Two researchers from the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences are among the recipients of the 2025–26 Chancellor’s Research Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Zeynep Madak-Erdogan, associate professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, received funding for Voices of Cancer, a project that addresses cancer disparities through storytelling, research, and community engagement. Other collaborators on the project are Azlan Guttenberg Smith and Craig Alonzo Richard.

Chelsey Byers, Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Specialist, received funding for Empowering Illinois Communities for Better Hearing Health. This project will develop and implement an at-home assessment to support hearing healthcare. Additional collaborators include Dan Fogerty, Sadie Braun, Matthew Berry, and Lisa Gatzke.

Begun in Fall 2020, the goal of the Chancellor’s Research Program is to enhance exceptional cross-disciplinary research strengths and expand collaborations to build cultures of research and scholarship that creates a more robust and equitable society.

Read the full list of 2025-26 funded projects.