Cities are often described as “heat islands,” with media reports warning that some neighborhoods can be 20°F hotter than others. But those temperatures are often based on satellite data rather than the conditions people actually experience,…
Long before he helped draft federal hazard mitigation legislation in the U.S. Senate, Robby Goldman (PhD, Geology, ‘23) was learning a different lesson as a graduate student: understanding complex problems starts with listening. When Goldma…
Katie Straus crossed the finish line of the 1,500 meters exhausted. After two days and nine previous events of sprinting, jumping, throwing, and vaulting, the final race of the decathlon is less about speed than endurance — pushing forward
Taking apart a watch and reassembling it is one thing. Rebuilding an entire river landscape from scratch is another. A collaboration among researchers across the United States and China is offering scientists a new way to understand how riv…
Scientists have long understood that rivers and lakes influence one another, but actually observing where one system gradually transitions into the other has remained a challenge — until now. A new study led by researchers in the department…
The College of LAS is where curiosity drives impact, and the new Curiosity to Impact (C2I) Fund helps faculty members to do exactly that. Announced in the fall of 2025, the C2I Fund is part of the college’s Strategic Investment Program. Fac…
The Cancer Center at Illinois (CCIL) has more than 125 members from across the Illinois campus, including the Ralph E. Grim Professor in Earth Science & Environmental Change, Bruce Fouke . Given the great variety in backgrounds, research di…
The Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute is proud to introduce our 2026 Community-Academic Scholars (CAS). Representing 23 majors and minors in seven colleges, the 19 scholars in this cohort encompass a diverse array of fields of stu…
What happens at the end of science? Philosophy? It is the kind of question that can pause a conversation. Not because science fails, and not because philosophy is waiting at the edge of the laboratory to correct it, but because every discip…
Starting Fall 2026, the Earth, Society and Environmental Sustainability (ESES) Bachelor’s degree will become Environmental Sustainability (ES). If you've been around our program, this might already sound familiar — students, faculty, and st…
In April 2019, a marine heat wave struck a coral reef on the island of Moorea in French Polynesia, killing much of the coral and the beneficial algae that colonized it. This “bleaching” event reduced live coral populations on the reef from
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — City development is increasingly associated with creating “smart cities” that use technology for managing city services, home construction and attracting resources. But those strategies come with negative consequences to a…