NIU Today

On a bitter cold day this past January, professor Tom Sims is surrounded by signs of spring – hundreds of delicate blossoms in shades of purple and pink and white sprouting in an old greenhouse on campus at NIU’s Montgomery Hall. This is petunia central, and the spadework done here could help usher in a...

Using parasitic wasps to fight the fly population might sound like something out of the latest sci-fi film, but entomologists are actually researching this bug battle to find environmentally friendly solutions for pest control. At the next STEM Café, NIU professor Bethia King and Ph.D. candidate Ted Burgess from NIU’s Department of Biological Sciences will...

What won’t Mitch Irwin do in the name of science? Irwin, a Northern Illinois University anthropologist, went to great lengths to collect data in Madagascar for a fascinating new study that sheds light on why primates live long lives. An international team of scientists working with primates in zoos, sanctuaries and in the wild examined...

NIU’s Department of Biological Sciences, in conjunction with Office of Student Engagement and Experiential Learning and Secondary Science Teacher Certification, invites faculty members, deans, and department chairs to a talk on “Driving Instruction with Data: Assessment.” Diane Ebert-May, a professor of plant biology at Michigan State University, will speak from 10 a.m. to noon Thursday, Nov....

Anthropology professor Mitch Irwin, who led his first Northern Illinois University study abroad trip to Madagascar this past June, now is planning for a 2014 adventure to the island country off the southeastern coast of Africa. Judging from the experience of students this past summer, he won’t have a problem drumming up interest. But it’s...

Thomas J. Schall, a 2013 College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, will give a talk Friday, Oct. 11, on “Chemokines and Chemoattractant Receptors: From Flesh-Eating Bacteria to AIDS to Autoimmune Disease.” The lecture will begin at noon in Room 201 of LaTourette Hall. The public is invited to attend. Founder and...

NIU alumna Karen Horting, deputy executive director of the Society of Women Engineers, will lead the world’s premiere organization for women engineers as its executive director and CEO beginning Jan. 1, 2014. “Karen will bring fresh ideas and a new perspective to the role of executive director and CEO while at the same time, maintaining...

Northern Illinois University’s Casey LaBarbera was named to the 2013 Women’s Golf Academic All-Mid-American Conference Team, the league announced Friday. Taylor Ellett (Hampshire, Ill./Hampshire) and Allie Parthie (Marinette, Wis./Marinette) received Honorable Mention accolades. “It’s good for all three of them to be recognized for academics,” said NIU head coach Kim Kester. “You’re a student before...

Researchers at Lincoln Park Zoo and Northern Illinois University have discovered a new culprit contributing to amphibian decline and altered mammal distribution throughout the Midwest region – the invasive plant European buckthorn. This non-native shrub, which has invaded two-thirds of the United States, has long been known to negatively impact plant community composition and forest...

Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News has named NIU’s Kirthi Kutumbaka, a Ph.D. student in biological sciences, as one of its “GEN 10” award winners, recognizing excellence in scientific research. During a recent ceremony at the BIO Conference in Chicago, the awards were presented to 10 graduate students and postdocs who were among dozens and dozens...

Holly Jones, assistant professor in the NIU Department of Biological Sciences, will speak at noon Thursday, Feb. 21, at the next brown bag luncheon of the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society. The event takes place in Wirtz 216. Bring a lunch; light snacks (cookies, chips) will be provided. All are welcome. Jones will talk on...

NIU senior biological sciences major Mischelle Nelson recently won a Presentation Award at the 2012 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) in San Jose, Calif. Nelson attended the conference to present research she conducted in the laboratory of Narayan Hosmane, a Board of Trustees Professor of chemistry at NIU. “I gave a poster...