THURSDAY April 1, 2021
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Vol. 150 Issue 45
University institutions present virtual open houses BY ALEX CHANG STAFF WRITER
Last Friday and Saturday, both the Grainger College of Engineering and the Beckman Institute hosted their respective open houses, with the caveat that both events shifted from a normally inperson weekend of activities to a wholly online program. Beckman Open House runs biennially, falling on every odd-numbered year, while Engineering Open House runs every year. Faculty, students and RSOs are invited to share their research and projects with the C-U community at the open houses. One example of previous projects on display at Engineering Open House include Almost Talking Dog, where an electroencephalogram is hooked up to a dog to provide real-time English translations of the dog’s thoughts. These events are meant to “give younger students and those outside of engineering a taste of the field and introduce them to engineering concepts,” said EOH co-director Kayva Sudhir. “One of the main reasons I got into bioengineering in the first place was EOH, and I remember seeing kids only two to three years older than me doing experiments that really were jaw-dropping to me and that basically settled the fact that I wanted to pursue bioengineering at Illinois,” Sudhir said. Continuing the push for science, technology, engineering and math education and outreach is one of the core goals of EOH. “We offer so many avenues for middle school, grade
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GRAINGER COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
The Grainger College of Engineering and Beckman Institute invite people to attend virtual open houses this week. This year, they have shifted their presentations from in person to virtual due to COVID-19.
school, even high school students to learn about STEM and also life as a U of I engineer,” Sudhir said. “That is one of the main goals of Engineering Open House and will continue to be one in the future.” One major disruption to both of these events is the impact that COVID-19 has had on the organization of the event. Previously, both events were “in-person and
included tours of facilities, hands-on experiments that involved audience participation and speeches by keynote speakers in auditoriums,” said Patricia Jones, associate director of Research for the Beckman Institute. EOH has had similar disruptions. According to Sudhir, one of the biggest cancellations was the Tesla Coil Concert, an event where two massive tesla coils are set to strike in time with music, as
there simply wasn’t a way to control people going in and out while still abiding by COVID-19 regulations. Both events chose to run their programs through synchronous and asynchronous videos, in which users could join experiments and programs that they were interested in online. While in-person attendance and participation from people in the C-U area and Central Illinois has dropped
due to the shift from in-person to online programming, there have been significant, and surprising, gains in attendance from people outside Illinois. “We’ve had logins from California, India, China, Japan, which wouldn’t be possible without this online model,” Jones said. The online format has enabled programs that would not otherwise be practical for an in-person format.
“On Monday we (had) a speaker from Sweden, and a seminar that normally would be at 1 p.m. was scheduled for 11 a.m., for example. This probably wouldn’t have happened inperson because of the logistics involved,” Jones said. Beckman Institute Open House’s programming is expected to run for the rest of this week. alexrc2@dailyillini.com
UI launches program for racial injustice Employees acquire Call to Action addresses systemic racism BY SOPHIE CASABURI STAFF WRITER
Chancellor Robert Jones announced the upcoming applications for the new annual Call to Action Research Program via Massmail on March 18. The program will fund academic research to further the understanding of systemic racism and generational racial disparity, according to the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s website. The program is part of the University’s Call to Action to Address Racism and Social Injustice, which was announced in July 2020. “The events of the ... past 18 months to two years have really made us think, ‘Okay, let’s make sure we actually act. We don’t simply discuss, discuss and discuss, but let’s act’,” said Sean Garrick, vice chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Each year, the program will have specific research areas. This year’s focus is systemic racism and social justice, law enforce-
ment and criminal justice reform and then disparities in health and health care. “(They are) just issues of the day that aren’t specific to, in my opinion, to any one person or any one group, but really speaks to some of the big challenges facing our society,” Garrick said. “The hope is that these subject areas will change as ... we either make progress or as more things pop up.” The University has $2 million to allocate across research areas as well as funding tracks, including community-based innovation projects, systemic institutional change projects and societal impact projects. Garrick hopes that the program can fund all potential projects and believes there is a “good chance” that it will. He wants to see projects across different topics and funding tracks be funded and supported. According to the Massmail, University tenure, tenure-track and specialized faculty with appointments in any academic college or research unit are eligible to apply. Graduate students and community members can be a part of the research as well; how-
additional paid days sented bargaining units. “The additional paid time off is part of our ongoing efforts to show how much we appreciate your hard work, resiliency, sacrifice and commitment – qualities that have shone brightly throughout the COVID-19 crisis,” said members of the Office of the President in the Massmail. This will be the sixth straight year in which employees who are eligible will receive gift days. Before this program began in 2016, employees were required to use their annual pool of paid time off to be paid for the three Reduced Service Days, according to the Massmail.
BY AMRITA BHATTACHARYYA NEWS EDITOR
KAITLIN MIKRUIT THE DAILY ILLINI
ever, it must be in collaboration with a University employee. Pre-proposal submissions are due on April 26, which includes a two-page outline describing the applicant’s research idea, said Garrick. “The purpose of (the preproposals) is to make sure that what is proposed fits our guidelines that were communicated,” Garrick said. After a pre-proposal is approved, University and national experts will score
the applicant’s full proposal based on its validity and potential societal impact. According to Garrick, there are over a hundred people signed up to participate in the information sessions on March 30 and 31. “Let’s actually support the people who are interested in doing the work that pertains to systemic challenges in our society,” Garrick said. sophiec4@dailyillini.com
The University announced Tuesday that employees who are eligible for leave benefits will receive three paid “gift days” for this year’s Reduced Service Days. Gift days are days in which employees are excused from work with pay without having to charge a benefit. The Reduced Service Days are from Dec. 29 to Dec. 31. Combined with other holidays and weekends, it will extend the year-end break from Dec. 24 to Jan. 3. According to a Massmail, paid time off for the holidays is addressed through a required collective bargaining process for employees in union-repre- abhatt52@dailyillini.com
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