This Week in Illinois Research
March Madness, Research Edition
I really enjoy watching March Madness games, particularly since our men's team just made it to the Sweet 16. It is terrific to see the spotlight shine brightly on colleges and universities across the nation. Wouldn’t it be fun if the media covered research and innovation in the same way that they cover basketball?
Commentators could spend hours debating which of our plays has had the biggest impact. They could highlight team research in our interdisciplinary institutes and speculate on which of our superstars is ready for another memorable performance. Instead of seeding us in the tournament based on our wins and losses, the league could match us up based on research expenditures. (I'm happy to report we'd just nudge Big Ten rivals like Michigan State, Purdue, and Indiana!) If we went head-to-head with others across the nation on funding from specific agencies, we'd make the Final Four in DOE, the Elite Eight in NSF, and we'd just miss the Sweet Sixteen in our DOD expenditures. We could even compare our bench: only five other institutions produce more PhDs than we do here at Illinois.
Let's keep winning, in basketball and in research alike. Go Illinois!
Sincerely,
Susan
Around Campus
A new nanoscale sensor developed by Illinois researchers
A new nanoscale sensor developed by Illinois researchers significantly advances current technologies, helping scientists observe brain chemistry and track the spread of drugs through the body with greater precision.
Learn how emerging data science techniques can help social scientists
Learn how emerging data science techniques can help social scientists better address some of society's most pressing problems at the Data Science for Social and Behavioral Science Kickoff. Register by Friday to attend the April 5 event.
Don't miss Wednesday's luncheon with Mairéad Martin
Don't miss Wednesday's luncheon with Mairéad Martin, the next installment in the Research Park's ongoing "Women in Tech" series.
Communication training
Communication training to help the next generation of doctors work with immigrant and refugee populations is the focus of current research led by Liv Dávila, who is working with the Carle…
National Landscape
Six papers published by PNAS in 2023 have been selected to receive the Cozzarelli Prize
Six papers published by PNAS in 2023 have been selected to receive the Cozzarelli Prize, an award that recognizes outstanding contributions to the scientific disciplines represented by the National Academy of Sciences.
The NSF's Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) marks its second anniversary
The NSF's Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) marks its second anniversary by highlighting its impact in three primary focus areas: innovation ecosystems; technology translation and development; and talent and the U.S. workforce.
Digital Humanities Advancement Grants
Help inform the scope, requirements, and outreach for future Digital Humanities Advancement Grants as the needs of the field evolve. This National Endowment for the Humanities’ call for comments closes…
the goal of the new Office of Public Engagement just announced by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Increasing participation in the innovation ecosystem is the goal of the new Office of Public Engagement just announced by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The unit consolidates many of the agency’s outreach, education, and customer experience leaders under a single office with a single mission.
The NIH's All of Us project
The NIH's All of Us project is the focus of an NPR story that notes the project's progress to date and highlights ethical concerns about "whether the program is perpetuating misconceptions about the importance of genetics in health and the validity of race as…