Accomplishments - December, 2025
Julia Rendleman, assistant professor, Charlotte Thompson Suhler School of Journalism and Advertising, has been heavily involved with the African American Heritage Trail and Oral History Project, which highlights Cairo, Illinois. Rendleman has helped organize, conduct oral history interviews, take photographs and work behind-the-scenes with the project, which will help people discover the history that defines the city’s vibrant Black community. A free, public kickoff is set for 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5, in the Cairo High and Junior High School cafeteria, 4201 Sycamore St.
“A Review on Climate Change Impacts on Freshwater Systems and Ecosystem Resilience,” co-authored by Ajay Kalra, associate professor, School of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering, was recently published as the cover story in the November MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute) Water journal. Other co-authors from SIU are master’s students Dewasis Dahal, Bishal Poudel and Sujan Shrestha. The study provides a comprehensive review of how changing precipitation patterns, altered snowmelt timing and intensifying hydrologic extremes affect freshwater systems and ecosystem stability, and it proposes ecosystem-based adaptation and a water-energy-food-ecosystem (WEFE) framework to enhance resilience.
