The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is now accepting nominations for the Larine Y. Cowan Make a Difference Awards. Please consider nominating a person or organization that you feel has done an exceptional job in helping to make the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign a more diverse and inclusive campus. Deadline: May 24, 2024.

Illinois International Programs is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2023-2024 International Achievement Awards. The International Achievement Awards recognize outstanding alumni, faculty and students whose exceptional work, service and/or scholarship has made a significant global impact. The Sheth Distinguished Alumni Lecture will take place at noon April 18. Register to attend!

We are inviting doctoral students to join this discussion on dissertation research. Panelists will share their research, writing, and time management techniques. Each panelist has about ten minutes to talk about strategies that have worked for them (or strategies that have not worked). We want to provide a supportive and welcoming environment for informal conversations.

Kunal Basu will speak about his novels that draw from rich, connected histories. Basu will discuss the conceptualization and research that went into the writing of novels such as "The Opium Clerk," "The Miniaturist" and "The Yellow Emperor's Cure." All are welcome!

The Staff Advisory Council (SAC) seeks representatives for EEO 1 & 3, EEO 4, EEO 5 and EEO 6, who provide valuable insight into staff needs. SAC serves as an elected body and voice representing over 6,400 Civil Service employees on campus. Intent to Run forms are due April 26, 2024. Visit the SAC website for more information.   

Have you hiked ALL of Allerton’s trails? To encourage you to pursue this accomplishment, a new program has been established: HIKE ALLerton! Sign up online by Wednesday, May 1, and make a commitment to hike all nine of the trails at the Park by the end of the year. Registrants will earn a HIKE ALLerton t-shirt with the completion of all their hikes. $25/person. Register here by midnight on May 1. 

Since publicly announcing Illinois Computes last spring, NCSA has ramped up the program, which offers computing and data storage resources, technical expertise and support services to researchers from all domains across campus – and seen tremendous growth. Check out how researchers from Anthropology, MechSE and Atmospheric Sciences accelerated their work with Illinois Computes and sign up today!

Scholarship applications for the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) are now open for graduating high school seniors to those pursuing a doctorate. USGIF will host a virtual informational session about this opportunity April 22. Register here or apply now! Deadline for applications is May 31.

There are still spots in the 11-12 age group for Campus Recreation's Active Illini Day Camp. Register for the weeks that fit your family's summer schedule. Additionally, there are summer employment opportunities for high school (ages 15+) and college students as camp coordinators and counselors. They can apply online through the Campus Recreation website.

As part of our commitment to protect young people on our campus, the Protection of Minors policy requires that program organizers report any university-sponsored activities designed to include participants under the age of 18. You must report those activities to the Division of Public Safety by visiting go.illinois.edu/protection-of-minors.

The Homecoming Court is composed of 20 student leaders in senior standing, who are selected based on their academic leadership and community involvement. Nominate a student in senior standing (graduating Dec. 2024, May 2025, or Aug. 2025) by sending their name and email address to homecomingcourt@illinois.edu. Deadline for students to submit applications is at noon July 31.

We are seeking a high school teacher to work with us on summer research. The teacher will be trained in the fundamentals of brain and neuroengineering, aligning the topic with Illinois Academic Standards. Supported by NSF, the teacher will receive a $2,100 stipend for 60 hours of training during the summer. If you’re interested in this opportunity, please contact yuany@illinois.edu. Details. 

What is a Master Naturalist? If you're ready to learn about this impactful U. of I. Extension program, read up about the 880 volunteers throughout Illinois who contribute 70,000+ hours of service annually by removing invasive species, monitoring the health of waterways, raising and releasing monarch butterflies, teaching youth about the environment and investing in the future of our natural areas.

In compliance with the Illinois State Board of Education, the Council on Teacher Education (CoTE) approves qualifying professional development events and microcredentials for licensed educators. All departments or units that want to award professional development hours (PDHs) must secure advanced approval by submitting a PDH proposal on the CoTE website. 

ConnectED: Tech for All is a podcast that dives into the heart of East Central Illinois communities. In each episode, the podcast spotlights how local community resources and programs have transformed the lives of our neighbors. Whether an educational program, essential community services or a grassroots initiative, the podcast aims to connect listeners with critical resources.

The Intensive Language Instruction Program (ILIP) offers classes in 13 different languages. ILIP classes combine language and culture via engaging activities led by skilled instructors. No grade, just for fun! Students receive 30 hours of enjoyable language instruction which maximizes exposure to the target language to help them meet their own personal learning goals. Register for ILIP today!

The JFO Annual Concert invites you to a night where the mythic harmonies of the JFO Symphony Orchestra, the enchanting rhythms of Chinese Folk Music and the celestial chorales of the JFO Choir collide to create a fantastical musical tapestry. Join us for a FREE evening at Lincoln Hall Theater and let the power of music transport you to otherworldly dimensions. 

Join us for a Beckman Interdisciplinary Safety Seminar featuring Chris Lewis, an embedded counselor in The Grainger College of Engineering and the Counseling Center. Those who register by 5 p.m. Friday, April 19, will receive a free pizza lunch. 

Hany Zayed, "Digital Paradoxes: How Technology Unintentionally Transforms Education." Using the case of Egypt and building on two years of ethnographic fieldwork, Dr. Zayed shows how digital technologies produce paradoxes in education and contradictions between digital promises and educational realities.

Learn how to take pictures from your phone and turn them into an artistic gift for friends and family. Make a hand-crafted zine by printing photos from your phone onto instant film. Bring your cell phone (all other supplies will be provided by the Library). Please register via link above (limited to 25 people). Walk-ins are welcome.

Writing in the Disciplines series brings together doctoral students with faculty, journal editors and publishers to discuss writing styles and skills in specific disciplines. This event is jointly hosted by the Program in Jewish Culture and Society, the Writers Workshop, Social Sciences, Health and Education Library and the Doctoral Research Support Program at the University of Illinois.

Adobe InDesign is a layout and design software program that allows you to create print and digital media. It is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud that is available to all Illinois students for free! This workshop is designed for those with little to no experience. During the workshop, we will create a sample flyer. You will gain experience navigating the features and there will be time to explore.

We will address the capabilities and limitations of ChatGPT and identify ways to integrate ChatGPT into academic, research and pedagogical pursuits in engineering disciplines, including ethical and legal contexts, and Library resources and other language learning model (LLM) tools instead. We’ll explore how to write constructive prompts and critically analyze generated responses. Everyone welcome!

Come join us for a fun event featuring delicious food! Esra Çeltek Coşkun will teach us how to make two Turkish dishes: Kısır (Spicy Bulgur/Wheat Salad) and Cacık (Chilled Yogurt and Cucumber Soup). Both dishes are vegetarian and easy to make. This event is organized by the International and Area Studies Library at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. All are welcome! 

The field of XR hardware continues to advance rapidly. In this workshop, we will give an overview of the various headsets available in the SCIM Lab and allow for hands-on demo time. We will also investigate using Unity and Unreal Engine to author XR applications. Aspects from prior workshops on motion capture, virtual production and spatial audio will emerge as we discuss creating XR experiences.

Learn about techniques for extending your video productions beyond the physical studio! In this workshop, we will utilize the HTC Vive tracking system at SCIM to bring live cameras into Unreal Engine for real time green screen compositing with a 3D environment instead of the more traditional 2D image/video. Additionally, we will demonstrate the control of our color adaptive lighting system.

Abberior Instruments and the IGB Core Facilities will be hosting the Second Annual Midwest Advanced MINFLUX Super Resolution Workshop. Deadline to register is May 15. Nobel laureate Stefan Hell will speak on the Minflux technique to begin the workshop, which will also have hands on sessions.

See Allerton Park after dark during a Night Hike from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Monday, April 15. Meet at the Centaur Parking Lot. Natural Areas staff will lead you along trails to see and hear things that are rare during the day, such as calling owls and howling coyotes. $10 per person, $20 per person includes two beers. Register here. All sales are final.

Please mark your calendars for the 14th Illinois EU Studies Conference, “Paradigms of Racialization: Alternative Sources,” on April 18-19. This conference is part of a multi-year project studying how racial tropes contribute to social marginalization in the premodern and postmodern Mediterranean in a comparative perspective with North American societies from the precolonial era to the present. 

The SKY Happiness Retreat is an internationally acclaimed life-skills program that helps participants develop relaxed, stress-free mind and energetic, healthy body through evidence-based meditation, yoga, breathwork in a fun and an experiential format. Join us on campus for a detox-weekend! Sign up link: tiny.cc/skyuiucapril

Please join the European Union Center for this free screening of "Good Bye, Lenin!", an award-winning 2003 German tragicomedy film set in East Berlin during the time of German reunification. Anna Hunt, Assistant Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures, will give brief opening remarks contextualizing the film. Refreshments will be served.

iSEE is bringing together scientists and social scientists from across campus to discuss research opportunities related to Environmental Justice and support the coalescence of interdisciplinary teams to pursue funding. The event will have guided discussion among all participants to explore collaborations and identify new priorities for investment (including seed funding). Register >>>

We would like to invite you to a free celebratory art-science event at KCPA from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. April 19, where you can steep in the quantum world through science, theater, music, dance and more! This event marks the launch of CASCaDe, a "Collective for Art-Science, Creativity and Discovery, etc." Sign up for our mailing list at https://lists.illinois.edu/lists/subscribe/cascade-interest.

Featuring Tea Professor Bruce Hamana, this event shows a formal tea gathering followed by a lecture on chakaiki (tea records), providing insight into the items used during the tea ceremony. This lecture features Japan House’s special collections while discussing the language and use of words in understanding their importance and meaning to illustrate the nuances of a host’s aesthetic preferences.

An online panel discussion featuring Tea Sensei Bruce Hamana, Kimiko Gunji, Omar Francis, Janet Ikeda and Margie Yap. This presentation focuses on reflections of teachers of chado (Japanese tea ceremony, also referred to as the Way of Tea) and their views on the status of the transmission of the Way of Tea in the United States as well as the usage of tearooms, collections and associations.

Japan House's Spring Open House features Urasenke professor Bruce Hamana and the Chado Urasenke Tankokai Urbana-Champaign Association. Japanese tea ceremonies will be offered at 11 a,m., noon and 1 p.m. A special tea ceremony demonstration and presentation will be given at 2 p.m. Tea ceremonies require tickets; presentation is free! From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., a free student ikebana exhibition inside.

The Health Technology Education Program announces our Spring Speaker Series! Dr. Chris Wickens will be presenting An Influence Model of Human-Automation Team Interaction. Dr. Wickens was a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Visiting Professor, U. S. Air Force Academy. His research on human factors has been internationally recognized.

Join us for a reproductive justice zine event! Included will be a short presentation about zines and how they provide a space for reproductive justice, and plenty of time to create your own zine! Materials and music will be provided as well as the opportunity to look through a selection of the Social Justice Zine Collection housed in the Ricker Library of Art and Architecture.

Formerly FSI, the Lincoln Legacy Conference is a key event for the state's university and community college educators and staff. This year we offer three exciting themes: AI and Student Learning, Online Learning Challenges and Playful-Reflective Learning. We invite proposal submissions and registrations.

Climate Change and the Infrastructure of Research symposium starts at noon with a keynote by Dominic Boyer (Rice University) on Learning to Live in 3-D: Decarbonization, Decoupling, and Degrowth. At 1:45 p.m. we will hear from two panels of presentations and discussions about student projects from CAS 587.

The McKechnie Family LIFE (Living in Interactive Future Environments) will host their spring open house from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. April 18, 2024. We will showcase our ongoing research activities centered around technologies (including robots) that improve health, function and well-being. Please RSVP here by April 15. Limited onsite parking. Overflow parking at Illinois Fire Service Institute.

The campus community is invited to the grand opening of the Fitness Court. This outdoor studio allows users to engage in full-body workouts, fitness classes and other group wellness activities. Workouts are adaptable for all fitness levels, allowing participants to move at their own pace. Celebrate this new facility with remarks from campus leaders and demos from fitness ambassadors.

In this feature documentary, follow the story of America's civic unraveling through the journey of legendary social scientist Robert Putnam, whose "Bowling Alone" research into America's decades-long decline in community connections could hold the answers to our democracy's present crisis. Free and open to the public.

Join iSEE for this event during Sustainapalooza! Everyone is welcome to shop sustainably at the swap for free — and you can drop off gently used apparel as well! (Early dropoffs Thursday, April 18, through the morning of Monday, April 22, outside the Illini Rooms in the Illini Union).

Join us for a series of events on campus and in Urbana-Champaign organized by UCRJ (Urbana-Champaign Reproductive Justice) and sponsored by the University Library. Find the full schedule of events here. Any ideas? Submit them here. 

Join us for snacks and a short presentation about what reproductive justice is and how it connects to period poverty/making period products accessible. We’ll also be packing period products to donate during a wellness event with Champaign-Urbana Public Health District. Sign up here if you want to volunteer or pop in to sneak a cupcake!

The Chaz and Roger Ebert Symposium will address "Representations and Their Critics." Join us for this two-day event with a screening and free tacos on Tuesday, April 16, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Knight Auditorium at Spurlock Museum, and via Zoom; and meet the critics over coffee and pastries on Wednesday, April 17, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Starlight Room at Siebel Center for Design, and via Zoom.

Using piano, saxophone, electronics and voice, artist JJJJJerome Ellis will perform excerpts from “Benediction,” a devotional song cycle attending to 18th and 19th century Black runaway slaves who stuttered. This lecture-performance is an ongoing attempt to, in the words of critic Hortense Spillers, “hear [slavery’s] stutter more clearly.” Attend in person or via Zoom.

Enjoy a picnic and Allerton’s beautiful peonies at Picnic With the Peonies on May 18-19 (see times here). After taking a stroll through the Peony Garden, relax at a reserved table (seats up to 8), which will include two bottles of wine (or champagne and orange juice early) and a charcuterie board from The Charcuterie Company to share. $100 per table (seats up to 8). Register here by 5 p.m. May 10.

Join us for CultureTalk, a conversation featuring Joy Harjo (23rd U.S. Poet Laureate; member of the Muscogee [Creek] Nation) in dialogue with Jenny L. Davis (American Indian Studies and Anthropology; member of the Chickasaw Nation). This free public event is part of the Joy Harjo residency at Illinois. View all events in this series, taking place April 23-24, 2024.

Join us for an evening of poetry! Joy Harjo, 23rd U.S. Poet Laureate, will read from her body of work, and a book signing will follow. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Harjo is an internationally renowned performer and writer of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. This free public event is part of the Joy Harjo residency at Illinois. View all events in this series, taking place April 23-24, 2024.

Cyrus Wadia, chief executive officer of Activate, will present "Filling the Science Leadership Gap" at 3 p.m. Thursday, April 18, in the Beckman Auditorium. Wadia was previously director of worldwide product sustainability at Amazon and vice president of sustainable business and innovation at Nike. A reception will follow. 

After multiple prototyping iterations, you arrive at a final design. It is time to implement your design in the market. Learn about developing implementation plans, ways to sustain and evolve your design, and tools to execute and scale your design. 

Join the College of Law and iSEE for "Getting Smarter About A Smart Transmission Grid for the Future," a talk by Howard A. Learner, President and Executive Director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, Chicago. Learner proposes modernizing, upgrading and better using the existing electricity transmission grid and developing more distributed clean energy resources.

Join the Department of Philosophy for a distinguished lecture by Professor emeritus Richard Schacht, titled "Philosophy as Interpretation," in celebration of his 50 years of Nietzsche studies and culminating in his two new books, Nietzsche's Kind of Philosophy: Finding His Way and Nietzsche Pursued: Toward a Philosophy for the Future. 

Join Joshua Auld of the Argonne National Laboratory as he presents in person at the Spring 2024 Kent Seminar Series from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, April 18. Food and soft drinks will be provided beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the ICT Classroom. 

Discover the potential of AI assistants in promoting independence and combating loneliness for older adults in their own homes, offering companionship and simplifying daily tasks. Learn how technology can contribute to physical and psychological well-being, enabling people to live independently with the support of AI at home. Presenters: Jaewon Kang & Kathryn Florence Huang

Are you overwhelmed by organizing your sources? Zotero is a free, open-source citation manager that helps you store and organize your files and insert formatted citations into papers. You will leave this hands-on workshop with a Zotero library set up and ready to use! This session will be 50 minutes long with question and exploration time afterward.

Miriam Keep, sustainability programs coordinator for iSEE, will be the speaker at the upcoming Noontime Knowledge in honor of Earth Month, hosted by the Facilities and Services Diversity and Inclusion Committee, at noon Wednesday, April 17. Keep will discuss "Equity and Diversity in Climate Action Planning." To join the Zoom meeting, register at https://go.fs.illinois.edu/diversityandinclusion.

In this online workshop, students will learn some effective strategies for clear and effective data presentation in the context of journal articles, research posters and PowerPoint presentations. Topics discussed will include methods for analyzing figure and table design, how to write with figures and how to apply these lessons to a variety of contexts. Register by April 16.

Encourage your students to register for our online presentations to help them prep for finals and polish their final projects. Presentation lineup: April 18: "Acing In-Class Essay Exams," April 23: "Writing with Style: Revising for Polished Academic Prose," April 24: "Making Sources Work for You," and April 25: "Final Check: Proofreading and Editing Strategies." Register in advance!

Community-engaged researchers are invited to join Ross Wantland, OVCDEI, and Karen Simms, Trauma and Resilience Initiative, to explore how inequalities and inequity can emerge in community-engaged research and our responsibility as researchers to address it. Participants in this interactive workshop will learn strategies to incorporate principles of equity-minded practices in their work. 

The IASL will host the next International Cooking Show at 1 p.m. Friday, April 26, through Zoom! We are excited to feature Esra Coşkun (Collection Analyst and Planning Specialist), who will be making Kısır and Cacık. Every segment of the cooking show is recorded. All are welcome! Please register here. If you would like to volunteer to be a cook, you can sign up here.

The rich literary heritage of contemporary Nubian literature allows for a multiplicity of critiques that makes possible a reading of Nubian literature that crosses the borderlines between literature and history, geography, politics, gender and ethnicity 

Join us in person or on Zoom for a hybrid symposium hosted by UCRJ (Urbana-Champaign Reproductive Justice) livestreamed from Spurlock with panelists all day. Discover the panelist line-up and full schedule of events here: UCRJ Week 2024 | UC Repro Justice

Jingrui He, professor at the School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, will present "Graph Transfer Learning." Based at the iSchool, CIRSS' Trustworthy Computational Science Speaker Series addresses the challenges of enabling researchers to build on prior computational research with confidence.

The next Online Student Service Watercooler Group (OSSW) meeting is at 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 17, via Zoom. This month we will have student panelists joining us from Gies Online Programs, the College of Education and the iSchool Leep Online Program to discuss their experiences as online students at the University of Illinois.

Learn what stress is, how it negatively affects our judgment and some of the common bad money habits that stress pulls us into. Recognizing that we use money to calm and manage stress, which can exacerbate problems, empowers us to overcome associated challenges.  Join us for "Money, Stress, and Bad Habits" at noon May 1 to learn strategies to calm down stress and stress spending. 

Is drinking causing problems in your relationship? The University of Illinois is conducting a research study for people with alcohol use disorder and their partners. Participants will receive 12 sessions of science-backed alcohol couples treatment and complete phone-based study assessments during their enrollment. Qualified individuals will be compensated for their time. 

Help make the Next Alcohol Fitbit! The Alcohol Research Lab is looking for drinkers to participate in a validation study of transdermal biosensing bracelets. Participation involves attending three laboratory sessions, wearing a transdermal bracelet and filling out surveys for two weeks. Up to $300 in compensation for participation.

Recruiting persons 60 years or older who take a prescribed medication for high blood pressure/hypertension, have mild problems with memory, thinking, and/or concentration, and use smartphones for a study on supporting medication taking using smartphones. You will be compensated for participation. For more information, please contact us at 217-244-7383 or medmanage@illinois.edu.

The Alcohol Research Lab is looking for social drinkers to participate in our study. Participation involves attending one 6-to-9-hour laboratory session and completing cognitive, social and communicative tasks while EEG brain responses are recorded. A referral of at least one same-gender friend is required at the time of sign-up. Up to $100 in compensation.

Please join us! The Disability, Participation and Quality of Life (DPQoL) research laboratory in KCH is currently developing a fall management system for people who use wheelchairs. Paid research opportunities are available for people who use wheelchairs, researchers and clinicians to test the effectiveness and provide feedback on the system. Email us at dpqol-lab@illinois.edu for details.

The Disability, Participation and Quality of Life (DPQoL) research laboratory in KCH is developing a fall management mobile app for people who use wheelchairs. Share your research experiences and join our online focus group. You will be compensated with a $50 Amazon gift card for your participation. Email us at dpqol-lab@illinois.edu or Dr. Laura Rice at ricela@illinois.edu for details.

We are exploring challenges encountered in daily activities for older adults (60+) with a history of traumatic brain injury or stroke. If you or someone you know is experiencing difficulty with thinking, memory or concentration, we would like to learn from your experiences, via videochat, to develop solutions. Participants will be paid. Contact KCH-HFA-ENACT@illinois.edu or 217-265-0885.

Looking for adults aged 60-75 to participate in a study into prolonged sitting and how adults think. The study's aim is to test the feasibility of interrupting sitting with short bouts of high-intensity exercise in older adults and measure brain and cognitive functions before and after sitting. Compensation for participation is $280. If you are interested, please click here.