2026-10-05 -  CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists used machine-learning and super-resolution microscopy to overcome a challenge that has stymied research into the natural history of grasses for decades. Their method allowed them to detect subtle differences among grass pollen grains and trace changes in grass diversity at one site over a period of 25,000 years.“Open grasslands are a relatively recent ecosystem...

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...

2026-09-08 - The topic of coffee is an extraordinarily lens through which to connect and integrate themes ranging from conservation biology and sustainability, global change, economic development, indigenous rights, supply changes, marketing, commodity processing and industrialization, and historical contingency. Many students enrolled in the CHEM 199 course were intrinsically fascinated by (and probably...

2026-08-31 -  When Dr. Ya Min (Minya) joined the Plant Biology faculty, she already knew which course she hoped to teach."I love plants and teaching people the wonders of plants," she said. "So IB 103: Introduction to Plant Biology was the ideal teaching assignment. When I interviewed, I made it clear that it was the...

2026-08-27 -  Plant Biology and The School of Integrative Biology (SIB) joins colleagues around the world in remembering Dr. Stephen P. Long, Stanley O. Ikenberry Endowed Chair Emeritus of Plant Biology and Crop Sciences, who passed away on Sept. 9, 2025, at the age of 75. His passing marked the loss of one of the world's most...

2026-08-13 - CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Five professors at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have been named 2026-2027 University Scholars in recognition of their achievements in teaching, scholarship and service.The program honors faculty excellence and provides $15,000 to each scholar for three years to enhance their academic careers. That money may be used for travel, equipment, research assistants, books...

2026-08-11 -  In the midwestern summer, humans and plants have to breathe through the heat and humidity. Researchers hope that a retooled crop plant—one with an improved ventilation system within its leaves—could thrive while avoiding drought stress by reducing “crop sweat”. Thanks to a next generation imaging technology powered by Argonne National Laboratory’s particle collider beamline, a team of...

2026-08-10 -  Plant Biology graduate student Angelique Acevedo attended the Botany 2026 conference in Tucson, Arizona, where she received the Katherine Esau Award for her presentation, “Fascinating Fasciation, Whorls, and Spirals: Cellular and Molecular Basis for Phyllotactic Leaf Transitions in Monkeyflower.” The Katherine Esau Award is a prestigious...

2026-07-31 - In recognition of her outstanding achievements in the transfer of photosynthesis research to the benefit of society at large, Professor of Plant Biology Tracy Lawson (PFS co-leader/CAMBERS) at the University of Illinois and the University of Essex, has won the Innovation Award from the International Society on Photosynthesis Research (ISPR). The award was created in 2007 by ISPR to celebrate...

2026-06-04 - In a publication from last fall in New Phytologist, Plant Biology Assistant Professor Rose Marks shared new research involving the resurrection plant Myrothamnus flabellifolia. The study focused on how the plant survives extreme dehydration, a trait that could help...

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...

2026-05-14 -  The College of Liberal Arts and Science (LAS) has honored 20 professors, researchers, and research staff members with named scholar positions and research awards in recognition of their contributions to education and learning at the University of Illinois. Amongst the 20 honored by the College of LAS, two are from the School of Integrative Biology. The awards include the LAS...

2026-04-28 - A new publication by Assistant Professor in Plant Biology Rose Marks and Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) postdoctoral fellow Shawn Abrahams is reshaping how scientists understand one of nature’s most remarkable survival strategies: the ability of some plants to dry out almost...

2026-03-30 - CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Some Arctic regions regain their “greenness” within a decade of a sudden permafrost collapse, while others can take a century or more to recover, researchers report in a new study. The difference is directly related to each site’s gross primary productivity, a measure of its photosynthetic capacity, the researchers discovered. This finding will allow scientists to accurately...

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...