Beckman Institute at Illinois

Did you know Beckman has an Instagram? Follow us for stunning research images and all the latest updates . 🔶🔹

Eleven Beckman researchers are part of a new training program aimed at predoctoral students working at the interface of reproductive sciences and engineering. 🤝

The program will draw on the university's rich history of research ➡ bit.ly/4fmVOVM

🔶🔹

Beckman researchers include:

Amy Wagoner Johnson
Stephen Boppart
Catherine Christian-Hinman
Kathryn Clancy
Brian Cunningham
Jodi Flaws
Joseph Irudayaraj
Hyunjoon Kong
Cecilia Leal
Erik Nelson
Kai Zhang

Meet Aravind “Babs” Baby, this month’s featured student researcher. 👋

Babs demonstrates what it means to have a passion for scientific thinking. Ever since his time in school as a child, he has been fascinated with the periodic table and other scientific topics. He now combines his interests in both materials and chemistry.

His research focuses on refurbishing failed lead-acid batteries. Babs hopes that this research will reduce the harmful environmental impacts of battery recycling. ♻️ 🔋

Read more about Babs and his research ▶️ bit.ly/3yrNbc0

Summer evenings. 💙 🌅

The Beckman Institute is for three positions:

Research scientist, apply by Aug. 8
Beckman Café chef, apply by Aug. 19
Tissue Engineering Lab manager, apply by Aug 26

🔸🤝🔹

Learn more and apply at beckman.illinois.edu/jobs

Neuroscientist and alumnus Steve Maren will join the Beckman Institute as its next director on August 16, pending Board of Trustees approval. 🤝

Maren earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Illinois and was among the first students to study in the newly created Beckman Institute in the late 1980s. He is currently the University Distinguished Professor and Charles H. Gregory Chair of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University.

He succeeds interim director Catherine Murphy, who stepped in to lead the institute this year and will return to her leadership role in Chemistry at Illinois in time for the fall semester.

Happy homecoming, Interim Director Maren. 🔶🔹

Read the full announcement ➡ go.illinois.edu/DirectorMaren

What puts the electronic pep in peptides? A folded structure. ⚡

Interdisciplinary Beckman researchers combined single-molecule experiments, molecular dynamics simulations and quantum mechanics to find that electron transport, the energy-generating process inside living cells that enables photosynthesis and respiration, is enhanced in folded peptides. 🍃 🌬

“This discovery provides a new understanding of how electrons flow through peptides with more complex structures while offering new avenues to design and develop more efficient molecular electronic devices,” said lead investigator Charles Schroeder, the James Economy Professor in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois.

🗞 bit.ly/4dgnie5

Even before the "cicada summer," Beckman researchers were hard at work studying the antibacterial properties of cicada wings to create cicada-inspired surfaces.

“Cicada wings are superhydrophobic, meaning they’re really waterproof, and they also have excellent antibacterial properties,” said Yutao Chen, a biologist and graduate student. 🧼

What's the secret behind these cicada wing superpowers, and how can scientists replicate them?

Learn more ➡️ bit.ly/4c2QmVk

Michael Focht and Kellie Halloran, both Beckman graduate student researchers, made their onscreen debut last spring in a segment of ciLiving.tv.

They used ice cubes, an Eiffel Tower and Silly Putty to creatively communicate how they study the musculoskeletal system.

💪 🗣 📺

Read Beckman's latest blog post for a look into their process.

🗞 bit.ly/3LsIjGm

Brad Sutton, the technical director of Beckman's Biomedical Imaging Center and a UI Department of Bioengineering professor, was named a fellow of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) on May 6.

This list recognizes those who have made significant contributions to research or education in magnetic resonance in biology and medicine.

Congratulations! 👏

Read more ▶ bit.ly/3zDO9SZ

Clarion Mendes, an clinical assistant professor and speech language pathologist, is featured in a CNN article discussing the Speech Accessibility Project. 🗞

“If something like assistive technology can make it possible for individuals to find enrichment in their hobbies, in their jobs … all of a sudden these activities that used to take excessive amounts of time or require the person to rely on other individuals, that has increased their independence exponentially.”

‘We don’t want to leave people behind’: AI is helping disabled people in surprising new ways | CNN Business When Matthew Sherwood goes shopping for clothes, he needs help to ensure that what he’s picking up is the color or style he’s looking for.

The Speech Accessibility Project has partnered with three organizations who serve people with cerebral palsy:

ADAPT Community Network
Cerebral Palsy Foundation
CP Unlimited

“These partnerships are critical to the mission of the Speech Accessibility Project because they put us in contact with people for whom current technology is not yet accessible,” said project lead and professor Mark Hasegawa-Johnson.

“We want to create a communication channel by which those people can help speech technologists to create better, more accessible technologies in the near future.”

💚 🤝 💬

Learn more and participate ▶️ bit.ly/4bBAlWh

Beckman Institute at Illinois The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is an interdisciplinary research institute devoted to leading-edge research in a vast array of disciplines.
Urbana, IL
beckman.illinois.edu

Beckman is seeking a student worker to help support our graphic design team for the fall 2024 semester.

🔶🤝🔷

Visit beckman.illinois.edu/jobs to learn more and apply.

The young scientists from Next Generation School Preschool & Early Education always bring their energy and curiosity to Beckman! 👏

scientists including Beckman researcher Rhanor Gillette developed an AI that can navigate new environments, learn in real time and seek novelty and rewards.

It's based on the foraging skills of a slug and the episodic memory of an octopus. 🤖🐙

Learn more at go.illinois.edu/OctoAI

Another successful day of STEM outreach at the Child Development Laboratory. 🤝

Which Beckman outreach activities do you see here? View the full list at go.beckman.illinois.edu/OutreachActivities

Genetics, brain imaging and personal experience inform a new way to describe how autism looks and feels in individuals.

🧬 🧠 💬

The three Beckman Institute researchers behind this method — Stephanie Ceman, Laura Hetrick and Tracey Wszalek — nicknamed their interdisciplinary team The Mutual Admiration Society.

Learn more ▶️ bit.ly/3VEiIjV

Beckman researcher and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Illinois professor Ying Diao received a Campus Distinguished Promotion award by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost. 👏🔶

Diao co-chairs Beckman's Molecular Science and Engineering research theme ▶️ bit.ly/3KDLNFB

Meet the Owl Patrol, Beckman's outreach committee. 🦉

More than 50 students, staff and faculty members make up the Owl Patrol, which shares Beckman research with local and regional communities according to five pillars: interdisciplinary work across subjects, trust-building, visibility, literacy and inclusivity. 🤝🧪

The group's name is inspired by an episode from institute founder Arnold O. Beckman's childhood.

Learn more ➡ bit.ly/4aUfrRZ

Beckman Institute at Illinois The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is an interdisciplinary research institute devoted to leading-edge research in a vast array of disciplines.
Urbana, IL
beckman.illinois.edu

Beckman and Carle Illinois College of Medicine researcher Chitra Subramanian is tracking lipids to discover new tools for diagnosing and treating cancers that start in the head and neck. 🔎

Her research uses two powerful tools to identify and profile lipid biomarkers that could flag head and neck cancers through routine blood tests ➡ bit.ly/4aCkjL3

Susann Sears, the director of Beckwith Residential Support Services and the assistant director of academic services with Disability Resources & Educational Services at University of Illinois, has joined the Beckman Institute. 🤝

Sears has more than two decades of educational and professional experience serving college students with disabilities. She holds a Ph.D. in community health with a rehabilitation emphasis from and is currently a research assistant professor of kinesiology and community health.

Read more about her ➡ bit.ly/4bsELzy

For many Illinois residents, the call of cicadas is central to summer's soundscape. But this year looks — and sounds — a bit different, courtesy of a timely collision between cicada Broods XIII and XIX.

Fatima Husain, a Beckman researcher and professor of speech and hearing science, explains why individuals with tinnitus may find peace among the audial onslaught and offers suggestions for how people can safely shield their ears from the impending wall of sound.

Read her full Q&A and watch the video ➡️ bit.ly/3UOYUbZ

Dominik Mischkowski, a professor in the University of Illinois Psychology Department and The Neuroscience Program, has joined the Beckman Institute. 🤝

Mischkowski earned his Ph.D. in psychology at The Ohio State University and conducted postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health. He joined ILLINOIS in 2024.

His research is located at the intersection between physical pain and social affect and behavior (e.g., empathy and aggression).

"At Beckman, I am looking forward to joining a vibrant research community, with methodological and theoretical interests overlapping and complementing my own. In particular, I am excited to use the center’s neuroimaging facilities," he said.

Read more about Mischkowski ➡️ bit.ly/4dQZRsH

Apple, one of the Speech Accessibility Project’s five funders, announced new accessibility features including Eye Tracking, Music Haptics, Vocal Shortcuts and Listen for Atypical Speech. 🤝

The -led Speech Accessibility Project aims to make voice recognition technology more accessible to people with diverse speech and disabilities.

“Artificial intelligence has the potential to improve speech recognition for millions of people with atypical speech, so we are thrilled that Apple is bringing these new accessibility features to consumers,” said Beckman researcher and project leader Mark Hasegawa-Johnson in a recent Apple press release.

“The Speech Accessibility Project was designed as a broad-based, community-supported effort to help companies and universities make speech recognition more robust and effective, and Apple is among the accessibility advocates who made the Speech Accessibility Project possible.”

Illinois ECE

Apple announces new accessibility features, including Eye Tracking Apple today announced new accessibility features coming later this year, including Eye Tracking, Music Haptics, and Vocal Shortcuts.

Benedek Kurdi, a professor of psychology at , has joined the Beckman Institute.

🔶 🤝 🔷

Kurdi studies the power and limitations of our minds in adaptively responding to new information given a lifetime of learning. He examines learning in the context of basic social processes, specifically studying the ordinary decisions we make every day that are critical to our well-being and even survival.

"My affiliation with the Beckman Institute will allow me to think in more and systemic ways," he said.

Learn more about Kurdi ▶️ bit.ly/3yoS4ST

This year, Beckman was one of several Energy Conservation Incentive Program, or ECIP, award winners, placing the institute among campus buildings that demonstrated the greatest percentage of energy savings over the previous fiscal year. 🔋💡

Congratulations to the Beckman Institute Facilities and Operations team and of Illinois Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Environment for making strides in sustainability and energy conservation!

Thanks to all who took part in Earth Month 2024 and other iSEE events this semester! Together we made a major impact on campus at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign! ♻️

💡 Our final Illini Lights Out (ILO) on April 19 drew a semester-best 167 volunteers, pushing the Spring 2024 total to 696! For the entire 2023-24 school year, a total of 1,512 volunteers turned off 50,617 light bulbs in campus buildings, saved 87,609 kWh and $7,686, and averted 61.2 tons of GHG — a big win for our climate! 🏭

🌎 During Earth Month, thousands of students visited iSEE and other participants at the Sustainapalooza celebration on April 22 on the Quad, sponsored by Student Sustainability Leadership Council, Student Sustainability Committee, and Students for Environmental Concerns UIUC - SECS!

♻️ 🗑️ Dozens of volunteers picked up 300 pounds of trash and recycling at our two events on March 21 and April 16!

🔶🔹 And more more than 100 students participated in the April 25 Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) forum as part of the 🏆 Green Globes celebration, honoring student RSOs and kicking off the planning for iCAP 2025! That event and two others were also certified as Green Events! 🎖️💚

⚡️ Finally, Facilities & Services honored recent Energy Conservation Incentive Program (ECIP) award winners — campus buildings that demonstrate the greatest percentage of energy savings over the previous fiscal year. Honorees included the Florida Avenue Residence Halls (FARH), the Children’s Research Center, Grainger Engineering Library, the Stock Pavilion, and Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at Illinois! Congrats to all involved! 🎉

Seven students have been selected to receive 2024 Beckman Institute fellowships and awards. 🔶 🥳 🔷

The awards fund interdisciplinary research that takes place over the summer. This year's winners seek to improve access to high-quality diagnostic tools, break down the brain chemistry of parenting, bottle the positive effects of exercise and map the neural pathways that dictate how we perceive the world.

The winners will be celebrated with a poster session in August. Learn more about them ▶️ bit.ly/3V2xiRG

Sola Adeyiga, University of Illinois Psychology Department
Aniket Joglekar, University of Illinois School of Molecular & Cellular Biology
Guowei Zhang, University of Illinois Psychology Department
Zifan Zhao, University of Illinois Psychology Department, School of Information Sciences at Illinois
Prithika Ravi, University of Illinois Psychology Department
Swathi Katakam, Illinois ECE
Ling Lee Chong, Illinois Computer Science, University of Illinois Psychology Department

Matthew Hanks, a professor in the Department of Kinesiology & Community Health at Illinois and the Director of the Disability and Movement Biomechanics Laboratory, has joined the Beckman Institute.

🔷 🤝 🔶

His research investigates shoulder health and function in manual wheelchair users from childhood to young adulthood to better understand healthy aging. At the Beckman Institute, Hanks will collaborate with professors Deana McDonagh and Adam Bleakney in the (dis)Ability Design Studio.

🗣 "It is a great honor to be an affiliate faculty member at the Beckman Institute. I am excited to conduct impactful research with a multidisciplinary team of global leaders in disability-related research at the University of Illinois."

Griffin Sipes, a Beckman researcher and an graduate student in mechanical engineering, received the Seed for Science Fellowship from the De Luca Foundation. 👏

His project, titled “Improving exercise recommendations for cardiovascular function for persons with spinal cord injury," will assess how manual wheelchair users respond to a wheelchair attachment called the FreeWheel®.

"I hope that my project can allow for more research on manual wheelchair propulsion to be done in the field. A very prevalent issue with wheelchairs is terrain navigation; moving over grass or even cracks in the sidewalk can be difficult. Replicating these scenarios can be difficult in the lab, so being able to collect data in the field is a big step," he said.

Sipes works with Mariana Kersh, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, and Ian Rice, a professor of kinesiology and community health.

🔷 🔸

Learn more ➡ bit.ly/3UDqRmN