Omaha North High graduate Dywan Williams once believed an athletic scholarship would be his path to college. When he decided against playing at the next level, the first-generation student turned to an innovative college-access program offered by UNL. Williams, an accounting major, wants to create a better life for him and his family.

Two continents. Three countries. Five states. Luis Reyes Mendieta’s road to the physical therapy program at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine in Kearney, Nebraska, has been anything but a direct path. So, what would lead a young man born in Honduras and who lived in Kenya for 10 years to Kearney?

After Overton, Nebraska veterinarian Lance Kizer was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2015, his daughter began raising funds to support research in hopes of someday finding a cure. The 24-year-old organized basketball and sand volleyball tournaments and put on a bike ride, raising more than $39,000. She’s not done yet.

Ask Dean Lance C. Pérez why he wants to create “a bigger, better College of Engineering” at UNL, and he’s ready with a Nebraska-centric answer. By constructing buildings, hiring new faculty, recruiting more students and expanding research, the state’s only engineering college can spur economic development in Nebraska.

Diabetes On Track seeks to improve diabetes care and prevention by piloting a new approach in two rural Nebraska communities. Launched this fall, the idea is for communities to tailor their own solutions through collaboration among health departments, health clinics, hospitals and community groups.

Our bodies are home to trillions of microbes, and their impact is vast. At UNL and UNMC, scientists are conducting extensive research of the microbiome to find the links from agriculture and food production to human wellness and the prevention of disease.