Awards

Paul E. McNamara, a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, and Mia Bonds, an undergraduate student in ACE, are winners of 2026 International Achievement Awards from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Illinois International. These awards recognize outstanding alumni, faculty, and students whose exceptional work, service, and/or scholarship has made a significant, global impact. 

Paul E. McNamara

Madhu Khanna, Alvin H. Baum Family Chair and Director of the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE), has been named a 2025 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), one of the highest honors awarded to U.S. scientists.

A multidisciplinary collaboration at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has received a $2.5 million award from the National Institutes of Health to develop technology for assessing embryo viability for in vitro fertilization.

Each year, the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign proudly recognizes the remarkable accomplishments of its alumni. At the 2026 ACES Alumni Awards Gala, award recipients will be recognized across four categories: Outstanding Young Alumni, Career Achievement, Award of Merit, and ACES Family Spirit. The 2026 honorees will be celebrated on April 13 at Pear Tree Estate.

Raw meat and seafood can carry harmful bacteria that cause foodborne illness, posing an ongoing public health risk. These pathogens frequently show resistance to multiple antimicrobials, making them harder to treat. A University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign research team has received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to participate in a retail surveillance program that monitors meat products for resistant bacteria.

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

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.

The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE), College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES), and The Grainger College of Engineering celebrated the investiture of two campus researchers for their leadership in advancing resilient food systems, clean energy transitions, and shaping global sustainability technologies.

Darin Joos, Crop Sciences Research Agronomist, has been named a 2025 Chancellor’s Staff Excellence Award recipient.

Joos began his Illinois career in 1994 as a graduate student and went on to lead the state’s crop variety testing program, which evaluated commercial varieties of corn, wheat, and soybean at 14 sites across Illinois. After nearly three decades in that role, he now manages the Crop Sciences Research and Education Center farms in Champaign.