URBANA, Ill. – What do you get when you combine rich soil and pristine water with a deep knowledge and history of grain production? If whiskey wasn't the first thing that came to mind, you'd be forgiven. But for the founders behind Whiskey Acres Distilling Co., including two College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) alums, it all adds up to a best-in-class spirit.

URBANA, Ill. – Each year the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois honors outstanding ACES alumni. Recipients are chosen in the categories of Outstanding Young Alumni, Career Achievement, Award of Merit, and ACES Family Spirit. The 2022 recipients were honored during the annual ACES Alumni Awards Gala Mon., October 24, at Pear Tree Estate in Champaign.

ACES Alumni Award of Merit recipients:

This week’s 5 Questions Friday features Marin Skidmore, who received her bachelor and master’s degrees from the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics. After getting her Ph.D. and serving as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin, she recently returned to join the ACE faculty as an assistant professor.

What motivates your work?

The global impacts of two affiliates of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) were recognized at a banquet during International Education Week at the University of Illinois.

Nominations for the Illinois International Achievement Awards are solicited annually for five award categories. This year’s recipients included:  

Kaiyu Guan is a researcher with lofty goals – he hopes to monitor, model and ultimately optimize every farmland. Guan aims to achieve these goals in the coming decade or so. He’s a researcher with a mission; of helping create tools so farmers can check on and manage their crops – every single field – in real-time to maintain a healthy and productive growth cycle. But simply reaching that goal isn’t enough. Guan also hopes to achieve co-sustainability of environment quality and food security.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The first thing I notice when we step through white double doors of the growers’ house is that every one of the 1,200 or so chickens in this enormous room has stopped whatever it was doing to stare at us. A few of the birds step closer, peering at our legs as if they want to peck our shoes. But they don’t. They’re just curious. Chickens, I realize, are gawkers.

URBANA, Ill. -- With growing concerns about sodium intake in North America amid the limited impact of public health campaigns, strategies for reducing sodium in the food supply are increasingly important.

Sodium has been flagged for decades as a nutrient of public health concern for overconsumption. But the functional roles of sodium in baking, preserving, thickening, curing and retaining moisture, all complicate reduction strategies.