URBANA, Ill. – School test scores often show gaps in performance between white and non-white students. Understanding the complex reasons behind this can help reduce those gaps and promote social equality, explains Mary Paula Arends-Kuenning, associate professor of agricultural and consumer economics at the University of Illinois.

Arends-Kuenning is co-author of a study that analyzes math test scores for 9^th-grade students in Brazil and breaks down the characteristics associated with performance gaps between different racial groups.

URBANA, Ill. – An international research team has received a $1.4 million grant from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council to investigate food availability and food security among indigenous mothers and children in remote Australian communities.

URBANA, Ill. - During early adolescence, especially the transition to middle school, kids face a number of challenges both socially and academically. Peer rejection, bullying, and conflict with friends are common social stressors. These challenges can affect adolescents’ ability to form positive peer relationships, a key developmental task for this age group.

URBANA, Ill. – The U.S. Midwest produces at least a third of the world’s corn and soybean supply each year. Feeding the world requires a lot of fertilizer, mostly in the form of nitrogen and phosphorus. While nitrogen can literally be pulled out of the air, phosphorus has to be mined from finite phosphate rock reserves and treated to be made available to plants. Most of the world’s phosphate rock is in Morocco, and at some point these reserves will run out.

URBANA, Ill. – While obesity is a major public health issue, the causes and consequences of obesity are complex, encompassing a multitude of physiological, emotional, and environmental factors. A program in the University of Illinois Department of Human Development and Family Studies is taking a “flip the classroom” approach to training and educating students in obesity prevention.

URBANA, Ill. – When a plant senses an invading pathogen, it activates a molecular signaling cascade to switch on its defense mechanisms. One such mechanism involves sacrificing host cells to the pathogen. This is a tightly controlled process that involves the work of plant proteins to ensure that the sacrificial cells are only killed if the pathogen is attacking. This process, called the cell death response, ensures that only a few host cells die.

URBANA, Ill. – Fall-applied anhydrous ammonia may not fulfill as much of corn’s nitrogen needs as previously assumed. According to a new study from the University of Illinois, the effectiveness of the practice depends on the soil.

The study used a “tagged” form of ammonia to determine how much of the nitrogen in corn grain and plant material comes from fertilizer, versus nitrogen supplied naturally by the soil.

Jimmy Smith (M.S. ’82 and Ph.D. ‘86 in animal sciences ) recently received the Madhuri and Jagdish N. Sheth International Alumni Award for Exceptional Achievement as part of the 2019 Illinois International Achievement Awards.

Article submitted by ACES Education Abroad

In recognition of the recent Illinois International Achievement Awards, ACES Study Abroad is honored to highlight Sadie Marks, recipient of the Undergraduate Achievement Award. This award recognizes one University of Illinois undergraduate student “for their significant service and contribution resulting from their participation in an international study abroad course, program, or project.”

URBANA, Ill. - The National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) has conferred its prestigious Fellow status on Jennifer L. Hardesty, professor of human development and family studies in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

NCFR Fellows are nominated by their peers and are selected by the NCFR Fellows Committee. Hardesty was recognized as a new fellow at the 2019 NCFR Annual Conference this past week in Fort Worth, Texas.