The Reisenauer Institute for Rare Diseases will help to bridge the gaps between scientific understanding and the daily experiences of those living with rare conditions, consistent with the University’s Catholic mission and strategic framework. In doing so, it will take a multidisciplinary approach to problem-solving, with connections to the University’s strategic framework — specifically, the and the subsections of the .

In the United States, a rare disease is defined as a medical condition impacting fewer than 200,000 people. However, aggregated across the landscape of the nearly 10,000 known rare diseases, ; as many as half are children.

“This extraordinary gift from the Reisenauers will enable Notre Dame to more effectively prepare the next generation of educators, patient advocates and researchers in a collaborative effort to prevent, treat and cure rare diseases,” said , the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost. “Such important work is central to Notre Dame’s as articulated in our .”

Notre Dame’s efforts in the rare disease space began more than a decade ago with the establishment of the Boler-Parseghian Center for Rare Diseases, and continued with the creation of the distinctive program and the .

“As Notre Dame parents and as the parents of two children with an ultra-rare disease, our hope is that this transformative gift leads to real breakthroughs in the rare disease space, in terms of research as well as patient and family advocacy, support and care.”

The new institute will build on those efforts but with a fresh approach — one that, consistent with the University’s Catholic mission and values, centers patients and their experiences and aims to make a difference for the rare disease community through intentional integration of research, advocacy and education, guided by a deep commitment to ethical engagement and to honoring the dignity of patients and their families.

To that end, the institute will invest in the people, programs and tools required to achieve positive momentum in the rare disease space, emphasizing scalability, reproducibility, collaboration and cross-functional partnerships.

As a key first step in launching the institute, the College of Science is currently undertaking an international search for its inaugural director with support from the executive search firm Spencer Stuart.

Ultimately, the institute aims to be a beacon of hope for the rare disease community, revolutionizing care by uniting patients and experts to accelerate therapy development, empower organizations and train the next generation of advocates for lasting impact.

“We are deeply grateful to Dave and Cathleen Reisenauer for their extraordinary generosity,” said , interim dean of the College of Science. “Their gift will allow us to unite research, education and patient advocacy in a way that reflects our Catholic mission and commitment to serving the most vulnerable, and to pursue this work with integrity and respect for the families who place their trust in us.”

Cathleen Reisenauer is a member of the Notre Dame College of Science Advisory Council. Dave Reisenauer, now retired, is the former director of digital transformation for Nvidia, the world’s leading artificial intelligence chipmaker.

The couple has three children: Peter, Cayla and Andrew. Peter and Andrew are both Notre Dame graduates and are now practicing attorneys. Peter and Cayla both live with Cori disease/GSD type IIIA, a genetic disorder characterized by the accumulation of glycogen in the body’s cells, leading to impaired organ and tissue function, particularly affecting the liver and muscles. Cathleen is a full-time caregiver to Cayla, who is severely disabled.

The experience of navigating Peter and Cayla’s diagnoses has shaped and inspired their philanthropy, which includes previous gifts to Notre Dame to establish and strengthen the Reisenauer Excellence Fund for GSD and Related Disease Research; support the ; endow the director of patient advocacy education and outreach position within the Patient Advocacy Initiative; and support an associate director for external engagement for the Patient Advocacy Initiative.

“Our experience working with the College of Science in support of patient advocacy has only reinforced our belief in Notre Dame’s capacity to improve the lives of those living with rare diseases,” Cathleen Reisenauer said. “As Notre Dame parents and as the parents of two children with an ultra-rare disease, our hope is that this transformative gift leads to real breakthroughs in the rare disease space, in terms of research as well as patient and family advocacy, support and care.”

Proud graduates of Gonzaga University, the Reisenauers have also made gifts to their alma mater, for both learning and athletics. Recently, they have also lent their support to a program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, the Reisenauer Precision Gene Therapy Fund, aimed at developing therapies for ultra-rare disorders and engaging with the patients and families affected by these diseases.

For more information, visit .

, professor and director of the University of Notre Dame’s (GC-DWC), has joined a major new Vatican-backed initiative, “From Crisis to Care: Catholic Action for Children” to position Notre Dame as a lead research and program learning partner of this global effort to transform how the Catholic Church and its partners protect and nurture the world’s most vulnerable children.

Answering the late Pope Francis’ urgent call to safeguard the rights, dignity and well-being of children, the Catholic Action for Children Initiative is co-sponsored by Holy See institutions and religious unions, including the Vatican’s Dicastery for Integral Human Development, Union of Superiors General, International Union of Superiors General and Pontifical Academy for Life, with the participation of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Catholic Relief Services, religious congregations and lay experts. Working directly with children and families across five continents, the initiative aims to culminate in a public action plan to support church leaders, communities and partners, ensuring that every child grows up in safe, nurturing family care supported by strong, coherent systems.

The initiative held its inaugural committee meeting in Vatican City February 5. During an audience at Clementine Hall, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV met with the committee, emphasizing the “tragedy” of children being deprived of basic necessities and urging “greater harmony” among church structures to address their physical, psychological and spiritual welfare.

The GC-DWC’s involvement in this Vatican initiative is a powerful reflection of Notre Dame’s mission to be a “transformative force for good” in the world. It specifically advances the , which identifies global Catholicism, poverty and health and well-being as central priorities for the coming decade.

“As a Catholic research university, Notre Dame is uniquely positioned to lead,” Boothby said. “By helping to lead this global initiative, we are ensuring that the GC-DWC’s evidence-based research on child development is directly supporting the church’s global network of care.”

Boothby and the GC-DWC bring a wealth of experience to the “From Crisis to Care” framework. Since its inception, the center’s research and programs have spanned 26 countries, demonstrating a proven ability to translate complex developmental science into practical solutions for families and communities worldwide. A cornerstone of this global reach is the center’s “Whole Child” approach to development, which recognizes that a child’s development is inextricably linked to their environment.

This is operationalized through the GC-DWC’s Parish Activation Model, an integrated framework that leverages the three settings where children are in regular contact with caregivers: the home, school and church. By embedding developmental science into existing parish life — such as baptismal preparation, homilies and school curricula — the center strengthens the very systems that surround the child. Originally developed through the GC-DWC’s long-term work in Haiti, this model provides a unique platform for developing and pilot testing programs that can be iteratively refined and then scaled system-wide to reach hundreds of thousands of children globally.

Addressing the committee, Pope Leo XIV welcomed their commitment to develop effective ways to address the concerns of children. He identified two essential points for the committee’s mission: first, that they are “speaking on behalf of those who have no voice,” and second, the need to focus on the “transversal needs of children,” which can be overlooked when care is focused on only one area. He urged the committee to work in “greater harmony so that children receive care that is well balanced, taking into consideration their physical, psychological and spiritual welfare.”

The committee identified five priority areas for future collective action:

• Unified Advocacy and Voice: A call for a collaborative commitment from the church and society to advocate for child rights through unified policy engagement and education.

• Networking: Partnering across religious, governmental and academic sectors to dismantle the silos that obstruct the well-being of children and families.

• Centering Children in the Church’s Mission: Placing the dignity and protection of children at the heart of ministry, ensuring robust safeguarding and communities of trust.

• Formation and Capacity Building: A commitment to equipping families, congregations and institutions with the tools to support and respect the rights of every child.

• Inclusion and Engagement: Ensuring children are active participants in decisions affecting them, creating platforms to amplify their diverse voices and perspectives.

“The GC-DWC's role is to serve as a research partner, helping the Church activate the systems — families, parishes and schools — that already exist around the child,” Boothby added. “It is incredibly powerful to connect science to faith to make these pathways out of adversity actionable. This initiative is about turning a universal mandate into concrete, measurable action on a global scale.”

Originally published by Brooke Parker at .

New research conducted at the (UNDERC) suggests that upland forests harboring trees with a common and incurable fungal disease known as heart rot could actually be emitting more methane than they take in, therefore releasing more greenhouse gases than previously thought. Methane, a flammable natural gas, is more than 30 times more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide.

“Historically, upland forests were thought to be strong methane sinks because they have organisms in their dry soils that take up methane instead of releasing it to the atmosphere,” said , an ecologist at the who supervised the research. “Heart rot disease has the potential to switch upland forests from being methane sinks to methane sources since diseased trees emit more methane than healthy trees.”

The healthy trees that Rocha and colleagues investigated in the northwoods of Wisconsin and Michigan emitted less methane than nearby trees infected with heart rot, a slow-acting, internal disease caused by fungi that results in the decay of a tree’s trunk and branches from the inside and affects hardwood trees globally. As the severity of the infection increases, so too does the amount of methane released from each tree.

The study, among the first to link methane venting to tree health, was published in , a leading international plant science journal.

To non-invasively measure the severity of the heart rot, researchers employed a technique called sonic tomography, which uses sound waves to map the location of the rot inside each trunk. Sound moves differently through rotted wood and healthy wood and, once captured by sensors placed onto the bark, is used to generate a map of disease severity.

From there, the researchers measured the carbon-based greenhouse gases flowing out of each tree. While carbon dioxide venting remained largely stable from tree to tree, regardless of disease state, methane emissions increased according to the level of heart rot severity in the tree.

Further, Chathuranga Senevirathne, a Notre Dame graduate student in Rocha’s lab who led the study, pinpointed where each type of gas was coming from by drilling into the tree at regular intervals and taking new gas measurements as he went. In doing so, he found that carbon dioxide quantities peaked just underneath the bark, a section called the sapwood, while methane emissions topped out in the very center of the trunk, called the heartwood.

“While it’s been established for a few decades that trees do give off some methane, even when in a healthy state, the connection between methane and heart rot hadn’t been explored,” said Rocha, who is an associate professor in the . “Everyone in the field had accepted that it was coming through the soil, but it turns out it’s coming from the center of the tree itself.”

To rule out soil transport, the researchers sampled the carbon dioxide and methane flows in the soil around the base of each tree studied. Regardless of the disease progression of the tree, the soils released small amounts of carbon dioxide and absorbed small amounts of methane.

Despite the apparent correlation between heart rot and gas emission, the fungi that cause the disease are not directly responsible for the elevated methane levels observed, as heart-rot fungi taken from a diseased tree did not produce methane in the lab. Instead, the fungi are aided in breaking down heartwood by methanogens, a group of methane-producing single-celled microorganisms called archaea, whose presence the researchers verified by removing samples of wood from the heart of each tree and analyzing them with genomic sequencing.

“Decomposition is a complex process which involves both the heart-rot fungi and methanogens, since methanogens ‘eat’ the wood to produce methane,” said Rocha, who is a faculty affiliate of and . “The fungi are not directly responsible for the methane emissions, but at the same time, heart rot creates an ideal microenvironment for the archaea to thrive.”

One characteristic of this microenvironment is bark fractures, which appear on the surface of the tree as the interior deteriorates. Fractures in a tree’s skin also permit the more efficient release of methane from the heartwood to the exterior. As trees become sicker and sicker with heart rot, methanogen production receives a boost, while proliferating bark fractures create methane emission “hot spots” on the surface of the tree.

“With the progression of heart rot, diseased trees become methane hotspots on the forest level, while bark fractures act as hotspots at the tree level,” Senevirathne said. “With the discovery of these new emissions, there’s a good chance that the amount of methane upland forests take in has been overestimated in ecosystem models.”

“Identifying the sources and sinks of methane is one of the biggest mysteries and hottest topics in forest science,” said Nathan Swenson, a forest ecologist and the Gillen Director of the . “The work from Rocha’s laboratory has elegantly demonstrated the important role disease plays in the carbon cycle.”

Rocha and Senevirathne’s future work at UNDERC will investigate these flows on an ecosystem level and aim to determine the tipping point where upland forests could transition from carbon sink to carbon source, which could challenge the widely accepted impact of forests on climate.

“The outstanding natural setting and scientific infrastructure at UNDERC uniquely position the center to host cutting-edge research like that performed by Senevirathne and colleagues, integrating genomic analysis to ecosystem gas flux,” Swenson said.

Funding from the National Science Foundation and NASA supported this research. Senevirathne was funded by the Merrilee Clark Redmond Endowment, and field work was supported by the Hank Family Endowment.

Contact: Brandi Wampler, associate director of media relations, 574-631-2632, brandiwampler@nd.edu

Originally published by Erin Fennessy at on February 25, 2026.

A collaborative project between the University of Notre Dame and the City of South Bend was recently awarded $1 million to support improvements to the city’s 311 Call Center through the .

Partnering with the University’s , the City of South Bend will use the award to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to identify emerging service needs and develop innovative human‑centered technologies to proactively deliver essential services.

By developing and testing a predictive model — a tool that uses past data to identify patterns and forecast future needs — the city hopes to be able to reach out to residents with targeted support, transforming the 311 service center from a reactive system into a data-driven proactive service that anticipates and addresses community needs before a request is made.

“The University of Notre Dame is committed to advancing data and AI for the social good,” said , the Frank M. Freimann Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Notre Dame and Lucy Family Director for Data & AI Academic Strategy, who leads the University’s . “Through Notre Dame’s Lucy Family Institute, and in partnership with the City of South Bend, we are developing responsible, human-centered technologies that help anticipate community needs, strengthen how essential services are delivered, and empower communities, organizations and individuals.”

South Bend was among 24 city halls from 20 countries to receive the award. More than 600 ideas were  to the Mayor’s Challenge to address public service challenges, including housing, waste management, clean water, infrastructure and social inclusion.

In the city’s press release to announce the award, Mayor James Mueller emphasized how partnerships are transforming the local community. “In partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies and community partners, we are changing the way we deliver city services in South Bend,” he said. “By integrating new technologies with our frontline teams, we can spot problems earlier, act sooner and achieve better outcomes that will build greater trust with our residents.”

In 2018, South Bend received its first Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge  to support the creation of Commuters Trust, a transportation-as-a-benefit program designed to expand access to reliable commuting options.

To learn more about the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge, visit .

Contact: Brandi Wampler, associate director of media relations, 574-631-2632, brandiwampler@nd.edu

The University of Notre Dame announced today that its will serve as the national evidence partner for , a new cross-sector initiative led by to stop homelessness before it starts. LEO will provide the research backbone for the initiative — working alongside pilot communities to generate rigorous evidence, measure outcomes and share what is learned to strengthen and scale homelessness prevention nationwide.

Backed by $77 million in new funding support from various benefactors, Right at Home aims to keep more than 10,000 households at high risk of homelessness stably housed in 10 pilot locations across the country over the next five years. By scaling an evidence-based prevention model, Right at Home sets out to prove that homelessness prevention works and is replicable nationwide, building the case for national prevention policy and funding.

Across the country, homelessness rates are rising, and housing costs continue to strain renters. Half of American renters are unable to afford their housing costs, and economic pressures are pushing more people into crisis every day. Once someone becomes homeless, challenges compound quickly, making prevention a critical component of any meaningful response.

Right at Home builds on a that provides and case management to support families on the brink of losing their homes, but before they become unhoused, and takes it a step further by expanding that model across the country. That model was spearheaded by Destination: Home and in Santa Clara County, California, and evaluated by LEO researchers.

“We have a moral obligation to take evidence to impact,” said , interim managing director and head of policy and impact at LEO. “When we find strong evidence that something is effective, it’s not enough to publish a result. We have to make sure that evidence gets used by replicating and scaling what works, so communities across the country can benefit.”

LEO’s study found that individuals who received financial assistance through Santa Clara County’s Homelessness Prevention System were significantly less likely to become homeless even a year later. The model also demonstrated strong cost effectiveness, with LEO researchers finding that every $1 invested saved almost $2.50 in benefits to the community.

By intervening earlier, this approach has helped nearly 44,000 people locally avoid the profound trauma of homelessness and has reduced the need for far more costly public interventions after housing has been lost — such as shelters, emergency healthcare and other crisis services.

“The single most obvious solution to homelessness is stopping it before it starts, yet our country continues to respond only after people fall into crisis,” said Jennifer Loving, CEO of Destination: Home. “We have proven that targeted homelessness prevention works locally, and now it’s time to prove that this can work all across the country. We should never let people, in the worst moments of their lives, suffer even more.”

In the U.S., most homelessness intervention programs only focus on responding to individuals and families once they have already lost their housing, with far fewer efforts aimed at targeting them early enough to prevent the loss of housing in the first place. The result is a backlog of overwhelming needs and cascading issues. Right at Home and its partners are hoping to intervene at a crucial turning point in the individual and family’s life in order to bring the right amount of help at the right time. LEO’s expertise will step in to provide evidence to impact.

The 10 pilot communities covered by the initiative include cities, counties and tribal nations, and represent areas with varied economic conditions and housing markets, including both rural and urban regions. Communities were selected based on showing urgent need, spanning diverse geographies, demonstrating strong on-the-ground and cross-sector collaboration and offering clear pathways for future local public-private investment.

So far, Right at Home community partners include Alaska (Alaska Coalition on Housing and Homelessness); Asheville Region, N.C. (Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care); Atlanta, Ga. (Partners for HOME); Austin-Travis County, Texas (Ending Community Homelessness Coalition); County of San Mateo, Calif.; Denver-Adams County, Colo. (Metro Denver Continuum of Care); Miami-Dade County, Fla. (Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust); and Minnesota (Minnesota Tribal Collaborative Pathways to Housing), with two additional locations to come.

To stand up the Right at Home support systems locally, organizers will rely on the Homelessness Prevention System Toolkit, co-developed by LEO, Destination: Home and . This toolkit provides the technical assistance foundation for testing and adapting this model in all the selected locations. Right at Home, in conjunction with technical assistance partner , will use it to implement this approach in the new contexts while building the evidence base for national policy change.

Each Right at Home replication site will provide flexible financial assistance to address immediate needs such as rent, utilities or other urgent housing-related costs. It will also include supportive services such as legal assistance or other interventions that help remove barriers to housing stability, all of which will be delivered through local community partners and systems. Assessments will also be conducted to ensure families are connected to the appropriate Right at Home assistance and that needs are matched accordingly. Each pilot site will receive a minimum of $5 million over three years to stand up their local program.

Working with Right at Home and the pilot communities, LEO will test and rigorously evaluate the impact of rapid, flexible financial assistance, and inform the case for a national prevention policy.

“We already have strong evidence that targeted prevention can keep people housed,” said , LEO director of research. “Right at Home is a chance to take those results to impact at a national scale. By working alongside communities, we can learn what it takes to deliver strong outcomes in different places — and share what works so leaders can strengthen and sustain prevention over time. Most importantly, we can help more people stay housed before a temporary crisis becomes homelessness.”

LEO's work aligns with Notre Dame's , a University-wide effort to create a world intolerant of poverty by expanding knowledge about how to solve it.

The Right at Home initiative is supported by a coalition of cross-sector partners, including , , Notre Dame’s LEO, and . To date, Destination: Home has secured $77 million in funding to support the Right at Home initiative. Funders include — a collaborative funding initiative housed at TED that encourages the world’s greatest changemakers to dream bigger — Cisco, Sobrato Philanthropies and the Valhalla Foundation.

The Right at Home initiative anticipates all pilot sites to begin implementation by January 2027, with some sites starting as early as this fall.

, a public-private partnership working to end homelessness, leads the Right at Home initiative. Through a collective-impact model, the nonprofit convenes and collaborates with community stakeholders to address the root causes of homelessness and drive systemic change in Silicon Valley and beyond. Using a data-driven, human-centered approach, Destination: Home advocates for effective policies, incubates new programs and invests in strategies that connect more homeless neighbors to stable housing and prevent homelessness before it begins.

Contact: Tracy DeStazio, assistant director of media relations, 574-631-9958 or tdestazi@nd.edu

Fisher is currently chair of the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland, where he is Distinguished University Professor, MPower Professor, and Distinguished Scholar-Teacher. At Notre Dame, he will succeed , who retired in December as inaugural director of BELS and Arthur J. Schmitt Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

The Bioengineering & Life Sciences Initiative is a joint effort of the  and the and is a key priority in the University’s . The initiative advances human health and wellness through interdisciplinary biomedical research and training — from fundamental discoveries through detection, prevention and treatment of disease. Emphasizing accessible health care solutions, BELS brings together researchers from a variety of fields to create transformative solutions for health.

“This appointment reflects both the strength of the foundation already in place — thanks to Paul’s superb leadership — and our aspirations for the future of Bioengineering & Life Sciences at Notre Dame,” said John T. McGreevy, Notre Dame’s Charles and Jill Fischer Provost. “John Fisher is a visionary leader and excellent scholar-teacher whose experience aligns perfectly with the initiative’s trajectory and Notre Dame’s ambitions as the leading global Catholic research university.”

Fisher holds bachelor’s degrees in chemical engineering and biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University, a master’s in chemical engineering from the University of Cincinnati and a doctorate in bioengineering from Rice University. He joined Maryland’s Department of Chemical Engineering in 2003 and three years later became a founding member of the bioengineering department he now chairs. During his two decades at Maryland, Fisher has won a variety of awards for teaching excellence, graduate student mentorship and scholarship, including a National Science Foundation CAREER award and a Fulbright. In 2024, he was appointed Distinguished University Professor, the institution’s highest honor for a tenured faculty member, recognizing excellence, impact and significant contribution to the field both nationally and internationally.

“We are thrilled to have John, who is an extraordinary biomedical engineer, join us in the college and lead the BELS Initiative,” said Patricia Culligan, the Matthew H. McCloskey Dean of the College of Engineering. “Advancing research and training in bioengineering is among our highest priorities for the College of Engineering, and I look forward to working with him to elevate collaborations within our college and across science, engineering and other units on campus.”

As director of the , Fisher leads a research team that focuses on computational modeling and tissue engineering, bioprinting, and bioreactors for the regeneration of lost tissues. He also directs the , which aims to create a broad community focusing on 3D printing and bioprinting for regenerative medicine applications.

Fisher has served in numerous leadership positions in his field, including as the 2025 chair of the Council of Chairs, a national assembly of bioengineering and biomedical engineering department chairs, and as 2018-20 chair of the Americas Chapter of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society. Fisher is a fellow of the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and the Biomedical Engineering Society. He is currently a member of the society’s board of directors and co-editor-in-chief of Tissue Engineering. His work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense and the Food and Drug Administration, among others.

“What attracted me to Notre Dame is the excellence and rigor of the research,” Fisher said. “The types of questions people in science and engineering are exploring, and the execution of their research programs, is really top-notch. I’m also a big believer that we’re here to educate as well as to do research. I love teaching, and I love Notre Dame’s commitment to teaching.

“What really speaks to me is the mission — the commitment to pursue research and to educate at the highest level, but doing it in a way that positively impacts society. There are some personal things as well. I grew up in the Midwest, our family is Irish Catholic, so it’s wonderful to bring that aspect of who I am together with my work.”

Fisher joins the University at a pivotal moment for the Bioengineering & Life Sciences Initiative, as it accelerates efforts to expand research, training and shared infrastructure.

Since its launch in 2024, the . It has identified core research themes and awarded nearly $1.25 million in seed funding to support multidisciplinary teams working in areas such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, global health and emerging infectious threats. It has also expanded training opportunities for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and made major investments in shared research infrastructure — including the acquisition of a Glacios 2 cryo-TEM microscope, the first of its kind at Notre Dame, scheduled for installation in April, along with complementary efforts to restructure flow cytometry resources.

To learn more about the Bioengineering & Life Sciences Initiative, visit .

One of the fundamental promises of artificial intelligence is that it will strengthen human agency by freeing us from mundane, repetitive tasks.

However, a new publication, co-edited by University of Notre Dame theologian , argues that promise “rings hollow” in the face of efforts by technology companies to manipulate consumers — and ultimately deprive them of agency.

The book, “Reclaiming Human Agency in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” is the second in a series created by the Vatican’s AI Research Group for the Centre for Digital Culture. Part of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Culture and Education, the group is composed of scholars from across North America who represent a range of disciplines from theology and philosophy to computer science and business.

“We wanted to examine the idea of how AI affects human actions, human freedom and the ability of people to develop virtues — which we classified under the heading of human agency,” said Scherz, the Our Lady of Guadalupe College Professor of Theology and the ND–IBM Tech Ethics Lab Program Chair. “This is such an important topic right now because one of the most hyped developments that we’re hearing about right now is ‘agentic’ AI — or AI that will take action for people.

“We think it’s important to distinguish what the differences are between these AI agents and true human agents — and how the AI we have now is affecting our actions.”

In “Reclaiming Human Agency,” Scherz, co-editor Brian Patrick Green of Santa Clara University and their fellow research group members cite potentially problematic issues with the technology, including addictive applications, “surveillance capitalism” that exploits users’ personal data for profit, widespread de-skilling in the workplace as complex tasks are handed over to AI and the growth of algorithmic governance — where social media algorithms influence what people buy, how they perceive events and even how they vote.

They also assert that human agency should not be seen in terms of “freedom from” tasks, but in “freedom for” pursuing the good, seeking excellence and purpose by building flourishing relationships with others and with God.

“This book is really an attempt to look at a number of these problems that AI is raising but, at the same time, to examine the opportunities that AI could provide to improve our ability to act,” Scherz said. “We wanted to come up with a set of strategies that would enable AI to serve human agency in the best way possible and ensure that it isn’t undermined.”

For Scherz, who holds a doctoral degree in genetics from Harvard University and a doctoral degree in moral theology from Notre Dame, this research builds on his work at the intersection of religion and science. While researching the Human Genome Project for his 2024 book “The Ethics of Precision Medicine,” Scherz began exploring the ways that precision medicine used data analytic technologies.

“When I was invited by the Vatican to be part of this group in 2020, I was already looking at the problems that were arising around AI in that framework, how it was affecting physicians and how it might affect patients’ actions and their views of themselves,” he said. “It felt like a natural next step to begin looking at AI’s impacts more broadly in relation to the Catholic understanding of a human person.”

Notre Dame of the AI research group and Bishop Paul Tighe, secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education, last summer. The session, hosted by the , not only allowed the researchers to work together on forthcoming publications, but to engage with Notre Dame faculty and students.

The University — which recently received a $50 million grant to further develop a faith-based approach to AI ethics — is an ideal place to explore the field, Scherz noted, because of both its Catholic character and academic excellence.

“As one of the world’s leading Catholic universities, Notre Dame brings the resources of the Catholic tradition to bear on this issue — which Pope Leo XIV has said is one of the defining issues of our time,” Scherz said. “And with our expertise in computer science, theology, philosophy and the history and philosophy of science, we are well-positioned to be a leader in these conversations.”

The AI research group is now working on a book focused on AI and education and will be looking next at AI’s effects on labor and the philosophies and ideologies that are active in Silicon Valley.

Contact: Carrie Gates, associate director of media relations, c.gates@nd.edu or 574-993-9220

About one quarter of inmates have a serious mental illness and 63 percent struggle with drug dependence or abuse, often coinciding with behavioral problems. Those awaiting trial for serious offenses may tend toward violence, making jail time dangerous for both inmates and jail employees. In addition, the county jail system, which is often viewed as a short-term, transitional time period for inmates, is typically overlooked for providing meaningful therapy opportunities and other interventions.

A new study by University of Notre Dame researchers shows that introducing a unique and low-cost cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) program for longer-term jail inmates teaches lifelong skills and reduces violent behavior — making the jail safer in the long run.

“Despite the fact that most people are in jail for a short time, many spend months serving a sentence or even years awaiting trial,” said , an assistant research professor in the who works in Notre Dame’s .

“These inmates often come into the jail system with traumatic pasts and with much higher rates of mental illness and substance use disorders than the general population,” she said. “Violence is an issue in jails, as are behavioral problems, with suicide and homicide rates much higher than you’d think, considering that this population is confined and surveilled.”

In their working paper, Batistich’s research team reported that inmates who participate in CBT programs experience a 49 percent drop in behavioral incidents and a 50 percent drop in physical assaults on other inmates or officers.

Batistich, along with co-authors , the Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Economics at Notre Dame and co-founder of LEO, Tyler Giles of Wellesley College and Rebecca Margolit-Chan of Cornell University, examined , a CBT program administered to inmates at the Lubbock County Detention Center in Lubbock, Texas. Designed for individuals with violent backgrounds or tendencies, the program uses a combination of group classes, one-on-one counseling and a structured workbook to help participants recognize and manage emotions.

Through a self-paced 14- to 21-week curriculum, participants learn how to identify their emotions and the physical sensations that accompany them. The goal is for the inmates to learn to recognize their emotions and change their way of thinking — from making negative behavioral choices to adopting rational and constructive behaviors — as a way to peacefully resolve conflict.

“The underlying philosophy of the program is that although individuals experience negative events (such as an unpleasant confrontation with another person), it is one’s interpretation of the event, rather than the event itself, that leads to negative reactions such as anger and violence,” the researchers wrote.

Typically within a jail system, authorities will respond to more serious behavioral infractions by placing the inmate in solitary confinement, where it is estimated that about 4.4 percent of the incarcerated population is held at any point in time, according to the study.

“There's been research suggesting that solitary confinement can actually be very harmful to the individual, both psychologically and physically,” Batistich said. “This form of discipline may not even be making the institutions any safer. What we're doing in this paper is offering an alternative by promoting therapy over punitive measures.”

And this alternative is not only replicable on a national scale, but cost effective as well, according to the researchers.

“There is a real intersection between the criminal justice system and poverty, homelessness, mental illness and substance use disorders. Incarcerated individuals are often dealing with several of these issues and also tend to be overlooked and underserved. These are the people in most need of our care and attention.”

The cost of implementing the Step Up program — including supplies, curriculum books and personnel — is an average of $618 per participant. Leveraging existing jail space and staff capacity, along with instruction by graduate students at nearby Texas Tech University, have made it possible to keep costs down.

The researchers concluded that therapy designed to reduce violent behavior in jails works well when implemented during incarceration, while participants are kept to a consistent and intensive treatment regimen as they await trial or extended incarceration. Such treatment can “improve one’s behavior in the near term, increase safety within institutions and potentially benefit public safety as well,” they wrote.

“There is a real intersection between the criminal justice system and poverty, homelessness, mental illness and substance use disorders,” Batistich added. “Incarcerated individuals are often dealing with several of these issues and also tend to be overlooked and underserved. These are the people in most need of our care and attention.”

Contact: Tracy DeStazio, associate director of media relations, 574-631-9958 or tdestazi@nd.edu

Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Members are selected by their peers for pioneering advancements in their fields and for leadership in major engineering endeavors, including the development and implementation of innovative approaches to engineering education.

“I am honored and humbled to have been elected to such a distinguished group of scholars,” said , who also serves as an associate vice president of research. “I am grateful to my colleagues and students here at Notre Dame who I have had the privilege to work with in the development and application of molecular simulation methods to help tackle some of the most challenging problems in energy and sustainability facing society.”

Maginn is a globally recognized leader in research linking the physical properties of materials to their chemical composition. The NAE is recognizing him “for development and application of molecular modeling and simulation of complex systems involving slow dynamics and long-ranged interactions.”

Maginn’s research has had a major impact on chemical engineering by enabling engineers to design and optimize materials and processes at the molecular level for energy and environmental applications. By developing widely used computational tools and design methods, his research allows engineers to predict material performance before materials are synthesized, reducing development time, cost and risk. These advances have helped move molecular simulation from a specialized research tool into a practical engineering approach used in academia, industry and national laboratories worldwide.

A pioneer in the use of molecular simulations to investigate ionic liquids, Maginn developed new algorithms and open-source simulation tools that made predictive modeling of charged fluids both accurate and broadly accessible. He holds nine patents in this field, and his work led to the development of the open-source Monte Carlo package Cassandra, most commonly used to compute the thermodynamic properties of fluids.

“Ed Maginn’s foundational research in molecular simulation has helped shape modern chemical engineering,” said , the Matthew H. McCloskey Dean of the College of Engineering. “His election to the National Academy of Engineering is a fitting recognition of his scientific leadership, innovation and lasting impact on the field.”

Maginn’s work has directly informed the development of new materials for carbon capture, energy storage, separations and sustainable refrigeration. He is to the , a National Science Foundation-funded Engineering Research Center, alongside 11 other Notre Dame faculty members. He also participates in two Energy Frontier Research Centers supported by the Department of Energy: and .

Maginn has published more than 270 peer-reviewed papers with more than 34,000 citations. He has written 10 book chapters. Maginn has been a senior editor of the and served on the editorial boards for leading publications in his field, including the , and the .

“I extend my heartfelt congratulations to Ed on the remarkable achievement of election to the NAE,” said , the John and Catherine Martin Family Vice President for Research and professor in the . “He is both a top researcher and highly respected administrator and educator — such an outstanding recognition for his tremendous research impact and national leadership is well-deserved.”

Since joining the Notre Dame faculty in 1995, Maginn has served as chair of the , as well as associate dean for academic programs in the . Maginn is also recognized for his excellence in teaching, having received Notre Dame’s highest honors for faculty instruction: the James A. Burns, C.S.C., Award for Distinction in Graduate Education in 2018 and the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 2022. In addition, Maginn has mentored more than 35 doctoral students and over 20 postdoctoral scholars. He is a trustee and executive director of the nonprofit , which promotes the use of computational methods in chemical engineering.

Maginn was in 2023. He was recently honored with the Ernest Thiele Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2021 and the Iowa State University College of Engineering Professional Achievement Citation in Engineering (PACE) award in 2020. Maginn is a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Chemical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Maginn graduated from Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, followed by a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

With his election to the NAE, Maginn joins a distinguished group of Notre Dame colleagues who have also received this honor, including , the Robert M. Moran Professor of Engineering; , professor emeritus of chemical and biomolecular engineering; , the Clifford and Evelyn Brosey Professor Emeritus of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering; Steve Walker, professor of the practice; and , the Huisking Foundation, Inc. Collegiate Research Professor.

Contact: Brandi Wampler, associate director of media relations, 574-631-2632, brandiwampler@nd.edu

This intricate communication network is built of billions of neurons connected by synapses and managed and modified by glial cells. When neurons die, this communication network is disrupted and since this loss is irreversible, neuron death causes sensory loss, motor impairment and cognitive decline.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Notre Dame is investigating the mechanisms of neuron death caused by chronic compression — such as the pressure exerted by a brain tumor — to better understand how to prevent neuron loss.

Published in the , their study found that chronic compression triggers neuron death by a variety of mechanisms, both directly and indirectly. The research is helping lay the groundwork for identifying therapies to prevent indirect neuron death.

“The impetus for this project was to figure out those underlying mechanisms. In cancer research, most researchers are focused on the tumor itself, but in the meantime, while the tumor is sitting there and growing, it’s damaging the organ that it’s living in,” said , the Jane Schoelch DeFlorio Collegiate Professor of at Notre Dame and co-lead author of the study. “We fully believe that these growth-induced mechanical forces of the tumor as it expands is part of the reason we see damage in the brain.”

As an engineer who leads the , Datta studies the mechanics of tumors and the microenvironment, specifically for glioblastoma, an incurable brain cancer. She had found in prior work that tumors damage the surrounding brain. But to understand the mechanisms by which tumors kill neurons from compression alone, Datta needed a “hardcore neuroscientist.”

That neuroscientist is , the John M. and Mary Jo Boler Assistant Professor in the at Notre Dame and co-lead author of the study. Patzke utilizes induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are either obtained from external sources or generated directly in . Unlike cells derived from fetal tissue, iPSCs are created by reprogramming a donor's blood or skin cells — often collected during a routine medical visit.

These cells function like embryonic stem cells and can be differentiated or changed in the lab into any cell type in the body, including neurons.

For this study, iPSCs were used to create neural cells and develop a model system of neurons and glial cells that behave as a neuronal network would in the brain. Researchers grew the cells and then applied pressure to the system to mimic the chronic compression of a glioblastoma tumor.

After compressing the cells, graduate students Maksym Zarodniuk and Anna Wenninger, from Datta and Patzke’s labs respectively, compared how many neurons and glial cells died versus lived.

“For the neurons that are still alive, many of them have this programmed self-destruction signaling activated,” Patzke said. “We wanted to understand which molecular pathway was responsible for this; is there a way to save neurons from going down the drain to this cell death mechanism?”

By sequencing and analyzing all messenger RNA from the living neuronal and glial cells, the researchers found an increase in HIF-1 molecules, signalling for stress adaptive genes to improve cell survival, which leads to inflammation in the brain. The compression also triggered AP-1 gene expression, a type of neuroinflammatory response.

Both neurological reactions are indicators that neuronal damage and death is underway.

An analysis of data from the shows that glioblastoma patients also reflect these compressive stress patterns and gene expression changes as well as synaptic dysfunction in line with the experiment’s results. The researchers confirmed these results by mimicking force via a live compression system applied to preclinical models of brains.

Overall, the findings may help explain why glioblastoma patients experience cognitive impairments, motor deficits and elevated seizure risk. Additionally, the signaling pathways offer opportunities for researchers to explore as drug targets to reduce neuronal death.

“Our approach to this study was disease agnostic, so our research could potentially extend to other brain pathologies that affect mechanical forces in the brain such as traumatic brain injury,” Datta said. “I’m all in on mechanics. Whatever it is that you’re interested in when it comes to cancer, above your question of interest, mechanics is sitting there and many don’t even know they should be considering it.”

The mechanics of compression and its effect on neuron loss is key for future research.

“Understanding why neurons are so vulnerable and die upon compression is critical to prevent excessive sensory loss, motor impairment and cognitive decline,” Patzke said. “This is how we will help patients.”

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the (Harper) at Notre Dame. Additional funding and research support from Notre Dame was provided by the (Berthiaume), the , the , the and the . Both Datta and Patzke are affiliated with Notre Dame’s and the .

Datta is a concurrent faculty member in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and faculty advisor for Notre Dame’s graduate programs in and . She is affiliated with Harper, the , Berthiaume, and the .

Patzke is a faculty advisor for Notre Dame’s graduate programs in and as well as affiliated with the .

Contact: Brandi Wampler, associate director of media relations, 574-631-2632, brandiwampler@nd.edu

, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, has been selected for the ’s , an initiative that brings emerging leaders into NASEM’s advisory work. Selected through a merit-based, open competition, Colón is one of just 20 early- and mid-career scientists, engineers and medical professionals nationwide chosen for the 2026-28 cohort.

Operating under an 1863 congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences, signed by President Abraham Lincoln, the National Academies are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, engineering and medicine.

NASEM’s New Voices program was created to incorporate emerging experts into the National Academies’ efforts to address pressing global challenges. During his two-year term, which began Jan. 30, Colón will contribute to the Academies’ policy-relevant studies and convenings, develop interdisciplinary projects and collaborate with a national and international network of rising STEM leaders shaping the future of science and engineering.

“I’m honored to be selected for the New Voices program,” Colón said. “This opportunity allows researchers to help inform decisions on critical issues, and I hope to use my expertise in computational modeling and artificial intelligence to address issues in energy and sustainability. I also hope to promote global collaborations in science, as I believe these are necessary to address some of humanity’s most pressing issues.”

works at the intersection of the molecular sciences and artificial intelligence, focusing on the study, discovery and design of porous materials for targeted applications. Because fluids confined within microscopic pores exhibit complex, dynamic interactions, these materials offer opportunities to address challenges in water, energy and environmental sustainability. By developing computational and data-driven tools to predict how gases and liquids move, are stored and interact within these pores, his work accelerates the discovery of materials for applications including water harvesting and humidity control, efficient gas storage and separation, and ion transport.

His lab also develops efficient algorithms to understand how material structure influences performance, allowing researchers to quickly identify the most promising materials for real-world use without relying on costly calculations.

In 2022, Colón received a to develop a universal model that accurately predicts gas adsorption. The project has resulted in multiple publications showcasing how machine learning and artificial intelligence can be combined with molecular modeling of adsorption in porous materials. The project has also resulted in curricula around machine learning and artificial intelligence for middle and elementary schools.

After graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 2009, Colón spent a year at the University of Santiago de Compostela doing research with a Fulbright scholarship. He completed his doctorate at Northwestern University in 2015 and completed postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory. Colón joined the Notre Dame faculty in 2018.

Contact: Brandi Wampler, associate director of media relations, 574-631-2632, brandiwampler@nd.edu

, the Coyle Professor of Literacy Education at the University of Notre Dame, died Wednesday (Feb. 4) after a long battle with cancer, surrounded by his wife and three sons. He was 54.

Morrell was a renowned literacy studies scholar who advocated for a radical reimagination of the relationship between students and texts. His work positioned literacy as a means of social justice, empowering young people to access information, exercise informed citizenship and participate fully in civic and cultural life. His scholarly interests also included critical pedagogy, postcolonial studies and global youth popular culture.

“On behalf of the entire Notre Dame community, we mourn the passing of Ernest Morrell, a beloved faculty colleague, dedicated administrator and cherished friend to many,” said University President “As a renowned scholar who made significant contributions to his discipline, a superb teacher who inspired and challenged his students, and a visionary administrator, he enriched the Notre Dame community and all who knew him.

“Ernest’s life reflected a deep integration of the life of the mind and matters of the heart. Our prayers are with his family, especially his wife, Jodene, and their three sons, Skip, Antonio and Tripp, and all who grieve his passing. We are grateful to God for Ernest’s life and presence among us, and his example will continue to inspire us.”

Father Dowd also announced that Morrell will posthumously receive the 2026 — which recognizes pioneering and visionary achievements in research, public impact, or creative endeavors that advance the University’s goals — in honor of his intellectually ambitious, socially consequential work centered on a humanistic vision of education.

At Notre Dame, Morrell was a faculty member of the and departments and the director of the Center for Literacy Education in the (IEI), and he served five years as the ’ associate dean for the humanities and faculty development.

Acclaim for Morrell’s work was widespread in academic circles. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest learned societies, in 2024, and he was also an elected member of the National Academy of Education and an elected fellow of the American Educational Research Association.

For the past decade, he has been included in the , an annual listing published by Education Week that highlights academics with the greatest impact on educational practice and policy. Last year, he , a prestigious honor from the National Council of Teachers of English given only 31 times since 1967, for his long-lasting impact on English language arts education.

“Ernest lived his vocation with extraordinary generosity and purpose,” said , the Hackett Family Director of IEI. “His scholarship, leadership and friendship shaped our institute in profound ways. He believed deeply in the power of education to transform lives, and he modeled that belief through his teaching, mentorship and unwavering commitment to the common good.”

Morrell came to Notre Dame in 2017 after faculty appointments at Columbia University’s Teachers College; the University of California, Los Angeles; and Michigan State University. Before pursuing his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, Morrell worked as a high school English teacher in Oakland, California, an experience that and shaped his lifelong commitment to supporting educators and students, particularly those historically underserved by educational systems.

Revered as a teacher and an adviser, Morrell approached mentorship as a collaborative partnership, frequently publishing with his doctoral students to help launch their careers before they even defended their dissertations.

“Ernest cultivated a true ‘family tree’ of scholars whose work began with his guidance,” said , a professor of the practice in Africana studies and education, schooling and society. “His former doctoral students are a testament to his efficacy as a mentor, as he allowed them to quickly become his peers, continuing the work of critical education studies and pedagogy at institutions across the country. They learned his lessons well about the importance of building and strengthening communities that support equity and justice.”

He is the author of more than 100 articles, research briefs and book chapters and he wrote or edited 17 scholarly books, including “Educating Harlem: A Century of 91��Ƶing and Resistance in a Black Community” (Columbia, 2019), “Stories from Inequity to Justice in Literacy Education: Confronting Digital Divides” (Routledge, 2021), “New Directions in Teaching English: Reimagining Teaching, Teacher Education and Research” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015) and “Critical Media Pedagogy: Teaching for Achievement in City 91��Ƶs” (Teachers College Press, 2013), which was awarded Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association’s Choice magazine. His work has garnered more than 11,000 scholarly citations.

“Frederick Douglass said that ‘education means emancipation, it means life and liberty. … It means the uplifting of the soul to the glorious light of truth.’ I can think of no one whose life better reflected those words,” said , the John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law. “Ernest was a truly exceptional scholar and a tireless advocate for policies that would benefit kids most in need of the light of learning. But, more importantly, he was a beautiful soul. His deep faith and love for his family, his friends and colleagues and Our Lady’s University touched so many.”

Morrell is survived by his wife, , a teaching professor and associate director of the Center for Literacy Education, and their three sons, Skip, Antonio and Tripp.

A wake will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, at Kaniewski Funeral Home, 3545 N. Bendix Drive, South Bend. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Notre Dame's campus, with Father Dowd presiding.

Condolences may be sent to the College of Arts & Letters Dean's Office, 100 O'Shaughnessy Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to literacy nonprofit .

“,” a colloquium celebrating Morrell’s scholarship, will be held April 7 at the UCLA James West Alumni Center in Los Angeles. The event’s title references a quote from Morrell’s latest book, “,” published last month with Nicole Mirra, Antero Garcia, Cati de los Ríos and Jamila Lyiscott

“We want to be engaged in revolutionary love and practice with beautiful and brilliant minds,” Morrell and his co-authors wrote, “that are in front of us to do something that is eternal.”

The University of Notre Dame has been awarded nearly $4 million in a four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) to fund a new initiative that will incorporate tools and strategies for teaching critical thinking into college classrooms around the country.

Supporting a project called Integrating Civil Discourse into the Curriculum at Public, Private, Community, and Historically Minority-Serving Colleges and Universities (ICDC), the grant comes out of the DOE’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education Special Projects Program, which focuses on, among other priorities, protecting and promoting civil discourse in higher education.

In support of that mission, ICDC brings together a team of faculty from universities and colleges around the country with nonprofit leaders to integrate two online technologies that teach critical thinking into undergraduate curricula.

“We’re going to ask this question, ‘Can we expand the reach of effective critical thinking strategies in ways that could impact how we dialogue with each other on a national scale?’” said , an assistant teaching professor in the and director of the . He and North Carolina State University professor Gary Comstock are leading ICDC as co-primary investigators.

Blaschko has been using ThinkArguments, one of ICDC’s two technological tools, for over three years to teach philosophical argumentation in the signature Notre Dame class . Produced by nonprofit ThinkerAnalytix, ThinkArguments is an online course with 10 lessons that train students in argument mapping, a method of informal reasoning that visualizes the structure of an argument. The course has thousands of LSAT-inspired practice questions targeting different critical thinking skills.

“Teaching is a core part of Notre Dame’s mission, so to have an institutional stake in education in this country on a broader scale can be one crucial way we live out that mission.”

Blaschko noticed the impact of ThinkArguments in his classes the first time he used it.

“The arguments students were offering — it just seemed like something was clicking that hadn’t been clicking before,” he said.

To quantify that change, Blaschko started measuring students’ critical thinking gains with pre- and post-tests. He recorded an average growth rate of 16% — a significant improvement. It was something he wanted to replicate.

That’s where ICDC comes in. The grant, administered by , will fund summer workshops that convene faculty from around the country to train them in the basics of ThinkArguments and how to effectively integrate the technology into their courses. They’ll also use the tool Sway, an AI chat platform that coaches students with differing perspectives through difficult discussions. Disagree Wisely, a Florida nonprofit, leads research on Sway's educational impact and supports its deployment across institutions. The impact of incorporating those technologies into hundreds of classrooms will be measured in the same way Blaschko did it.

The project has the potential to break new ground in higher education. While critical thinking skills are often touted as a key outcome of a humanities education, Blascko said, actually teaching and assessing critical thinking competence is challenging, especially in larger classes. ICDC’s strategies confront this issue by narrowing in on a concrete set of skills that can be applied in any situation involving a search for truth.

“Students are gaining habits of mind that they can apply in reading comprehension, writing, and verbal argumentation and dialogue, both in the classroom and outside of it,” Blaschko said.

Blaschko and the other members of ICDC’s steering committee estimate the project will reach more than 100,000 students just within the grant’s lifetime, with an even greater impact beyond the next four years as their research advances critical thinking education in the U.S.

“It’s really meaningful to be working with the Department of Education on the front lines of pedagogy, research, and practice,” Blaschko said. “Teaching is a core part of Notre Dame’s mission, so to have an institutional stake in education in this country on a broader scale can be one crucial way we live out that mission.”

Originally published by Adah McMillan at on February 03, 2026.

Twenty-two Notre Dame students, including 18 undergraduate students and four graduate students, were awarded Fulbright Scholarships for the 2025-26 academic year, ranking 12th among U.S. doctoral institutions. Slightly more than 30 percent of the Notre Dame students who applied to the program were accepted, exceeding the respective rates for the 11 schools ahead of Notre Dame in the rankings.

Notre Dame has been a top producer of Fulbright students 13 times since the 2009-10 academic year. Full results are available online at the Chronicle of Higher Education.

“Last year's Fulbright process was unusually challenging due to shifting federal funding priorities. Many countries lessened the amount of awards they offered halfway through the process,” said Elise Rudt-Moorthy, associate director of national fellowships with Notre Dame’s . “However, our students worked incredibly hard to earn their placements and then displayed great patience amid uncertainty. It was a pleasure and honor to serve them alongside my colleagues Mathilda Nassar, Emily Hunt, Michael Skalski and Veronica Vos.”

, a professor of biology and associate dean for professional development at the , offered similar praise.

“Fulbright awards are highly competitive and recognize academic excellence, leadership potential and a strong commitment to global engagement and public service,” McDowell said. “The continued success of Notre Dame students earning Fulbright awards reflects their remarkable talent, dedication and drive to make a meaningful difference in the world. I am sincerely thankful to the exceptional teams in the Graduate 91��Ƶ’s Office of Grants and Fellowships and the Center for Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement, whose guidance and expertise are instrumental in supporting students throughout the Fulbright application process.”

Established in 1964, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program is the U.S. government’s flagship educational and cultural exchange program, offering students the opportunity to study, teach or pursue research or other projects abroad.

For more information on this and other scholarship opportunities, visit (undergraduate students) or (graduate students).

The result of a highly competitive RFP process, the renewal extends a fruitful 10-year relationship that began in 2016, when Levy first began overseeing concessions and premium dining across the campus including at Notre Dame Stadium, Compton Family Ice Arena, and Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center. Under the new agreement, Levy will continue to manage all aspects of hospitality, including general concessions and premium seating, ensuring a seamless and high-quality experience for guests of the Fighting Irish.

“At Notre Dame, we strive for excellence in every aspect of our guest experience, and our hospitality program is no exception,” said , Notre Dame’s executive vice president. “Over the past decade, Levy has been more than just a service provider to the University. They are a true partner who understands our mission and shares our commitment to delivering world-class service.”

A hallmark of Levy’s trend-setting partnership with Notre Dame has been its industry-leading focus on sustainability and community support. Since 2017, the partnership has worked closely with the local nonprofit Cultivate Food Rescue to reduce food waste. By "rescuing" prepared but unserved food from the stadium, the program has provided thousands of nutritious meals to local food pantries and supported job-training programs for at-risk youth and adults in Northern Indiana. This initiative remains a cornerstone of the University’s broader sustainability strategy.

Moving forward, the partnership known for culinary innovation, enhanced service and community impact will place an even greater emphasis on local sourcing. Levy will continue to prioritize regional vendors and suppliers, bringing the authentic flavors of the South Bend-Elkhart region to the global stage of Notre Dame game days while supporting the local economy.

“The spirit and traditions of Notre Dame are cherished cornerstones of collegiate athletics, and it has been a profound honor to serve this community for the last 10 years,” said Andy Lansing, CEO of Levy. “Notre Dame marked our entry into the collegiate sports landscape and set our company on a decade-long path to national leadership in the hospitality field. Extending this partnership gives us the shared opportunity to further advance the guest experience while deepening our impact through local sourcing and world-class hospitality.”

Before the opening bell ever rings on a company’s initial public offerings, some of the executives may already be sitting on a quiet windfall.

An IPO can act as a source of “cheap money” because of how stock options are valued before a company goes public. In private firms, options are supposed to be issued “at the money,” with exercise prices reflecting the fair value of the shares at the time of the grant. But without a public market price, those valuations rely on models and judgment, giving companies wide discretion.

When the firm later goes public, the IPO establishes a market value that is often far higher than the earlier private valuation. Options that once appeared fairly priced can suddenly become deeply “in the money,” allowing executives to purchase shares at prices far below market value. The resulting gap functions as “cheap money” — a significant windfall created by the shift from private valuation to public markets, rather than by new performance.

This is a red flag for regulators. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission frequently flags cheap stock grants when it reviews registration statements when companies try to go public.

New research from the University of Notre Dame examines the prevalence, determinants and consequences of cheap stock.

“The average firm’s IPO price is more than five times the exercise price (price per share when stock options are exercised) of options issued in the fiscal year before the IPO,” said lead author , the Deloitte Foundation Department Chair of Accountancy and Deloitte Professor of Accountancy at Notre Dame’s . His findings in the paper titled “” are forthcoming in Management Science.

“We show that ‘cheap stock’ option grants are widespread and economically significant,” Badertscher said. “It isn’t just about high growth, lack of liquidity or IPO uncertainty. It’s actually driven by specific incentives — like backing from venture capitalists and how managers are compensated.”

The gap between the IPO price and the exercise price of recently granted options is greater for firms that grant more options, have larger public offerings and have venture capital backing.

Badertscher, with co-authors Bjorn Jorgensen from Copenhagen Business 91��Ƶ, Sharon Katz from INSEAD and Jeremy Michels from Purdue University, analyzed the prospectuses of 963 U.S. companies that went public between 2007 and 2022, pulling detailed information on pre-IPO stock option grants. The researchers’ main metric measured the gap between the IPO price and the average employee exercise price in the fiscal year immediately preceding the IPO.

They found that when a company gives out cheap stock options, it tends to signal trouble. It’s linked to overpaying the CEO, a disappointing IPO and less money being spent on growth — leading to poor long-term stock performance.

The paper states, “Entrenched CEOs, having received a financial windfall from the IPO, may prefer the status quo and may not be motivated to take risks that are in the best interest of shareholders.”

Companies with more monitoring — like top-tier venture capitalists and underwriters — often have more cheap stock right before going public. This suggests they are doing it to guarantee a successful IPO, not just because of poor corporate governance.

The study has implications for regulators, investors, boards and researchers.

It validates the SEC’s concern that handing out cheap stock before an IPO can make compensation expenses look way lower than they actually are, which distorts the financial picture, even absent clear evidence of fraud.

For investors and analysts, the research shows that looking at pre-IPO pay structures gives you a sneak peek into how well a company will perform and invest once it’s on the public market. For boards and compensation committees, it suggests that cheap stock can embed long-lasting incentive distortions that extend well beyond the IPO event.

“The paper also opens a new empirical window into private-firm valuation discretion, an area that is typically unobservable but economically important,” Badertscher said.

Contact: Brad Badertscher, 574-631-5197, bbaderts@nd.edu

In a published in the journal Science, University of Notre Dame researchers and argue that fossil fuel systems might be far more fragile than current energy models assume.

“Systems designed to be large and growing behave differently when they shrink,” said Grubert, associate professor of sustainable energy policy at Notre Dame’s and a faculty affiliate of the Keough 91��Ƶ’s “Ignoring this shift puts everything at risk, from the success of green energy to the basic safety and reliability of our power.”

The researchers introduced the concept of “minimum viable scale,” a threshold of production below which a fossil fuel system can no longer function safely or economically. They provided examples of vulnerabilities in three major sectors:

• Petroleum refineries: Most refineries are incapable of operating normally at low capacity and likely have “turndown limits,” or a minimum operational capacity, of roughly 65 to 70 percent. If gasoline demand drops sharply due to electric vehicle adoption, for example, a refinery might become incapable of providing other products such as jet fuel or asphalt.
• Natural gas pipelines: As customers switch to electric heating and cooling, those remaining on the gas grid will have to shoulder the fixed costs of maintaining miles of pipelines. This can create a “death spiral” where rising costs drive customers away.
• Coal generation: The authors highlighted a “managerial constraint” where the fate of coal mines and power plants is inextricably linked. A single plant closure can make a local mine unprofitable. Conversely, a mine closure can leave a power plant without its specific, geographically dependent fuel source, leading to a cascade of failures.

The researchers reported that the decline of fossil fuels is unlikely to follow the smooth, linear path often depicted in hypothetical decarbonization scenarios. Instead, they identified a series of physical, financial and managerial “cliffs” that could trigger localized energy crises, price shocks and safety threats long before fossil fuels are retired. Policymakers have focused intensely on the build-out of green energy while largely ignoring the managed decline of the current systems that still provide 80 percent of global energy — a critical oversight, they said.

“None of these systems were designed with their own obsolescence in mind,” said Lappen, a postdoctoral researcher at the Pulte Institute who studies how energy networks grow and shrink over time. “None of the engineers, founding executives, economists or accountants involved ever imagined a system that would gradually and safely hand off to another.”

The danger, according to the authors, is that these systems are “networks of networks.” If one piece fails — a pipeline, a specialized labor pool or a regulatory body — the entire regional energy support system could dissolve.

“If you are leaving decisions about things staying open or closing to individual operators who are not coordinated in any way, this can be incredibly dangerous,” Grubert said.

How to manage decline

To avoid disruption of services, the researchers argued that the current U.S. approach of bailouts and bankruptcies is inefficient. They recommended four key solutions for policymakers and energy modelers:

• High-resolution modeling: Energy modelers should develop tools that provide high-resolution representation of fossil fuel assets to identify when specific facilities reach their minimum viable scale.
• Coordination across ownership boundaries: Policymakers must establish management structures that coordinate decisions across ownership boundaries to prevent a single failure from triggering a cascade of collapses.
• Public management for public need: As systems become unprofitable, they may require significant new investments to remain safe and reliable in the short term, while still committing to closure. Such decisions should be managed by government entities.
• Guaranteed liabilities: Governments should create mechanisms to guarantee the payment of long-term liabilities — “bills” due at the end of a project such as safely tearing down power plants, cleaning up polluted soil or paying out pensions to workers — to ensure that declining systems are not simply abandoned by private operators.

Without such intervention, the authors warned, the “mid-transition” period to zero carbon energy could be defined by instability. If the decline is unmanaged, the resulting price spikes and reliability issues could undermine public trust in the energy transition itself, potentially stalling progress toward meeting important climate goals.

“We will be more creative and more successful if we think about the process outside the moment of crisis,” Grubert said. “Focusing more attention on the behavior of fossil systems under decline can help put timely solutions into place.”

Originally published by Renée LaReau at on Jan. 29.

Contact: Tracy DeStazio, associate director of media relations, 574-631-9958 or tdestazi@nd.edu

The conversation began with Father Dowd introducing Graham, founder and managing principal of Graham Allen Partners, a private equity firm focused on investing in technology and tech-enabled businesses across the U.S, and Spruell, president of league operations for the National Basketball Association, as “two champions of hope who embody the spirit of Notre Dame.”

Graham and Spruell, both members of the University’s Board of Trustees, discussed with Father Dowd the serendipitous events that led them to Notre Dame, their career paths and mentors, their definitions of hope — and what they most value from their time as students at the University.

For Spruell, who was a member of the football team from 1984-87 and served as co-captain in 1987, the lessons he learned from Coach Holtz and the relationships he built with his teammates stood out.

“There’s a throughline of experience that I come back to: ‘Trust, love, commitment.’ Trust the people you work with. Make sure they love what they do. Make sure they're committed to excellence,” Spruell said. “It’s not just in the coaching relationships, but the brotherhood that is part of Notre Dame football, that Coach Lou Holtz embodied, that certainly Marcus (Freeman) is embodying now. Those are the types of things that are ingrained in me now. To be part of this special place, to live it each and every day and now to be able to give back through being on the Board (of Trustees) and other things is just an honor.”

Graham, a member of the Fighting Irish football team from 1992-95, said that among a host of other things he learned at Notre Dame, he was most inspired by the University’s mission to be a force for good in the world.

“What Notre Dame did for me was it really got me focused on building something more important than myself,” he said. “It fundamentally changed me from a kid who walked through life trying to figure out how I could do something for me to this mission-driven focus about how I could do something for others.

“The biggest gift that Notre Dame has given me is this drive to help others and to be a part of others’ lives and this understanding that that is the way that you get the best and most fulfillment.”

Following the conversation, Graham and Spruell also answered questions from the audience, reflecting on how they make tough decisions, how they balance purpose and profit in the business world and how to foster connection in a divided society.

Watch the full conversation here:

The study, published in , provides a tool to quantify responsibility for PM 2.5 pollution, a type of fine particulate matter. It comes amid renewed debate over pollution regulations in the United States. In January, the Environmental Protection Agency said it will stop calculating the  — including lives saved and health care costs avoided — from air pollution rules targeting ozone and PM 2.5.

The research was co-authored by , assistant professor in the and , assistant professor of environment, peace and global affairs in the , along with , a doctoral student in the .

“Our analysis gives states an evidence-based way to demonstrate when cross-state pollution exceeds safe thresholds and threatens public health,” Marcantonio said. “Rather than relying solely on an economic evaluation, policymakers can use clear data on health risks to guide decisions that protect vulnerable residents and communities.”

The new study translates the concept of an airshed — a geographical area where air moves together as a single unit, similar to hydrology’s concept of a watershed — into a practical framework that regulators around the world can use.

“Our study introduces a simpler, data-driven framework that policymakers and regulators can readily adapt,” Crippa said. “This is an important improvement upon previous studies, which have had limited scalability and adaptability.”

Findings underscore pollution’s unequal impact

The study highlights the inequality of pollution in the United States. Researchers found that:

• The percentage of premature deaths attributed to cross-state PM 2.5 pollution has remained constant at approximately 40 percent since 1998, even though air pollution has fallen by 35 percent in the same time period.

• More than half of U.S. states are net exporters of air pollution; roughly a third are net zero contributors, meaning they are neither importers nor exporters; and the remainder, less than a fifth, are net importers.

• Florida stands out as the largest exporter of cross-state pollution (affecting Georgia and the Carolinas), followed by Vermont and Iowa.

• Exporters include a number of states across the Upper Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic and the Southeast — including Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina — as well as California, Oregon and Washington on the West Coast.

Instead of relying primarily on complex chemical transport models, the authors drew on the concept of an airshed to design a simpler, data-driven approach. They highlighted concentrations of PM 2.5 that exceed established safety thresholds and mapped how these particulates, pushed by prevailing winds, cross state lines, harming communities in which they did not originate.

The research builds upon, which has documented that major air polluters are more likely to be located near a state’s downwind borders than other types of polluters. This dynamic allows states to economically benefit from industry while avoiding the health issues that come with it.

“Our findings underscore the unequal distribution of both health risk and responsibility across state lines,” Marcantonio said.

Informing policy to address pollution

Crippa and Marcantonio want their work to inform policy both in the United States, where legal challenges are the main barriers to regulation, and in other global contexts, where a lack of resources is the main barrier.

“Ultimately, we want to provide an evidence-based approach to protecting public health and supporting human dignity,” Marcantonio said.

In the United States, air pollution regulation faces legal and political challenges. Traditionally, it has been decentralized and the Clean Air Act’s “Good Neighbor” provision has been the strongest regulatory tool. In 2024, the Supreme Court paused an updated Environmental Protection Agency plan aimed at strengthening that provision and addressing shortcomings in state plans.

In lower-resource contexts outside the United States, regulators often have limited access to complex, resource-intensive air quality models. But they face a similar public health problem: pollution that crosses political boundaries and harms other communities.

Whether the regulatory challenges are legal or technological, Crippa and Marcantonio said their work can provide a more timely and complete picture of pollution’s impact, furnishing policymakers with data that can help them protect vulnerable downwind communities.

The researchers are extending their work globally through a multi-year project co-led with Danielle Wood, director of the , focused on how pollution that originates in mega-cities affects other communities.

Funding for that work and the cross-state study was provided through a additional support for the cross-state research came from Notre Dame’s and the .

This work aligns with Notre Dame’s , a University-wide effort to build a sustainable future where people and nature flourish together.

“Our research can inform policy and help regulators prioritize permitting, monitoring and enforcement activities,” Marcantonio said. “Ultimately, we want to provide an evidence-based approach to protecting public health and supporting human dignity.”

Crippa is the principal investigator for the , part of Notre Dame’s , and Liao is also affiliated with the group. Marcantonio is affiliated with the and the in Notre Dame’s ; with the and; and with the Keough 91��Ƶ’s and .

Originally published by Josh Stowe at on Jan. 28.

Contact: Tracy DeStazio, associate director of media relations, 574-631-9958 or tdestazi@nd.edu

In honor of his lifelong dedication to and outstanding achievements in traditional urbanism and architecture, John Simpson has been selected as the 2026 laureate of the Richard H. Driehaus Prize at the University of Notre Dame. He will receive the prize during a ceremony on March 21 at the Murphy Auditorium in Chicago.

A native of the United Kingdom, Simpson first gained prominence in 1990 during the Paternoster Square development competition in London where he advocated for New Traditional Architecture and Urbanism. The Driehaus Prize citation notes that “his inspiring leadership in gathering a distinguished group of his peers to address what was then a major civic challenge was clearly noticed.”

While the project was eventually realized with a different vision, Simpson’s proposal “highlighted an emerging, new and constructive approach to urban regeneration and cemented his influence as one of the earliest proponents of modern classicism,” the citation states.

“Our ancestors built wonderful and enduring cities through a shared tradition,” Simpson said. “When I began my career, there were only a few that held to that path. It is such a joy to see how this has changed over the years with a rising generation of architects committed to restoring the continuity that binds us to our Classical roots and determined to create a beautiful and humane world for future generations to enjoy. This award recognizes the enduring value of tradition, not as nostalgia, but as a foundation for building well and responsibly today.”

Simpson’s work has been extensive and deeply influential, the prize jury wrote. It has unfolded through private, public and institutional commissions, “each executed with a keen eye for a balance between precedent based composition, place-appropriate siting and a focus on durability of construction.”

“While thoughtfully contextual with respect to local character and scale, his work also stands as a testament to the multiple building cultures that make up all traditions and offers solutions to the critical need for variety and uniqueness of place facing the built environment,” the citation continued. “Chief among his projects deserving praise are the King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace, his many projects at Poundbury for the Duchy of Cornwall, the DMRC Rehabilitation Facility at Stanford Hall, the Royal College of Music in London, the 91��Ƶ of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame and his educational projects at Eton, Oxford and Cambridge.”

The jury also recognized Simpson’s long interest in teaching, both informally through his practice and often didactic architecture and through formal teaching positions at the Prince’s Foundation, the University of Buckingham and, most recently, at Cambridge University at the Center for the Study of Classical Architecture. Simpson is also a fellow at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.

“John Simpson has long maintained that traditional forms are environmentally sound and contribute to the sense of local identity. His work amply illustrates that the practice of traditional urbanism and architecture does indeed facilitate the bonds of community by encouraging people of all kinds to share a common, living culture of building and to avail themselves of the opportunity to identify with, live and flourish in its distinctive presence,” said , Driehaus Prize jury chair and the Francis and Kathleen Rooney Dean of the 91��Ƶ of Architecture.

In conjunction with the Driehaus Prize, the 2026 Henry Hope Reed Award will be given to Philippe Villeneuve, a French architect specializing in historic monument conservation and restoration. Villeneuve was selected for his visionary leadership in the restoration of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris after a 2018 fire.

Villeneuve, who studied architecture at the École d’Architecture de Paris-Conflans, obtained his governmental architectural diploma in 1989 and later a diploma from the École de Chaillot. In 1997, he passed the “Thèse de Concours” to become chief architect for historical monuments in France. He has worked on restoration projects including the Angoulême Cathedral , the chevet and north portal of Limoges Cathedral and the Hôtel de Ville in La Rochelle.

“Villeneuve’s crowning achievement has been in bringing the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris from the brink of collapse to its rightful place as the most significant building in France and one of the most recognizable in the world,” Polyzoides said. “Thanks to Villeneuve, the iconic cathedral — an edifice expressing the spiritual essence, technical prowess and proud identity of the French nation across the centuries — was reconstructed in accordance with its original 12th century form.”

Villeneuve engaged hundreds of architects, engineers, designers and craftspeople from across France and looked to the original sources of materials to rebuild the structure. His expansive team combined traditional and cutting-edge construction techniques in tandem to execute the reconstruction in record time.

The jury cited Villeneuve’s leadership in advocating that Notre-Dame de Paris be rebuilt in its original construction methods and returned to its original form.

“Challenging the preservation protocols in place and the high-tech visions of popular architects, Villeneuve argued instead that historic buildings possess physical integrity, community values and symbolic meaning. He had the courage to take his case to French President Emmanuel Macron to explain his viewpoints, thereby convincing the president despite strong opposition,” the jury citation reads.

This year’s Driehaus Prize and Henry Hope Reed laureates were selected by a jury composed of Ben Bolgar, executive director of the Kings Foundation, London; Melissa DelVecchio, partner at Robert A.M. Stern Architects, New York; Michael Lykoudis, professor emeritus of architecture at the University of Notre Dame; Demetri Porphyrios, founding principal of Porphyrios Associates, London; and Julia Treese, partner at Treese Architekten, Berlin and Munich. Polyzoides, also a partner at Moule & Polyzoides, Architects and Urbanists, Pasadena, California, served as jury chair.

The $200,000 Driehaus Prize is the largest cash award given in architecture worldwide. It is granted to architects by the Driehaus Trust, in the name of Richard H. Driehaus, founder and chairman of Chicago-based Driehaus Capital Management LLC, for their excellence in the design of New Traditional Architecture and Urbanism over their entire career. The Henry Hope Reed Award of $50,000 is similarly granted to individuals who have contributed to the design and building culture that cultivates the traditional city, its architecture and art through writing, planning or promotion.

Contact: Carrie Gates, associate director of media relations, c.gates@nd.edu or 574-993-9220