blog posts Why the U of I is a top college for entrepreneurs Sep 1, 2022 3:15 pm This Forbes article breaks down why the University of Illinois is a top college for entrepreneurs. VR to help prepare for life after prison Jul 16, 2018 3:00 pm University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign design students created immersive reality scenarios to help people who are soon to be released from prison meet certain challenges, such as learning to pay at the pump for gas. More... Virtual Archaeology Nov 14, 2018 8:30 am A team at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is designing Virtual Archaeology, a classroom and laboratory course that will allow students to experience an archaeology field dig without leaving campus. More... Using waste biochar to conserve water for agriculture, reduce air pollution May 15, 2023 9:45 am Burnt pistachio shells are injected deep under farmland using a machine normally used to aerate golf courses. UIUC ACES professor emeritus Gerald Nelson is conducting the field trial. Using AI to improve airline pricing Aug 1, 2019 12:15 pm Researchers are using artificial intelligence to help airlines price ancillary services such as checked bags and seat reservations in a way that is beneficial to customers’ budget and privacy, as well as to the airline industry’s bottom line. More... USDA selects UIUC team to study spring dust storms over Midwest Dec 11, 2023 12:00 pm A team led by the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)'s Agroecosystems Sustainability Center will study how climate, farming activities, and extreme weather events contribute to creating Midwestern dust storms, thereby predicting their formation earlier and more accurately. USDA grant to support processing pig waste into binders for asphalt Dec 21, 2022 12:45 pm A team of UIUC researchers have been awarded a $2.7M grant to investigate the conversion of swine manure and food waste into materials for road pavement and roof shingles. Urbana researchers develop emergency ventilator prototype Sep 15, 2020 10:15 am A team led by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Grainger College of Engineering produced a prototype emergency ventilator in just 12 days. U of I to lead two of seven new national artificial intelligence institutes Oct 2, 2020 10:00 am The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will host two new artificial intelligence institutes funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. U of I leads new $15 million institute to understand climate change and disasters Oct 12, 2021 10:45 am A new national, collaborative initiative to enable geospatial data-driven scientific discovery will create a $15-million institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to better understand the risks and impacts of climate change and disasters. UIUC, UIC part of new $15.5M mathematical institute Jul 21, 2020 9:15 am NSF has awarded $15.5 million to four universities in Illinois to create an institute to bring powerful mathematical ideas to bear on key contemporary scientific and technological challenges. UIUC team working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cattle Oct 30, 2023 10:00 am University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) animal sciences researchers Rod Mackie and Josh McCann are leading a three-year international effort to reduce methane greenhouse gas emissions resulting from rumen fermentation in beef and dairy cattle. UIUC team transforms abandoned oil well into geothermal energy storage 'battery' Feb 6, 2023 11:45 am The researchers successfully turned an abandoned oil and gas well into a geothermal energy storage system, repurposing a once-polluting resource extraction site into what they say amounts to a green energy battery. UIUC team develops novel method for desalinating water at scale Jul 10, 2023 1:45 pm The researchers modified an electrodialysis method for efficiency and cost savings to provide a broadly accessible way to create drinking water through desalination. UIUC researchers working to make air taxis a reality May 5, 2022 2:30 pm Thanks to a $6M NASA grant, professor Naira Hovakimyan leads the way toward making flying cabs a reality. And passengers won’t even need a driver. UIUC professors examine effects of warming planet on beef production Aug 7, 2023 2:30 pm About 20% of all global greenhouse gas emissions come from animal-based food products, and a 2022 study in the Lancet Planetary Health found that cattle heat stress losses will be far greater in most tropical regions than in temperate regions. UIUC professor looks to 'turbo-charge' photosynthesis process Oct 2, 2023 10:15 am Professor Steve Long is the principal investigator and director of a project called Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE), which aims to genetically tweak plants to increase their yields by improving their ability to photosynthesize. UIUC joins tech industry leaders for new Speech Accessibility Project Oct 6, 2022 2:30 pm Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft and nonprofit partners pledge to expand speech recognition capabilities for people with disabilities and diverse speech patterns. UIUC group develops steam condenser coating that could boost global power efficiency Sep 11, 2023 2:15 pm The coating is for steam condensers used in fossil fuel steam-cycle generation, and it could boost the overall process efficiency by 2% - savings megatons of carbon dioxide and trillions of gallons of water each year globally. UIUC co-leads DOE grant to engineer infinitely recyclable bioplastic packaging Mar 23, 2022 9:15 am The Department of Energy has granted $2 million over three years to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and two partners to develop plastic that can be recycled perpetually, reducing waste and pollution from single-use plastics. UIS senior breaking the wall of nutrient pollution Nov 14, 2019 2:30 pm A UIS senior chemistry student was named "Young Innovator of the Year" at the Illinois Falling Walls Lab competition and presented her work at the international competition. More... UIS Music Program and Illinois Symphony Orchestra form innovative partnership Oct 5, 2021 10:45 am The University of Illinois Springfield Music Program and the Illinois Symphony Orchestra (ISO) have joined forces in a new Partnership in Education and Civic Engagement intended to enrich the cultural, educational and career-training opportunities of UIS students, to enhance music education in the Springfield-area and to extend the reach of both organizations into the community. UIS Computer Science Department opens high-tech research laboratory Apr 3, 2023 10:00 am The lab is open to all UIS students, faculty and staff for their research projects and includes 3D printers, CNC machines, laser cutters and engravers, computing, cyber security, and fabrication equipment. UIS buys future downtown Springfield Innovation Center property Dec 12, 2022 7:30 am Scheduled to open in 2025, the University of Illinois Springfield Innovation Center will serve central Illinois as part of the Illinois Innovation Network (IIN) to drive innovation, economic growth and workforce development across the state. UIC students design winning solution for renovating CHA property Jun 26, 2023 10:30 am The team's plan to revitalize two vacant, low-rise six-unit buildings at 420-430 W. North Avenue beat out teams from across the country, and netted them a $20,000 prize. UIC researcher wins McKnight Award for neuroscience innovations Aug 11, 2022 10:30 am Ruixuan Gao, UIC assistant professor of chemistry and biological sciences, is one of three researchers recently selected to receive funding from the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience for his project that could advance the ability to analyze brain function. UIC opens three new health care simulation centers Sep 13, 2019 2:30 pm This fall, UIC celebrates the opening of three health care simulation centers, run individually by the university’s College of Medicine, College of Nursing and College of Pharmacy. More... UIC opens $8.8 million Surgical Innovation & Training Laboratory Sep 16, 2020 10:00 am Operating robotic scissors, University of Illinois Chicago Chancellor Michael Amiridis snipped a ribbon to officially open the University of Illinois College of Medicine Surgical Innovation & Training Laboratory, on Sept. 15. UIC joins national quantum computing center Jun 15, 2022 10:30 am The University of Illinois Chicago has been selected to join the Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage, a U.S. Department of Energy-funded center focused on building the tools necessary to create scalable, distributed and fault-tolerant quantum computer systems. UIC Engineering faculty win $2M grant to improve power grid transmission, security Mar 13, 2023 1:30 pm UIC College of Engineering faculty members Sudip K. Mazumder and Mohammad B. Shadmand believe these substations will detect power grid anomalies faster, and will better resist cyberattacks on the power grid. UIC chemical engineers get 'muddy' to develop renewable fuel cell Apr 13, 2020 9:30 am University of Illinois at Chicago researcher Vikas Berry and his colleagues built a fuel cell from electrogenic microbes covered in extremely thin graphene sheets. UIC, Argonne National Lab partner for Next Generation Electrochemistry event Jun 5, 2023 3:45 pm Electrochemistry is the study of chemical reactions that generate, or are driven by, external electrical currents. Because the field is expanding so significantly — and quickly — there is a growing need to attract scientists to careers in electrochemical science and technology. Two UIC researchers biomedical fellowships Mar 8, 2022 9:45 am Two UIC researchers have been named to the inaugural class of the Chicago Biomedical Consortium Entrepreneurial Fellows program. Turning water into fuel Oct 16, 2018 10:45 am A team of chemical and biomolecular engineering researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a new material that helps split water molecules for hydrogen fuel production. More... Tunnelbot on Juipiter's moon Jan 24, 2019 9:00 am Researchers at the Unviersity of Illinois at Chicago, part of a NASA team of scientists, presented a nuclear-powered tunnelbot solution to drill below the icy surface of Europa, Jupiter's moon, for possible evidence of life. More... Trustees approve purchase of new UIS Innovation Center home Jul 22, 2022 9:45 am The University of Illinois Board of Trustees has approved the purchase of a property in downtown Springfield that will become the new University of Illinois Springfield Innovation Center. True lithium-air battery Jul 20, 2018 2:00 pm Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and at Argonne National Laboratory have designed a new lithium-air battery that works in a natural air environment and still functioned after a record-breaking 750 charge/discharge cycles. More... Third time's the charm for Illinois Space Society student rocket Dec 2, 2022 2:45 pm A rocket named Intrepid III might imply that it’s the third in a series of successful rockets. But the truth is, Intrepid III was born out of the failed launches of Intrepid I and II. The “III” reflects the determination and resiliency of the students who overcame two devastating failures with one outstanding success. Team uses digital cameras, machine learning to predict neurological disease Oct 14, 2022 10:45 am In an effort to streamline the process of diagnosing patients with multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease, researchers used digital cameras to capture changes in gait – a symptom of these diseases – and developed a machine-learning algorithm that can differentiate those with MS and PD from people without those neurological conditions. Sunlight polarization patterns may be effective underwater substitute for GPS Jul 24, 2023 2:00 pm The UIUC team's method uses the polarization angle of incoming sunlight, matched with precise time-of-day and geographic coordinates, to find a location on Earth down to almost 1,000 feet underwater. Study pushes design limits on rotary blades in quest for quieter copters/drones May 19, 2022 3:30 pm Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign tested the limits of rotary blade design to find an efficient, but quieter option. Students dream it, build it and patients benefit Feb 23, 2022 9:15 am Wearable Tech is a 400-level course at UIC where students dream it, build it and patients benefit. It is the brainchild of clinical associate professor Hananeh Esmailbeigi. Students build solar-powered home in Rantoul for DOE Decathlon Apr 18, 2023 12:00 pm The student-led Illinois Solar Decathlon is competing with more than a dozen national and international collegiate teams to design and build the most sustainable, cutting-edge house powered by renewables. Students build solar charging station for sustainability vehicle May 26, 2022 8:45 am A team of students from the UIC chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World designed and built a solar charging station for Gemma, an electric vehicle used by the Office of Planning, Sustainability and Project Management. Spinal cord gives bio-bots walking rhythm Apr 28, 2020 10:30 am University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers developed tiny walking “spinobots,” powered by rat muscle and spinal cord tissue on a soft, 3D-printed hydrogel skeleton. Shrimp-inspired camera Jul 21, 2018 2:45 pm University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign electrical and computer engineering professor Viktor Gruev led a study demonstrating underwater global positioning made possible by a bio-inspired camera that mimics the eyes of a mantis shrimp. More... Scientists work on new metals for everything from cars to lightpoles May 19, 2022 3:15 pm CBS Chicago goes inside the UIC Advanced Materials and Microstructures Lab, where researchers are researching how to make stronger metals. Scientists develop environmentally safe, frost-resistant coatings Apr 7, 2022 9:00 am UIC researchers have developed a longer-lasting alternative to conventional deicers, like those used on airplanes. They say it could also benefit other industries. Scientists crack upcycling plastics to reduce greenhouse gas emissions Oct 6, 2022 2:45 pm Scientists from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and its partners developed a breakthrough process to transform polyethylene into polypropylene, which could reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Scavenger nanoparticles could make fuel cell-powered vehicles a reality Apr 7, 2022 10:00 am Engineers at the University of Illinois Chicago are among a collaborative team that has developed a material that could give fuel cell systems a competitive edge over the battery systems that currently power most electric vehicles.
