NIU Today

NIU student Angela Burke hails from blue-collar Burbank, Ill. With its prevalence of mom-and-pop restaurants and the regular roar of low-flying passenger jets from Chicago’s Midway Airport nearby, the southwest suburb certainly seems more city. So, for a week in August, it must have seemed to Burke like she was on another planet – or...

When it comes to sustainable technology, NIU students are learning that sometimes what’s old is new. Alexis Hitzeroth and Ben Stone, both environmental studies majors, worked with two international nonprofit organizations, CATIS and Isla Mexico, for 19 days in Mexico this past summer to learn more about the methods employed there to address local environmental...

Explore solar energy, climate science and all things sunny Saturday, Sept. 27, during Solar Fest at DuPage Children’s Museum. Hosted by DuPage Children’s Museum, Argonne National Laboratory and NIU STEM Read, Solar Fest takes place from 1 to 5 p.m. The event features exciting, educational events and activities for young learners. Visitors will have a...

H2O 2Go is a campaign with goals of passing out reusable water bottles to students, installing water bottle refill stations (hydration stations) and reducing the reliance on disposable plastic water bottles.

Lazy days of summer? Think again. For nearly 30 undergraduate students on campus at NIU this summer, the season provided opportunities to work alongside professors and delve deep into research projects. Shekinah Bergmann, for example, worked with mechanical engineering professor Behrooz Fallahi and several graduate students, designing and building a robot, nicknamed “Nightwing.” It has...

Campus Recreation will launch a new internship program during the Spring 2014 semester. The program is designed to offer students a practical application experience, thus bridging the gap between the academic setting and career goals and aspirations. Campus Recreation interns will be given the opportunity to learn about the foundation of the department and program...

It’s amazing what you can learn if you only look close enough. Take tree cores, for instance. Senior undergraduate student Mary Moses can tell a lot by examining them. “I am looking at tree cores and examining their radial growth patterns in order to see how the invasive species Lonicera maackii (Amur honeysuckle) and various...

NIU aims to score big for recycling at the remaining home football games by having teams of volunteers fan out across the Huskie Stadium tailgating venues to help fans recycle. At both of the remaining home NIU football game this season (Nov. 3 and Nov. 14), NIU’s environmental student clubs, in collaboration with NIU Recycling...

NIU aims to score big for recycling at the remaining home football games by having teams of volunteers fan out across the Huskie Stadium tailgating venues to help fans recycle. At every remaining home NIU football game this season (Sept. 29, , Oct. 13, Nov. 3 and Nov. 14), NIU’s environmental student clubs, in collaboration...

All are welcome to participate in Outdoor Adventures’ second annual Camp on Campus, scheduled from 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21, through 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22. While the event offers great opportunities for learning something new, its purpose is to bring community together in the outdoors in an educational, recreational and celebratory manner. Outdoor Adventures aims...

What do a mountain, a nonprofit organization and the Division of Public Administration at NIU all have in common? Kurt Thurmaier. The director of the division in the NIU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is planning to climb Africa’s highest peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro, in June. Tanzania Development Support (TDS), a nonprofit organization co-founded by Thurmaier...

The NIU Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability, and Energy will present its second annual Environmental Film Festival at the historic Egyptian Theatre in downtown DeKalb. Doors open at 3 p.m. Thursday, April 26. The first film will screen at 4 p.m. This year’s theme, “Developing an Earth Ethic,” honors the legacy of...