URBANA, Ill. – Right now, the best advice Linda Tortorelli can give the parents she and her staff serve through The Autism Program (TAP) is this: “Maintain some kind of routine the best you can, but also be forgiving of yourself.”

URBANA, Ill. – Twice a week, Ming Kuo’s cheerful face completes a checkerboard of about 30 undergraduate students in an online classroom. They’re meeting for a University of Illinois course called Environmental Social Science Research Methods, but Kuo calls it “Detecting Bad Science.”

The course isn’t normally online, but six weeks into the university's switch to distance learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic, this year is decidedly different. And the course material is, too.

Two international grant programs coordinated by the Office of International Programs are helping ACES faculty gain exposure, forge new connections, and procure additional funding for their research projects.

“We recently checked in with some of our past grant recipients, and once again we were impressed by the magnitude of impacts that were reported. The initial funds awarded out of our office have led to additional funding and various other positive outcomes for the College of ACES,” says Alex Winter-Nelson, associate dean of international programs.

The international agricultural and rural development community lost an influential and passionate advocate last week. Burton Swanson, professor emeritus of rural development in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, passed away after a long illness on April 23, 2020.

URBANA, Ill. ­– When the University of Illinois shifted all classes to online instruction after spring break to help protect people from the coronavirus, everyone had to adapt to new circumstances. But it was especially challenging for professors whose courses feature a large hands-on component.

Students in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE) at U of I are required to take ABE 469, Industry-Linked Design Project, during their senior year.

URBANA, Ill. ­– Climate change creates extreme weather patterns that are especially challenging for people in developing countries and can severely impact agricultural yield and food security. International aid organizations have invested billions of dollars in promoting climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices, but the effects of those programs are rarely documented.

URBANA, Ill. ­– “Excellent information and speakers for people to listen to and ask questions for serious concerns on this new ‘invisible enemy.’ Blessings to all,” one viewer said. That’s a typical statement about the farmdocDaily Coronavirus and Ag webinar series, available twice a week at no cost to anyone who signs up.

When the COVID-19 crisis began to send ripple effects through the ag community, the farmdocDaily team reacted quickly.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. —  Lisa Ainsworth, a research plant physiologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service and adjunct professor of plant biology and crop sciences at the University of Illinois, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences — largely considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive.

URBANA, Ill. – While many of us are staying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, some 37,000 licensed pesticide applicators are going to work, ensuring an abundant food supply and weed- and insect-free outdoor spaces. Every year, about a third of these applicators sit down in testing locations across the state to renew their licenses. So, when it became clear in-person testing would be impossible this spring, thousands of jobs were on the line.

URBANA, Ill. ­– Crop scientists are the original social distancers, muses Allen Parrish, director of the Crop Sciences Research and Education Center at the University of Illinois.

“Planting season is always a demanding time of the year,” he says. “We obviously have restricted working conditions with the social distancing because of coronavirus, but for the most part that’s the nature of our work­. One person on the ground getting things ready; one person in a sprayer or planter. Those are single-operator activities, so the current conditions don’t critically hinder us.