Drought stress has long been a limiting factor for crop production around the world, a challenge exacerbated by climate change. For more than a century­, scientists have targeted a key plant trait known as water use efficiency (WUE) to help crops grow with less water and avoid suffering from...

The College of LAS has honored 17 professors with named scholar and professorship positions in recognition of their contributions to research and education at the University of Illinois. The named positions include the Brad and Karen Smith Scholars, the Lincoln Excellence for Assistant Professors...

Perhaps at first, it was a case of being in the right place at the right time for Lisa Ainsworth, but in the past 20-plus years, she he has left an indelible mark on the advancement of crop resilience to climate change. In 2001, USDA...

Researchers at the University of Illinois have contributed to a large-scale international study that has reconstructed a comprehensive "tree of life" for flowering plants.  The study offers new light on the evolutionary history of angiosperms, which account for approximately 90 percent of all...

In January the University of Illinois announced that five College of LAS faculty members have been named university endowed chairs or professors, an honor awarded to highly...

New, highly stretchable sensors can monitor and transmit plant growth information without human intervention, report University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers in the journal Device. The polymer sensors are resilient to humidity and temperature, can stretch over 400 percent while...