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.