Blood shortages are not uncommon. Still, during a global pandemic, donating blood is especially urgent and important. Nicole Kauffman knows. The Illinois senior studies animal sciences in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) and serves as secretary of the registered student organization, the Blood Club.

CHICAGO — The Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) and The Grainger College of Engineering are expanding the City Scholars program to now include the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and the Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech).

City Scholars also will pilot a food and agriculture-focused track in Spring 2021.

URBANA, Ill. – University of Illinois students and instructors are settling into a semester like none other thanks to a summer filled with preparations for online learning.

URBANA, Ill. - When her sister came home to finish spring semester online because of COVID-19, Leah Erdmann had no idea the together time they gained would lead to changing her major before she even started college.

Leah’s sister was finishing up her senior year at the University of Illinois when she moved back home. She brought a bunch of plants with her and coaxed Leah to take care of some. Leah was finishing up her senior year at Hinsdale South High School in Darien, Illinois.

URBANA, Ill. – The unexpected transition to online classes last school year because of COVID-19 taught students a lot about themselves. Many discovered they really like online classes, but also how much they value learning in person.

Tony Dupuis, a senior in Agricultural Education, learned about the important role educators play in easing concerns about the unknown and fostering a strong community of virtual students.

Unless you’re a companion animal lover, a vegan foodie, or a science geek, the word “extrusion” might not hold much meaning. However, extrusion is an everyday term that describes a process crucial to the food and feed industries.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The crops we grow in the field often form dense canopies with many overlapping leaves, such that young “sun leaves” at the top of the canopy are exposed to full sunlight with older “shade leaves” at the bottom. In order to maximize photosynthesis, resource-use efficiency, and yield, sun leaves typically maximize photosynthetic efficiency at high light, while shade leaves maximize efficiency at low light. 

URBANA, Ill. – Brian Waters, of Liberty, Illinois, was awarded a Fulbright grant to conduct research in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Waters earned a bachelor’s degree in transnational studies from Westminster College. At Illinois, he is pursuing dual master’s degrees in urban planning and agricultural and consumer economics.

URBANA, Ill. – Life is unpredictable during foaling season, in the best of times. When a pregnant horse is due to give birth, foaling attendants are on call 24 hours a day.

In the case of the University of Illinois horse farm, the 70-80 students enrolled in FoalWatch sign up for all-night shifts on the farm, ready to assist veterinarians and mama horses. But when COVID-19 hit, all that changed.

URBANA, Ill. – Twice a week, Ming Kuo’s cheerful face completes a checkerboard of about 30 undergraduate students in an online classroom. They’re meeting for a University of Illinois course called Environmental Social Science Research Methods, but Kuo calls it “Detecting Bad Science.”

The course isn’t normally online, but six weeks into the university's switch to distance learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic, this year is decidedly different. And the course material is, too.