WHERE CURIOSITY DRIVES IMPACT

Change begins with curiosity.

From exploring new ideas to solving the world’s biggest issues, LAS empowers thinkers and doers to transform curiosity into measurable impact.

We believe that education is more than lectures and textbooks. It’s about cultivating minds that question, explore, and act with purpose. And we know that when curiosity meets opportunity, innovation follows—and the impossible becomes possible. 

Explore where curiosity drives impact

LAS News

Researcher wearing protective glasses while using a laser to activate an specialized electrochemical reaction inside of an reaction cell.
Shrinking the carbon footprint of chemical manufacturing with lasers, solar radiation
 Researchers have found a way to use solar energy to power a key chemical reaction that drives many manufacturing industries. This new method can significantly reduce the energy required to run these operations, eliminate harsh oxidizing byproducts, and minimize carbon emissions.Olefin...
Rebecca Oh and book cover
Book chronicles how citizens, writers remain hopeful in face of environmental harms
 Citizens and writers remain hopeful in the face of environmental harms in “Reading Better States: Utopian Method and Environmental Harm in the Global South,” the new book by English professor...
Insect Fear Film Festival graphic
Insect-human hybrids are onscreen at Insect Fear Film Festival
 Insect-human hybrids provide the scares at the 2026 Insect Fear Film Festival at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.The festival, which is hosted by the Entomology Graduate...
The Trail of Time at Grand Canyon National Park
How does politics influence interpretive signs at National Park Service sites?
 The Trump administration recently ordered the National Park Service to remove interpretive signs that discuss slavery at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, following an executive order issued last year stating that public monuments should not “inappropriately disparage...
Jasmin Patrón-Vargas
Working for educational justice
 Meet Jasmin Patrón-Vargas (BA, '11, Latina/Latino studies and gender and women's studies) an assistant professor of teaching, learning, and culture at Texas A&M University. She earned her MEd in education...
An aerial view of the Main Quad on a sunny spring day
LAS celebrates leadership, alumni achievement
The College of LAS will recognize seven individuals during the 2026 alumni awards celebration in April. This year's honorees are researchers, philanthropists, and political thinkers who have made incredible impacts in their fields and communities.
David Wilson and book cover
Smart cities, Dracula urbanism
 City development is increasingly associated with creating “smart cities” that use technology for managing city services, home construction and attracting resources. But those strategies come with negative consequences to a city’s poor residents, said...
Susan Koshy, Jason Mazzone, David Sepkoski, and Rosalyn LaPier
Mellon Foundation awards Sawyer Seminar grant to Illinois faculty
 A multi-disciplinary team of faculty researchers from the University of Illinois has been awarded a Sawyer Seminar grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to study the challenges to democracy and academic freedom confronting US universities now. This is the first time in the 30-year...

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