The Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute has announced their 2025 Community-Academic Scholars. The program offers University of Illinois undergraduate students the opportunity to pursue community-based research projects in Urbana-Champaign over the summer.

Hannah Sundararajan, a junior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was awarded a $30,000 Truman Scholarship. Sundararajan is one of 54 Truman Scholars selected from a pool of 743 nominees from colleges and universities across the country.

Sundararajan, from New Berlin, Wisconsin, and a graduate of New Berlin High School, was selected by the Truman Foundation based on her academic success and leadership accomplishments, as well as her likelihood of becoming a public service leader. 

Dynamic and instantaneous information flows across the entire food complex demand next-generation approach, say two University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences students participating in the National Ag Day celebration on The Cowboy Channel.

High-achieving students with an interest in food animal veterinary sciences will now have an expedited pathway for admission at the College of Veterinary Medicine (Vet Med) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

This September, a cooking channel came to life at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as ADM teamed up with the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences to host the Food Innovation Challenge. 

Since 1978, the Jonathan Baldwin Turner (JBT) Scholar program has recognized a group of talented students each year from the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences. In the fall of 2021, the college re-envisioned its prestigious JBT program. Today, JBT scholars receive a renewable, merit-based scholarship, but more than financial support, the program provides unique professional development opportunities to prepare future leaders in diverse fields.

Wendy Dorman is determined to map a brighter future for grassland birds. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign doctoral student will use a $150,000 investment from NASA to develop robust maps of grassland habitat across the Midwest and beyond. Her goal is to understand the species-specific habitat factors that matter most to imperiled birds and optimize strategies for their conservation.  

Microbes might be invisible, but their teeming masses influence everything from agriculture to the environment to the food we eat. That’s why experience working with microbes has become a must for countless industries. Now, community college students from across the country can gain that experience through a National Science Foundation-funded summer program led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Parkland College. 

During her summer break, Delaina Sigman was handed a protractor, a pencil, a sheet of paper, and a compass. Then she was told to navigate her way through the wilderness. This was just the beginning of Cadet Summer Training, an experience Sigman participated in as a student in the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s ROTC program.