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  • Aritra Banerjee, Igor Paprotny, Lucy Shi, Debjit Pal and Carmen Lilley in the UIC Nanotechnology Core Facility. (Photo: UIC Engineering/Jim Young)

    UIC joins semiconductor workforce development center to help meet national demand

    Dec 9, 2024 5:00 pm

    The University of Illinois Chicago is joining the U.S. Department of Commerce's Illinois Semiconductor Workforce Network to help meet the growing national demand over the next decade for skilled workers in semiconductor manufacturing.

  • UIS Chancellor Janet Gooch and the TredBase group standing with a novelty-size check on an easel

    UIS students win $10,000 at Innovate Springfield pitch competition

    Nov 11, 2024 3:30 pm

    A group of five University of Illinois Springfield students won $10,000 in seed funding for their startup, TredBase, during a pitch competition hosted by Innovate Springfield on October 28. The competition featured three entrepreneurial teams pitching innovative ideas.

  • the Urbana-Champaign Quad as seen from the air

    UIUC's iSEE lands $10M donation for climate-smart bioeconomy center

    Oct 21, 2024 12:45 pm

    The Levenick Center for a Climate-Smart Circular Bioeconomy, named after donors Stuart and Nancy Levenick, will aim to reduce the use of fossil fuels and synthetic chemicals in food production and processes in favor of technological and biological solutions to restore and regenerate natural systems.

  • an artistic rendition of vehicles on a city highway

    International partnership fuels transportation equity, EV buy-in

    Sep 23, 2024 2:00 pm

    Leading the way in addressing climate challenges, the U of I System ensures faculty and students experience international collaborations to help better society while also creating a globally focused workforce. 

  • a big collection of various batteries

    UIC joins Dept. of Energy initiative to design next-gen batteries

    Sep 10, 2024 2:45 pm

    The University of Illinois Chicago will join a new Department of Energy initiative uniting researchers from three national laboratories and 12 universities to pursue cleaner, safer and longer-lasting battery technologies. The collaboration will explore the scientific foundations in electrochemistry and materials science that enable breakthroughs in energy storage.

  • A teacher standing at the front of a classroom (Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash)

    DPI, IWERC win $1M NFS grant to study rural teacher retention strategies

    Aug 19, 2024 12:45 pm

    Rural areas experience teacher shortages that exceed the national average. Nonetheless, research on the retention of high-quality teachers – who are essential to student learning – in rural settings remains scarce. This three-year study will be conducted in collaboration with the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools to directly inform and impact teacher retention strategies. 

  • Researchers, from left, agricultural and consumer economics professor Madhu Khanna, civil and environmental engineering professor Jeremy Guest, crop sciences professor DoKyoung Lee and their colleagues weighed the many factors that go into selecting a biofuels feedstock to supply aviation fuel and meet various environmental, land-use and policy related goals. Photo by Michelle Hassel

    UIUC study identifies best regional bioenergy crops for sustainable aviation fuels

    Aug 5, 2024 3:00 pm

    Researchers analyzed the financial and environmental costs and benefits of four biofuels crops used to produce sustainable aviation fuels in the U.S. They found that each feedstock — corn stover, energy sorghum, miscanthus or switchgrass — performed best in a specific region of the rainfed United States. 

  • Arpit Dwivedi, founder and CEO of Cache Energy, presents at the White House on May 9 during the 2024 Energy Program for Innovation Clusters Prize Collaboration Event.

    Research Park energy startup wins White House pitch competition

    Jul 19, 2024 2:45 pm

    Cache Energy, which is headquartered at the University of Illinois Research Park, took first place at the 2024 Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Prize Collaboration Event and won $30,000 for its pitch.

  • Maker Jonathan Aminiel talks about the innovative mini truck he's developing at Orion Lab at UIS.

    New UIS lab provides boosts for tech-focused entrepreneurs

    Jul 1, 2024 11:00 am

    “Students can experiment with tools and materials in our new Orion Lab,” said Joshua Smith, computer science instructor and lab director. “I wanted no barriers of entry. It’s free. It’s for all students, faculty, and staff. Even community members can use our tools and supplies.”

  • Discovery Partners Institute logo

    DPI's IWERC wins $1M grant to study rural teacher retention, shortages

    Jun 17, 2024 2:00 pm

    IWERC's $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation will be used to investigate and identify effective retention strategies for science and math teachers (SMT) in high-needs school districts in rural Illinois. This three-year study will be conducted in collaboration with the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools to directly inform and impact teacher retention strategies.

  • Dr. Meenesh Singh and postdoctoral researcher Dr. Rohit Chauhan working in the lab. (Photo: Jenny Fontaine/ UIC)

    UIC team develops hydrogen production method using solar, agri-waste

    Jun 3, 2024 1:45 pm

    The method reduces the energy needed to extract hydrogen from water by 600%, creating new opportunities for sustainable, climate-friendly chemical production. It uses a carbon-rich substance called biochar to decrease the amount of electricity needed to convert water to hydrogen.

  • wooden spoons containing different colors of powders and spices

    UIUC students dish up high-scale 'restaurants' at the Spice Box

    May 13, 2024 9:45 am

    In the spring semester of their senior year, hospitality management students rotate through different jobs at the Spice Box, from host to server to different cooking roles. They spend each full week transforming a bare-bones restaurant area to match a new theme while practicing and prepping a new menu’s worth of recipes.

  • an illustration of a 3-d printed chameleon

    Chameleons inspire Beckman team to create new multicolor 3D-printing technology

    Apr 29, 2024 10:30 am

    Chameleons change color by diluting or concentrating granules of pigment within their skin cells. A Beckman Institute at Illinois team used the chameleon as inspiration in developing a single 3-D printer ink that can be programmed on-the-fly to become any color in the visible spectrum.

  • Plants growing in laboratory designed to be used in space.

    UIUC team creates stretchy sensors for gardening in space habitats

    Apr 15, 2024 9:45 am

    Growing food successfully can be hard enough here on Earth. Growing food in space faces truly out-of-the-world challenges. But a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign team stretched the limits of engineering - literally - to find a creative solution for gardening in space.

  • a healthcare professional holds a yellow tincture with eyedropper

    UIS certification programs help qualify, prepare workers in cannabis sectors

    Apr 1, 2024 1:45 pm

    Recreational marijuana became legal in Illinois in 2020, but industry leaders have struggled to find qualified employees. With the help of a national marijuana education leader, the University of Illinois in Springfield has launched five cannabis certification programs to prepare a new workforce for this growing sector of the state's economy.

  • An aerial photo of farm fields south of Champaign, highlighting in a red circle where the Alma Mater Plots will be.

    New Alma Mater test plots coming soon to Urbana-Champaign

    Mar 11, 2024 2:45 pm

    You may already know that the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is home to the Morrow Plots, the second-oldest experimental test field in the Americas. It's about to have a younger, bigger sibling. Located south of Curtis Road, the 55-acre Alma Mater Plots is expected to be the site of long-term agricultural research for the next 150 years.

  • Jordi Cabana, professor of chemistry, talks to a student at the Next-Gen Electrochemistry Workshop in Summer 2023.

    Department of Energy ‘Earthshot’ grants fund UIC research on green tech advances

    Feb 26, 2024 10:15 am

    The latest $264M round of grants included awards to projects led by and involving University of Illinois Chicago researchers in the College of Engineering and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Their research will develop new materials for carbon capture and hydrogen transportation and new processes for the cleaner production of steel.

  • two members of the Illini Solar Car team posing in front of their newest car, Calypso

    UIUC-designed and built solar car featured at Chicago Auto Show

    Feb 12, 2024 1:30 pm

    The Calypso was designed and created by students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It took three years to build, and it will soon race across the country. "We'll be racing in the American Solar Challenge throughout the American Midwest this summer – as well as the Formula Sun Grand Prix, which is a track race in Kansas," said UIUC student Erie Berri.

  • A very young dairy calf in a bed of hay, with its mother above

    Feeding calves better, more milk leads to more productive dairy cows

    Jan 31, 2024 10:30 am

    “Feeding calves better makes better milk cows,” says Jim Drackley, PhD and professor of animal sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. That sounds like a simple enough undertaking, but that’s not been the case historically. Early calf nutrition – at the milk phase stage, in particular – is only now getting the level of attention it deserves from producers, nutritionists and veterinarians.

  • a close-up picture of new synthetic diamond semiconductor

    Synthetic diamond semiconductor represents giant leap towards global carbon neutrality

    Jan 16, 2024 12:15 pm

    In a significant leap for semiconductor technology, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a high-performance device made of synthetic diamond. This revolutionary invention boasts the highest breakdown voltage and the lowest leakage current among diamond devices, presenting an efficient and sustainable path towards the global ambition of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

  • UIUC MatSE professor Qing Cao with graduate student and lead author Fufei An.

    UIUC, research partners show vital role of coal in next-gen electronics

    Jan 4, 2024 1:30 pm

    As the country transitions to other means of energy production, it will be important to consider and reevaluate coal’s economic role. A joint research effort from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has shown how coal can play a vital role in next-generation electronic devices.

  • Sangamon CEO students in a classroom

    Innovate Springfield launches mentor matching program for high school students

    Dec 5, 2023 12:00 pm

    Innovate Springfield(link is external), the University of Illinois Springfield’s downtown business incubator, is partnering with the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition (ISTC) to create a professional mentorship matching program for high school students in the Sangamon CEO program. The students will be paired with innovative leaders to work on student-driven business startup ideas. 

  • Engineering students dissect car phone-mount products and plan for their presentations.

    Collaborative learning experiences crucial in preparing engineering students for the workforce

    Dec 5, 2023 12:00 pm

    These experiential, hands-on group projects aim to build the collaborative skills that these future engineers will encounter in the workplace and that accreditation organizations indicate are crucial components of engineering curricula. 

  • 2023 U of I System Leadership State Tour logo

    On the 2023 Leadership State Tour: preparing tomorrow's leaders

    Dec 5, 2023 12:00 pm

    We're committed to increasing opportunities for all who seek higher education, from high school students deciding on their next steps to transfer students joining us on their educational journeys. The University of Illinois System is eager to welcome ambitious learners to our world-class universities.

  • The UIUC quad at dusk, with many students

    UIUC-related research hubs get official designation from U.S. Economic Development Association

    Dec 5, 2023 11:45 am

    The Illinois Fermentation and Agriculture Biomanufacturing Hub (iFAB) and The Bloch Tech Hub, two research hubs associated with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), have received official designations as Regional Innovation and Technology Hubs from President Biden and the U.S. Economic Development Administration. 

  • U of I System President Tim Killeen, Jerry Bell, and Dale Morrison.

    Real Impact: Robust collaborations activate diverse vendors' successes

    Dec 5, 2023 11:45 am

    The Diverse Supplier Development Program welcomes minority-, woman-, persons with disabilities-, and veteran-owned businesses at no cost to participants. The diversity procurement program lives out the system’s commitment to creating a more inclusive Illinois economy.