The campus' main research and academic facilities are divided almost exactly between the twin cities of Urbana and Champaign. The College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences' research fields stretch south from Urbana and Champaign into Savoy and Champaign County. The University Airport is located in Savoy, Illinois and the University maintains formal gardens and a conference center in nearby Monticello at Allerton Park .
The University is one of the few educational institutions to own an airport. The University owns and operates Willard Airport, named for former University of Illinois president Arthur Cutts Willard. The airport was completed in 1945 and began service in 1954. Willard Airport is home to many University research projects and the University's acclaimed Institute of Aviation .
The Campus is based on the Quadrangle design popular at many universities around the nation. Four main quads make up the center of the University and are arranged from north to south. The Beckman Quadrangle and the John Bardeen Quadrangle make up the center of the Engineering Campus. The Beckman Quadrangle is primarily composed of research units and laboratories and features a large solar calendar composed of an obelisk and several copper fountains. The Main Quadrangle and South Quadrangle follow immediately after the John Bardeen Quad. The former makes up a large part of the Liberal Arts and Sciences portion of the campus, while the latter comprises many of the buildings of the College of ACES (campus map).
Research
A nationally acclaimed research center, UIUC is the site of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, which created Mosaic, the first graphical Web browser, and Telnet. The University also has the third largest academic library, and the largest public engineering library (Grainger Engineering Library) in the country. The Daily Illini is the (unofficial) student newspaper. In 1952 the University built the ILLIAC (Illinois Automatic Computer), the first computer built and owned entirely by an educational institution. UIUC is also the site of the Department of Energy's Center for the Simulation of Advanced Rockets , an institute which has employed graduate and faculty researchers in the physical sciences and mathematics in some of the most advanced research in the field. This history of excellence continues into the 21st century, both with the recent opening of the Siebel Center for Computer Science, the most technologically advanced academic facility to date, and the anticipated opening of the Institute for Genomic Biology in 2006.
Student Life
Greek Life
The University has the largest intrafraternity system in America. There are currently 44 fraternities and 20 sororities on the campus providing an alternative living style for its 29,000 undergraduate students.
Libraries
The University is recognized as having the largest public library in the world with more than 22 million volumes[1] in the main library alone. The online catalogue is utilized by over one million people around the world every day. In addition to the main library the College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences maintains the ACES Library on the South Quad, the Grainger Engineering Library Information Center serves the College of Engineering on the John Bardeen Quad, and over 40 departments and schools maintain their own libraries elsewhere on campus.
Transportation
The University bus system is part of the local Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District. The university provides a substantial amount of funding for the MTD, which in turn provides free campus bus service and free access to the entire system for university students, faculty, and staff. All students pay a semesterly Transit Fee which provides part of the funding paid to the transit district. As part of this arrangement, the MTD also runs a bus line between Illinois Terminal, the campus, and the university's afore mentioned University of Illinois Willard Airport. In addition, the Illinois Terminal provides connection services to Amtrak and Greyhound, making it the focal point of Chambana's public transportation systems.
The university maintains an extensive system of bike trails on campus. Cyclists are supposed to stay off the sidewalks, and to use the trails instead of roads when available. While pedestrians do have right-of-way while crossing the trails, it is common practice for Bikes to refuse right of way making Bike trails unsafe for pedestrians. All students are expected to register their bicycles with the campus public safety department, and to keep their bicycles in a safe operating condition.
The University's Division of Intercollegiate Athletics fields teams for 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports. The University participates in the NCAA's Division 1-A and forms part of the Big Ten athletic conference. The University's athletic teams are known as the Fighting Illini. The University operates a number of top athletic facilities, including Memorial Stadium for football, the Assembly Hall for men's basketball, and the Atkins Tennis Center for men's and women's tennis.
Organization
Colleges and Schools
College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences
Graduate School of Library and Information Science
College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign
School of Social Work
College of Veterinary Medicine
Notable faculty
John Bardeen - Nobel laureate (Physics, 1956) for co-inventing the transistor, and Nobel laureate (Physics, 1972) for work on superconductivity. Served on the faculty from 1951 until his death in 1991.
Michael Heath - Engineering Council Award for Excellence (2003), Fulton-Copp Chair (2002), ACM Fellow (2000), Hertz Fellow (1975)
Nick Holonyak Jr. - Lemelson-MIT Prize (2004), National Medal of Technology (2002), National Medal of Science (1990). He is credited for the invention of the LED and the first semiconductor laser to operate in the visible spectrum.
Elias Corey - Nobel laureate (Chemistry, 1990). Served on faulty from 1951 to 1959.
Paul Lauterbur - Nobel laureate (Physiology or Medicine, 2003). Joined the faculty in 1985.
Anthony J. Leggett - Nobel laureate (Physics, 2003). Joined faculty in 1983.
Salvador Luria - Nobel laureate (Physiology or Medicine, 1969). Served on faculty from 1950-1959.
Rudolph Marcus - Nobel laureate (Chemistry, 1992). Served on faculty from 1964-1968.
Franco Modigliani - Nobel laureate (Economics, 1985). Served on faculty from 1948-1952.
Arnold O. Beckman - BS 1922, MS 1923, inventor of pH meter, founder of Beckman Instruments and Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, major donor to U of I. The Beckman Institute and Beckman Quadrangle are named after him.
Donald L. Bitzer & H. Gene Slottow , 2003 Emmy Award in Technical Achievement for the invention of the plasma display.
