Finding Solutions to the World’s Challenges – With Illinois: The Campaign for Illinois
Campaign Priority Finding Solutions to the World’s Challenges

With Courage

SHIELD test

It takes courage, dedication, and compassion to change the world

In the pursuit of a healthier, safer, and more productive world, every idea is on the table.

When we gathered to celebrate the launch of the With Illinois Campaign in October 2017, nobody could have predicted what the next years would bring. A global pandemic. A painfully divided country. Historic wildfires and hurricanes.

But we proved we are resilient and that in a time of crisis we come together to find solutions. At the onset of the pandemic, our scientists pivoted quickly and pooled their expertise in chemistry, engineering, medicine, and design thinking to develop a portable respirator, as well as SHIELD, the saliva-based testing protocol that became a model for communities around the world. When people took to the streets in search of change, Chancellor Robert J. Jones provided substantial funding for faculty to launch new research programs into issues of diversity and inclusion.

For all the challenges facing us today, there are people on campus working to find solutions.

It takes courage, dedication, and compassion to change the world. It takes Illinois.

our innovative research enterprise is having a global impact

A micro-scale image of coal ash by Hongxu Zhou, a graduate student in agricultural and biological engineering.

A micro-scale image of coal ash by Hongxu Zhou, a graduate student in agricultural and biological engineering.

Illinois researchers are not afraid to break academic boundaries, think outside the box, or try something new. During the With Illinois Campaign, philanthropic gifts helped support and magnify the already life-changing work being done on our campus.

Supported in part by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation as well as by individual donor gifts, our groundbreaking COVID-19 rapid-testing program, SHIELD, kept our campus safe during the height of the pandemic and became a model of community testing.

A partnership between the university and the Carle health system launched the world’s first engineering-based medical school, our Carle Illinois College of Medicine.

Backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the university is leading an international research project, Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE). By “hacking” the photosynthesis process, these researchers hope to solve world hunger in this century.

Support of the research mission, whether by individual donors or philanthropic foundations, is a critical part of our ability to help improve the human condition.

  • $999+ millionsupporting research and innovation

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