Research & Creative Works | ��Ƶ

Can an Eel Climb a Ladder? Inside an ��Ƶ Student’s Research to Save the American Eel

ckatz — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 13:38:58 +0000

Their research examines how American eels—an IUCN-endangered species migrating between the Sargasso Sea and freshwater rivers—navigate dams and fish passages. Currently, only 13 percent of fish passages at U.S. hydropower structures are specifically designed for eel usage.¹

We’ve all heard of the Bermuda Triangle—that part of the Atlantic best known for sensationalized myths about aliens, wormholes and the lost city of Atlantis. But zoom out a little, and you’ll learn that this patch of ocean is just one part of the Sargasso Sea, which holds mysteries of its own.

The Sargasso Sea is a 2-million-square-mile region of the North Atlantic Ocean bounded by four circulating ocean currents, creating calm, warm and highly saline waters covered by dense mats of free-floating brown macroalgae known as Sargassum, which lend this patch of sea its name. This microalgae forms a floating tropical rainforest that provides food and refuge for ocean life from fish to sea turtles—and serves as the exclusive breeding ground for the enigma that is the American eel.

“American eels have a cool life history,” said Andrea Ward, PhD, vice provost for research and libraries. “They reproduce in the Sargasso Sea and then migrate thousands of miles into rivers all along the east coast of the U.S. and Canada, where they can stay in fresh water for many years until they return to the Sargasso Sea to reproduce and die.” Because it takes place in this deep sea location, no one has ever directly witnessed the eel mating process, and as yet, eels have not been bred in captivity.

Young eels drift thousands of miles on ocean currents as transparent, leaf-shaped larvae before transforming into tiny “glass eels” and making their way to the freshwater rivers, streams and estuaries of eastern North America, where they spend the majority of their lives—sometimes decades—growing slowly into yellow eels and eventually the darker adult “silver eels.” Capable of breathing through their skin and even wriggling overland through wet grass to reach new waterways, American eels are remarkably adaptable, yet their populations have declined sharply in recent decades.

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Millions of Young Athletes. Zero Mental Health Guidelines. Until Now.

ckatz — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 14:19:01 +0000

Meredith Whitley, PhD, professor of health and sport sciences at ��Ƶ’s Ruth S. Ammon College of Education and Health Sciences, believes youth sport culture has reached a breaking point. As one of the country’s leading scholars in youth sport, Dr. Whitley has spent years working to restore what she calls an “ecosystem in crisis.” She’s particularly concerned about the mental health of young athletes, which often buckles under the weight of expectations from coaches and parents. Yet youth sport participation should be a protective factor for mental health—not a risk factor. Dr. Whitley’s solution to this crisis is a road map for systemic reform.

For the past two years, Dr. Whitley and her research partner, William Massey, PhD, of Oregon State University, have been developing the United States’ first-ever comprehensive youth sports mental health guidelines. In the absence of federal regulations or a dedicated government ministry, these guidelines close a problematic policy gap. They’re the product of input from more than 100 athletes, families, coaches and experts, translating both scholarly research and lived experience into actionable, evidence-based guidance for youth sport leaders.

Rethinking the Youth Sports Ecosystem

In many youth sport settings in the United States, any adult can show up and volunteer to become a coach, no prior experience or training required. Dr. Whitley wants to change that. “We need to make sure volunteers are coaching in ways that are physically safe,” she said. That means, at the very minimum, conducting background checks and sport safety training.

But training coaches to support mental health is trickier. “How do we help coaches understand how to build psychologically safe, developmentally appropriate environments where kids can flourish? How do we help coaches cultivate a sense of inclusion and belonging?”

Dr. Whitley’s guidelines lay out a clear path forward—not only for coaches, but for parents, too. As her research revealed, parents’ behavior can make or break their child’s experience. “Time and again, we heard from young athletes that the worst part is the car ride home after the game.”

“” (Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, May 2026), a related article Dr. Whitley co-authored with Dr. Massey, recounts young athletes’ frustration with their parents’ postgame critiques. Parents becoming critics rather than caregivers, even when their feedback is well-meaning, only adds fuel to the fire. Much like coaches, Dr. Whitley believes, parents have to be trained how to “show up.”

A Landmark National Initiative, Supported by $450,000 in Grant Funding

Dr. Whitley’s research has been supported by high-profile organizations across the country. A $100,000 grant from the powered phase one, with another $100,000 from Movember powering phase two—along with a $250,000 grant from the . For this most recent grant, ��Ƶ was selected as just one of 10 inaugural partners in its Empower Every Coach (EEC) program, enabling Dr. Whitley’s work to be connected with a national portfolio of other systems-level youth sport projects.

“Mental Health Guidelines for Youth Sport Across the United States” kicked off in early 2025 with an intensive literature review, encompassing 20,000 research papers and programming from 80-plus programs and organizations, as well as a series of national focus groups and an ��Ƶ study, which allowed her team to get feedback from 22 experts in the intersection of youth sport and mental health. Later in 2025, Dr. Whitley and her team held a two-day expert advisory panel at Nike’s headquarters in New York City to finalize the guidelines and develop a plan for dissemination.

In July 2026, the project entered a new, much-anticipated phase: implementation and testing. Dr. Whitley and her team began working with a cohort of “anchor partners,” spanning grassroots, school-based and performance sport settings from coast to coast.

The Seven Guidelines Making Real-World Impact

For the next 18 months, these anchor partners will serve as an important proving ground. As they put the mental health guidelines into practice, they’ll be reshaping their sport programs from the ground up, turning potential pressure cookers into the safe havens they were always meant to be.

The first three guidelines set a developmental baseline: prioritizing young athletes’ physical, psychological and social growth over performance. The rest address mental health directly, covering subjects like crisis response training, clear access to mental health resources and emergency preparedness plans.

“Lots of programs have emergency plans for physical injuries, but what about mental health?” Dr. Whitley said. “If there’s a collective trauma in the community, or something really hard has happened for one athlete on the team, we don’t want program leaders to be figuring out what to do on the fly.” She’s also determined to enhance mental health literacy. Coaches should be able to recognize early signs of distress and, critically, gauge if their athletes are just having a bad day, “or if it’s something more serious that needs to be escalated.”

A Healthier Future for Youth Sports

During the testing phase, Dr. Whitley’s team will be collecting data from their anchor partners, working in real time to refine the “Mental Health Guidelines for Youth Sport Across the United States.” “We’ll be learning as we go,” she said. “Where are the friction points? What is and isn’t feasible? How can we make sure the guidelines are ready for a broader rollout?” At the end of 2027, they’ll synthesize their findings into an open-access tool kit that can be accessed by any sport program leader, anywhere.

Though the guidelines will remain a work in progress for some time, Dr. Whitley is excited about the possibility of real, systems-level change—especially as some states are finally beginning to legislate mental health training and coach requirements. “I hope our guidelines will help shape those policies,” she said. “And eventually we’ll have a clear foundation for rebuilding youth sport as a healthier, more inclusive ecosystem.”

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From Classroom to Conference: Social Work Students Share Their Research

yigarcia — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 18:25:46 +0000

In the field of social work, classroom learning can only get you so far. Student scholarship gives future social workers the opportunity to do research on topics they’re passionate about, strengthening their critical thinking skills and deepening their understanding of the social issues their clients face.

This is why students in the ��Ƶ School of Social Work participate in research projects, whether they’re enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs. Students then present their projects at conferences, including ��Ƶ’s Scholarship and Creative Works Conference, an annual event that celebrates their innovative work across all disciplines.

Here are a few of the projects School of Social Work students have shared on campus and beyond.

Kabian Brown, MSW ’11: Breaking the Silence Around Black Men’s Mental Health

Kabian Brown, MSW ’11, a DSW candidate at ��Ƶ, strives to understand how Black men make sense of racism-related trauma, and how cultural expectations of strength and masculinity shape whether they seek mental health treatment. “I always say that men suffer silently,” Brown says.

To paint a clearer picture of mental health care in BIPOC communities, Brown and a colleague reviewed studies on access to in-person and virtual mental health services, and explored how community spaces like barbershops serve as informal therapy. The goal: to give clinicians a guide for facilitating men’s groups in Black and Brown communities.

“A lot of BIPOC people might not trust the system. They think that if they talk to someone about mental health, they’re going to be seen as crazy, or that the therapist won’t be equipped to help them,” Brown says.

They presented their work at the inaugural hosted by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW).

The experience changed Brown’s mind about what research could be. “At one time, I said, ‘I’ll never go back to school because I hate research,’” he recalls. “But when you’re doing research that’s intentional, it’s more satisfying.”

Fritza Gue: Removing Invisible Barriers to Care for Immigrant Communities

As a Haitian immigrant, MSW student Fritza Gue has seen mental health stigma in her community firsthand. “When we see someone with mental health issues, we automatically think voodoo,” she says. “We don’t believe this person went through an amount of stress that their brain and body cannot take anymore.”

Gue fell in love with mental health when she started working at a psychiatric center on Long Island. There, she met people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. “I noticed there are a lot of Haitians who experience these issues,” Gue says.

For a course at ��Ƶ, she researched the invisible barriers that keep immigrant communities in Baldwin from accessing mental health care, and identified solutions to bridge the gap. She found that the barriers are systemic, not individual: limited access, transportation and language support, plus cultural barriers.

Part of the solution to these barriers, which she presented at ��Ƶ’s Scholarship and Creative Works Conference: Raise awareness in immigrant communities, in multiple languages, so services don’t remain hidden.

The experience left Gue with a key realization: “Research is not just for people who love statistics—it’s for anyone who wants to understand the world better and make a real impact.”

Shirley Braithwaite-Crawford: Rethinking Child Welfare Through a Trauma-Informed Lens

Shirley Braithwaite-Crawford, an MSW student completing an IDEATE fellowship in behavioral healthcare, is using her ��Ƶ education to strengthen her work in child welfare. “One of my concerns is how to help families from returning to the system over and over,” she says.

She notes that the child welfare system tends to be punitive instead of considering the role of past trauma. Some families face financial hardship that repeats across generations, and that stress can affect how parents raise their children. “When we’re able to support parents, we’re able to keep children safe,” Braithwaite-Crawford says.

That insight led her to propose an approach to supporting families from marginalized communities, presented at ��Ƶ’s Scholarship and Creative Works Conference. Her research drew on her child welfare experience, past studies and human rights protections that often go unenforced. She’s especially excited to use cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which helps people identify and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, in her practice.

“One of the things that I take away from the experience is being able to connect theories with practice,” Braithwaite-Crawford says. “When you go into the classroom, you learn a lot about theories, but then what about when you come out into the real world?”

Christina Grant ’26: Shining a Light on Poverty Among Minority Single Mothers

After completing her BSW at ��Ƶ, Christina Grant ’26 moved on to the MSW program, where she’s currently honing her research skills.

Inspired by her own mother, who worked multiple jobs to support her family as a single parent, Grant explored the systemic inequities that contribute to higher rates of poverty among minority single mothers. “I looked into intersectionality and how racial discrimination interacts with gender and socioeconomic status, and how it’s often overlooked in discussions of poverty,” she says.

The experience sharpened her critical thinking and research skills, empathy, and ability to view an issue from multiple angles. It also reinforced the need to view these social issues from a strength-based perspective: “Despite structural hardships, it was great to look at how minority single mothers demonstrate resilience, resourcefulness and reliance on their strong support systems to help them nurture their children and support their family,” Grant says.

Sharing her research at the Scholarship and Creative Works Conference gave her the opportunity to highlight an important issue for a room full of future social workers and faculty members who can create solutions. “Not everyone has a voice to speak into this,” Grant says. “If I’m given the opportunity to share this research, then I’m hoping we can come together and make a difference.”

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Is Your Phone Actually Rotting Your Brain? Why Your Attention Span Feels Broken—And How the Algorithm Intended it That Way”

tshah — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 17:19:08 +0000

Two faculty members in ��Ƶ’s Department of Communications are addressing today’s scrolling epidemic from different—though complementary—scholarly perspectives.

Anna Akerman Berman, PhD, associate professor of communications and a social psychologist who specializes in child development, is taking a stand against a global media machine that’s designed to keep us hooked on content. Once a media consultant for the likes of Nickelodeon, MTV, Scholastic and Disney, Dr. Akerman Berman now uses her insider knowledge to help parents wean their children off of screens.

Peggy Cassidy, PhD, professor of communications and an expert in the history of children’s interactions with media, is looking to the past to understand our potential digital future. Dr. Cassidy has published at length on the evolution of American media environments. Her tips for a healthy media diet take their cues from 200 years of history: how generations of parents and children have adapted to the disruptive effects of new forms of media.

From attention-grabbing TV to attention-proofing phones

After earning her PhD, Dr. Akerman Berman applied the scientific theories she’d studied in school as an audience researcher for Sesame Workshop and Noggin. She analyzed children’s “eyes on screen”—when they were paying attention to the screen, when they were bored enough to look away—and worked with creative teams to modify programming accordingly. “Before I started working for these companies, I hadn’t realized the extent to which psychology was being used to create content,” she said.

Dr. Akerman Berman went on to provide consulting services to executives at some of the world’s top media and entertainment brands. “The question we always returned to was: How can we keep kids watching?”

Today, she’s determined to keep children’s eyes off of screens. Why? There’s nothing wrong with scrolling for 10 minutes to decompress, she says. The problem is, 10 minutes often turns into several hours. That’s by design. “These algorithms are using more data points than we could ever imagine. They’re catered specifically to individual interests, and they reward scrolling behaviors in a very precise, individualized way.”

The science behind our scrolling addiction

According to Dr. Akerman Berman, scrolling seems to satiate our most basic human needs: competence, connection and autonomy. In a world where it’s all too easy to feel disconnected and disempowered, scrolling can generate instant satisfaction. But, Dr. Akerman Berman says, the feeling is “brief and disingenuous,” nothing like the satisfaction that comes from real-life experiences.

People trying to meet their basic needs—particularly children and adolescents—are easy targets for big business. They always have been. The tactics that tech companies use to keep us scrolling, Dr. Akerman Berman argues, are not so different from the manipulative marketing campaigns run by tobacco companies throughout the 20th century. However, it’s been proven that young people are less likely to use tobacco once they’ve been exposed to the tobacco industry’s manipulations. Dr. Akerman Berman is confident we can apply the same logic to social media addiction.

Education is the best weapon against “brain rot”

“The first step,” Dr. Akerman Berman said, “is educating our kids and ourselves. The second is becoming aware of our behaviors.” People of all ages should start collecting data of their own: logging their screen time and noticing how they feel before and after scrolling. Armed with this “metacognitive awareness,” they might begin to turn to other activities instead of opening TikTok or Instagram.

But going from 100 to zero won’t happen overnight, Dr. Akerman Berman stresses. “Our nervous system has learned that discomfort equals phone. In moments of stress, we will fall back on this habit. Still, we absolutely can re-habituate ourselves to a new normal where we’re replacing scrolling with taking a walk or listening to music.”

The “grasshopper mind” of the endless scroller

Dr. Cassidy sees scrolling as a cultural practice—and a cultural problem. As a media ecologist, she’s more interested in media’s form rather than its content. While we should be thinking critically about the content we’re consuming online, we also need to consider the “ways of thinking, knowing and interacting” that are encouraged or discouraged by scrolling. She cites a concept coined by scholar Maryanne Wolf, EdD, called “grasshopper mind,” or “the impulse to just scroll away, to jump from one thing to another as soon as things get boring or hard or confusing.”

That impulse could very well erode the foundations of our society. If we disengage as soon as we’re faced with something we don’t understand, what will happen to our interpersonal relationships, our cultural norms, our politics? Dr. Cassidy believes the cracks are already visible. “We as citizens are not engaging deeply with ideas,” she said. “We tend to have superficial emotional responses to political messaging, which has contributed to this intense polarization we see today. We don’t stick around long enough to hear someone’s full perspective.”

New media fears have old precedents

For Dr. Cassidy, the fears around social media addiction and scroll culture are well founded. But they’re nothing new. In her book (Routledge, 2017), she charts 200 years of panicked reactions to emerging media environments, from 19th century dime novels and nickelodeons to rock ’n’ roll and TV.

“As a media historian, I resist the temptation to use the word unprecedented,” Dr. Cassidy said. In fact, she even takes a “certain comfort in knowing we’re not that unique. Our species has been here a long time, and other changes in media have disrupted us, upset us, required us to adapt.”

At the same time, historical precedent shouldn’t become its own deterministic force. “Just because adults were afraid of dime novels in the 1800s and it all worked out okay doesn’t mean we don’t need to worry about social media and smartphones. Throughout history, there have been missed opportunities for citizens to organize themselves around resisting the direction that certain technologies are taking us.” In other words, to create the future we want to see for ourselves and our children, we have to act now.

The secrets of a healthy media diet

Like Dr. Akerman Berman, Dr. Cassidy prescribes moderation—and an open mind—to adults and adolescents alike. “I would encourage people, especially parents, to take a breath and not throw the baby out with the bathwater,” she said. “Yes, so much of what our children are consuming is not developmentally appropriate. But we should stay open to wondering about what’s captured their attention.”

In social media, young people are finding benefits that prior forms of media never enabled. Adolescents who feel alienated in their immediate communities, for instance, can reach out to allies halfway across the world with the press of a button. These connections may be mediated by technology, but they’re indisputably human.

Scrolling addicts may be able to rewire their psychic habits by leaning into that innate human-ness, too. “We have to learn to stay with hard things, to struggle, to make mistakes,” Dr. Cassidy said. “That’s the only way we’ll get better.”

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Are You in a One-Sided Relationship With Your Favorite Influencer? Psychology Says It Might Be Making You Lonelier

cscala — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 16:14:51 +0000

If you’ve answered yes to any, you might be in a parasocial relationship, according to Julianna Nails, a PhD student in clinical psychology at the ��Ƶ Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology.

For the past several years, Nails has been studying the rise of parasocial relationships—or one-sided emotional connections between fans and public figures—in the age of social media. She wants to know what kinds of people are seeking out parasocial relationships with social media influencers, and what effects, if any, these relationships are having on their mental health.

At first glance, a parasocial relationship with an influencer might seem like a silver bullet for isolated young adults—a population wracked by a so-called global “loneliness epidemic.” Attachments to influencers allow feelings of intimacy to be accessed anytime, anywhere, with no risk of rejection. Nails was curious to learn more about the psychological consequences of these relationships. Can they really relieve loneliness? Or do they ultimately replace in-person connections and push people to isolate?

A Student-Faculty Collaboration That’s Breaking New Ground

As an undergraduate, Nails researched the decline of college students’ mental health since the 1980s. “Today, college students are significantly more anxious and depressed than they were a generation ago,” she said, “and I suspected social media had something to do with that.” That hunch became a full-fledged research project once she entered ��Ƶ’s PhD program and found a faculty mentor in Katherine L. Fiori, PhD, professor and associate dean at the Derner School.

For Dr. Fiori, a developmental psychologist who studies interpersonal relationships and attachments, parasocial relationships were a promising line of scholarly inquiry. When she was introduced to Nails through Derner’s research mentor matching process, she had already been thinking about today’s “phone-based childhoods,” which have supplanted the “play-based childhoods” of yesteryear. If children now grow up with ubiquitous access to social media platforms, she wondered, are they more likely to form unhealthy attachments with the people on platforms? Parasociality offered a compelling entry into further exploration.

While looking into the literature, Nails and Dr. Fiori discovered a gap: parasocial relationships specifically with social media influencers. “It’s such a big part of young people’s online experience today,” Nails said, “but it’s something that hadn’t been studied in depth before.”

Their work has been more collaborative than the student-faculty dynamic might connote. “I’ve really enjoyed working together,” Nails said. “This is a newer interest for Dr. Fiori, so while she’s able to give me a lot of guidance, we’re still brainstorming together. I’m not necessarily being directed by an authority.” Dr. Fiori agrees, saying she often feels like she’s “speaking with a colleague.”

Surveying Where, Why and How Parasocial Relationships Are Formed

Since beginning her doctoral training in 2024, Nails has developed several different research projects to answer her research questions. Most recently, she presented her findings at ��Ƶ’s Scholarship and Creative Works Conference and the International Association for Relationship Research’s annual conference in Scotland.

For her master’s thesis, Nails created a research survey for people between the ages of 18 and 29 who follow influencers on any platform. Survey participants were asked about their connection with their favorite influencer—in particular, whether their opinions and values align with the influencer’s—as well as their other social relationships, social media usage and emotional well-being.

Nails and Dr. Fiori are still sifting through data from the survey, but they’ve already identified several trends. “There are a lot of ways in which people are ‘using’ influencers,” Dr. Fiori noted. For some, “fun” or “entertainment” was the draw. Others admitted they were finding real social support from their favorite influencer.

Though influencers create content about everything from politics to tech gadgets, travel and fitness, the most popular content niche among survey respondents was “day in my life.” In these videos, an influencer takes the audience through a regular day, often beginning with a morning routine and their OOTD (outfit of the day), then interpolating clips of meals, exercise, work, errands and socializing over a voiceover narration. The content is frothy, but the audience appeal is, inexplicably, enormous. “We’re working on figuring that one out,” Nails said. “Are ‘day in my life’ videos providing pure entertainment value? Are they aspirational? Or are people feeling an emotional connection there?”

The Parasocial Paradox

At first, Nails hypothesized that parasocial relationships would reduce feelings of loneliness. As more survey data came in, however, she saw evidence of the opposite: Young people who form parasocial relationships are actually lonelier than those who don’t. Still, like many hypotheses in psychology research, this one is still correlational, not causal. In other words, Nails and Dr. Fiori don’t yet know if parasociality is making people lonely, or if lonely people are simply more likely to pursue parasocial relationships.

“We know what the intention is,” Dr. Fiori said. “People seek out relationships because they want to feel less lonely. But the brain isn’t equipped to think about parasocial relationships as different from in-person relationships, even though they are.” She’s hesitant to believe that parasocial relationships can have the same benefits, although the reality is, she says, a little more complicated. “Some young people with supportive friends and family will use influencers for extra support. Some don’t, and these relationships are all they have. That drives very different outcomes.”

Only further research will tell if parasocial relationships really do cause loneliness. As Nails embarks on work for her doctoral dissertation, she’s hoping to discover evidence of causality between parasociality and negative mental health outcomes, such as anxiety and depression, among young people.

“Everything in Moderation”

For now, Nails doesn’t necessarily recommend doing a digital detox if you think you’ve formed a parasocial relationship with an influencer. Instead, she says, focus on the reciprocal relationships in your life—your networks through work, school or hobbies, the friends and family you talk to every day—and you might see that obsessive, one-directional attachment fade to casual interest. “So far, our greatest takeaway has been ‘everything in moderation.’”

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AI in the Classroom: Tool or Threat? Or Both?

ckatz — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 17:20:57 +0000

Tech companies are releasing lineups of AI-focused education devices, and school districts are buying them in bulk. Educators are reconfiguring their pedagogical practices, departments their curricula. When applied effectively, AI teaching tools have helped K–12 teachers streamline workflows and personalize lesson plans to accommodate diverse learners. In higher education, faculty are seeing unprecedented course completion rates on AI-powered instruction platforms.

Yet there’s plenty of evidence that AI use weakens students’ critical thinking and research skills. Many educators believe that AI also dilutes human connection and the value of in-person learning, which has only just been revived post COVID-19.

So what’s the solution?

A Handbook for “Healthy Skeptics”

According to learning sciences faculty in the ��Ƶ Ruth S. Ammon College of Education and Health Sciences, there’s no one right answer.

“The most empowering thing we can do for educators right now is help them see that they don’t have to demonize or fetishize AI,” said Elizabeth de Freitas, PhD, professor of learning sciences. But educators should also slow down and reflect. “Rather than simply leaping to a particular use of AI, we have to spend more time understanding the nature of the specific models we are using and how these come to us historically.”

Dr. de Freitas and her ��Ƶ colleague Matthew Curinga, EdD, associate professor of learning sciences, co-edited (University of Minnesota Press, 2026), a new collection of 27 essays exploring links between machine learning and culture from scholars in media studies, philosophy, computer science, math, linguistics and education. The book serves as an interdisciplinary guide for educators trying to make sense of how human learning, and learning more generally, is being newly reconceived by AI.

“There’s a lot of polarization in the AI conversation. You’re either for or against it,” Dr. Curinga said. “But the book is not ‘do this, don’t do that.’ We’re providing the nuance that educators need to evaluate AI for themselves, to develop their own theories and philosophies, to become healthy skeptics of technology.”

Beyond the Hype and the Headlines

For Dr. de Freitas, current large language models (LLMs) are another mode of language production and can be studied for how they develop fluency. Much like a human journalist might speak to sources and then draft a story, AI collects data from the internet and then generates hypothetical claims. And, much like a human journalist, AI models will exhibit bias and specific perspectives. It’s not a truth teller or sage, she says, nor is it a “black box”—a phenomenon that’s beyond the ken of anyone but computer scientists. “The 27 essays in the book help readers understand the history of these models, as part of the history of computing more generally, and that’s empowering: “Educators can help to demystify AI by understanding this history.”

AI isn’t all-powerful, either. “We can’t just read the headlines that tell us AI will replace a million jobs by 2050 and shrug our shoulders,” Dr. Curinga said. He and Dr. de Freitas reject the concept of technological determinism, in which AI is an inevitable force driving its own future, impervious to human intervention. Instead, their work equips educators with the agency to keep learning firmly human-driven, even when it involves machines.

Research That Resists Easy Answers

Other learning sciences faculty are resisting the good-bad binary in their research and teaching.

Aaron Chia Yuan Hung, EdD, associate professor of education, who’s in the early stages of research on generative AI and learning, said his interest is “less on whether generative AI helps or hurts, but what kind of pedagogy has to be in place for it to help a specific group of learners.”

“So far, research on AI and learning has been inconclusive. Dr. Hung notes that: “There’s compelling evidence that heavy reliance on large language models carries a real cognitive cost.” But other studies have shown positive results: an increase in creativity when brainstorming, an AI-powered tutor that’s engaging students more deeply than active instruction. “Put together, these studies suggest that GenAI used as a substitute for effort has real costs, and that GenAI used as a well-designed instructional or creative tool can offer meaningful support.” What a user is actually asking the tool to do, Dr. Hung says, is likely the most important variable.

Tracy Hogan, PhD, professor of learning sciences, is intrigued by the gendered dimensions of AI technology. Her research investigates the relationship between a user’s background and how they interact with chatbots—specifically, if users with computer science experience are representing chatbots through a neutral gender lens, while less well-informed users are representing their bots through a specific gender identity. She’s brought these ideas into her Critical Literacy in Mathematics and Science Education class, where she works with students to explore inherent biases in AI input and output.

Training Tomorrow’s Educators for the AI Classroom

Whether producing their own research or referring to others’, ��Ƶ faculty are applying evidence-based teaching methods in their classes, preparing a generation of educators to adapt to an ever-evolving AI landscape.

In the University’s Manhattan Center, students in the PhD in Learning Sciences program engage in complex machine learning scenarios in both the classroom and the center’s STEAM Innovation Lab. Though the STEAM lab is largely analog, Dr. Hogan encourages her students to play around with AI tools when designing and coding projects. Most of what these tools generate is incorrect or incomplete, so students are forced to draw on their own knowledge to critically examine AI’s output—a process that, in the end, reflects the STEAM program’s commitment to learning by experience and experimentation.

In Dr. Hung’s classroom, students are invited to cast light on the “black box” of AI. Many of his students don’t actually know how it works, even though they use it regularly. For Dr. Hung, explaining the basics to students—“why GenAI responses aren’t like a search engine’s, why it’s prone to hallucination, why it’s suited to some tasks and not others, why it almost never says it doesn’t have an answer”—is easy enough. The real challenge, for him and other educators, is keeping up with the pace of innovation. “More than once in my first semester teaching this class, a model we’d just discussed got a significant update midsemester that changed the conversation,” he said.

Although AI tools are imperfect, ��Ƶ learning sciences faculty aren’t opting out altogether. There’s much good that can be done with these tools, they believe, if applied rigorously and ethically. Most importantly, today’s students must be ready to lead the classrooms of tomorrow.

As Dr. Hung puts it, “Our students’ future students won’t opt out of AI, and more workplaces will expect graduates to arrive with some baseline AI literacy. The risks are real enough to design around carefully, but the technology isn’t going anywhere, so pretending otherwise doesn’t serve our students.”

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Internships on the Cutting Edge of Science at the Brookhaven National Laboratory

yigarcia — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 19:38:00 +0000

Research is a foundation of the undergraduate experience at ��Ƶ. It is promoted by the University’s SPARK Center and Innovation Center, the annual Scholarship and Creative Works Conference (known as Research Day) as well as numerous summer internship programs. To further facilitate research, ��Ƶ has also developed partnerships with businesses and organizations that offer research opportunities and internships at various facilities, allowing students to advance their skills, discover potential careers and enhance their résumés.

One of ��Ƶ’s premier partners is . Located on Long Island, Brookhaven’s 5,300-acre campus contains several large facilities devoted to research in nuclear and high-energy physics, environmental and bioscience, and energy science and technology. The lab has racked up numerous achievements over the years, including seven Nobel Prize-winning discoveries and 37 R&D 100 Awards.

As a science partner of the University, Brookhaven has welcomed many ��Ƶ students as interns over the years. This summer, two ��Ƶ physics majors—current seniors Michael Ishal and Carolina Guekjian—earned internships to conduct scientific research there. Both explored new frontiers in imaging.

Doing Research in AI and Computational Imaging

Michael Ishal, who is majoring in physics, still remembers what drew him to ��Ƶ. “There was a day dedicated to students who were considering ��Ƶ physics, where we could talk with physics professors and learn from them,” he recalled. “Additionally, we were able to sit in on classes as well. The physics professors were full of energy, and they were truly excited to teach. They encouraged curiosity and challenged students to think critically.”

One of those professors was Kevin Liang, PhD, an associate professor in the department, who had been discussing a concept that day known as Rayleigh’s criterion. Little did Ishal know, three years into his ��Ƶ career, he and Dr. Liang would work together on research related to Rayleigh’s criterion and would prepare a publication based on that very research.

Ishal tackled other research opportunities at Brookhaven National Laboratory when he enrolled last academic year in a (WDSE) mini-semester program. There, he and his fellow students toured the scientific facilities and observed research projects while interacting with world-class scientists and engineers. One of those research projects, conducted by David Park, PhD, attracted Ishal’s interest. “After asking him if he was accepting interns, Dr. Park asked me to check out some of his publications,” he explained, “and then send him an email discussing my research more in depth.” Ishal sent an email that night. The day after, when the mini-semester ended, Ishal received an internship offer .

Ishal’s internship experience was related to research he had done at ��Ƶ on flaws in lenses or mirrors that distort images, also known as optical aberrations. Working in Brookhaven’s Computing and Data Sciences department, he focused on AI and computational imaging, testing neural network-based methods to detect whether images are degraded by optical aberrations. Dr. Park assisted him in this research, serving as his mentor.

“The experience taught me the importance of both collaboration and independence, expanding your domain of knowledge through literature searches, and how research can lead to valuable, unexpected results,” Ishal said. “Working with talented researchers strengthened my skills in machine learning, data analysis and AI research, which gave me a strong foundation as I continue my education and pursue future career opportunities.”

Doing Research That May Help Transform Medicine

Heading into college, Carolina Guekjian knew that she wanted to major in physics. “I saw all the possibilities of how physics can make incredible impacts on our future,” she said. “I wanted to be one of the ones that contribute to it.” The challenge now was figuring out where to pursue this field of study. “I spoke to previous ��Ƶ students who praised the professors and how they truly care about their students,” Guekjian said. “As I toured the physics department, I learned about all the interesting things that I would be learning.”

As a physics major, Guekjian has been involved in academic research since her first year. She worked closely with Sean Bentley, PhD, an associate professor in the department, researching a strange physical phenomenon known as quantum entanglement. She later had the opportunity to tour Brookhaven, where she learned about the lab’s research in that area. Intrigued, Guekjian decided to pursue an internship opportunity related to that research. She was accepted.

As an intern, Guekjian was able to observe experiments in quantum entanglement conducted through the , which allows researchers to study materials with nanoscale resolution. She also had the opportunity to see the inside of the detectors used at the , as Brookhaven began dismantling equipment and preparing for the transition to the .

Guekjian also, of course, continued her own research at Brookhaven, investigating quantum entanglement’s ability to produce images at a spectacularly high level of resolution. The technology has the potential to transform medical imaging, enabling it to discover diseases at their earliest stages.

Her research has been going well—so well, in fact, that she was offered the opportunity to extend her internship into the school year and continue her work at Brookhaven.

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��Ƶ Professor Weighs in—From Greece—on This Summer’s Blockbuster, “The Odyssey”

ckatz — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 15:20:19 +0000

What does victory cost?
How does one return home after experiencing violence?
How does one resist temptation?
How should power be exercised?

According to Anagnostis P. Agelarakis, PhD, a professor in the ��Ƶ Department of History, “These are not ancient questions. They are human questions.”

When director Christopher Nolan set his lens on Homer’s The Odyssey, he both created a spectacle around a story about the human condition and reignited a conversation about epic storytelling.

“What Nolan accomplishes is extraordinary,” says Dr. Agelarakis, who teaches in ��Ƶ’s College of Arts and Sciences. “He returned Homer’s voice to the center of the public conversation. Millions of people who may have never opened The Odyssey are suddenly engaging with questions that have endured for nearly 3,000 years. In my opinion, that is the greatest success of the film.”

Professor Agelarakis and his team’s facial reconstruction of the High Priestess of Dorian Eleutherna. The Dorian Greeks settled Crete following the destruction of the Minoan-Mycenaean palaces by the Sea Peoples, an upheaval referenced by Odysseus in the film.

A More Human Perspective on The Odyssey

As a bioarchaeologist and physical anthropologist who has led field research across the Mediterranean for more than three decades, Dr. Agelarakis has a distinct point of view when it comes to the film. Where others might focus on the mythic heroism, he’s zoned in on the reality of the ancient time period.

“For decades I have studied the skeletal remains of ancient men and women, soldiers and civilians, priests and children. I have examined the evidence left by warfare, disease, healing, ritual and everyday life in the ancient Mediterranean.

“When I watch Odysseus returning from Troy, I do not simply see a legendary hero. I see a man burdened by war. I see someone struggling with loss, responsibility, memory, leadership and the consequences of victory.”

In his research examining human skeletal remains from the Bronze and Iron Ages, Dr. Agelarakis analyzes evidence of traumatic injury, field surgery and physical stress. He notes that Nolan’s depiction captures the raw impact of war on both body and psyche.

“The film grounds Odysseus as a thinking human being dealing with the trauma, guilt and real consequences of war.”

Lessons of War in The Odyssey

He also notes about the film, “I was reminded that the ancient Greeks understood victory in a remarkably sophisticated way. The fall of Troy represents military success. Yet it also unleashes suffering. Odysseus spends years wandering before finally reaching home. The victorious warrior discovers that winning a war does not necessarily restore peace.”

“That insight is profoundly modern,” he explains.

“One of the film’s most important messages is its implicit warning about war itself. Odysseus comes to recognize that violence rarely ends where it begins. The destruction of Troy does not conclude the story. It begins another one. Every generation should remember that lesson.”

An Epic Story, Told Through Cinema

Beyond the history, Dr. Agelarakis highlights the unique power of film as a visual and immersive medium. Nolan’s narrative choices—such as explicitly showing the claustrophobia inside the Trojan Horse or jumping across time periods—help bring to life the epic storytelling for modern viewers.

“Cinematography provides a kinesiology—a sense of motion and physical reality—that isn’t always fully captured when simply reading the text,” says Dr. Agelarakis. “It provides a visual hook that invites viewers to ask deeper historical questions: How did these people actually live? How did they move, fight and survive?”

Professor Agelarakis (left) and colleague Dr. Nicholas Stampolidis, Director of the Acropolis Museum, examining artifacts from the Homeric era at the Museum of Ancient Eleutherna, Greece.

The Film’s Role in Classroom Discussions

At ��Ƶ, Dr. Agelarakis plans on using the film’s momentum as an educational tool. In his course Theogony, Myth and Ritual, which he will teach this upcoming fall in an Honors College seminar, the movie will act as a springboard for students to critically think by debating primary source texts and cross-examining interpretations.

Rather than viewing cinematic adaptation as a replacement for reading, Dr. Agelarakis sees film as an entry point that prompts students to seek out original sources. The broader impact is clear; sales of Homer’s Odyssey surged by 76 percent in the United States, year over year.

Ultimately, the discourse surrounding Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey proves that classical studies remain valuable in understanding modern life. By confronting timeless questions of power, responsibility, ethics and human mortality, students can use the film to learn how to evaluate media critically.

“When you have multiple voices from students discussing this, we gain deeper understanding,” says Dr. Agelarakis. “It encourages students to open the book, read the primary source and use their own minds as independent thinkers.”

“Many students today encounter Greek civilization only through fragments. They know isolated myths or famous quotations, but rarely experience the epic narratives that shaped Western civilization. Nolan’s film may encourage many of them to discover Homer for themselves.”

“This is an incredible advertisement for classical education, and also for the real protagonist of this film—Homer.”

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Fighting the Youth Mental Health Crisis: ��Ƶ Joins $2M “Empower Every Coach” Initiative

ckatz — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 15:20:01 +0000

Through this initiative, more than $2 million in funding has been awarded to 10 organizations, including ��Ƶ, leading bold efforts focused on policy, research, narrative change and organizational practice to help make quality coaching accessible to all young people.

Building on the milestone achievement of training more than one million coaches in youth development and mental health practices, the EEC cohort focuses on what comes next: strengthening the systems, structures and supports that make quality coaching accessible to all young people.

As part of the partnership, ��Ƶ will receive $250,000 to support the University’s mental health guidelines project led by Meredith Whitley, PhD, professor of health and sport sciences, a leading scholar in sport for development, which intentionally uses physical activity, play and structured sports as a vehicle to drive social change, peace building and community development.

“To combat the escalating youth mental health crisis, this project establishes a pathway to transform a fragmented, high-pressure sports ecosystem into a psychologically safe environment by equipping adult leaders with actionable, evidence-based guidance,” said Dr. Whitley. “We are deeply grateful for the continued support of , and we are thrilled to be an inaugural partner in the Million Coaches Challenge Empower Every Coach cohort. Joining this national cohort of 10 organizations allows us to collectively advance systems-level change in youth sports through policy, research, narrative change and organizational practice.”

In addition to ��Ƶ, the 2026 Empower Every Coach Learning Community includes the following partners and projects: The Ad Council, Center for Healing and Justice through Sport, FundPlay Foundation, National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA), The Sport Industry Research Center at Temple University, LiFEsports at The Ohio State University and the Ohio High School Athletic Association, Positive Coaching Alliance, United States Soccer Federation, and University of Washington Center for Leadership in Athletics (UW CLA) and National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).

Facilitated by Aspen Institute’s Project Play, partners will collaborate over the next 18 months through quarterly convening, shared learning opportunities and collective problem-solving designed to accelerate systems-level impact across the youth sports ecosystem.

About Million Coaches Challenge

The is a national initiative launched by the Susan Crown Exchange in 2021 to transform youth sports by training coaches in evidence-based youth development practices. Backed by leading organizations across sports, research and youth development, MCC works to equip coaches with the tools to create positive, inclusive environments where young people can thrive on and off the field.

About Susan Crown Exchange

is a grant-making foundation with a mission to prepare youth to thrive in a rapidly changing world. SCE supports organizations that promote social and emotional learning and youth well-being, explore the relationship between technology and society, and build critical life skills through youth sports.

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Making History, Breaking Barriers: ��Ƶ’s First Fulbright Scholar in Residence

ckatz — Mon, 11 May 2026 21:12:17 +0000

The is one of the most highly competitive and unique programs in higher education. Designed to promote cross-cultural understanding and global collaboration, this program allows U.S. colleges and universities to host a foreign scholar for a semester or full academic year to internationalize their campus and enrich the university community.

The residency of Dr. Banerjee, a distinguished management scholar and experienced academic leader, was sponsored by and affiliated with the prestigious Levermore Global Scholars program—a program for students interested in global study and leadership.

A Historic First for ��Ƶ

The opportunity to become a Fulbright Fellow was brought to Dr. Banerjee by Hanna Kim, PhD, professor and chair of the ��Ƶ Department of Anthropology and co-director of the Museum Studies Program. While honored, he initially hesitated due to his commitments at Ashoka University, where he was overseeing the commissioning of a new management school. “I wasn’t sure if I could get away for a whole semester,” he explained.

With strong support from his colleagues, Dr. Banerjee ultimately accepted the opportunity, adding that his motivation was “to try and understand the shifting sands in higher education that the U.S. is living through.” He felt that these insights would inform ideas and strategies to help build world-class global institutions in India.

As the first Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence ever hosted by ��Ƶ, Dr. Banerjee’s appointment carries special significance. “It is a matter of great honor for me,” he said.

Advancing ��Ƶ’s Global Educational Initiatives

Dr. Banerjee was sponsored by and affiliated with the Levermore Global Scholars program and the College of Arts and Sciences. During his time here, he helped advance ��Ƶ’s global educational initiatives by collaborating with scholars and engaging with the campus and local community.

Throughout the semester, Dr. Banerjee delivered three different lectures to ��Ƶ students and faculty.

Careers at the Edge of Change: Global Stories and Innovation in Emerging Markets provided insight into real-world business challenges, innovations and strategies.
From Classrooms to Ecosystems: Time for Higher Education to Evolve in the Global Innovation Economy dove into how university education, particularly American higher education, looks to adapt to the rapidly evolving needs of global realities.
Innovation Ecosystems Unlock Civilizational Potential: The Case of India explored how campuses, startups and cultural narratives transformed entrepreneurship for young Indians and why building impactful organizations is a powerful expression of ambition, purpose sand leadership in contemporary India.

By residing in an on-campus apartment and judging high school students at ��Ƶ’s annual Scholarship and Creative Works Conference, Dr. Banerjee gain firsthand insight into the American student experience.

A Distinguished Academic Leader From India

Born in Kolkata, in the state of West Bengal, India, Dr. Banerjee has led a distinguished academic career. He earned both a PhD in economics and marketing science and a master’s degree in economics from Purdue University, as well as a BS in economics and mathematics and statistics from St. Xavier’s College in Kolkata. From his 18-year tenure at the prestigious Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad to his transformative roles as dean at Ahmedabad and Shiv Nadar universities—where he pioneered industry-academia collaborations—Dr. Banerjee has consistently elevated educational standards. He is currently the head of the Havells School of Management and Leadership at Ashoka University.

India and ��Ƶ: Deep Ties and Collaboration

Although his semester at ��Ƶ is over, Dr. Banerjee sees significant potential for further collaboration between ��Ƶ and institutions in India. He highlighted India’s growing importance in global higher education, fueled by a burgeoning student population eager to learn. “India has been the largest source of international students for ��Ƶ,” he observed, indicating that this creates a strong foundation for strategic partnerships. He also noted that ��Ƶ’s prime location in New York, combined with its thoughtfully designed and cost-effective programs, means that Indian student interest will only continue to expand.

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Research & Creative Works | ������Ƶ

Can an Eel Climb a Ladder? Inside an ������Ƶ Student’s Research to Save the American Eel