2026-09-24 - The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences has named several accomplished faculty members to endowed chair and professorship positions. The positions are some of the highest honors that can be granted by the college. The recipients will be awarded discretionary funding to carry out research and scholarship related to their fields. They will be honored in investiture ceremonies scheduled...

2026-09-23 - Entomology professor Dr. Gene Robinson has co-authored an opinion piece published on September 23 in the Chicago Tribune addressing the critical need for trust in artificial intelligence. The article, titled “Chicago must lead on building trust in AI,” explores how to navigate the challenges and opportunities presented by rapidly advancing AI technologies and emphasizes the importance of...

2026-09-14 -   MADRE DE DIOS RIVER, Peru — It is one of our last collection nights in the Tambopata National Reserve in southeastern Peru and we are setting up light traps on a dock near our field station in the Amazon rainforest. The white light works like a false moon: insects fly toward it, and soon our white cloth is filled with beetles, moths, mosquitoes and grasshoppers, among other critters,...

2026-09-03 - The first lesson Marianne Alleyne learned from working with engineers had nothing to do with insects.It had to do with language."Actually doing interdisciplinary research or transdisciplinary research is really difficult," said Alleyne, a professor of entomology at the U of I. "We also use almost different languages."She likes to...

2026-09-02 - The Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA) has long been one of the Department of Entomology's top ambassadors to the community, connecting the public with the world of insects through hands-on outreach and education. This past spring, those efforts were recognized with the University of...

2026-08-05 -  SIB is proud to share that Professor Xuguo "Joe" Zhou, the C. W. Kearns, C. L. Metcalf, and W. P. Flint Endowed Chair in Entomology, has been named one of nine distinguished entomologists honored as 2026 Fellows of the Entomological Society of America (ESA). This recognition highlights Professor Zhou’s outstanding contributions to the field of entomology and his commitment to advancing...

2026-07-14 - CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Honey bee larvae lack the sophisticated olfactory capabilities of adult honey bees, a new study finds. Scientists point to this temporary loss-of-function as a side effect of the nurse bees’ heroic level of brood care, calling it a consequence of social evolution.The new findings are detailed in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Honey bees are highly eusocial,...

2026-07-09 - In a recent publication with The Conversation, Entomology Associate Professor Ester Ngumbi reveals groundbreaking insights into the hidden costs of fertilizer use. While fertilizers are vital for crop production, Ngumbi highlights how excessive use can damage essential soil microbes that underpin long-term soil health and fertility. With rising fertilizer prices, her research suggests that using...

2026-06-22 -  The value of basic science into insect biology is no more evident than when a crisis arises involving a devastating insect pest like the New World screwworm, says University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign entomology professor and department head May Berenbaum. In...

2026-06-11 -  Entomology professor Esther Ngumbi became interested in the chemical communication between plants and insects when she was growing up on her family’s farm in Kenya.“Halfway through the growing season, I would actually watch a lot of our work go to waste because insects would come and eat a lot of our crops … meaning we won’t have...

2026-05-28 - The College of LAS is where curiosity drives impact, and the new Curiosity to Impact (C2I) Fund helps faculty members to do exactly that.Announced in fall of 2025, the C2I Fund is part of the college’s Strategic Investment Program. Faculty members submit proposals for the creation or revision of courses, certificates, and programs. This...

2026-04-30 - A newly published study in the Journal of Chemical Ecology offers new insight into how plants respond when faced with multiple environmental challenges at once. This work was led by former undergraduate researchers in the lab of Assistant Professor in Entomology Esther Ngumbi...

2026-04-13 - CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign presents the Campus Awards for Excellence in Faculty Leadership each year to distinguished faculty who enrich the intellectual vitality of the university and the broader community.The awards were presented in three categories — faculty mentoring, distinguished executive officer and outstanding faculty leadership — to five faculty...

2026-03-30 - CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Entomologist Gene Robinson, the newly appointed executive director and CEO of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Discovery Partners Institute, will be inducted into the American Philosophical Society at a ceremony in April.Robinson holds a University Swanlund...

2026-02-24 - CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Counting the marginal dorsal hairs on blacklegged tick larvae would probably be a tedious affair for most people. But it is a normal day for me in the Medical Entomology Laboratory of the Illinois Natural History Survey.I need a stereomicroscope to see the hairs, which vary in...