Three students from the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences were selected for the 2025 Homecoming Court at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences celebrated exceptional faculty, staff, and graduate students at the 2025 Paul A. Funk Recognition Awards banquet on Sept. 15 at Pear Tree Estate. Below is a list of award recipients whom Dean Germán Bollero recognized during the ceremony. 

Financial strain can be a major stressor that impacts people’s wellbeing and quality of life, and it can also affect couple relationships. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign explores whether a monthly cash payment to low-income families can improve relationship functioning and stability.

During her senior year of high school, Anna Oldani visited the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and was impressed by the engineering program and the opportunities the school offered. After a conversation with the admissions office, she knew Illinois was the right fit.

The U.S. National Science Foundation has announced new funding to understand and reduce grassland fire risk in the Southern Great Plains. The five-year project is being led by grassland fire expert Jon Henn at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 

Last week, members of the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology joined U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth in her home state to explore Illinois’ role in strengthening national security and developing greater economic resilience through biotechnology innovation, entrepreneurship, and biomanufacturing.  

Genes are the building blocks of life, and the genetic code provides the instructions for the complex processes that make organisms function. But how and why did it come to be the way it is? A recent study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign sheds new light on the origin and evolution of the genetic code, providing valuable insights for genetic engineering and bioinformatics.

Looking for a family-friendly event this weekend? Check out the fourth annual Crop Sciences Harvest Open House from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 20 at the Crop Sciences Research and Education Center south of campus.  

Paul Wallem turned 91 earlier this year, but that hasn’t slowed him down one bit. He is a regular columnist at Farm World and the author of six books, and that’s just since his retirement a decade ago.

Cherisse Smith (she/her), the new coordinator of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) education for the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences,, is at the forefront of inclusive intelligence at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.