CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Stephen P. Long, a professor of crop sciences and plant biology at the University of Illinois, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest professional honors a scientist can receive. He is one of 100 new members and 25 foreign associates recognized for “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.”

URBANA, Ill. – Who should make decisions about the management and fate of national parks and other protected areas? For a long time, especially in national parks, natural resource management decisions have centered around tourists, leaving local landowners and other stakeholders out of the picture. Now, a movement known as inclusive conservation is bringing local stakeholders to the table, and a research group from the University of Illinois is leading the effort in Alaska’s Denali National Park.    

For Charles “Chuck” Olson, being assistant dean for student development and career services in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) was his passion, what he would call a service project that happened to pay his salary. Olson passed away on April 14, 2019.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new study finds that Medicare costs tend to be lower in counties with more forests and shrublands than in counties dominated by other types of land cover. The relationship persists even when accounting for economic, geographic or other factors that might independently influence health care costs, researchers report.

The analysis included county-level health and environmental data from 3,086 of the 3,103 counties in the continental U.S.

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.

From classifying mosquitos in the Amazon to conserving natural resources in a war zone, Dr. McKenzie Johnson brings significant international experience to the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES), where she recently joined the faculty as an assistant professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences.  

Johnson is also a recent recipient of an ACES International Seed Grant for a project she will initiate this spring: “Environment and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding in Colombia.”

URBANA, Ill. — University of Illinois Extension is calling all lovers of bees, butterflies, and other pollinators that keep our crops and gardens growing to join scientists in tracking their distribution and habitat use across the state, from the comfort of your home, school, or community garden.

URBANA, Ill. – During the Vietnam War, United States aircraft sprayed more than 20 million gallons of herbicides, including dioxin-contaminated Agent Orange, on the country’s rain forests, wetlands, and croplands. Agent Orange defoliated the thick jungle vegetation concealing Viet Cong fighters and destroyed a portion of the country’s food crops, but it was primarily the dioxin contaminant that harmed so many Vietnamese and U.S. military personnel.

URBANA, Ill. – The Weed Science Society of America last week recognized Adam Davis, head and professor in the Department of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois, with a Fellow award, the society’s highest honor. The award recognizes Davis’s outstanding contributions to the field of weed science, particularly his use of ecological and quantitative principles to inform effective weed management.

URBANA, Ill. – Adding soy flour to school lunches in Ghana provides a cost-efficient way of increasing the protein level, according to a new study co-authored by a University of Illinois researcher.

Soy is known to be a low-cost protein source, says Peter Goldsmith, professor of agricultural and consumer economics at the U of I. “But the thesis that soy is a good ingredient in a national school lunch program had yet to be proven, though everyone assumed it.”