Sharing the impact of Illinois research with a broad local audience is the goal of a new awareness campaign that launched September 9 in East Central Illinois. The ‘Community Impact’ campaign includes billboards and ads that point people to a website with engaging content about research across campus.

“We can see and feel the impact of Illinois research all around us, from interesting events and programs for kids to innovations that bring new industries, companies, and jobs to our communities,” said Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation Susan Martinis, whose office spearheaded the campaign. “We’re known for developing some of the world’s most game-changing technologies, but research has a massive impact locally, too.” 

The campaign is organized into eight general themes that show how Illinois research intersects with community members’ day-to-day lives: water, health, economy, agriculture, kids, pets, aging, and vibrant communities. On the website, each theme page contains digestible stories, stats, and Q&As that invite people to learn about the research topics as well as the people leading the projects.

Soil scientist Andrew Margenot, a professor in the School of Integrative Biology who has appointments with the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, is one of the researchers featured in a Q&A.

“It is not easy to translate what a lot of us do into plain English,” said Margenot. “That is an important gap that we need to be better about as scientists. It was refreshing to see such diverse lines of research being distilled into common English, to the point that a non-expert (like myself) on a topic like labor relations could understand.” 

The campaign also highlights that Illinois researchers not only impact the community, they’re members of the community. Steve Maren, an Illinois graduate who recently returned to the area to become Director of the Beckman Institute, is happy to be back in a forward-thinking community.

“This campaign highlights how Illinois research is at work for all of us, turning bold ideas into real world impact,” said Maren. “At the Beckman Institute, the research impact is fundamentally about improving human health and wellbeing, whether our researchers are using AI to synthesize next-generation drug therapies, developing new imaging methods to study Alzheimer’s disease, or developing a hands-free wheelchair.”

Ultimately, the awareness campaign is designed to help people in the community see that Illinois researchers care about what they care about.

“Our researchers live here and care about the same things everyone cares about, like safe drinking water for their kids,” said Martinis. “Of course, I’m a researcher myself—but I’m also a parent and we’ve raised our three kids here. I’m so proud of the important work that’s happening on campus and what it means for the people in our communities.”

Watch the brand new campaign ad on YouTube here.