Voices of ACES

All Students Educators From the Dean Social
October 12, 2020
By Hannah Spangler
Keeping the Greenhand Conference tradition going, virtually
Hundreds of high school students are filling the stock pavilion, over 60 volunteers are getting classrooms ready, making sure the long line of pizzas are ready to feed a hungry crowd or checking in the busloads of FFA Greenhands and their advisors, and a committee of conference planners waits excitedly for all of their hard work to unfold.
September 29, 2020
By Anneli Cers
Global Food Security scholar conducts research on women’s empowerment in India
Around the world, many people live with the burden of not knowing from where their next meal will come. I grew up in Chicago, and although I did not realize it at the time, food insecurity was a very real struggle for many of my peers. In 2014, 338,000 students in the Chicago Public Schools system qualified for free or reduced school lunches. This was enough for the school district to begin offering free breakfast and lunch to all of its students.
September 4, 2020
By Office of Marketing Communications
Emily Green, Event Manager for Pear Tree Estate and L.A. Gourmet Catering in Champaign, IL
“I manage special events and all things that are involved on the day of the event. This includes coordinating with other vendors, acting as a point of contact for clients, and communicating with back of house staff to ensure things run smoothly. I am responsible for event staff management, training, and hiring. I also manage alcohol purchasing, costing, and recipe development. Working for a small business allows me to experience many aspects of the event industry.
September 4, 2020
By Office of Marketing Communications
Melissa Wang, MS
As a product developer for Quaker Foods North America, Melissa supports innovation projects, focused on the bars category. Working on new product innovation involves creating formulas in benchtop formulation, scaling products up to full plant production, and working cross functionally to deliver the desired product in a safe and nutritious way. This requires both technical understanding to develop the product and communication skills to collaborate with the project team. Melissa completed her Undergraduate and Masters in Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
August 31, 2020
By Carolina Garibay
Writing for College of ACES is eye-opening experience
When I became a writer for the College of ACES, I didn’t exactly know what to expect. Being a journalism major and someone who tries to avoid any type of science classes at all costs, applying for a job in ACES was very out of my comfort zone.
August 27, 2020
By Paulina Cylwik
The treasure of uncertainty
As we head into a new school year full of change, uncertainty and new opportunity, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on a summer full of personal and professional development. A summer that has taught me to embrace all of what life has to offer: Unpredictability and Unknowns.
May 27, 2020
By Katrina Cotten
Wildlife conservation and education
As a natural resources and environmental sciences major with a concentration in fish, wildlife, and conservation biology, I’m very interested in working with wildlife in the future.
May 19, 2020
By John Searl
Genetic diversity of corn
As an aspiring corn breeder, a topic I am aware of from both an academic and private business perspective is that of genetic diversity in corn.
May 11, 2020
By Stephanie Henry
"Fight BAC!" FSHN 101 students practice good food safety behavior at home
Before classes wrapped up, Dawn Bohn, a food science and human nutrition teaching assistant professor had a food safety week in her FSHN 101 class. With students being at home, and for extra credit, Bohn challenged her students to submit photos of themselves engaged in good food safety behaviors.
May 6, 2020
By Alyssa Ramir
The Phoenix Generation will do extraordinary things
The year 2050 is the start of a new phoenix cycle. Our civilization will reinvent itself, much like it has done in previous phoenix cycles like the downfall of the Roman Empire or the renaissance and reformation.