Levenick Professorships honor Guan and Guest for advancing global sustainability
The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE), College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES), and The Grainger College of Engineering celebrated the investiture of two campus researchers for their leadership in advancing resilient food systems, clean energy transitions, and shaping global sustainability technologies.
“What we’re celebrating is momentum,” said iSEE Director and Agricultural and Consumer Economics Professor Madhu Khanna. “The Levenicks’ commitment to sustainability is inspiring a new generation of leaders who are tackling our most pressing global challenges.”
Professors Kaiyu Guan, as the Levenick Professor of Sustainability, and Jeremy Guest, as the Levenick Professor and Director of the Levenick Center for a Climate-Smart Circular Bioeconomy, were honored on October 9 at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
“This investiture honors not only a remarkable record but a mindset: clarity of purpose, intellectual rigor, and a conviction that science should serve people and invite students to see themselves shaping the future,” said College of ACES Dean Germán Bollero.
Their appointments were made possible through the generosity of Stuart L. and Nancy J. Levenick, longtime supporters of the University of Illinois, whose philanthropy has helped establish endowed professorships, student scholarships, and sustainability programs that drive real-world change.
“With this dual investiture, we recognize the contributions of these two outstanding faculty members,” said Grainger College of Engineering Executive Associate Dean Philippe Geubelle. “We also celebrate a model for how the University of Illinois can address pressing societal challenges through collaboration, partnership, and shared vision.”
Kaiyu Guan is an internationally recognized scientist whose work integrates computational modeling, satellite remote sensing, field observation, and artificial intelligence to understand how climate and human activity shape agriculture and ecosystems. A professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences in the College of ACES, Guan has produced more than 160 highly cited publications and has received over $22 million in competitive support from NASA, NSF, USDA, and DOE. His recognitions range from the NSF CAREER and NASA New Investigator awards to the AGU James B. Macelwane Medal and the FoodShot Global GroundBreaker Prize. As the founding director of the Agroecosystem Sustainability Center and chief scientist for the NASA Acres Program, his research advances food and water security while promoting sustainable agricultural systems worldwide.
Jeremy Guest, professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in Grainger Engineering, also serves as associate director for research at iSEE and as deputy theme lead for sustainability for the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI). He is the recipient of an NSF CAREER Award, the Paul L. Busch Award for innovation in applied water quality research from the Water Research Foundation, and the James J. Morgan Environmental Science & Technology Early Career Award for creativity and leadership in his field. With more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, his work focuses on advancing technologies that recover resources and convert plants into products, food, and fuels.
About Stuart L. and Nancy J. Levenick
Stuart L. Levenick is a recently retired group president of Caterpillar Inc. in Peoria, Illinois. During his ten years as a member of Caterpillar’s Executive Office, Levenick managed businesses spanning marketing, manufacturing operations, engineering, supply chain, procurement, and human resources. Levenick graduated from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor of Science degree from the College of ACES in forestry and is a Sloan Fellow with a Master of Science degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He is a member of the Board of Directors, Lead Director, Corporate Governance Committee Chair, and member of the Executive and Nuclear and Operations Oversight Committees of Entergy Corporation, New Orleans, Louisiana; recently retired Director of Finning International Inc. and W. W. Grainger, Inc.; a member of the Board of Directors, Budget & Finance and Engagement Committees of the University of Illinois Foundation; and a member of the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics Campaign Planning Committee, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois.
While attending the University of Illinois, Levenick was named football team captain, Offensive MVP, earned All-Big Ten honors, and was selected in the 1976 NFL draft. He was inducted into the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame in 2009 and was awarded the University of Illinois Varsity “I” Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. He was a recipient of the College of ACES Career Achievement Award in 2018.
Nancy Levenick graduated from the University of Toronto, Faculty of Education, and taught high school English in Toronto before the couple embarked on an eight-move, global career, including assignments in Canada, Singapore, Russia, and Japan, returning to Peoria in 2004. Since then, Nancy Levenick has been an active member of the Children’s Hospital of Illinois Advocacy Board and a board member of WTVP and the Peoria Ballet. Both Stuart and Nancy have been active members of the Heart of Illinois United Way.