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.

Thaddeus Bergschneider, an undergraduate student in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has been elected as the 2024-2025 National FFA President.

The financial planning program in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is growing and thriving. The program, a concentration in the ACE undergraduate major, has doubled in size over the past eight years, and now serves 175 students who are preparing for careers as financial advisors.

Ashley Equíhua, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign senior majoring in nutrition and health in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, is the Lincoln Academy Student Laureate Award recipient for 2024.