From the Farm: U of I professor named World Food Prize recipient
From the Farm: All American Junior Sheep Show
Dr. Stephen Long, Ikenberry Professor of Crop Sciences and Plant Biology at U of I, has been figuring out how to make crops yield more by using sunlight energy for the last 50 years. As a result, he has been declared agrifood professor and the recipient pioneer for the World Food Prize this October in Des Moines, Iowa.
'That'll be a very special day, a very special recognition for all the people who've worked with me at [the University of] Illinois and are carrying on this work, here and around the world,' Long said. 'My major objective in all of the work has really been to improve the process of photosynthesis in our crops, and also future proof it so that it can still function under the changes we know that are going to happen over the next 50 years.'
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Mark Gordon in June 2025 outside of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum to open the annual Western Governors' Association meeting. Polis signed an act regulating artificial intelligence in his state with 'reservations.' Closer to home, a Colorado bill, which New Mexico's Artificial Intelligence Act was partially based on, was signed into law with 'reservations' by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis. Despite his signature, the tech entrepreneur and Democratic governor later signaled his support for the proposed moratorium on state artificial intelligence regulation 'to give Congress time to figure this out' and create nationwide standards that would overrule state law. Chandler is also concerned about pushing a potentially resource-intensive technology while at the same time cutting funding for renewable energy and climate change research. 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'We're still kind of reeling' from the consequences, she added. 'There were a lot of unintended consequences as a result,' Chandler said. 'What I fear is all this hype, this excitement around AI could lead us to the same sort of thing. We don't really fully understand the implications of how it could be used or so forth.'
