URBANA, Ill. – Hydrologic models that simulate and predict water flow are used to estimate how natural systems respond to different scenarios such as changes in climate, land use, and soil management. The output from these models can inform policy and regulatory decisions regarding water and land management practices.

URBANA, Ill. – Humanitarian engineering projects often focus on bringing western technologies to non-industrialized societies. But environmental and cultural factors in these locations may be very different from conditions in the West, and the projects may not meet client needs if engineers do not fully understand the context in which they are operating.

URBANA, Ill. ­– Research on energy production from biomass usually focuses on the amount of energy generated. But it is also important to consider how much energy goes into the process, a component that is often neglected, says Tony Grift, professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences and the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois.

URBANA, Ill. – Jordan Blake Banks recently arrived in Finland, where she’ll begin a two-year Master’s program in bioenergy systems at the Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology (LUT). She is one of two 2019 graduates from the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences to receive a Fulbright scholarship for continued studies.

Banks spent her first weeks abroad participating in a Finnish language and culture course. Now she’s ready to start at LUT, which offers an international Master’s program with classes taught in English.

URBANA, Ill. – A “cyberoctopus” may sound like a superhero, but it is actually the focus of the recently announced multidisciplinary university research initiative (MURI) award led by Girish Chowdhary, assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering at the University of Illinois. The project, funded by the Department of Defense Office of Naval Research, is looking to advance the frontiers of AI, control, and robotics, by learning from the brain and body of octopuses and other cephalopods.

URBANA, Ill. – Ronaldo Maghirang has been named head of the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois. Maghirang will assume the position on May 1, pending approval by the Board of Trustees.