinois coal

    ISGS project will seek valuable elements, minerals from coal and coal waste

    May 20, 2021 3:00 pm

    The Office of Fossil Energy within the U.S. Department of Energy has selected to award nearly $1.5 million to the Illinois State Geological Survey for a project that will evaluate the availability of valuable rare earth elements and critical minerals in coal and coal waste streams in Illinois and nearby states. 

  • Eades wins award for efforts in the field of biodiversity informatics

    Jun 4, 2018 10:30 am

  • ISWS watershed science team tackles new projects

    Jan 19, 2021 10:15 am

    Ongoing projects in watershed science continue to contribute to long-term databases, while new projects tackle some of today’s tough challenges.

  • Monroe County Illinois lidar map

    ISGS updates Illinois sinkhole data

    Feb 11, 2021 4:45 pm

    The Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) now provides up-to-date downloadable data about sinkholes for the entire state of Illinois. This replaces the previous ISGS GIS dataset of statewide sinkhole areas, which was published in 1997.

  • National Science Foundation funds project to improve weather forecasts for cities

    Feb 23, 2022 12:00 pm

    Scientists at the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) have begun a new project that will ultimately improve weather forecasting of severe storms and heatwaves in cities across the US.

  • Research on diving ducks continues

    Apr 5, 2013 8:00 am

    Researchers at the INHS Forbes Biological Station have banded lesser scaup over the past two seasons to examine their use of restored habitats. Director Heath Hagy hopes to have funding to continue taking blood samples to look at metabolites and contaminants in the birds. “There are a lot of scaup here,” Hagy said. “We are catching 200-400 per day and we are only getting 10-20 recaptures, so there are a ton of birds out there."

  • Few hunters know how their duck stamp dollars are spent

    Oct 6, 2017 9:15 am

    Illinois hunters each pay $25 for an annual federal duck stamp to legally shoot waterfowl, yet few know how their money is used, according to a University of Illinois study.

  • Soils are still too warm for safe and effective fall fertilizer application

    Oct 7, 2021 3:30 pm

    Favorable weather has helped push Illinois’ fall harvest progress well ahead of normal. As a result, producers may be considering early application of fall fertilizer following harvest. University of Illinois experts caution that fall nitrogen fertilizer application on soils warmer than 50 degrees can result in loss of effectiveness and potential environmental issues. 

  • Digitization Projects Make Nature Collections Available to Everyone

    Nov 14, 2016 8:00 am

    Extinct feather lice, invasive fish from the Great Lakes, and rare plants from Pakistan are a few of the millions of species no longer viewed just in dark academic warehouses and museums. Curators at the Prairie Research Institute (PRI) who have helped to preserve these biological specimens are digitizing them for anyone who is interested in science to view them online.

  • Soil temperatures this winter in Illinois were warmer than normal

    Mar 1, 2018 3:15 pm