Thanks to research breakthroughs by CABBI’s internationally known miscanthus experts and geneticists, this unique plant is poised to be a game-changer on the bioenergy front — and beyond.

Three ACES scientists are among 12 faculty at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who 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.

Sarah Low, professor and head of the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics within the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has been named a Fellow of the Regional Science Association International — the highest ho

A longstanding, impactful program housed in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) has announced its newest cohort of faculty members who will strengthen ACES connections and impacts around the world. 

The 2025-2026 ACES Global Academy: Partnerships for Global Impact program includes five two-person faculty teams that will work on an international research project together while also participating in a series of relevant seminars and roundtable discussions to build skills and knowledge about international work. 

For as long as she can remember, Department of Animal Sciences student Kylee Oglesby has been surrounded by cattle. Growing up on her family’s cattle operation in Southern Illinois, Oglesby helps raise about 400 cow-calf pairs per year. These experiences shaped her passion for cattle and ultimately led to her goal of becoming a large animal veterinarian. 

On a 2009 hike in the Huachuca Mountains of southeastern Arizona, a group of birders heard an otherworldly, ethereal bird song floating, flute-like, through the canyon. The hikers identified the singer as a brown-backed solitaire, recognizing immediately that the bird was very far from home. The brown-backed solitaire spends its life in the mountain forests of Mexico and Central America — what was it doing in Arizona? 

Zoos and private collections teach, inspire, and connect people to animals they may never encounter in the wild. And, in some cases, those animals represent valuable ‘assurance populations’ — essentially, backups that could be used to revive critically endangered populations in their native ranges.

Professor Jessica Rutkoski was formally invested as the inaugural Siemer Milling Company Associate Professor of Wheat Breeding in the Department of Crop Sciences in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign during a ceremony on Oct. 27, 2025.

Eight undergraduates from the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) have been selected to participate in an on-campus, paid internship program to pursue work related to global food and nutritional security. 

“This is essentially a paid research experience to work in a lab for an ACES professor,” says Lauren Karplus, assistant director of international programs for ACES, who manages the internship program. 

Airplane travel is more popular than ever, and our desire for fast transportation means jet fuel has become a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Now, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have discovered a novel way to address that problem—by converting food waste into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) that meets industry standards without relying on fossil fuel blends.