NIU Today

Don’t miss the astronomical light show of the year! Join NIU STEM Outreach Thursday, Aug. 11, at the Bliss Creek Golf Course in Sugar Grove for “Star Gazing,” a STEM Café event devoted to the dazzling Perseid meteor shower. The free event starts at 6:30 p.m with a buffet of pizza, pasta, salad and soft...

Want to make a difference in DeKalb County? Register now for NIU’s “Hack for Change,” where citizens, leaders and tech enthusiasts of all ages will collaborate on innovative solutions to local challenges. This free event will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, June 4, in the Sky Room of NIU’s Holmes Student...

Girls interested in creating and playing their own video games can now register for the NIU Digital Convergence Lab’s “Just for Girls!” video game design camp. This day camp for students entering fifth- through ninth-grade will take place on the NIU campus from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, June 20, through Friday, June 24....

All DeKalb-area residents can remember the violent and deadly tornado that tore through Rochelle and Fairdale last April, leveling houses and trees in its path. At the next STEM Café, “Tornado Tracking: How Meteorologists Predict and Pursue Storms,” NIU associate professor Walker Ashley will tell the story of how he forecast and chased the tornado....

NIU students, DeKalb community members, civic leaders, computer coders, and tech enthusiasts will come together Saturday, March 5, in Founders Memorial Library for the first CodeAcross DeKalb, a free, day-long event exploring how public data can be harnessed for public good. The day will begin at 10 a.m. with a quick introduction to the idea...

For years, humankind has thought of capable, intelligent robots as the stuff of science fiction, from the friendly droids of “Star Wars” to the mechanical overlords of “The Matrix.” In fact, smart robots are already all around us – with more coming every day. The ongoing invasion of robots into our everyday lives is the...

Last fall, the automobile industry and eco-minded consumers were rocked by the revelation that Volkswagen had intentionally manipulated sensors in its cars – 11 million in all – to beat emissions tests, letting their diesel engines spew illegally high amounts of harmful nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere. At the next STEM Café, two NIU professors...

Still looking for that perfect gift for a child you know? Something exciting, hands-on, and educational for a budding inventor? Something they will remember for years to come? Northern Illinois University’s STEM Outreach has gift options ready for you – a diverse new schedule of STEM Saturday classes designed to get young people fired up...

The technology in your home office probably allows users to print letters and photos, but what if you wanted to print 3D toys, bracelets or even dinner for your family? Advances in 3D printing are actually allowing researchers and average folks to print everything from car parts to body parts. At the next STEM Café,...

Collaboration is the name of the game in modern health research. Faculty in the School of Nursing and Health Studies (NUHS) are not only playing that game on a national level but they’re also winning. Over the last year, federal funding agencies have awarded nearly $20 million to four such collaborative projects, two led by...

If you love “Game of Thrones“ – either the hit HBO show or the bestselling novels – you might think the story is pure escapism: a fantasy romp set in a faraway world of magic and dragons. In fact, its creators get a surprising amount right about the fundamental laws of science and physics. At...

Biswa Nath Datta, a Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at NIU, begins one of the Fulbright Scholar Program’s most distinguished appointments this month. Datta received the 2015 Fulbright-Nehru Distinguished Chair Award to teach graduate students at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur (IIT-KGP), India. Additionally, during the four-month appointment, he...