NIU Today

Hacking isn’t just for computer geeks or technical experts – it’s for everyone. NIU will host Huskie Hack from noon Saturday, Sept. 26, to noon Sunday, Sept. 27, in the Holmes Student Center. This free and interactive event is devoted to experiential learning, collaborative brainstorming and fun. Students from NIU, selected high schools and Chicagoland...

A podcast of the Science Coalition’s “Science 2034 Live,” which featured NIU mechanical engineering professor Federico Sciammarella on its panel of six visionary scientists, is now available. Gathered June 24 in Washington, D.C., the federally funded researchers shared their prognostications of what science will make possible in the next 20 years as they discussed their...

Snare drums snap, bells ting-a-ling and flutes whistle like birds. But why does one instrument sound any different than another? And how do objects produce sound in the first place? NIU alum Andrew Morrison has spent his career using physics to study these questions. At the next STEM Café, he will present “Good Vibrations: The...

Take a closer look, and America’s favorite summer sport becomes a field of intriguing physics questions. Can a rising fastball really rise? How much do curveballs actually curve? And do knuckleballs really flutter as they make their way toward the batter’s box? Particle physicist, baseball fan and knuckleball enthusiast Jahred Adelman will explore these questions...

What do you want to be when you grow up? Northern Illinois University’s STEM Outreach is hoping to help students answer that question by offering a variety of fun, hands-on summer camps that explore in-demand careers and concepts in science, technology, engineering and math. STEM Outreach and other STEM departments host camps from June through...

The Northern Illinois University Chemistry Club invites the public to its spring 2015 Chemistry Demo Night at 7 p.m. Friday, March 27, in Faraday Hall 143. The evening will feature an epic battle between “Team Hot” and “Team Cool.” “This year’s event is not one to miss,” says Chem Demo coordinator Devon Boland. “You can...

Inexpensive high-tech gadgets and online do-it-yourself instructions are enabling regular folks to move manufacturing and high-tech tinkering out of factories and labs and into basements and garages. This can-do attitude and embrace of new technologies are at the heart of the Maker Movement, a growing subculture that shares ideas, tools and work spaces as they...

Take a glimpse into a world you can’t see with “Invisibilia,” a new program on 89.5 WNIJ about the unseen forces that shape human behavior – ideas, beliefs, assumptions and thoughts. NPR’s award-winning Science Desk produces the one-hour show, which takes its name from the Latin word meaning “all the invisible things.” Listen to the show...

Pettee Guerrero is the embodiment of a STEM Diva. An educator with NIU STEM Outreach in the Center for P-20 Engagement, Guerrero lives for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). She has an infectious enthusiasm for both STEM learning and NIU that is on full display in her high-energy demonstrations. She can be seen on...

Last year’s polar vortex caused some of the most severe winter weather Illinois has seen in the past 50 years, and the recent cold snap has everyone wondering what this winter will bring. Is the polar vortex part of global warming or proof that it doesn’t exist? STEM Café invites you to find out at...

Jennifer Schmidt and Lee Shumow wrote the book – literally – for teachers seeking the best ways to motivate high school students to learn and love science. Now the educational psychology professors from the NIU College of Education are turning their attention to after-school and summer projects that enroll underserved and underrepresented youth. Schmidt and...

Everyone knows that football is a physical game, but few people stop to think about the actual physics behind it. Newton’s laws describe football players on the field just as well as carts on a track or balls rolling down ramps. And what better way to gain an understanding of bodies in motion than to...