This week’s 5 Questions Friday features Benjamin Cohen, an agricultural and consumer economics student with a focus on food systems and public policy.

What year are you, and how did you choose your ACES major?

The ACES International Global Food Security Fellowship, now in its third year, supports exceptional ACES graduate students who wish to conduct their thesis research in a developing country.

URBANA, Ill. – Alexa Smith, a senior in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has been awarded the 2021 Lincoln Academy Student Laureate award.

URBANA, Ill. – You may not want to see algae spreading a green carpet on your favorite lake. But in toxic wastewater, tiny algal organisms become potent powerhouses that eat nutrients and produce oxygen, helping to convert poisonous sludge to reusable biomass.

A new study from the University of Illinois explores growth and viability of four different algae species in wastewater from biocrude oil production.

URBANA, Ill. – Have you ever been in the room when great ideas gel and then turn into action? It’s exciting and rewarding. And it makes people hopeful. Especially when impassioned students take the lead.

That’s happening with vigor as two groups combine forces to tackle a very real issue on the University of Illinois campus and around the world: food waste.

URBANA, Ill. – This fall, the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES) is teaching and guiding its highest-ever number of undergraduates. Passion for preserving and restoring the environment helped drive the enrollment high.

Just ask Paola Garcia.

A new summer program will allow College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) undergraduates to spend six weeks in the Philippines conducting hands-on research in rice science at the International Rice Research Institute.

URBANA, Ill. – When students walk into Anna Dilger’s classroom, they can expect play dough, cartoons, and dancing. But Dilger’s students aren’t kindergartners; they’re college students at the University of Illinois. And they’re learning from one of the best food and agriculture teachers in the country.

URBANA, Ill. – You may not think of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) if you’re aiming for a medical career. But health education is, in fact, a major part of the curriculum in ACES’ Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition (FSHN) where students can pursue a pre-health track through the human nutrition concentration.

URBANA, Ill. – Many students hear “college is the best four years of your life.” A time for learning and building skills, it’s also a time to meet people, make friends, and be independent.

Some students pack those experiences into a much shorter time frame.