News

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...

2026-02-21 - Plant owners with a so-called green thumb often seem to have a more finely tuned sense of what their plants need than the rest of us. A new “smart lighting” system for indoor vertical farms grants this ability on a facility-wide scale, responsively meeting plants’ needs while reducing energy inefficiencies, clearing a path for indoor farms as an energy-efficient food security strategy.The system...

2026-02-17 - Press ReleaseDate: Feb 11, 2025Contact: Joseph Spina or Ember Clodfelterjmspina2@illinois.edu or enc3@illinois.eduWebsite: https://publish.illinois.edu/uiuc-egsa/ifff/Facebook: Insect Fear Film FestivalThe 43rd Annual Insect Fear Film...

2026-02-03 - SIB is proud to announce that Christina Swanson has been honored with the 2026 Student Success Champion Award. This distinguished recognition highlights Christina’s exceptional dedication to fostering student achievement, well-being...

2026-02-03 - Corn bred with genes from wild relatives can reshape soil microbial communities and reduce nitrogen loss — with no yield reduction — according to new research from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The advancement marks the first time corn’s genetic makeup has been linked with...

2026-01-28 - Scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have helped uncover how fish skin protects fish from sharp, fast attacks in the wild, and the research highlights how curiosity, creativity, and mentorship can come together to drive discovery. The study was co-authored by Phil Anderson, an Associate Professor of Evolution,...

2026-01-21 - We CU and the Humanities Research Institute (HRI) are proud to announce the spring 2026 Humanities in Action scholars. The new cohort includes seven students from the colleges of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and...

2026-01-20 - After nearly 15 years of dedicated leadership, Gene Robinson has stepped down as IGB Director to assume the role of Executive Director and CEO of the Discovery Partners Institute. Lisa Ainsworth, Charles Adlai Ewing Chair of Crop Physiology in the Department of Crop Sciences and the Department of Plant Biology, has agreed to serve as interim director of the IGB for the coming year.A long-time...

2026-01-07 - CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A collaboration between Princeton University engineers and entomologists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign began with the researchers chasing grasshoppers in a hot parking lot. Their eventual focus on the hindwings of one species of grasshopper, Schistocerca americana, the American grasshopper, is inspiring a new approach to untethered gliding flight. ...

2025-12-12 - Eight staff members and academic professionals are being honored by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences for outstanding professional contributions.Heather Lash, Kristi McDuffie, and Jamie Thomas-Ward have been selected to receive the LAS Academic Professional Award, which provides a cash award as well as a salary increment funded by LAS alumni.Kevin Armstrong, Anita Kaiser, Heidi Gnadt,...

2025-12-10 - Plant biology professor Tracy Lawson, plant biology professor emeritus Govindjee Govindjee, and the late plant biology emeritus professor Stephen P. Long were all ranked among the top seven highly-ranked...

2025-12-08 - Research by Plant Biology Professor Andrew Leakey was recently highlighted in the Chicago Tribune in a feature story examining the promise of miscanthus, a fast-growing perennial grass with wide-ranging applications. The article explores how Illinois researchers are advancing...

2025-12-03 - A team of plant biologists has made an exciting discovery about how flowers grow and organize themselves, and one of the key authors was Assistant Professor in Plant Biology Ya Min (Minya) from the University of Illinois. Their new study, published in the journal Current Biology, explores how a gene called CYCLOIDEA (CYC) helps shape...

2025-12-01 - A new study in the journal New Phytologist reveals how plants move sugar to get the energy they need to grow, even in challenging conditions. The research was led by the group of Li‑Qing Chen, Associate Professor of Plant Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, highlighting the importance of this...

2025-11-14 - CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Twelve scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have been named to the 2025 Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list. The list recognizes researchers and social scientists who have demonstrated exceptional influence, as reflected through their publication of multiple papers frequently cited by their peers during the last decade.The highly cited Illinois...