ESEC announces 2025-26 award winners

People posing for a photo with award certificates.
The Department of Earth Science and Environmental Change recently recognized our wonderful undergraduate and graduate students for their achievements in research, teaching, service, and academics. From fieldwork and lab discoveries to leadership in the department, these awards highlight the impact...

Still standing but mostly dead: Recovery of dying coral reef in Moorea stalls

Coral in the ocean.
In April 2019, a marine heat wave struck a coral reef on the island of Moorea in French Polynesia, killing much of the coral and the beneficial algae that colonized it. This “bleaching” event reduced live coral populations on the reef from about 75% beforehand to less than 17% a year later and led...

Illinois wind patterns show signs of change, study finds

Wind turbines in a field.
Winds across Illinois are beginning to still. A new study led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers has found that average wind speeds across the state have declined over the past three decades—and that the prevailing wind direction is slowly shifting southward. The findings,...
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