NIU Today

The NIU Foundation Venture Grants Committee has announced Lichuan Liu and Federico Sciammarella as recipients of the 2013 Venture Grants. In partnership with NIU’s Technology Transfer Office and the Northern Illinois Research Foundation, the NIU Foundation Grants Committee has chosen the proposals that most closely exemplify the entrepreneurial spirit, vision and potential for marketability reflected...

NIU’s Community School of the Arts will hold auditions at 4 p.m. Monday, May 13, for the CSJazz Band and 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 14, for the CSA Sinfonia and two summer camps. Auditions must be scheduled ahead of time. High school jazz students are invited to audition for CSJazz Band, a top regional jazz...

The DeKalb Festival Chorus will perform its spring concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 5, in the NIU Music Building’s Boutell Memorial Concert Hall. A pre-concert lecture will take place at 2:30 p.m. Sunday’s concert centers on Joseph Haydn’s late masterpiece, the Lord Nelson Mass. It will feature a chamber orchestra and four great soloists...

The Northern Illinois gymnastics team added another record to its 2013 list Thursday as four Huskies were named to the Mid-American Conference Academic All-MAC Gymnastics team. Senior Natalie Sutter (Barberton, Ohio/Barberton HS) and juniors Kim Gotlund (Wadsworth, Ill./Warren Township HS), Natasha Jufko (Spring Hill, Fla./Pasco-Hernando HS) and Megan Melendez (Stafford, Va./North Stafford HS) all earned...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zu74VH4XeI

Researchers at Lincoln Park Zoo and Northern Illinois University have discovered a new culprit contributing to amphibian decline and altered mammal distribution throughout the Midwest region – the invasive plant European buckthorn. This non-native shrub, which has invaded two-thirds of the United States, has long been known to negatively impact plant community composition and forest...

Imagine 100 million divers jumping into the ocean at once. Your task: Using high speed cameras, photograph the wake of each splash, then determine and plot exactly where each diver entered the water. That’s somewhat analogous to what a group of NIU physicists were trying to accomplish earlier this year using a technique known as...

A retirement party for Rhonda Robinson, Distinguished Teaching Professor in the College of Education’s Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment, is planned from 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday, May 9, in the lobby of Cole Hall. Robinson, who came to NIU in 1980, is retiring after having enjoyed more than 30 years of “the...

For many students, knowing the path from degree to career can be difficult. Today’s job market is challenging. Students in business or computer science might have a strong sense of what doors their degree can open for them. But for students in the humanities, those doors can be harder to see. A trio of recent...

NIU’s College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (CEET) is gearing up for what students are anticipating to be the best Senior Design Day yet. Seniors from CEET will present their senior design projects Friday, May 3, to faculty, staff, other students and corporate partners of the college. Seniors spend at least one semester preparing, designing...

The Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs has recognized NIU employee Jonathan J. Lehuta, a prominent veteran leader in DeKalb County with more than 30 years of service to his community, county and to his fellow vets, as the Illinois Veteran of the Month for April 2013. Lehuta, a U.S. Navy veteran, was honored Friday during...

Johanna Hartelius and Jimmie Manning, faculty in the NIU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, were honored April 13 at the Southern States Communication Association’s (SSCA) 83rd Annual Convention and Awards Banquet in Louisville, Ky. Hartelius, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication, received the Janice Hocker Rushing Early Career Research Award. The award...