NIU Today

How can you beat the power of the sun? NIU chemistry and biochemistry professor Tao Xu thinks you can’t. He believes solar power will be a big player on the energy scene in the future. “Eventually, we’re going to use up the fossil fuels, which are not recyclable,” Xu says, noting that some predict known...

Richard Alley, a riveting speaker and one of the most famous climate scientists of our time, will visit NIU this month to give a public talk on the impact that fossil fuels have had on climate and the potential for a bright future of sustainable energy usage on the planet. Alley, who hosted the PBS...

When the Industrial Physics Forum (IPF) begins Sept. 28 in Brazil, NIU students and faculty will join in the conversation – that is, if Anna Quider has anything to say about it. Quider, NIU’s new director of federal relations, is spreading the word about the conference that aims to scientifically drive economic development in Latin...

NIU students fared quite well, thank you very much, in the recent poster competitions held during the prestigious annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Chicago. Lauren Grabstanowicz, who is pursuing her pursuing Ph.D. in nanochemistry, and Robert Rickard, who recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, won...

Ever wonder how to make a car run on renewable energy? Want to learn how fruit can generate electricity? NIU’s College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (CEET) summer camps offer fun and easy ways for high school and middle school students to learn and explore the engineering field. CEET offers a number of summer camps...

Students in NIU’s Engineers Without Borders organization are dedicated to making the world a better place by bringing sustainable First World technologies to Third World countries. “To make a technology sustainable, it has to be simple and easily maintained. For example, when you want to help a Third World country with farming, you can’t give...

Renewable energy is a rapidly growing area of study in today’s world. As the population begins to use up other natural resources such as coal and oil, the future of energy is clean, green and renewable. At the NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, students have the opportunity to experience this field first-hand, thanks...

High school and middle school science teachers are invited Friday, Feb. 8, to attend the New Ideas in Science: Climate Change and the Environment conference at DeKalb’s Holmes Student Center. This year’s conference in the “New Ideas” series addresses the many ways in which climate change affects various aspects of our world. Not only will...

NIU’s Enhancing Engineering Pathways hosted a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) camp in June. While attending the camp, three groups of 20 girls each were taken to the home of Richard Born to tour the solar photovoltaic (PV) system that powers it. Born is a retired member of the NIU College of Business faculty...

Milivoje Kostic, a professor of  mechanical engineering in the NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, has been invited to present a keynote lecture at the International Forum on Frontier Theories of Thermal Science in Beijing, China. The forum is scheduled from Sunday, Dec. 18, through Wednesday, Dec. 21. Kostic will speak about his new...

In Springfield … The first week of the Illinois General Assembly’s fall veto session begins Tuesday, Oct. 25, and will run through Thursday, Oct. 27. It promises to be an interesting week, with many issues on the table. The House of Representatives Personnel and Pensions Committee has posted five pension reform bills for hearing –...

G.P. Yeh, a division scientist with the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, will visit NIU to speak at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 24, on “The Energy Transformation.” Yeh’s lecture comes as part of the NIU Department of Physics colloquium and takes place in Room 200 of John E. La Tourette Hall. Refreshments are served at 3 p.m. The...