On Campus With Rashid
At Illinois Grainger Engineering, we are shaping the future through transformative innovations whose impacts will benefit our state, region and the world. It’s my pleasure to share some recent achievements that highlight the strength of our vision and the dedication of our faculty, staff, students and partners.
In our cover story, you’ll learn how Grainger engineers Bill King and Stephen Boppart are leading two large ARPA-H grants that use an engineering-based approach to accelerate advancements in cancer biology and treatments. We are proud to partner with the Cancer Center at Illinois, led by bioengineering professor Rohit Bhargava, and the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, the world’s first engineering-based medical school, on other projects that range from developing new cancer vaccines to designing nanotechnology for oncological applications, among other efforts.
Also in this issue of Limitless, we discuss new and existing manufacturing initiatives, including the launch of the Illinois Manufacturing Institute, which will house cross-college precision, additive, bio and large-structure manufacturing projects. IMI, led by William King, anticipates launching new additive manufacturing initiatives in 2025 and beyond.
You’ll also get an up-close-and-personal look at alumnus Tom Siebel, who donated $50 million to create our new Siebel School of Computing and Data Science to advance Illinois’ continued leadership in computing and data science education and research and shape the future of technology and innovation. We were proud to welcome Tom back to campus in October 2024 for the school’s dedication, at which he discussed his philanthropic vision and shared advice with students.
We also delve into our programs, partners and people in Chicago, highlighting how our faculty, students, staff and alumni are growing the research, education and innovation ecosystem to power the city’s economic evolution and lead its technical revolution.
I hope you’ll enjoy reading about Grainger Engineering in action as we transform tomorrow’s reality.
Rashid Bashir
Dean, The Grainger College of Engineering