NIU Today

October is career fair season at NIU. With many companies coming to campus to network with students, this is an ideal time to think about life post-graduation. NIU’s College of Engineering & Engineering Technology (CEET) hosts its own job fair each year, catering to the career and internship needs of CEET students. This year, computer...

The digital generation is taking over cyberspace. More and more K-12 students are getting online every day to do everything from shopping to playing games to connecting with friends, but many schools have been hesitant to embrace emerging interactive technologies in the classroom. Northern Illinois University’s HIVE Project is working to change that by generating...

NIU mechanical engineering professor Federico Sciammarella was chosen as technical chair for the upcoming 2012 Rapid Product Development Association of South Africa (RAPDASA) international conference. The conference takes place Wednesday, Oct. 31, through Friday, Nov. 2, According to its website, “RAPDASA embraces the complete product development value chain … RAPDASA aims to become a government-recognized...

Two groups of NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology students partnered with Rich Harvest Farms as part of their senior design project. The task at hand: come up with a solution for the elite Sugar Grove golf course’s underground bunker rake system. Rich Harvest Farms is one of the few golf courses that utilize...

You might have heard that spider’s silk is one of the strongest materials in the natural world, but did you know that scientists are working to develop genetically-engineered goats that can produce a spider-like silk in their milk? That’s just one of the weird and fascinating things happening in the world of materials science, a...

On the topic of computers, artificial intelligence and robots, Northern Illinois University Professor David Gunkel says science fiction is fast becoming “science fact.” Fictional depictions of artificial intelligence have run the gamut from the loyal Robot in “Lost in Space” to the killer computer HAL in “2001: A Space Odyssey” and the endearing C-3PO and...

Most Ph.D. students in math never think about working for a major corporation or federal agency as part of their program. Doctoral students normally worry about qualifying exams, writing their dissertations and obtaining careers in academia. At NIU, however, students are involved in a unique plan of studies. The Applications Involvement Component (AIC) of the...

Chances are good that passersby who walked near Davis Hall or the NIU Transportation Center during the week of June 11 did a double take. After all, it’s not every day that 21 NIU students in Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) and Tyvek® suits, practicing the proper handling of hazardous materials and simulating work on...

What does a hot dog taste like after you shoot 120 volts of electricity through its meaty center? How hard do you have to pedal a bike to generate enough energy to power a light bulb? Families are invited from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, June 14, to learn the answers to these and other...

On a Friday evening a couple weeks ago, my wife and I were out for a leisurely dinner at a popular Italian restaurant near where we live. We were sitting at the back of the restaurant by a window at a table for two; love those two-person tables. The restaurant was crowded but the ambiance...

NIU’s Enhancing Engineering Pathways (NIU-EEP) aims to establish a sustainable pathway for girls into the field of engineering. To create and strengthen the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) pipeline, another year of NIU-EEP’s free summer camp will take place from June 11 through June 15. The application is available online. Launched in 2008, and...

Safety industry professional and blogger Joanell Powers recently wrote about her encounter with the NIU chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers. In the blog post titled “Carrying the Torch for the Safety Profession,” Powers mentions how most young professionals feel as though the “over-forty” work force is outdated and stands in the way...