NIU Today

Using a specially designed hot-water drill to cleanly bore through a half mile of ice, a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded team of researchers, led by NIU’s Ross Powell and including other faculty and students, has become the first ever to reach and investigate the “grounding zone” along the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, where ice, land...

NIU student Lizzy Mack has gained some celebrity status in Canada. Mack, a graduate student in the laboratory of biological sciences professor Rich King, is featured in an episode of the documentary-style mini-series, Great Lakes Wild, which aired across the Great White North this week and can be viewed online. Mack is seen throughout the...

The Allerton English Articulation Conference is set to kick off another 50 years of conferences with the theme “Metaphors We Teach By.” The conference, bringing together faculty from two- and four-year colleges and universities, takes place at the Allerton Park and Retreat Center in Monticello, Ill. It is made possible by a planning committee consisting...

NOTE: Because of high interest, the venue for this event has been changed to the Regency Room in the Holmes Student Center. Is Chicago truly the birthplace of the skyscraper? And what makes a building a skyscraper anyway? Popular Chicago Public Television host Geoffrey Baer will visit the NIU campus next month to provide those...

Northern Illinois University will host the 23rd annual Midwestern Conference on Literature, Language, and Media (MCLLM) on Friday, March 27, and Saturday, March 28. Faculty, graduate students and, for the first time in the conference’s history, undergraduate students will share their research related to this year’s theme, “Ctrl, Alt, Delete.” Presenters will explore the concepts...

Courtesy of Fermilab Today Small, clear pellets of polystyrene can do a lot. They can help measure cosmic muons at the Pierre Auger Observatory, search for CP violation at KEK in Japan or observe neutrino oscillation at Fermilab. But in order to do any of these they have to go through Lab 5, located in...

A key component of the “Transform Rockford” movement is a greater emphasis on providing quality education to improve workforce readiness and provide better opportunities for the area’s young citizens. In that spirit, WTVO-TV Channel17/WQRF Fox 39 has announced that it will launch “Stateline Quiz Bowl by Bergstrom,” a new half-hour local television series that will...

NIU’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Minorities invites proposals for presentations at a one-day regional conference on diversity, scheduled Saturday, March 21, at NIU-Naperville. Highlights of the “Diversity: Strengthening the Pillars of Community” conference include opening speaker David Stovall from the University of Illinois-Chicago and a multimedia presentation on immigration, assimilation and white privilege by...

Generous hearts often want to make the holidays magical for needy children, but for the third consecutive year, NIU students are brightening the season for a group that often goes forgotten: adolescents in foster care. As part of an engaged-learning project in two group-communication classes taught by Department of Communication professor David Henningsen, the NIU...

Five students of NIU’s Community Leadership and Civic Engagement (CLCE) program spent the fall semester interning with nonprofit agencies in DeKalb and Sycamore. This is the first semester of an innovative communiversity partnership designed to provide students with experiences that will lead to career success while benefiting the local nonprofit sector. Students earn course credit...

Sure, we all know brothers and sisters will squabble from time to time – NIU psychology researchers say sibling conflict is normal. But parents should be aware that the fighting can cross a line and enter bullying territory, with harmful effects. NIU psychology professors Christine Malecki and Michelle Demaray blog on the topic this week...

NIU will bestow an honorary doctoral degree this winter to Frances Whitehead, a civic practice artist and professor of sculpture and architecture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Whitehead will earn her honorary doctorate during the Graduate School commencement ceremony, scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13, at the NIU Convocation Center....