More than 100,000 people are awaiting an organ transplant in the United States, with a new candidate added to the list every 10 minutes. Even if the transplant is carried out successfully, recipients must take immunosuppressive medications, elevating their risk of broader infections, and adhere to a strict lifestyle for the rest of their lives—all while facing the possibility that their body could reject the donated organ at any time.

Scientists have been from a patient’s own cells for decades in an attempt to solve this problem. But a major obstacle to realizing lab-grown organs is replicating the scale and complexity of the body’s vascular networks, especially capillaries. These microvessels crisscross each organ to deliver oxygen and other nutrients to every living cell, making them an essential component of any useful bioengineered tissue model.

To overcome this central challenge, , the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Collegiate Professor in the at the University of Notre Dame, and colleagues have created a novel hybrid bioprinting technique that produces vascular networks containing capillaries fewer than 10 micrometers in diameter—smaller than that of the finest human hair. The work is detailed that was featured on a recent cover of .

“Printing blood vessels that mimic natural living systems is very difficult since the vessels vary in size,” Zhang said. “Getting the smallest vessels right, without losing scalability and structural integrity, has remained one of the greatest challenges to current state-of-the-art bioprinting.”

Zhang’s new approach integrates two distinctive 3D printing techniques and incorporates machine learning to autonomously optimize printing parameters for each desired vascular configuration. The hybrid method, developed in collaboration with Y. Shrike Zhang, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical 91��Ƶ and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, produced stable one-, two- and three-dimensional vascular structures, which were then successfully lined with living cells.

“We’ve reached a major breakthrough in the field of bioprinting,” said Zhang, an affiliate of Notre Dame’s and . “Achieving capillary-scale resolution in bioprinting is an important step towards engineering fully functional tissues and complete organs.”

Attaining such fine resolution required the harmonious integration of two complementary printing technologies. The matrix—a soft, gel-like scaffold that mimics real tissue—is printed by extrusion, a widely used method that uses pressure to dispense biomaterials one layer at a time. Once a section of the matrix is printed, thin threads of gelatin are deposited within by aerosol jet printing (AJP), which will eventually be removed to leave behind channels embedded inside the matrix.

Aerodynamic focusing using a sheath flow, a unique feature of AJP, enables dynamic adjustments and the printing of the channel sizes from hundreds of micrometers down to several micrometers, which mimic the varied architecture of natural vessels. Since small changes to the ink flow rate and sheath gas flow rate affect the ultimate size of the printed channel, the researchers developed and integrated a machine learning framework to efficiently determine the ideal combination of printing parameters for a given channel size.

“Machine learning is a very powerful tool that helps us to identify the optimal parameters much more quickly compared with the conventional trial-and-error method,” Zhang said. “Incorporating autonomous optimization has yielded a large boost in efficiency for realizing the desired quality and precision of the printed channels.”

Applied together, the hybrid printing approach successfully fabricated hierarchical vascular networks in one, two and three dimensions. Select channels were then seeded with endothelial cells, which line the body’s blood and lymphatic vessels, and yielded the formation of single-cell layers akin to those seen within living human tissues.

“We are very pleased to see living cells rapidly attach and spread along the inner walls of the channels, ultimately replicating the barrier function of real human capillaries,” Zhang said. “It’s a big step forward in showing that our hybrid-printed networks are capable of supporting living tissue structures without leakage."

Biomimetic tissue models such as Zhang’s offer a promising route for therapeutic discovery, in addition to regenerative medicine and organ engineering. By accurately mimicking human vascular networks down to the smallest capillaries, such platforms can serve as new “organ-on-a-chip” models to test drugs for safety and efficacy. Further, the use of patient-specific cells to form these models offers a potential path for personalized medicine, where therapeutic responses could be evaluated within the model system prior to full-scale treatment.

Zhang’s ultimate aim is to develop an autonomous, intelligent bioprinter to produce fully functional tissues and organs such as the heart, kidney and liver. In the near term, his research group and their collaborators at Harvard to design and build an even more powerful version of Zhang’s hybrid bioprinter and pursue the fabrication of lab-grown organs.

“There are so many people waiting for an organ transplant, and the ability to print organs in the lab has the potential to transform lives by helping humans to live longer and live healthier,” Zhang said. “We are not simply developing better technology, but shining light on a new future for organ transplantation and human health.”

This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health. The instrumentation and staff of several Notre Dame core facilities supported this work: the core facility, the , the and the .

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

Over the past two decades, in particular, democracies all over the world have struggled with a lack of clear support. Democracy scholars have referred to these challenges as evidence of backsliding, where political institutions slowly erode from within by backing away from democratic rules and norms and abandoning pro-democratic behavior. This phenomenon has many political and social scientists concerned.

One indicator of a democracy’s health is how satisfied a country’s citizens are with their system of government, and how committed they are to making it successful. And, depending on how happy citizens feel about it, they will behave accordingly — either by participating in democratic processes and living out democratic ideals, or not.

Democratic dissatisfaction predicts lower civic engagement

On that point, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that dissatisfaction with democracy resulted in lower support for democratic behaviors in Mexico, according to development economist and co-author of the University of Notre Dame. Seira, the Joe and Deborah Loughrey Professor of , studies how economic issues can be caused by malfunctioning political institutions, and how democracy benefits and spurs economic growth in a country.

Surveying more than 50,000 Mexican citizens across 6,300 electoral precincts during Mexico’s 2017 state elections, Seira and his research team found that low levels of satisfaction led to a reluctance to participate in these separate democratic activities: attending poll worker training (a requirement for citizens during elections), staffing a polling station on Election Day, and voting in the presidential elections a year later.

“We find that dissatisfaction with democracy predicts lower democratic engagement across all three behaviors,” Seira and his co-authors wrote. Rather than relying on self-reported behaviors or country-level comparisons, the researchers studied the link between satisfaction with democracy and democratic behaviors at the individual level, merging administrative measures and analysis to create original data.

The research indicated that the more dissatisfied the citizens were, the less they engaged. Those who report the lowest level of satisfaction (in other words, surveyed as “not at all satisfied”) were 4.6 percent less likely to attend the poll worker training, nearly 12 percent less likely to staff their polling station, and 2 percent less likely to turn out to vote.

Based on data from the , Mexico ranks 54 out of 75 democratic countries in average levels of dissatisfaction with democracy, according to the study. This suggests that there are numerous other countries struggling with the same challenges — if not more so — than Mexico.

“Both globally and in Latin America, citizens’ satisfaction with democracy has decreased by 10 to 15 percentage points since 2010,” the researchers wrote.

Relatedly, in the United States, the share of citizens who think it is essential to live in a democracy is 71 percent for those born in the 1930s versus 29 percent for those born in the 1980s, noted Seira and his co-authors.

“Support for democracy as measured in surveys — which has been on a more than a decade-long decline — is worrisome, since it is associated with a decline in civic behaviors,” Seira said.

How corruption erodes trust, diminishes support

But what causes citizens to lose favor with their system of government and way of life?

According to Seira, who is also a , part of the , there are several potential reasons. One is that American voters and those in other latitudes are growing impatient with the gridlock in Congress and how the government struggles to accomplish goals and objectives. Another possibility is that the welfare state has been retreating in the world since the financial crisis of 2008, and citizens place blame on their democratic governments for causing some of that downfall. A third possibility is the influence of social media causing polarization in societies, both in the U.S. and abroad, making it harder for democracies to function.

Yet another possibility — and one that has received less attention — is that citizens increasingly perceive corruption (the use of public office for private gain) as endemic. “The fraction of Americans who think the U.S. government is corrupt has been increasing and is now close to 70 percent — and, surprisingly, it is on the same level as democracies in Latin America,” Seira said.

This statistic led Seira and his co-authors to conduct a second study around democracy — this one looking at whether and how government corruption leads to further civic disengagement. Seira and fellow researchers from MIT and Stanford studied 17 Latin American countries using both a field experiment and tens of thousands of surveys collected over a decade.

In , Seira and his team found that when citizens were exposed to high-level politicians’ scandals, individual voter turnout causally decreased by 10 to 20 percentage points. In addition, contributions to support elections, and honesty and trust between individual citizens, all suffered. Furthermore, voting was affected the most when incumbents perceived to be honest were implicated in corruption cases close to election time.

“When they hear about these scandals involving high-level officials such as presidents, cabinet members, prime ministers and justices, voters are less likely to turn out to vote by 20 percentage points,” Seira said. “When a president steals, citizens don't just lose faith in that president — they lose faith in democracy itself.

“And we show it causally,” Seira explained. “Watching real footage of top politicians taking cash cut actual voter turnout by up to 27 percent and lowered support for democracy. Democracy is built on the promise of political equality, and corruption undermines that very promise.”

Citizens’ willingness to donate time to support the organizations of democracy — by volunteering to be an electoral observer, for example — decreased by 43 percent (relative to the 4.9 percent who volunteered on average). It similarly reduced their willingness to donate money in support of election activities by 16 percent (relative to 22.8 percent who donated). Even more worrisome, the researchers discovered, is that when top-level politicians participated in corrupt activities, explicit support for democracy reduced in favor of authoritarianism.

Seira said that the media plays a big role in highlighting political scandals. “The number of news stories about corruption have tripled in Spanish and doubled in English in the last 20 years, which just means that more of these events are in the public eye than they used to be.”

This visibility creates an unfortunate tradeoff, one for which a solution needs to be found, according to Seira. On the one hand, public disclosure forces accountability and denouncement of such behavior, which is needed for democracies to work. On the other, when citizens see that the system is corrupt at the highest levels, then it can be very damaging to the credibility of the system itself. The culprit may be not that corruption is disclosed, but that it goes unpunished, as is often the case in Latin America and other developing countries.

In the field experiment part of the study, Seira and his colleagues found not only that corruption undermined citizens’ trust in democratic institutions, but trust in one another also suffered, with citizens less willing to entrust neighbors with money in incentivized lab-in-the-field experiments. In addition, exposing citizens to footage of their politicians taking bribes made it seem like such behavior was acceptable, prompting individuals to steal money the researchers endowed them with.

Can better civics education help?

Providing ample and relevant civics education to the next generation may be one way to strengthen democracy while combating dissatisfaction and corruption, Seira believes. Because the effectiveness of civics courses has not been widely tested yet, Seira and his co-authors are currently conducting research through a multi-country study of the effects of civics education on democratic behaviors.

“What we want to know is how effective these courses are,” Seira said. “Do they generate more informed citizens? Does it allow them to critically assess the alternatives to democracy? Are they more willing to donate time and effort to support democracy? And to what extent can we make better citizens through education?”

Seira noted that even though the first two studies were conducted in Mexico and Latin America, respectively, and were not specifically reliant on U.S. data, parallels can be drawn between the regions and in how survey participants would have responded. The third study is ongoing and is supported by a from the University of Notre Dame’s

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

Those who win have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization, according to the NSF. Each awardee at Notre Dame received more than half a million dollars in funding to support their research.

“We are thrilled to celebrate this latest cohort of CAREER Award recipients. Their forward-thinking research reflects Notre Dame's unwavering commitment to discovery that serves the common good,” said , the John and Catherine Martin Family Vice President for Research and professor in the . “We appreciate that the National Science Foundation is supporting these high-impact research projects.”

Below are Notre Dame’s 2026 awardees, along with brief descriptions from their abstracts:

in the College of Science, will pioneer approaches to harness the interaction between light and molecules to power the next generation of energy and quantum technologies with his project, “Novel Theoretical Tools for Dynamics of Interacting Light-Matter Systems.” Light and molecules are constantly exchanging energy at the quantum scale across complex environments, such as inside tiny mirrors or near metal surfaces. His research group will develop methods that allow scientists to understand and predict how molecules behave in these complex environments.

in the College of Science, is seeking to understand the earliest chemical reactions and molecules involved in the first living cells for his project, “Reconstructing Primordial Life of the Lost RNA World.” Early life is thought to have used RNA as its genetic material as well as its enzymes. His research group aims to understand how RNA molecules could have facilitated the emergence of the first self-replicating cells. This project addresses this fundamental question by building simplified models of primitive cells, or protocells, in the laboratory.

in the College of Engineering, will investigate cancer with her research, “Mechanisms of Tumor Growth-Induced Immunomechanical Dysfunction.” The work is part of a newer area of research called immunomechanics, which lies at the intersection of mechanobiology and immunology. Her project investigates how these physical forces interfere with the ability of immune cells to find and destroy cancer cells, ultimately allowing tumors to grow unchecked. By uncovering how mechanical forces disrupt the immune system, this work addresses a fundamental gap in understanding how biology and physics interact in human health.

in the College of Science, will develop new chemical measurement tools that seek to help scientists detect and distinguish closely related small molecules in complex environments with his work, “Integrating Nanoconfined Interfaces and Aptamer Switches for Autonomous, Electrochemical Imaging of Chemical Analogs.” Many important molecules in medicine, biology, environmental monitoring, and manufacturing differ only slightly in structure, making them difficult to measure selectively in real time. The project would create electrochemical sensor platforms that use nanoscale materials and molecular recognition switches to identify chemical analogs without relying on large laboratory instruments.

in the College of Science, will study new types of materials, known as moiré materials, created by stacking extremely thin layers of matter with precise alignment and leading to unusual and potentially useful electronic behavior in his project, “Towards a Unified Optical View of Strong Correlation in Moiré Quantum Matter.” These new types of materials can switch between conducting, insulating, and superconducting states — properties that are important for future technologies but remain poorly understood. The research combines optical and electrical measurements to probe how these materials respond to energy and heat at very small scales, providing insight into how their internal structure governs their macroscopic behavior.

Established in 1995, NSF CAREER Awards currently support 34 active research projects at the University of Notre Dame. To learn more about the program, visit the .

Originally published by Deanna Csomo Ferrell at on August 05, 2026.

The University of Notre Dame Carrier Medalist for 2026, will share her lecture, “Innovation by Evolution,” on Monday, Sept. 14 in Jordan Hall of Science.

One of the recipients of the , Arnold is the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology. She won the Nobel Prize for pioneering "directed evolution" to engineer new enzymes, which are proteins that speed up chemical processes. Her work has helped develop “green” pharmaceutical manufacturing and has made renewable fuels possible.

Arnold’s talk for , presented in honor of Mary Burke Ryan, will share recent studies from her laboratory that show how directed evolution of enzymes can teach biology to carry out entirely new chemistry.

“Biology can learn to do chemistry invented by human beings much more efficiently and without the toxic components humans use,” she said. “And even more exciting, biology can learn to do chemistry that humans dream of but cannot yet do.

“These include transformations used to make important products we need in our daily lives.”

A precocious child who grew up with four brothers, Arnold knew she was as good at math, if not better, than they were. She graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering, though she took a wide variety of classes in different areas before settling into her major.

After a job at the former Solar Energy Research Institute in Colorado (now the National Laboratory of the Rockies), and plenty of world travel, Arnold completed her doctoral degree in chemical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. She credits having four brothers with cementing her lack of fear of working with men, which is something she needed in the 1970s and early 1980s when completing her degree and landing that first engineering job.

Even in 2026, many women shy away from engineering and some areas of science.

“Women often choose not to do it,” she said. “To change what they choose, you have to make it interesting; you have to make it impactful for people and planet. It has to compete with the many other things women find interesting.

“Because when they do it, they succeed very well.”

Throughout her career, Arnold has turned her attention toward specific applications of her work that are best done by industry, several times encouraging students and postdoctoral fellows to start companies. Today half of her research group is working with artificial intelligence, and she and her students were pioneers in the use of machine learning for engineering proteins.

Prizes like the Carrier Medal allow young people to see what it might be like to be a scientist or engineer, and could move them to consider a future STEM career, Arnold said.

“The Nobel Prizes, for example, inspire young people in the farthest reaches of the world," she said. “I get letters from students in sub-Saharan Africa, Egypt, Indonesia, South America who say that it’s exciting and inspiring to see a woman win a Nobel Prize.

“For example, non-scientists might not realize their cell phones, or even their laundry detergents, are full of clever inventions, and awarding prizes reminds them that these were thought up by humans.

“Awards sometimes reach even more people than a science classroom,” she said.

The Carrier Medal is awarded annually in recognition of sustained, outstanding achievements in the sciences. It celebrates those whose pioneering contributions have advanced the frontiers of scientific knowledge and promoted the betterment of humanity.

Originally published by Deanna Csomo Ferrell at on August 03, 2026.

Cárdenas was born in post-World War II California, and the discrimination he faced as a Mexican American largely shaped his trajectory as a sociologist and scholar in Latino studies.

For more than five decades, Cárdenas devoted his life to expanding educational opportunity, advancing scholarship, and supporting artists and their work. He worked to ensure that future generations of artists, scholars, and community leaders would recognize the richness and importance of Latino history, culture, and the institutions that reflected them.

“Gil was one of the founders of Latino studies at Notre Dame. Ever since his arrival from the University of Texas, he recognized its importance, especially at a global Catholic research university, and devoted himself to its development,” said , the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost. “We share in the sadness of his death but also honor his many achievements."

As a young man, Cárdenas was involved in the Chicano Movement, and his activism connected him with leaders across movements for civil rights, labor justice, educational equity, and immigrant rights. This experience continued throughout his life, during which he served on presidential commissions, testified before Congress, and sat on national boards to ensure Latino communities had a place at the table wherever decisions about culture, education, and public life were made. Most notably, he was cited in Plyler v. Doe (1982), the U.S. Supreme Court decision affirming the constitutional right of undocumented children to receive a public education.

“Gilberto Cárdenas was indispensable to the development of Latino studies across the United States,” said , associate professor of anthropology, who worked with Cárdenas as an ILS postdoctoral student. “He devoted his life to building institutions in order to advance scholarship in the U.S. Latinos, expand opportunities in education and the arts, and further civil rights causes. He was a dear friend and a beloved mentor whose generosity, kindness, and compassion knew no bounds.”

Cárdenas received his Ph.D. in sociology from Notre Dame in 1975. During his time as a student, he studied under professor and co-authored Los Mojados: The Wetback Story, which redefined the study of immigration and Mexican American experiences. After graduation, he joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin and built up the , the oldest national consortium focused on Latino research. He authored, co-authored, and co-edited dozens of books and scholarly articles during his academic career.

Cárdenas returned to Notre Dame in 1999 as a professor of sociology and relocated IUPLR to campus. Upon his return, he was also appointed the founding director of ILS. For 13 years, Cárdenas led the institute and established many of the hallmark programs and initiatives that remain today, including the , the literary initiative , and . Through ILS, Cárdenas hoped to make Notre Dame "the premier place in the nation to study Latino populations.”

“In many respects, my work at Notre Dame would not have been possible without Gil. When I was a graduate student here, he went out of his way to support me — so much so that he offered me a job, leading to the creation of Letras Latinas. His prescient vision changed my life,” said , professor of the practice and director of Letras Latinas. “I can easily imagine this being the case for other artists and scholars who worked with him.”

Cárdenas’ impact also remains visible in the institute hallways in Bond Hall. Cárdenas was a lifelong supporter of the arts and had a particular commitment to preserving the visual history of the Chicano Movement. His collection of Latino/a/x art has become one of the most significant ever assembled, and many of the pieces are displayed throughout ILS spaces.

"From our first meeting — and for years to come — he has been a generous colleague, devoted friend, and staunch advocate for Latino studies,” said , professor of American studies and director of ILS. “The marks he made on the institute and, more broadly, in the field, are difficult to put into words, but he will be profoundly missed.”

Cárdenas is survived by his wife, Dolores Carrillo García; three children; three step-children, and nine grandchildren. A celebration of his life will be announced at a later date by the family.

Originally published by Mary Kinney at on July 29, 2026.

Notre Dame’s outlines a multi-year, campus-wide effort to position the University as a trusted leader in emerging technologies. The Initiative convenes discussions and action for research, education and impact across colleges, schools, centers, and disciplines in support of Notre Dame’s broader .

Directed by , the Frank M. Freimann Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and the Lucy Family Director for Data & AI Academic Strategy, the DAC Initiative brings together several existing University strengths under a unified institutional structure. This new framework includes the , the , and specialized spanning fundamental research and interdisciplinary applications, also guided by the dimensions of responsible, inclusive, safe, and empowering (RISE).

Additionally, research software engineers and data scientists from the Center for Research Computing and the Applied Analytics & Emerging Technology Lab will form a new (DOME) unit to support data and AI research across the University.

The effort reflects both the accelerating pace of AI adoption and the growing need for universities to prepare students for an economy and society increasingly shaped by data and computation.

“Data and AI-driven technologies are transforming nearly every sector of society,” said , vice president and associate provost for academic strategy. “Notre Dame’s distinctive strength lies in combining technological fluency in these emerging tools with a Catholic intellectual tradition that integrates faith and reason for the common good.”

At the center of the Initiative’s educational efforts are the , which explore how data, AI, and computational approaches could be integrated into curriculum and learning across undergraduate and graduate education. The work includes evaluating new interdisciplinary courses and degree programs that complement existing offerings, as well as ensuring support for faculty innovation and establishing long-term structures that allow curricular growth to scale across departments and colleges.

During an Initiative-hosted , University faculty and industry professionals convened to discuss the urgent need for graduates to have technical fluency combined with durable skills like adaptability and communications to navigate an increasingly AI-driven career pipeline.

“Through our conversations with industry leaders, we’re hearing a consistent message: AI is becoming part of nearly every role and every industry,” said , the Jack and Joan McGraw Family Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations. “That’s why Notre Dame is expanding opportunities for students to build AI and analytics skills while also strengthening the critical thinking, communication and ethical judgment that employers continue to value most.”

The University's expanding AI curriculum includes a new undergraduate minor in , launching through the in fall 2026.

Signature programs such as the , , and the provide students with technical data science training alongside opportunities to examine the ethical and societal dimensions of emerging technologies.

Beyond curriculum development, the Initiative supports a research ecosystem of spanning RISE AI, foundational methods, AI-enabled science and engineering, computational social science, health, and digital humanities. Several of these working groups also contribute to research discussions that work to leverage AI to reduce poverty, improve sustainability, address health access, and promote democracy.

“Data, AI, and computing are already shaping the future,” said Chawla. “Through the DAC Initiative, we’re helping shape that future with purpose by uniting expertise across disciplines to advance discovery that serves society, prepare students for an AI-enabled world, and ensure that technological progress remains responsible and deeply human.”

For more information about the Data, AI, and Computing Initiative, visit .

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

The partnership will begin with an invitation to residents, business owners and community stakeholders to participate in a series of listening sessions on Aug. 5, followed by a weeklong public urban planning session conducted by the Housing and Community Regeneration Initiative with public events on Aug. 17, 18 and 20. All events will start at 5:30 p.m. and be held at the Benton Harbor Urban Innovation Lab, 510 W. Main Street.

This process, known as a Dean’s Charrette, will result in a shared long-term vision for the riverfront as well as a regeneration plan for downtown, which will help guide future investments in housing, recreation, public spaces, connectivity and economic development.

"Our community’s waterfront represents our shared future — a future where neighbors come together to enjoy world-class public spaces, programming and recreation, where new housing and investment will flourish, and a place we can all be proud of for generations to come,” said Benton Harbor Mayor Marcus Muhammad. “This process gives our community the opportunity to move from ideas to action, transforming vacant spaces into vibrant places.”

“This work will draw on Benton Harbor’s rich history and strong community to provide a plan to activate the riverfront and regenerate downtown by creating places of lasting value.”

Directed by Professor , the 91��Ƶ of Architecture’s Housing and Community Regeneration Initiative will lead the planning and design process. Known for its collaborative "Think-and-Do Tank" approach, the initiative works alongside communities to develop practical, community-informed solutions that strengthen neighborhoods and local economies.

To date, the initiative has conducted nine charrettes in six cities across the region, including in South Bend, Elkhart and Gary, Indiana; and Kalamazoo, Michigan.

“We are thrilled to partner with Benton Harbor to facilitate a process that establishes a plan to offer actionable short-term recommendations which build toward a long-term vision for the city,” Cusato said. “This work will draw on Benton Harbor’s rich history and strong community to provide a plan to activate the riverfront and regenerate downtown by creating places of lasting value.”

The Riverview Drive corridor has long been identified as a redevelopment priority for the city, appearing in community planning efforts since the 1980s and in successive City of Benton Harbor Master Plans. This initiative, however, marks the first time the corridor will receive a dedicated action-focused plan supported by the necessary funding to move projects from vision to reality. It also builds upon previous plans, including the 2016 Twin Cities Harbor Vision and the 2020 Twin Cities Sustainable Small Harbors Plan.

Through these efforts, the Housing and Community Regeneration Initiative joins an ongoing partnership among the City of Benton Harbor, Cornerstone Alliance and the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission. A 2023 grant from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy to address high-water infrastructure challenges laid the groundwork for this phase, which will focus on resilient infrastructure, improved public access to the waterfront, stronger pedestrian connections and long-term flood resilience.

"Combined with the recently announced BUILD Grant, this planning effort creates an important foundation for Benton Harbor’s riverfront," said Andrew Haan, senior vice president of Cornerstone Alliance. "The community's ideas will drive this vision. By bringing together residents, local partners and technical expertise, we have an opportunity to create a riverfront that is welcoming, resilient and positioned to support future housing, investment and economic opportunity."

The project also includes a complementary downtown Benton Harbor master planning effort that will identify redevelopment opportunities for key sites while developing strategies for activation, beautification and long-term place management.

Everyone who lives, works or invests in Benton Harbor and the surrounding area is encouraged to participate.

As the University of Notre Dame’s approaches its fourth year, Inaugural Director , the Packey J. Dee Professor of American Democracy, is preparing to transition leadership of the initiative to renowned political scientist , the Dr. William M. Scholl Professor of Politics in the Department of Political Science and the Keough 91��Ƶ of Global Affairs. Kollman began a six-month term as director-designate on July 1 and will formally take over as Democracy Initiative director on Jan. 1.

“David Campbell has done a superb job as founding director — developing a vision, building partnerships and turning an early idea into a thriving, University-wide endeavor,” said John T. McGreevy, the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost. “Under his leadership, the Democracy Initiative has advanced cutting-edge research, supported the recruitment of excellent scholar-teachers, expanded opportunities for students, helped realize a transformative $55 million gift for the Rooney Democracy Institute, and convened thought leaders to tackle urgent and complex challenges to democracy around the world.”

The Library of Congress recently named Campbell to the Kluge Chair in American Law and Governance, a prestigious research appointment focused on legal, constitutional and political issues related to the institutions of American government. During the spring 2027 residential appointment, he will make use of the world’s largest law library and the Library of Congress’ unique collection of manuscripts on the formation and development of the American Republic, and take advantage of opportunities to participate in ongoing dialogue with political leaders on matters of importance to civic life.

Kollman, an alumnus of Notre Dame, joined the faculty in January after 32 years at the University of Michigan. His includes award-winning books and journal articles, more than $47 million in external research funding, and key contributions to the development of major publicly available datasets used by researchers around the world.

“I’m confident that Ken Kollman is the right choice to lead the Democracy Initiative into this next chapter,” McGreevy said. “He is a leading scholar in both American and comparative politics, a gifted teacher, and an experienced administrator who has served in numerous leadership roles at Michigan, including as the director of the International Institute and director of the Center for Political 91��Ƶ.”

Democracy was one of the first three campus-wide initiatives launched as part of “.” It works to renew the strength of democracy in the U.S. and around the world by advancing rigorous research, preparing students for civic leadership and convening influential voices across political divides.

Together with his team, Campbell, who was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, launched the successful series, created an undergraduate and created the . To date, the program has funded nearly 70 faculty and graduate student projects that will produce dozens of new books, articles, convenings and courses on the subject of democracy. He also worked to build deeper connections between the Rooney Institute and the Kellogg Institute for International 91��Ƶ, as well as other democracy-related institutes, centers and programs across campus. Learn more at .

More than 3.4 million American children, or about 6 percent of the school-age population, now , and that group has grown at nearly three times the . Homeschooling is also increasingly popular in countries including Canada and the United Kingdom, as more parents look to customize educational options for their children.

A new study co-authored by University of Notre Dame researcher shows how artificial intelligence can empower parents to be engaged educators who tailor curriculums and learning plans that meet their children’s needs.

The study was published in the 2026 proceedings of the , the flagship conference for researchers working in human-computer interaction.

“91��Ƶ-centered platforms optimize for classroom control, standardized pacing and scale, but homeschooling families often prioritize adaptable routines, value-aligned materials and community-based support,” said Rifat, assistant professor of tech ethics and global affairs at Notre Dame’s . “We wanted to build something that keeps parents in control as reflective partners who shape what their children actually learn.”

Rifat and his colleagues designed a digital platform powered by a large language model. Their goal was to accommodate a diverse cohort of homeschooling families whose needs range from academic flexibility and cultural alignment to school safety concerns. During the study, they worked with Muslim families in the greater Toronto area, evaluating the platform’s usability and overall effectiveness from April to July 2025. Over time, they hope to work with larger groups in multiple communities.

Researchers designed the platform, called Homeroom, around three goals: supporting parents as active participants who shape their children's education; promoting culturally responsive personalization to help families create identity-affirming learning environments; and facilitating parents’ collaboration within a trusted circle of fellow homeschoolers.

The tool’s workflow enabled participants to brainstorm, create and refine stories for their children’s ethics education and to craft curriculums that incorporated family heritage and cultural norms alongside age-appropriate educational standards.

Findings underscore need for agency, representation

Researchers found that parents embraced a trust-but-verify approach, wanting to preview and edit educational materials before sharing them with their children. That desire for control was especially evident around cultural representation.

Some parents used the platform to fill gaps in available materials, generating stories that reflected their children’s cultural identities. One participant said she would use the tool primarily because heritage stories are difficult to find in libraries and too costly to keep buying. Parents appreciated being able to adjust tone, setting and cultural motifs including familiar foods, holidays and everyday customs until a story felt right for their child.

They also identified a need for precision around cultural values. When one participant asked the platform to generate stories emphasizing humility, she received moralizing narration rather than what she had in mind, which was a set of concrete, everyday practices her children already knew, such as sitting on the floor to eat. The experience pointed to a broader finding: Generic value labels are not enough. Families needed tools to define what those values actually look like in their household.

Researchers also found that participants preferred small, intimate groups over broad forums, which they found made it easier to ask sensitive questions and receive practical feedback. Parents wanted to follow trusted peers, adapt shared lessons while providing clear attribution and retain the option to monetize original content.

In addition, parents asked for tools to reduce administrative workload, including reusable rubrics, a portfolio generator and connections to local events that could feed directly into student records.

Addressing a larger challenge in human-AI collaboration

The study is a natural extension of Rifat’s broader research agenda, which examines how AI can move beyond one-size-fits-all design to with distinct cultural needs and values.

It also addresses the concern that AI risks being sycophantic and simply reinforcing what the user already believes. While that risk is real, Rifat said, well-designed personalization can create space for communities to encounter difference rather than avoid it. Homeroom included features that exposed children to materials from outside their own background precisely for that reason.

“One of the critiques I hear is that we’re building echo chambers,” Rifat said. “But personalization is already happening whether we like it or not. The question is whether we design it in a way that brings communities together or drives them further apart.”

Rifat co-authored the study with Ayla Khan, a student at the University of Toronto Mississauga; Nouran Yahya, a student at the University of Waterloo and a research assistant at the University of Toronto Mississauga during the study; and Samar Sabie, assistant professor at the University of Toronto. The study received funding from the Urban Challenge Grant program at the University of Toronto’s 91��Ƶ of Cities.

In addition to his role at the Keough 91��Ƶ, Rifat holds a concurrent appointment in the within Notre Dame’s . He is also a faculty affiliate of the Keough 91��Ƶ’s , and as well as Notre Dame’s and .

Originally published by Josh Stowe at on July 20.

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

The Library of Congress has named , the Packey J. Dee Professor of American Democracy at the University of Notre Dame, to the , a prestigious research appointment focused on legal, constitutional and political issues related to the institutions of American government.

The spring 2027 residential chair position will enable Campbell to make use of the world’s largest law library and the Library of Congress’ unique collection of manuscripts on the formation and development of the American Republic, while providing opportunities for ongoing dialogue with political leaders on matters of importance to civic and political life.

One of five Kluge Chairs articulated in the founding documents of the John W. Kluge Center, the Chair in American Law and Governance is awarded to “scholars of great accomplishment chosen for their intellectual and communicative abilities.” Previous chairs include Gary Gerstle, the Paul Mellon Professor of American History Emeritus at the University of Cambridge; Suzanne Mettler, the John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions at Cornell University; and Jacob Hacker, the Stanley Resor Professor of Political Science at Yale.

“Holding the Kluge Chair is truly an honor,” Campbell said. “The Library of Congress is one of America’s best ideas — a civic institution dedicated to fostering knowledge and inquiry. I look forward to spending time in this unique incubator of scholarship.”

A renowned scholar of civic and political engagement, Campbell’s work has advanced the understanding of how American attitudes toward religion have changed over the past 60 years, why secularization has rapidly advanced due to politics, and how women holding public office inspires political engagement among young people.

During his time in residence, he will work on a project titled “Kids These Days: The Civic Education of America’s Teens,” in which he will examine what, when and how young people learn about democracy — at home, at school, in their communities and online.

“David Campbell is an exceptional scholar of American politics, as his many accolades indicate — but he is also an essential thought leader who is pursuing solutions to strengthen American democracy in a polarized era,” said , the I.A. O’Shaughnessy Dean of the College of Arts & Letters and Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Political Science at Notre Dame.

Campbell is the author or co-author of five books, including “,” with Robert D. Putnam (Simon & Schuster, 2010), which won book awards from the American Political Science Association and the Religion Communicators Council. His other books include “” (Princeton, 2006) and “,” with John C. Green and Geoffrey C. Layman (Cambridge, 2021), the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion’s Distinguished Book Award and was runner-up for the APSA’s Hubert Morken Award for the Best Book on Religion and Politics.

His most recent book, with Christina Wolbrecht, is “” (University of Chicago, 2025). He has written or co-written 20 book chapters and 38 peer-reviewed journal articles and edited three collected volumes.

He was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest learned societies and independent policy research centers. In February, the academy , titled “Preparing Students for Civic Life: A Guide for Higher Education Leaders,” developed by a group of university presidents, faculty and civic experts, led by Campbell.

Campbell holds a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and a master’s and Ph.D. from Harvard University. He joined the Notre Dame faculty in 2002 and has held multiple leadership positions on campus, including chair of the from 2015 to 2021 and director of what is now known as the from 2009 to 2015. He currently serves as director of the , an interdisciplinary research, education and policy effort focused on advancing solutions to sustain and strengthen global democracy, which launched in 2023.

Campbell is a go-to expert and op-ed author for major media outlets seeking perspective and commentary on American politics and religion, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press and The Conversation. He is the previous recipient of an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, and his research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Templeton Foundation and the Spencer Foundation.

Trozzolo joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1975, after visiting campus in the early 1970s to give a series of lectures on photochromism, singlet oxygen, and dye lasers. A chemist who worked in the Radiation Research Laboratory, Trozzolo occupied the first endowed chair at the University offered to an outside candidate, and the first in the chemistry department at Notre Dame. He worked as a professor and researcher until 1998 and also served as the assistant dean of the College of Science from 1993 to 1998. Growing up in Chicago, Trozzolo was a lifelong Notre Dame fan, passing his love for the University down to his six children, who each graduated from the University. He and his wife, Doris “Dolly” (née Stoffregen), were great friends to Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, traveling with him to China several times in the early 1980s, contributing to greater collaboration in science with Chinese faculty and students.

Before his tenure at Notre Dame, Trozzolo was a research chemist at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey from 1959 to 1975. During the age of American innovation, Trozzolo, along with the five other chemists he worked with, made many scientific discoveries to enhance solid-state technology and materials science research, contributing to Bell Labs being known as “The Idea Factory.” Trozzolo organized the first Gordon Research Conference on Organic Photochemistry in 1964, which is still active today. In 1988, he was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Gordon Research Conferences. At Bell Labs, Trozzolo focused on the creation and detection of reactive intermediates such as carbenes, dicarbenes, ground-state triplet and quintet species, and singlet molecular oxygen. He was also interested in the oxidative photodegradation of polymers. At both Bell Labs and Notre Dame, he was involved in significant research developing practical applications of organic photochemistry, particularly photo-oxidation processes.

Trozzolo is survived by six children, 12 grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, July 17, 2026 in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on campus, with burial taking place at Cedar Grove Cemetery. Visitation will take place from 2 to 8 p.m. on July 16, 2026 at , South Bend, Indiana.

Originally published by Harner, Ella at on July 10, 2026.

Stark statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also indicate that since 1999, approximately 860,000 people have died from an opioid overdose, with nearly 318,000 of those deaths attributable to prescription opioids. In 2024, 73.4 percent of drug overdose deaths were attributable to opioids, with 65.1 percent of those deaths from illegally made fentanyls, .

While much of the focus of the opioid litigation and public conversation in recent years has been on the role of the pharmaceutical industry and how their advertising campaigns led to an increase in opioid use and subsequent overdose deaths, there is more to the story behind this nationwide catastrophe.

Researchers at the University of Notre Dame found that doctors had a hand in fueling the opioid crisis by aggressively prescribing opioids to treat chronic pain. Their work shows the extent to which doctors’ prescribing practices can be linked to that increase, indicating that if there had not been such a strong push on the part of physicians, opioid-related death rates would have been much lower.

According to and , both from Notre Dame’s and co-authors of an , physicians began prescribing opioids to treat chronic pain more extensively and more often in the late 1990s. If their prescription practices had stayed at their 1995 levels, there would have been 43 percent fewer deaths by 2015, just two decades later.

The duo’s work has the potential to guide conversations about reeducating doctors on the appropriate use of opioids for pain relief and reframing how medical schools teach future doctors about appropriate prescribing practices.

“Most of the people who have followed this issue acknowledge that the changing prescribing practices of doctors played a critical role in the drug crisis,” said Evans, the Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Economics and co-founder of Notre Dame’s “I think we’ve come up with a nice way to quantify the impact, and it is massive.”

To track physicians’ practice of overprescribing opioids as pain medication, Evans and Lieber first examined the county characteristics in 1990 that predicted the surge in drug deaths beginning in the early 2000s. They identified one factor that is particularly predictive for whether the county will eventually have a severe drug poisoning crisis: the fraction of the working age population receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).

These benefits are for adults who have worked for a minimum of time in jobs covered by Social Security and who have a medical condition limiting their ability to maintain gainful employment. The co-authors showed that not only are those on SSDI in more pain than average, but those in high SSDI rate geographies also have higher levels of pain. Their work shows that as physicians became more aggressive at treating chronic pain with opioids, these high-SSDI, high-pain areas had, on average, a much more severe drug poisoning crisis.

Historically, opioids had only been prescribed for those post-surgical and cancer patients experiencing acute pain, leaving those with chronic pain untreated. Starting in the mid-1990s, however, there was a reevaluation of the use of opioids to treat chronic pain. In 1995, the co-authors noted, the medical community established the notion that pain was the “fifth vital sign,” specifically measuring pain levels and equating pain relief with quality of care. In that same year, medical experts released a statement advocating the use of opioids for chronic pain relief. As a result, physicians took note and became more aggressive in their prescribing of those drugs.

Using data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys from 1980 through 2015, Evans and Lieber demonstrated that prior to 1995, only about 7 percent of patients visiting a doctor with a condition likely to generate chronic pain received an opioid prescription. After 1995, this number increased dramatically, reaching 25 percent by 2015.

“We were struck by how much these numbers changed over time and how the timing coincided with the efforts to encourage greater use of opioids to treat chronic pain,” said Lieber, the Dillon Hall Associate Professor in Notre Dame’s .

Evans added that the dropped the use of pain as the fifth vital sign in 2016, noting that “the president of the AMA said at the time that physicians played a key role in the epidemic and now they must do their part to end it.”

The study takes into account other factors that potentially drive drug poisoning death rates such as local economic conditions, general access to health services, the decline of institutions like manufacturing jobs and relationships, the rise and marketing of opioid drugs like OxyContin, and prescription drug monitoring programs.

A key data set in their work was the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Automation of Reports and Consolidated Orders System (ARCOS), which tracks shipments of opioids from manufacturers to points of sale or distribution. Detailed transaction-level data from ARCOS was released as part of the opioid litigation.

In 2024, Notre Dame developed a user-friendly interface of the ARCOS database, which enables public access to more than 10 years of national controlled substance transaction information for 14 different opioids.

This research stems from the , a data-focused research effort fostering and advancing multidisciplinary work on a wide range of pressing demographic issues facing society. Evans leads ND Pop, which is facilitated by a partnership between the University’s and the .

To hear Evans and Lieber discuss their research, check out the , hosted by the Hoover Institution.

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

Each year, approximately 700,000 children worldwide die from diseases that vaccines could have prevented, nearly all of them in low- and middle-income countries. New research from University of Notre Dame economist finds that India’s national childhood immunization program helped address this persistent global health challenge, producing substantial reductions in child deaths.

The study, published in the , also found that the immunization program had mixed long-term effects on educational attainment. While exposure to the program reduced primary school completion, it increased secondary school completion, suggesting that improvements in child survival can influence education through multiple pathways. Findings underscore the importance of coordinating health and education policies so that gains in child survival are matched by investments in schools and learning.

“Vaccines are one of the most cost-effective investments a country can make in improving child health and human capital,” said Gautam, professor of development and global health economics at Notre Dame’s . “I wanted to understand not only how India's immunization program saved lives, but also how it affected educational trajectories and human capital development.”

An experiment that reduced infant mortality

India launched its Universal Immunization Programme in 1985 and implemented it district by district, reaching full national coverage by 1990. Because some districts received the program years before others, and because only children under age 1 were eligible for the vaccines, Gautam was able to compare children born just before and just after the program arrived in their district.

Drawing on a national survey of nearly 900,000 children, Gautam found that the program reduced infant mortality by 0.4 percentage points and under-five mortality by 0.5 percentage points — substantial gains at a time when nearly 1 in 10 infants died before their first birthday.

Those mortality gains were concentrated among children in rural areas, from poor households and from historically disadvantaged caste groups. Children from wealthier, urban or higher-caste households saw little change, Gautam said. This may be because many already had access to vaccination before the program arrived.

Mixed educational outcomes

The study also found nuanced effects on educational attainment. While the immunization program reduced primary school completion, it increased secondary school completion among surviving children.

Gautam said the results may reflect who survived because of the program. Some children who benefited from vaccination may not have reached school age otherwise; and, as a group, they tended to have poorer underlying health. That change in the student population may have lowered average primary school completion rates.

Meanwhile, children who would have survived regardless but were healthier because of vaccination were more likely to complete secondary school. Strained school infrastructure may also have reinforced the pattern, Gautam said. A sudden increase in surviving children can crowd classrooms and stretch already limited resources, particularly in the early grades.

Designing health and education policy together

Ultimately, Gautam said, the research shows health and education investments work best when they are planned holistically rather than treated as unrelated priorities.

“This study illustrates how health and education planners can strengthen their coordination and produce better outcomes by working together,” Gautam said. “In addition to focusing on saving lives, governments should design policies that follow children into the classroom.”

The study also challenges the assumption that large public health campaigns in developing countries are inevitably undermined by weak implementation, Gautam said. Despite documented problems with medical absenteeism and service delivery in India’s health system, the program still produced a measurable reduction in child deaths.

The research contributes to Gautam’s broader work as an economist who studies how investments in early child and maternal health can reduce poverty and help people thrive. It is particularly relevant for resource-constrained settings, where smarter policy design is critical to improving outcomes amid limited funding.

“Effective immunization policy requires measuring not only who vaccines protect, but also how they shape broader human capital and support the best use of scarce public resources,” Gautam said.

A development and global health economics expert at Notre Dame, Gautam is the director of doctoral studies for the Keough 91��Ƶ’s and directs the in the school’s program. He is an affiliate of Notre Dame’s and the (part of the Keough 91��Ƶ’s ) and a faculty fellow at the Keough 91��Ƶ’s .

The study received open access funding from the University of Notre Dame’s .

Originally published by Josh Stowe at on July 14.

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

So which one came first? Neither, hypothesize researchers like , a biochemist at the University of Notre Dame.

DasGupta seeks to better understand the chemical origins of life by studying the structure, function and evolution of RNA, an intermediary molecule that can both store genetic information and catalyze biochemical reactions. In a study out today in , DasGupta and colleagues present a key mechanism for sustaining RNA-based life: an engineered enzyme that selectively recognizes and repairs broken RNA.

“Our results suggest that the molecular tools needed to preserve the RNA-based genetic code and pass it on to future generations could have been furnished by RNA alone — no proteins required,” said DasGupta, who is an assistant professor in the with a concurrent appointment in the .

The RNA-based enzyme, or “ribozyme,” engineered by the researchers pastes together pieces of RNA and targets a distinguishing feature of broken RNA: a phosphate group — one phosphorous atom bonded to four oxygen atoms — at the end of the broken RNA chain. Intact strands of RNA, in contrast, terminate in a hydroxyl group — one oxygen atom and one hydrogen atom.

“The fact that this enzyme seeks out terminal phosphate groups in RNA — and, therefore, broken RNAs — while ignoring strands that end with standard hydroxyl groups suggests that it could have been important for primordial RNA repair,” said DasGupta, who collaborated with Jack W. Szostak of the University of Chicago on the study.

The dual storage and catalysis capabilities of RNA are the basis of the RNA World hypothesis, which posits that the earliest forms of life on Earth that lived almost four billion years ago were powered exclusively by RNA. The hypothesis suggests that RNA molecules preceded DNA and proteins for encoding genes and facilitating cellular processes, respectively.

“Modern organisms have repair mechanisms to mend broken DNAs; if early life forms carried their genes in RNA, then a similar repair process must have existed,” DasGupta said. “Otherwise, when heat, high pH or other stressors inevitably damaged the RNA genome, the genetic information would have been permanently lost, effectively stopping life in its tracks.”

A major hurdle to the study of primordial RNA systems is that they do not exist anymore. In order to show that these RNA-based organisms and their components could have sustained life, researchers need to first engineer new ribozymes through a process called in vitro evolution. The process entails selecting RNA catalysts with particular properties from trillions of RNA molecules inside test tubes. Researchers impose certain conditions on these artificial evolution experiments in hopes of engineering ribozymes with specific functions, but often encounter surprises along the way.

“The general consensus is that artificial evolution comes down to quite a bit of luck,” DasGupta said. “Sometimes you get what you’re aiming for, sometimes you don’t. And when you don’t, you start over and do it again.”

Initially, DasGupta’s research group set out to tweak the biochemistry of an existing class of ribozymes using the method. But when they saw unexpected results, the researchers followed those up instead of discarding them — and uncovered something brand new.

“The existence of this ribozyme has interesting implications for our understanding of the origins of life, and we came across it while looking for something else,” DasGupta said. “What I’m most surprised about, actually, is that it wasn’t found sooner.”

Beyond primordial biology, the significance of the newly-engineered ribozyme extends into the realm of biotechnology.

Broken RNA is common in viral infections and is a sign of abnormal cell function in certain cancers. The standard RNA sequencing techniques used to analyze the genetic markers of these diseases, however, misses out on broken RNA, since the chemical tags that mark RNA strands for analysis are not designed to attach to broken ends.

“Broken RNAs are essentially invisible in standard sequencing protocols, which is a barrier to understanding the relationship between RNA cleavage and disease,” said DasGupta, who is a faculty affiliate of the and the .

Since the RNA-repair ribozyme is selective for broken RNA, it could be used to render cleaved strands “visible” by isolating them for special preparation prior to RNA sequencing. As a first step, DasGupta’s research group is in the process of optimizing the ribozyme’s reaction efficiency while broadening the range of potential molecular targets.

“What began as a quest for insight into the origins of RNA-based life and ended in an unanticipated finding has also provided a potential solution to a major challenge in biotechnology,” DasGupta said. “We’re excited to continue pursuing these new frontiers in ancient RNA biology and modern diagnostics.”

Study collaborators included first author Annyesha Biswas, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry who was supported by the University’s , and Zoe Weiss, an M.D.-Ph.D. student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.

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

Michelle V. Joyce has been appointed vice president for institutional research, innovation and strategy at the University of Notre Dame, effective Aug. 10, after an extensive national search.

Joyce, who currently serves as Notre Dame’s associate vice president of campaign administration, corporate and foundation relations, and academic advancement, succeeds David Bailey, who led the Office of Institutional Research, Innovation & Strategy (IRIS) from 2011 until his recent retirement.

“Michelle’s proven track record as a strategic thought partner and visionary leader who is dedicated to the University’s distinctive mission make her an ideal choice for this critical role,” said University President “I look forward to working closely with her in this new capacity, and I am confident that under her leadership, IRIS will continue to ensure that Notre Dame’s strategic ambitions are informed by rigorous data analysis and a deep understanding of the University’s Catholic mission. Michelle possesses the analytical rigor, institution-wide perspective and collaborative leadership style to work alongside the University’s executive officers in guiding our strategic planning and fostering ongoing innovation across the University.”

As vice president for IRIS, Joyce will serve as the president’s principal adviser on institutional strategy, planning and performance assessment; help to advance a culture of strategic innovation and continuous improvement by identifying emerging trends, opportunities and risks in higher education and related sectors; oversee the University’s central institutional research function, ensuring the integrity, relevance and strategic use of data; and lead and develop a multidisciplinary team of highly skilled professionals with expertise in strategy, analytics, research and operational improvement.

“The work of IRIS, under the tremendous leadership of David Bailey, has been critical to advancing the University’s strategic priorities,” Joyce said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to build on that good work as we seek to be the premier global Catholic research university in the world. Notre Dame’s Catholic character and call to be a force for good have never been more important, and I am excited to work alongside Father Dowd, the University’s senior leaders and the IRIS team to advance our distinctive mission.”

As an associate vice president in the Department of Development, a position she has held since 2022, Joyce has played a key role in the administration of For Good, the largest and most successful campaign in Notre Dame’s history. She also serves as a liaison to the Office of the Provost and has worked with leaders from across the University to identify, articulate and share their strategic priorities.

Joyce previously served in positions of increasing responsibility in the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations, beginning as a director of foundation relations in 2016. She was then named a senior director in 2018 and executive director of CFR in 2021. Joyce led proposal development for large foundation grants to the academy and the University in those roles, forging lasting partnerships to advance the University’s research priorities.

Joyce earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Notre Dame in 1999 and a doctoral degree in analytical chemistry from Duke University in 2003. She returned to Notre Dame in 2004, where she served as an associate professor of the practice and associate director of the Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Facility. She worked in the University’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry for 12 years, supporting the research of science and engineering faculty and contributing laboratory experiences in analytical chemistry courses for undergraduate students. She also created and served as the founding director of the ND LIGHTS program, which provided under-resourced schools with laboratory instrumentation through a science education course she developed and taught to undergraduate students.

Joyce has served on numerous task forces and committees at the University and co-chaired the External Engagement Strategic Advisory Committee as part of the University’s strategic framework planning initiative. She also served as an instructor for the Moreau First-Year Seminar during its inaugural year.

Joyce and her husband, Tim, who is also a class of 1999 Notre Dame alumnus, have two children, Ian and Analiese, who are both undergraduates at the University.

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

Projects include theatrical premieres, regional dance and music festivals, multimedia installations, visual art and architecture exhibitions, high-impact arts education programs, international artistic exchange, and more. Biennial programming is open to the public, and events will be held on Notre Dame’s campus, in and around South Bend, and at select global locations.

Occurring every two years, the biennial is an international arts festival rooted in the creative spirit, intellectual energy, and iconic traditions of Notre Dame and the region. Predominantly free programming across the visual, spatial, literary, and performing arts will contribute to the region’s long-term flourishing by enhancing quality-of-life and quality-of-place and by providing new platforms for arts research to positively impact the public.

In his inaugural address, urged the Notre Dame community to be builders of bridges to live out our mission as a leading global Catholic research university. The biennial is one of the most visible ways the Arts Initiative is responding to that call.

“This scale of coordination and collaboration is unprecedented,” said , director of the Notre Dame Arts Initiative. “We are grateful to all of our partners for bringing their energy and leadership to fully realize the vision of the biennial’s inaugural theme of symbiosis: a call to contemplate mutually-beneficial relationships through the arts and create them together in practice.”

Community partners leading biennial programming reflect the strength and diversity of arts and culture across the region. Participating regional community partners include:

• Abby Marchesseault Dance Collective
• Acting Ensemble
• Equity in the Arts, an initiative of South Bend Venues Parks & Arts
• Goshen College Music Center
• Fischoff National Chamber Music Association
• The History Museum
• Lubeznik Center for the Arts
• Merrimans’ Playhouse
• New Industry Dance
• Performing Media Festival, produced in partnership with IU South Bend
• Saint Mary’s College, Department of Art
• South Bend Civic Theatre
• South Bend Community 91��Ƶ Corporation
• South Bend-Elkhart Regional Partnership
• South Bend Museum of Art
• South Bend Symphony Orchestra

Campus units awarded funding for partner programming similarly span artistic media and represent a University-wide commitment to interdisciplinary innovation. In addition to projects housed in arts departments, campus efforts are also being led by the , , the , and a range of interdisciplinary centers and institutes.

Beyond robust support for partner projects, the biennial also closes gaps in cultural access by attracting prominent artists to the region and making the highest-caliber arts experiences available to the public. In addition to world-class artists hosted by the Arts Initiative, signature performances, convenings, and exhibitions aligned with the biennial’s inaugural theme will be hosted by the , the , and the .

A dual emphasis on local and visiting artists is a hallmark of Notre Dame’s biennial. “We’re not aware of any other U.S. university currently curating a biennial of this nature and scale,” said , Arts Initiative managing director. “Establishing a groundbreaking biennial in northern Indiana, a place with an evolving but often overlooked arts scene, will advance the region as a global gathering place for arts and inquiry.”

“The Notre Dame Arts Biennial reflects what’s possible when our community and local institutions work together. This effort will activate our public spaces, support local artists, and strengthen the connections that make South Bend a vibrant place to work and live.”

The Arts Biennial launches at a pivotal moment for the arts across the region and on campus. Informed by its Catholic character, the University’s most recent identifies the arts as a key priority and calls for deeper engagement with South Bend and the region. The South Bend-Elkhart region also recently adopted a new . The biennial builds on these developments by nurturing the arts as a shared community asset that strengthens social bonds and shapes place-based identities.

“The Notre Dame Arts Biennial reflects what’s possible when our community and local institutions work together,” said South Bend Mayor James Mueller. “This effort will activate our public spaces, support local artists, and strengthen the connections that make South Bend a vibrant place to work and live.”

A detailed schedule of public programming will be available online at in August 2026. remain open through April 30, 2027. To be the first to receive biennial announcements, .

��DzԳٲ�����:��Rebecca Struch, Arts Initiative managing director, 574-631-9845, rstruch@nd.edu

Originally published by Arts Initiative at on July 06, 2026.

Martin Naughton, a member of the University of Notre Dame’s Board of Trustees since 1999 and chairman emeritus of the supervisory board of the Irish manufacturing firm Glen Dimplex Group, died July 3. He was 87.

“Martin was a celebrated business leader, a transformative philanthropist, a devout Catholic, a devoted husband and father and a cherished friend to many who today mourn his passing,” said University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C. “Notre Dame would not be the preeminent American university in Ireland today without his incredible vision and generosity and that of his wife, Carmel, and their family. My deepest condolences and prayers are with Carmel, their children and all who knew and loved Martin. May he rest in peace.”

Born in Dundalk, County Louth, Naughton studied mechanical and production engineering at the Southampton College of Technology, qualifying as an engineer in 1961. After 12 years as an industrial engineer and plant manager, he founded a small electrical appliance company, Glen Electric. Four years later, he acquired the much larger British heating company Dimplex and renamed the new firm Glen Dimplex.

Naughton continued to make acquisitions over the next 40 years, making Glen Dimplex today one of the world’s major manufacturers of domestic appliances with headquarters in County Louth, Ireland, operating in 20 countries and with more than 8,000 employees.

Naughton’s support of Notre Dame initiatives in his home country was substantial. He contributed to chaired professorships, faculty fellowships and the expansion of the Keough Institute for Irish 91��Ƶ. Established in 1992 with a gift from the late Donald Keough and his wife, Marilyn, the institute was renamed in 2006 — at Keough’s urging — as the Keough-Naughton Institute. The institute is dedicated to the study and understanding of Irish culture in Ireland and beyond, with a wide-ranging focus on history, language, literature and policy.

Naughton was also instrumental in Notre Dame establishing its Keough-Naughton Notre Dame Centre at the historic O’Connell House on Merrion Square in Dublin. He was a founding member of the University’s Ireland Council and, in 2008, created the Naughton Fellowship Program, in which Irish students come to Notre Dame to study and conduct research in the STEM fields and Notre Dame students participate likewise in Ireland.

In one of his last acts, the late Pope Francis conferred the honor of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great upon Martin and Carmel Naughton in 2025. The papal honor commended the Naughtons’ philanthropy in education and the arts, recognizing in particular their support of Catholic education at Notre Dame and Kylemore Abbey and their contributions to higher education in Ireland.

The University paid tribute to Naughton’s many contributions by bestowing on him an honorary degree in 1998 in a ceremony that marked the opening of the study center in Dublin. He also received honorary degrees from Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, Queen’s University in Belfast, the University of Ulster Coleraine, Dublin City University and Griffith College Dublin.

Naughton served for seven years on the Irish Council of State and was chair of Intertrade Ireland and the North-South Body for Trade and Business. He also was a member of the advisory board for Citi Group Private Bank for Europe and the Middle East.

The Naughton Foundation, established in 1994, supports worthwhile causes in the arts and education and, since 2008, has offered scholarships to students pursuing STEM-related studies. He founded the Naughton Art Gallery and Museum at Queen’s University, Belfast, as well as other initiatives at the university. He was the main benefactor to the Lyric Theatre in Belfast.

Naughton was appointed a Knight of the British Empire and an Officier de la Legion d’Honneur of France.

Naughton is survived by Carmel; their children, Neil, Fergal — a Notre Dame Hesburgh Trustee — and Fiona; and their extended family. 

Dedicated to advancing the responsible use of data science and artificial intelligence (AI), the Lucy Family Institute develops transformative research, educational opportunities and community partnerships that address society’s most vexing challenges.

Abbasi succeeds the founding director of the institute, , the Frank M. Freimann Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, who has led the Lucy Family Institute for . In September 2025, Chawla was to lead the DAC Initiative, serving as the Lucy Family Director for Data and AI Academic Strategy. The initiative — which combines research and curriculum across colleges, schools, centers and disciplines — advances purposeful data, AI and computing through foundational research, interdisciplinary collaboration and real-world translation to address pressing societal challenges. The Lucy Family Institute, along with the and several AI-focused labs and services, is part of the broader DAC Initiative.

Abbasi is a distinguished scholar of analytics, machine learning and human-centered AI. He has spent more than two decades conducting research to advance innovative approaches to trustworthy and responsible AI, predictive analytics and digital technologies that improve human well-being. Since joining Notre Dame, Abbasi has served as director of the Ph.D. in Analytics  and co-director of the . Abbasi will continue serving in these roles while taking on his new leadership appointments.

As director of the Lucy Family Institute, Abbasi will provide strategic and operational leadership to advance the institute’s mission of adventurous collaboration across campus to further data-driven and convergent research. Additionally, he will continue to foster team growth and pursue opportunities that deepen the impact of the institute’s commitment to leveraging data and AI as a force for good.

“Ahmed is a superb scholar-teacher and collaborative leader with a deep commitment to ensuring that data and AI serve the common good,” said , the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost. “He is well-positioned to lead the Lucy Family Institute, continuing to build on Nitesh’s excellent work as founding director and helping the University realize its aspirations in data science and AI.”

Abbasi’s work has been supported by numerous grants from the National Science Foundation and industry partners, and he has earned recognition, including the  (IEEE) Technical Achievement Award, the (INFORMS) Design Science Award, the and . He is a fellow of the INFORMS Information Systems Society, a distinguished member of the and a senior member of IEEE.

Abbasi completed his doctorate in information systems at the University of Arizona’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He received an M.S. in operations research from Columbia University and an MBA and a B.S. degree from Virginia Tech.

“I am honored to serve as director of the Lucy Family Institute and to build upon the remarkable foundation established by Nitesh and the institute team,” Abbasi said. “The opportunities created by data science and AI are extraordinary, but realizing their full potential requires thoughtful, collaborative and responsible approaches. I look forward to working with colleagues across the University and with external partners to advance research and solutions that benefit society.”

With Lucy Family Institute situated within the DAC Initiative, Abbasi will also serve as a deputy director of DAC, working closely with Chawla to help shape and execute the initiative’s strategic priorities. He will collaborate with DAC’s other deputy directors, , director of the Center for Research Computing, and , the Coyle Mission Collegiate Professor of Engineering in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and director of the Scientific AI Initiative, to shape programs across relevant units and provide guidance on selected projects and opportunities that advance Notre Dame’s ambitions as a trusted leader in emerging technologies.

“Ahmed is an exceptional scholar, thoughtful leader and collaborative colleague whose work in human-centered AI and responsible analytics aligns strongly with the mission of the Lucy Family Institute,” Chawla said. “I am excited to work with him in this next chapter and confident that under his leadership the institute will continue to grow its impact across Notre Dame and beyond. Serving as the Lucy Family Institute’s founding director has been one of the great honors of my career, and I remain deeply grateful to the extraordinary team that helped build the institute, as well as to Bob and Sara Lumpkins for their vision and generosity in establishing it.”

While the technologies continue to evolve, Abbasi believes the institute’s guiding purpose remains constant: ensuring that innovation catalyzes societal impact and advances human flourishing.

“Our goal is not simply to advance technology, but to advance technology in ways that strengthen communities and improve human well-being,” Abbasi said. “That mission will continue to guide the institute’s work as we pursue ambitious research and meaningful societal impact.”

For more information about the Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society, visit the institute .

“Tracy is a dynamic and visionary leader with 30 years of broad experience in information technology who is highly regarded both nationally and across campus,” said Executive Vice President Shannon Cullinan. “She is deeply committed to our teaching and research mission and embodies Notre Dame’s commitment to be a force for good. Tracy’s exceptional leadership, strategic insight and institutional knowledge are invaluable and make her the ideal person to lead OIT and help to advance the University’s information technology strategy in a time of dramatic change.”

Weber succeeds Jane Livingston, who will step away from her role June 30 to spend the coming year in Rome with her husband, Bert Lott, a teaching professor in the Department of Classics at Notre Dame, as he serves as professor-in-charge of the Intercollegiate Center for Classical 91��Ƶ.

In her 23 years serving the University, Weber has advanced through several leadership roles spanning many areas of OIT, including applications development, enterprise content management, platform services, collaborative IT services and community IT experience.

Weber is widely admired as a collaborative leader and has been called upon to drive many of Notre Dame’s most significant initiatives. She led the IT response during COVID, represented OIT on the University’s 10-year strategic planning committee and guided the enterprise resource planning system transformation assessment. Most recently, she was asked to lead the team responsible for formulating Notre Dame’s institutional strategy in response to the rapidly evolving security threat landscape.

“The opportunity to lead information technology at Notre Dame, the place that shaped me as an undergraduate, where I’ve built my career and where I will continue to work with exceptional people, is a tremendous honor,” Weber said. “As we navigate rapid technology transformation, we face exciting opportunities that require thoughtful stewardship and strategic decision-making. I am deeply grateful to Jane Livingston for her impactful leadership of OIT over the past five years. I am humbled by the trust placed in me and energized by what we will accomplish together in service of the University’s mission.”

A 1996 graduate of Notre Dame with a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics and economics, Weber earned her Executive Master of Nonprofit Administration degree from the University in 2019. She returned to Notre Dame in 2003 following a successful tenure at Accenture, where she worked on client-facing technology engagements.

Weber has strong ties within the community, serving in roles with Everwise Credit Union and Cultivate Food Rescue. She currently serves as vice chair of the Cultivate Food Rescue board and will assume the role of board chair this July.

Weber and her husband, Lou, a 1995 Notre Dame alumnus, are proud parents to four sons.

“By making thermoelectric devices a competitive and commercially viable technology, it can transform the way we cool things,” said , Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Collegiate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Notre Dame. “We can make the cooling process become very environmentally friendly.”

In the past, widespread adoption of thermoelectrics has been challenging due to the high costs associated with traditional manufacturing processes. However, the research team led by Zhang has developed an innovative ink-based printing strategy that enables a scalable manufacture of low-cost and high-performance thermoelectric materials and devices.

According to the new study, these materials “are very advantageous in energy-efficient and localized cooling of electronics, medical devices, automobiles, data centers and buildings.”

This research was primarily supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) , whose mission is to create the first sustainable refrigerant life cycle-engineered system. These advances pave the way for producing high-efficiency, compact cooling systems without the need for environmentally harmful refrigerants.

“These devices are highly effective in cooling and very conducive to large-scale industry manufacturing,” Zhang said. “We can make the devices faster and with less cost. I think the biggest advantage of our process is its simplicity.”

He continued, “We use blade coating or screen printing to directly convert the initial inks into the final device pattern, the same process as screen printers use for artwork on T-shirts. But our ink contains silver and selenium, which become the thermoelectric material after printing and post-print processing. We invented an ink that is highly compatible with the printing process, which allows for easy scalability.”

The results of the process create components for non-refrigerant thermoelectric coolers.

During the development process when the research team initially combined the silver and selenium elemental powders to make the ink, they discovered that the silver and selenium reacted very quickly to form the silver selenide alloy. “This fast chemical reaction speeds the manufacturing process, which can be more cost-effective,” Zhang said. The alloy ink composition was then further optimized between the two elements to achieve the maximum thermoelectric performances.

Upon testing and comparing with current state-of-the-art bulk materials available today, the optimized printed materials achieved competitive room-temperature performances for both P-type and N-type components. The team’s focused on the printed P-type thermoelectric alloy, whereas the newer silver-selenium alloy material is for N-type thermoelectric materials. Both P-type and N-type components are needed to make a thermoelectric cooling device.

“We are continuing to investigate how to transform high-performance material into high-performance devices. We want to discover how we can combine the P-type and N-type semiconductors, the metal electrodes, and then connect all the components into a final, complete system,” Zhang said. “We want to improve the material to the point that the heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration industry will feel very confident to adopt it. Our goal is to bring our technology to the market to benefit all of society.”

In addition to the support from NSF EARTH, this study was also funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and another NSF program. , a recent Ph.D. graduate from Zhang’s lab and assistant professor at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, served as the first author on the paper, with contributions from other Notre Dame graduate students and postdoctoral scholars who led the machine learning and characterization aspects of the study. , the Dorini Family Professor for Energy 91��Ƶ in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Notre Dame; , professor of chemistry at Northwestern University; ; and Allen Gray at also contributed to this research. To learn more about NSF EARTH, please visit

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

Originally published by Damienne Jugovic at on June 18, 2026.