Awards

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.

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. 

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.

The Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences has announced the Finalists for the 2025 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists.

This fall, the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will welcome its 2025 freshman class, along with a distinguished cohort of new and newly promoted faculty. In 2025, the college promoted 12 faculty members and welcomed 17 new hires, strengthening its academic, research, and outreach excellence.

A scientist in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is the recipient of the 2025 national agInnovation award for Excellence in Agricultural Research Innovation. 

Stephen Long, Ikenberry Endowed Chair Emeritus of Plant Biology and Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has been selected as a 2025 Top Agri-food Pioneer (TAP) by the World Food Prize Foundation. The honor recognizes trailblazers who are driving change in agriculture and global food security.

Sandesh Poudel and Abichal Poudel (no relation), doctoral students in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, have received 2025 Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) fellowships.