NCSA is excited to announce Illinois Computes Consulting as a new support option to help all researchers on campus make use of the rich array of technology available to them. Not sure what type of technologies, methods and techniques to use for your work? Illinois Computes Consulting can help you figure that out! Illinois Computes Consulting is focused on providing faster response to address smaller scale needs, such as optimizing code, getting code to run on a new system, using AI tools and techniques and so much more. Find out more and sign up for the Illinois Computes newsletter!

The Illini Union is renovating the Lower Level sitting area. New furniture is the first step! We want your feedback on the color scheme of the furniture. On this site are the options for each area of the lower level. Click on the link, “furniture survey,” and select the option of your choice for each of the areas. You can also come to the lower level and see poster boards for each area.

From February 3-7, eat at an Illini Union restaurant and get a scratch ticket to see what you win! Blue tickets get an Illini Union sticker. Orange tickets get a prize from Coca-Cola. Golden tickets get you an Illinois plushie key-chain ($10 value). This offer is valid at Just Bee Acai, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Maize, Mia Za's Express and Thai Fusion. Tickets can be redeemed at the Illini Union Rec Room from noon to 8 p.m.

The Robert P. Larsen Grant for Research in Career Development is accepting proposals to support research addressing career development and vocational issues. Grants of up to $1,500 are awarded to currently enrolled graduate students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods proposals are considered from various disciplines. Projects should be completed in a 1-year timeframe. Deadline to apply: March 16. Details and application information are available online.

The nationwide spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza, also known as bird flu, has many in Illinois concerned about livestock, pets, wildlife, food safety and public health. U. of I. scientists, experts and Extension specialists weigh in on bird flu’s impact and discuss safety recommendations to help prevent further spread. Extension leadership also have guidelines for field office staff about public and media inquiries.

Led by faculty from the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, learners in this Coursera course will examine key issues in food and agriculture, including sustainable agricultural practices, conservation strategies, consumer behaviors, technological innovations in agriculture and key policies and regulations impacting agricultural food production.

Please share these Spring 2025 offerings with undergraduate and graduate researchers who may benefit from funded research opportunities at the Beckman Institute. Successful applicants will have access to world-class facilities. accomplished mentors and hands-on research experiences. All applications close at 5 p.m. (CDT) Friday, Feb. 28. Students can visit the website to learn more and apply.

Nominating a world-changing humanitarian could lead to work in the U of I System receiving $50,000. The Dr. Tai R. Shin and Mrs. You H. Shin Humanitarian Award honors individuals making an exemplary impact on humanity. Honorees receive $5,000 plus travel expenses to interact with faculty, staff and students at one of our universities. They also choose a department or program to receive $50,000 to help advance other humanitarian work. For more information, contact Gretchen Lohman at glohm2@uillinois.edu.

Prospective families are invited to our Community Open House from 9 a.m. to noon Thursday, February 6, for the preschool classroom or 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for the kindergarten through 5th grade classrooms. You many come any time during these hours for a short visit at the school. For more information or to schedule a visit on a different date, please visit the school's website.

If you know, you know. If you don't, you should. Here's why. We've been a campus institution since 1955. We serve delicious, student-developed lunches and the best cookies, hands down. We're a classroom and food lab for Food Science and Human Nutrition students. We're a hub for tackling on-campus food security. Join us for lunch at Bevier Cafe and be part of a unique, immersive learning experience. A great choice for lunch with friends or showcasing our amazing students to important campus visitors.

Nominate an Outstanding Tutor today! The Office of Student Financial Aid invites you to nominate an exceptional undergraduate tutor for the 2025 Tutor of the Year Award. This award recognizes students who have made significant contributions to the U. of I. campus and community.  The submission deadline to nominate a deserving tutor is Friday, March 7.

Nominate an Outstanding Student Employee today! The Office of Student Financial Aid invites you to nominate an exceptional undergraduate student employee for the 2025 Student Employee of the Year Award. The campus winner will be submitted for regional and national consideration. The deadline for submission is Wednesday, Feb. 27. This award recognizes students who have made significant contributions to the campus community. Nomination form and guidelines are available at the link above.

ORCID@Illinois provides all members of the campus research community with an easy way to obtain an ORCID iD and link it to their Illinois identity. ORCID iDs are unique, persistent identifiers that are being increasingly requested by funding agencies, publishers and professional associations worldwide. Whether you need an ORCID iD or already have one, get connected at ORCID@Illinois!

We would like to share two opportunities to have graduate students in Master of Public Health programs work with you on projects related to health. Please complete our brief form if you have interest in working with an MPH student for their Applied Practice Experience and/or Integrative Learning Experience.

Today’s work environment is complicated. In-person, remote, travel – getting your team together in one space can be difficult. Hybrid meetings make it easier, but technical issues can put you right back to square one. Contact NCSA Event Services! Book your event at NCSA; we’ll handle the technical so you can focus on content. Whether you need a space for five or 195, we’ll make sure everyone gets the message. Browse our NCSA Events spaces and amenities, and book your event today. If you have questions or want more info, visit our Virtual Lobby during business hours or send us an email!

Join us for an exciting discussion on Avatars and Digital Humans featuring Steven Pratten, associate director of Digital Media at Gies. This monthly online and in-person event sparks inspiration for educators, technologists, researchers, students, or those just curious about AI. Come chat and see real-world examples. Use the link to register or to sign up to share a 5-minute presentation.

Accessing data about the socioeconomic and environmental factors that make up U.S. neighborhoods is increasingly vital. To advance resilient communities, we need resilient technological infrastructures that make SDOH data easily accessible and contextualized. We propose a human-centered approach to gathering and accessing SDOH data using design thinking, intelligent search tools, and spatial data science infrastructure. The HeRoP team shows their development behind an upcoming, open-source SDOH & Place Data Discovery Platform, developed with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The Center for East Asia and Pacific Studies is excited for our collaboration with The University Academic Alliance In Taiwan! Students are eligible to receive a scholarship to study in Taiwan this summer if: at least 18 years of age, not a citizen of Taiwan, U of I System student, have not received any other scholarships from Taiwan, and complete 120 hours of Mandarin courses through our UAAT liaison at the U. of I. Register at the link!

The Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies is excited for our collaboration with The University Academic Alliance In Taiwan! Students are eligible to receive a scholarship to study in Taiwan this summer if: at least 18 years of age, not a citizen of Taiwan, U of I System student, have not received any other scholarships from Taiwan and complete 120 hours of Mandarin courses through our UAAT liaison at U. of I. Register at the link! 

Dr. John Ghazvinian is an author, historian and former journalist specializing in the history of U.S.-Iran relations. This lecture examines Iran’s controversial nuclear program from the critical perspective of history – from its origins under the Shah’s regime in the 1950s, to the close U.S.-Iranian nuclear cooperation of the 1960s and 1970s, to the changing dynamic that followed the Iranian revolution in the 1980s and 1990s.

Please join us at the upcoming IGET meeting at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5, on Zoom. We will have several short reports on activities from around campus, including representatives from AHS, Engineering IT and CITL. Zoom Link.

The Cancer Center at Illinois is excited to present the first event of the Cancer Center at Illinois Seminar Series, "Enhanced Proton Therapy Using Real-Time Dose and Range Monitoring," presented by Dr. Angela Di Fulvio, professor in the Nuclear Plasma and Radiological Engineering Department and director of the Nuclear Measurement Laboratory. Find the seminar abstract and Dr. Di Fulvio's bio at this official announcement. REGISTER HERE to attend in person or online.

University Housing is celebrating Black History Month with a number of special dining events. Join us for dinner each Thursday evening in February for a celebration of food and culture, with programming in collaboration with the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center: Feb. 6 at ISR Dining Center; Feb. 13 at LAR Dining Hall; Feb. 20 at IKE Dining Center; and Feb. 27 at PAR Dining Hall. And from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18, enjoy a Jollof Rice Cook-Off at ISR Table 1867. Guests can enjoy a meal in University Housing dining halls by using Illini Cash or credit card.

NCSA is hosting an onsite workshop provided by the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center on Shared Memory Programming Using OpenMP. This workshop will give C and Fortran programmers a hands-on introduction to OpenMP, a shared-memory application programming interface. You will learn about parallel loop scheduling, explicit data declarations, reduction clauses and several OpenMP library functions. Hands-on exercises will use PSC's supercomputing cluster. Register by at noon EDT, Monday, Feb. 17. Registration information and the agenda can be found on the PSC website.

The SKY Happiness Retreat is an internationally acclaimed life-skills program that helps participants develop a relaxed, stress-free mind and an energetic, healthy body. The retreat teaches tools such as evidence-based meditation, yoga, breathwork and self-exploration in a fun and an experiential format. Join us on campus for a detox-weekend! Fully funded for all U. of I. students.

Alternating between his perspective as a child and as an adult, Tarek El-Ariss explores how we live with trauma, poignantly illustrating the profound impact of war on our perception of the world, our fears and desires. His memoir is at once historical and universal, intellectual and introspective, the outcome of a long and painful process of excavation that reveals internal turmoil and the predicament of conflict and separation.

This hands-on workshop will introduce you to parallel computing with MATLAB®, so that you can solve computationally and data-intensive problems using multicore processors, GPUs and computer clusters. Examples will be presented on the NCSA Delta cluster, which participants can follow during the session in their own MATLAB instances. By working through common scenarios to parallelize MATLAB algorithms, you will gain an understanding of parallel computing with MATLAB and learn about best practices.

The Epstein Health Law and Policy Program welcomes Nicholas Crayton, an alumnus of Kewanee Life Skills Re-Entry Center. He will speak about addressing the mental health needs of incarcerated persons. Free and open to the public.

The Intellectual Property and Technology Law Program at Illinois is pleased to welcome professor Cathay Y.N. Smith (Chicago-Kent). She will be presenting "Copyrighting Nature," a work that explores whether a patent law's bar on protecting natural products should also apply to copyright law. Free and open to the public.

Enjoy a day of weaving at Weaving a Mantel Basket from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21 in the Greenhouse Auditorium. In this workshop, instructor Bonnie Rideout will start students off with a ‘D’ handle and a woven, filled base and teach the techniques of twining, start/stop weaving, decreased weaving and the use of an overlay. $90 per person. Register here by Feb. 6.

Learn the art of needlefelting at Needlefelt Ladybug at Allerton Park from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, in The Studio. Instructor Stephanie Block will teach students how to make an adorable ladybug in honor of the beneficial insect. Participants will work through the process step-by-step and leave with a completed needlefelt ladybug. $65 per person. Register here by Feb. 10. 

Take part in a delicious series at Wines of the World at Allerton Park from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays, Feb. 19, March 12, March 26 and April 9. Wine educator and television personality Mike Lee will lead this delightful and delectable wine class, where he takes students on an enchanting journey through the vineyards both domestically and across the globe. $200 per person here for the entire series or $60 per class (Ages 21+). Register here by Feb. 12 or one week before each class.

If you would like to learn how to create with watercolor, there are a few openings in both the Beginning Watercolor (the 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. section) and Intermediate Watercolor: Landscapes at Allerton Park. Each will meet for two hours each Wednesday between Feb. 5 and Feb. 26 in The Studio. Click on the links above for info and to register.

New and previous faculty are invited to attend a dynamic workshop series beginning Wednesday, Feb. 12! The theme of this series is “Engaged, Evolving, and Energized Teaching & Learning: What, How, and Why.” Topics that will be covered are maximizing student feedback, problem-based learning, multimedia assessments, documenting and assessing teaching excellence and the teaching philosophy statement for P&T. This is a great opportunity for road trips and to visit classes of our exemplary teachers! Registration is required.

Join Alireza Talebpour of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as he presents in person at the Spring 2025 Kent Seminar Series from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6. Presentations this semester focus on topics related to autonomy in transportation. Food and soft drinks will be provided beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the Illinois Center for Transportation Classroom.

The Grainger College of Engineering and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will host the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Fair from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Feb. 11, at Illini Union Rooms A, B and C. Students can discover undergraduate opportunities, learn about creative inquiry and research and connect with the research community! Drop by to see the presentations.

The U. of I. will host the 2025 Illinois Academy of Science State Exposition on May 2 and 3. This is the premier statewide science research competition for grades 7-12. We are seeking volunteer judges for the exposition. All levels of expertise are welcome. All volunteer judges must have completed high school. Please click HERE to learn more about volunteer opportunities or HERE to learn about judging.

The University of Illinois is excited to serve as host for the 2025 Illinois Junior Academy of Science State Exposition on May 2 and 3. This is the premier statewide science research competition for 7th through 12th-grade students. As part of the expo, a college fair will be held on Friday, May 2. For more information and to indicate interest in participating, please click HERE.

Celebrate Black History Month with a performance by Ball in the House, titled "And Now I See." Bring a friend to share in an entertaining, informative and eye-opening experience. Delve into the rich tapestry of African American music, including Spirituals, Gospel, Jazz, Soul, Hip Hop and R&B.  Gain insight into the origins, evolution, and cultural significance of each genre, tracing their influences through time. Celebrate African American musicians and their music, shedding light on their influence while addressing the impact of racism on musical styles and artists alike.

Campus Recreation is hosting its second Mermaid Pool Party for children to swim with the mermaids, play with toys in the pool, participate in arts and crafts stations and get their faces painted. Miss Mika from the Adventure Recreation team will read a story to all participants at the end of the night! Parents are required to stay with their children during the entire event. Kids under the age of seven who want to swim with the mermaids must be accompanied by a parent in the water. Register in Active Illini using your NetID and password. The event is $5 per child.

Join us for the annual Latinas in STEM panel and discover how to navigate a successful career in STEM as a Latina! The event will be hosted at 3 p.m. Feb. 7, in Noyes Lab 157. Panelists will share insights into their career paths, research interests and experiences in industry and academia. Our distinguished speakers include: Dr. Lydia Villa-Komaroff, professor Kelly J. Vazquez and professor Markita Landry. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain valuable advice and inspiration from these accomplished leaders!

Children and their caregivers are invited to join our joyful morning play session! This program, designed for preschool age kids, is a perfect way to make friends and introduce your young child to music! Babies and older kids are welcome, too! Our teachers will engage young audience members with low-key musical interactions to suit the mood of the moment. Using songs, dancing and movement, percussion, and more, we’ll learn to play together and start learning some basic music concepts in a family style jam band!

University of Illinois Extension is proud to partner with Healthy Champaign County for the Feeding Champaign County Food Summit 2025, happening from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 26, 2025, at the I Hotel and Conference Center. The summit, now in its third year, addresses the need for collaboration on food access and security in Champaign County. Join us for presentations, workshops and networking as local food system leaders work toward community solutions. Register by Feb. 12 to reserve your spot. To learn more and register, visit https://go.illinois.edu/champaignfoodsummit.

The Student Affairs Wellbeing Committee presents Fresh Check Day, an engaging and uplifting mental health check-in event that features peer-centered interactive booths, a social atmosphere, free food and prizes, from noon to 2 p.m. Monday, Feb. 10, in the Illini Union Rooms B&C. Encourage students to attend and explore strategies for maintaining their mental health and learn about resources on campus.

Join Urbana Champaign Reproductive Justice online for 2025's Reproductive Justice Summit lunchtime presentation "Reproductive Justice: What Now?" by keynote speaker, Gaylon Alcaraz, PhD. This presentation will be livestreamed from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Zoom. 

Join us for the February Art of Teaching Lunchtime Seminar Series, where Gary Hecht from Gies College of Business will describe the use of Canvas Catalog to deliver hybrid-remote courses to outside (i.e., non-Illinois student), professional learners through a pilot program with Caterpillar, Inc. Registration is required.

New federal policy and legal changes may impact undocumented, DACA, TPS, asylee and mixed-status students in higher education. What exactly do these proposed changes mean? How can we best support undocumented members of our campus community? Join Gioconda Guerra Pérez, OVCDEI Executive Associate Vice Chancellor and Undocumented Student Support Liaison; Lauren Aronson, professor and director of the Immigration Law Clinic; and representatives from the University of Illinois Police Department for a webinar on federal legal updates and campus resources. For more info, visit open.illinois.edu.

Testing the effect of soy flour on hunger, blood sugar and insulin responses. Participants ages 21-45 who are non-smokers, BMI 25-40 kg/m2 and no diabetes will complete questionnaires, product tasting (bread, tortilla or arepa), body composition scans and blood draws. Receive $260 upon completion of four visits for 3-4 hours and free parking. Please fill out our Online Screening if interested.

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. Fill out our interest form! 

The Infant Cognition Lab is conducting a brief one-time, in-person study on infants’ ability to determine how many separate objects are moving in and out of view from behind a screen. Infants sit on their parents' lap and watch a live show while their looking times are measured. In thanks, choose $15 in cash or a child’s gift. If interested, email infantlab@illinois.edu or call 217-333-5988.

We are examining the effects of complementary protein in a meal on the rate of building muscle proteins. The study requires three days of participation, including two full-day trials with blood and muscle sample collection. You get $250 upon completion, information about your body composition (muscle and fat) and results of your lower body strength testing. Contact Zan for more information!

Recruiting 3- to 4-month-old infants who are exclusively breastfed since birth and have not received any solid foods. We request the collection of three to four infant stool samples. Participants will receive a gift certificate upon sample pick up. For more information, contact Dr. Marcia Siegel at monaco@illinois.edu or 217-244-2873.

Seeking participants ages 21-64 who drink alcohol at least once a month, are nonsmokers, who had sleeve gastrectomy 1-5 years ago or who have not had bariatric surgery, and have a BMI of 30-40 kg/m2 (control group). The study involves blood draws, body composition assessments, alcohol challenge tests and surveys. Compensation up to $850 will be provided. Fill out this form if interested.

Looking for adults ages 40-75 for a study on prolonged sitting and cognition. The study tests interrupting sitting with short, high-intensity exercises and measures brain and cognitive functions before and after. Participants earn $280, with travel expenses covered if living 30-plus miles from Champaign. Interested? Click here to join.