Category: Science and Technology
A book penned by Northern Illinois University professor David Gunkel provided inspiration for a new featured video on the PBS Idea Channel. Hosted by Mike Rugnetta, the Idea Channel is a weekly web series with a focus on technology. Gunkel’s book, “The Machine Question,” helped inspire the July 2 Idea Channel episode, titled “When Will...
Professor Sanjib Basu, director of NIU’s Division of Statistics, has been named a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, ASA President Nathaniel Schenker has announced. To be recognized by the nation’s preeminent professional statistical society as a 2014 ASA Fellow, each honoree must make outstanding professional contributions to, and have exhibited leadership in, the field...
NIU psychology professor Lisa Finkelstein found love at a professional conference. You can, too, she says. She is not talking about romantic love, but the kind of love that emanates from shared positive experience. And you can find it almost anywhere. In a newly posted Psychology Today blog, Finkelstein discusses how this type of love,...
An employee in the office receives a flexible time schedule, much to the irritation of her coworkers, who must stick to the 9-to-5 regimen. Because she often arrives an hour or two after everyone else, peers are forced to re-arrange daily meeting schedules. They feel it’s unfair and inequitable. What this woman’s coworkers don’t know...
The Illinois Science & Technology Coalition (ISTC), a not-for-profit organization focused on growing the state’s innovation economy, today announced that NIU President Doug Baker will serve as chairman of the ISTC Board of Directors. Baker replaces outgoing board chair Eric Isaacs, provost of the University of Chicago and former director of Argonne National Laboratory and...
Could something as simple as aspirin be the key to controlling harmful insects? That’s the question NIU Biological Sciences Professor Jon Miller asked when he began his research on insect cellular immunity. His discoveries could eventually lead to safer, greener pest-control practices for agriculture. Miller will be the guest speaker at the next STEM Café,...
An NIU Department of Geography student and professor are among the 2014 honorees of the National Council for Geographic Education. Student Joseph Tackes collected an NCGE/AAG Excellence of Scholarship Award. Tackes and 21 others from across the country were chosen by university faculty as the best all-around undergraduate student geography scholars. Thomas J. Pingel, an...
Northern Illinois University physics professor Omar Chmaissem, an NIU alumnae and a current postdoctoral student are key members of a team of scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory shedding light this week on the mysteries of superconductivity. In a study published today in “Nature Communications,” the team announces the discovery of...
More than one in six people in the United States experience anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorders. Could marijuana, which is now being used more widely and legally for medical purposes, help relieve the stress? NIU psychology professor David Valentiner and graduate student Sara Wyman tackle that topic in a new blog entry this week in...
International Affairs has announced the recipients of this year’s Cobb Fellowships: Marc Adler of chemistry and biochemistry; Kikue Hamayotsu of political science; and Holly Jones of biological sciences. Each fellow will receive a grant of $1,333 to facilitate research collaboration with an international colleague. The Cobb program is funded through an endowment that was established...
NIU junior Linnea Scherer hopes to change the way women are portrayed in video games, and she already has developed an impressive game concept thanks to the McKearn Summer Fellows program she participated in last year. “The McKearn Fellows Program was amazing. It was what got me to this point,” says Scherer of Elburn, a...
More than 300 NIU students are making last-minute preparations before showcasing their ingenuity and artistry during the fifth annual Undergraduate Research and Artistry Day (URAD). The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 22, in the Duke Ellington Ballroom of the Holmes Student Center. Open to the public, URAD will...
