Paul Wright Paul Wright believes in the affirming power of promoting social and emotional learning (SEL) through sport and other physical activities to position students on better paths toward success. Sure enough, it’s the major focus of the Physical Activity and Life Skills (PALS) Group that he leads at NIU. And NIU’s EC Lane and MN Zimmerman Endowed...

Regional high school students learn the fundamentals of AI at a four-week summer camp hosted by Argonne and Northern Illinois University. The term artificial intelligence, or AI, is used to describe everything from facial recognition technology used in airports to smart vacuum cleaners used in homes. But what is AI and how does it work?...

A student-led project to collect clothing for campus donation has blossomed into a permanent service. The Huskie Closet launched as a pilot program this fall, initiated by Northern Illinois University students through the Center for Nonprofit and NGO Studies. The idea was a year in the making, sparked by a then-senator in the Student Government...

Things just got a little greener at NIU’s Child Development and Family Center (CDFC) thanks to a generous grant from the DeKalb County Community Foundation. For Kristin Schulz, executive director of the CDFC, the $11,550 grant means there will be less waste going to area landfills. “We are so grateful to the DeKalb County Community...

Finding skilled laborers has been an ongoing challenge for Illinois manufacturers. According to Whiteside County Economic Development (WCED) of Morrison, Illinois, the labor shortage and skills gap is expected to worsen as a boom of skilled manufacturing workers reach retirement age, leaving Illinois manufacturers with an even greater shortage of skilled labor that is expected...

The FLEX group tours the Rec Center. The topic of the day was, appropriately enough, confidence and self-efficacy. In other words, Associate Professor Jenn Jacobs told her students in KNPE 310: Psychological Aspects of Sport and Exercise, the power of the mind. Or, she clarified, the perception of one’s ability to perform a specific task successfully. “My favorite...

Tao Li is paving the way for next-generation batteries The National Science Foundation (NSF) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are giving a charge to the research of NIU Chemistry Professor Tao Li, whose work could lay the foundation for improvements to ubiquitous rechargeable batteries used in electronic devices, electric vehicles and grid energy storage. NSF awarded Li with a grant of...

Seventh-graders from Clinton Rosette Middle School stood in a circle, each clutching a several-feet-long string tied to the same marker. Their task: cooperate to insert that marker into the mouth of a 20-ounce plastic bottle. First, they remained still as they pulled tightly or loosened their individual grips to position the marker over the target and then...

It has been said that “those who cannot do, teach.” In the case of Lukas Bonnen, who earned his B.S. in electrical and biomedical engineering in 2017 and his M.S. in electrical and electronics engineering in 2018, working as a teaching assistant only helped him to do more. Today, just four years after joining the...

Planning continues for NIU’s Health Informatics Technology Center (HITC), a state-of-the-art teaching and learning facility that will increase opportunities for transdisciplinary collaboration and position NIU as a leader in health education and research. A team of NIU faculty, staff and administrators met in early 2021 to develop a vision for the Health Informatics Technology Center....

The campus community has the opportunity to participate in a series of open forums where they can meet and ask questions of the finalists for the position of Chief of Police and Public Safety at Northern Illinois University. The schedule for the forums is as follows: Candidate 1: 1 pm, Monday, Nov. 29, Altgeld Hall,...

Gaming For All – a new sub-group of the NIU Esports Club – is getting a boost from Gen.G, one of the world’s leading esports organizations. NIU Gaming For All received a grant from the Gen.G Foundation, whose mission is to develop talented young gamers and promote diversity and inclusion within gaming. With this new...