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A global majority trusts scientists, wants them to have greater role in policymaking, study finds

2025-01-20T07:14:00-05:00

In what is considered the most comprehensive post-pandemic survey of trust in scientists, researchers have found a majority of people around the world carry widespread trust in scientists — believing them to be honest, competent, qualified and concerned with public well-being.

Researchers surveyed more than 72,000 individuals across 68 countries on perceptions of scientists’ trustworthiness, competence, openness and research priorities.

The results, published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, also showed the general public’s desire for more engagement from scientists through communication and policymaking.

“This was a major collaborative study, involving dozens of labs from across the world, all of them asking the same questions to specific audiences, in their specific languages according to their own customs,” said Tim Weninger, the Frank M. Freimann Collegiate Professor of Engineering and director of graduate studies in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. “This is the first time I have seen such a distributed and collaborative effort in the social sciences. Our results show that, generally, denizens worldwide do indeed trust scientists.”

Tim Weninger

Weninger is an expert in disinformation and fake news and one of 241 researchers who contributed to the study as part of the Trust in Scientists and Science-Related Populism (TISP) Many Labs project, an international, multidisciplinary consortium of researchers at 179 institutions around the world.

Researchers sought to identify levels of trust in scientists, how demographic and country-level factors impact trust and vary between countries, perceptions of scientists in societal roles and policymaking, and which issues people believe scientists should prioritize.

A challenge to a ‘popular, dominant narrative’

The study challenges a “popular, dominant narrative claiming a crisis of trust in science and scientists,” the authors said. Building on previous studies, primarily focused on attitudes in the United States and Europe, the survey also includes individuals and countries long underrepresented in research.

An overwhelming majority of respondents (83 percent) believe scientists should communicate scientific concepts and research findings with the public. More than half (52 percent) believe scientists should be more involved in policymaking.

According to the study, “higher levels of trust were found among women, older people, residents of urban (vs. rural) regions,” higher-income earners, individuals who identify as religious and those with left-leaning or liberal political views. Education also positively correlated with trust.

In most countries, however, political orientation is unrelated to trust in scientists, the study found — one of several results that provided insight into global views.

Additionally, whereas some people might assume religion and science to be at odds, the TISP study found a positive association between trust and science and religious identity.

“That was the most surprising thing to me,” Weninger said. “Religiosity positively and significantly correlated with trust in science. Science and religion are often seen as being at odds with one another. This global study shows that religiosity and trust in science are commonly held in tandem by people across the world.”

The desire for more engagement

Overall, attitudes reveal a desire among the public to see scientists engage in science communication and policymaking — advocating for policies that address specific issues such as climate change and communicating research findings to government officials and politicians.

People also want to see scientists prioritize improving public health, solving energy problems and reducing poverty. The survey showed that people generally believe the scientific community prioritizes defense and military technology above all other research goals, which was found to be a lesser priority for most respondents.

Previous studies have shown trust in science and scientists as critical to managing global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Weninger and the study’s authors said the results of the TISP survey “can help scientists and science communicators better tailor their communication to different audiences” and stressed the need for international research that includes underrepresented and understudied populations.

Challenges and recommendations

While the results of the TISP study strongly challenge current narratives, the consortium noted their findings reveal some areas for concern.

Though 57 percent of global respondents believed scientists are honest, and 56 percent believed scientists are concerned with public well-being, only 42 percent believe scientists are receptive to feedback or pay attention to others’ views.

“Anti-science attitudes, even if held by only a minority of people, raise concerns about a potential crisis of trust in science, which could challenge the epistemic authority of science and the role of scientists in supporting evidence-based policymaking,” the authors stated in the study.

With that in mind, the consortium suggested scientists find ways to be more open to feedback and dialogue with public audiences, increase public science communication efforts to highlight ongoing research in public health and energy, consider ways to reach conservative groups in Western countries and consider the role of the scientist in setting priorities aligned with public values.

The survey’s full dataset is available via a comprehensive dashboard, providing insights on science-related populism, science communication behavior and public perceptions about climate change. Through the dashboard, users can explore specific data at the country level and compare results.

Contact: Jessica Sieff, associate director of media relations, 574-631-3933, jsieff@nd.edu

Researchers detect elevated levels of PFAS in some fitness tracker and smartwatch bands

2024-12-18T08:01:00-05:00

In a study published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters, researchers reported elevated levels of forever chemicals were detected in a sample of smart watch bands purchased in the U.S. from various brands and at a range of price points.

Fitness trackers and smartwatch bands are the latest consumer products found to contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), according to new research from the University of Notre Dame.

In a study published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters on Wednesday, researchers tested 22 watch bands purchased in the U.S. from various brands and at a range of price points. Many of the bands were manufactured using fluoroelastomers, a synthetic polymer used to make rubber material resistant to sweat, skin oils and lotions. Results showed that nine of the 22 bands tested contained elevated levels of a type of PFAS called perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA). Elevated levels of PFHxA were more prevalent in higher-priced watchbands, or those costing more than $15.

The study is the first to address PFAS in fitness trackers and smartwatch bands.

Graham Peaslee (Photo by Peter Ringenberg / University of Notre Dame)

“The most remarkable thing we found in this study was the very high concentrations of just one PFAS — there were some samples above 1,000 parts per billion of PFHxA, which is much higher than most PFAS we have seen in consumer products,” said Graham Peaslee, co-author of the study and professor emeritus in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

PFAS have been widely used in consumer and industrial product applications since the 1950s. With a nearly unbreakable chemical structure, they do not degrade or break down, contaminating soil and groundwater systems and persisting in the environment for decades — earning them the name “forever chemicals.” Manufacturers use forever chemicals to make products resistant to water, heat and stains. Over the years Peaslee and his lab have detected PFAS in several industrial and consumer products, including fast-food wrappers, cosmetics, feminine hygiene products, eye drops, dental floss, plastic containers, textiles, firefighter gear and artificial turf.

The chemicals also migrate from treated surfaces onto skin and into dust and air, creating multiple paths of exposure including inhalation, ingestion and dermal absorption. Peaslee and his team cited this as a significant concern regarding wearable consumer products.

“Few studies so far have been published regarding the dermal absorption of PFAS,” said Alyssa Wicks, a graduate student in Peaslee’s lab and lead author of the study. “One article published earlier this year by a European research group found that a couple types of PFAS had significant transfer through the skin. That initial study only examined around 20 of the 14,000 known types of PFAS, and more studies are needed to better understand how PFAS travel through the skin.”

An estimated 1 in 5 Americans wear smartwatches or fitness trackers, according to a 2019 Pew Research study. Another study found consumers wear their wearables an average of 11 hours per day.

Peaslee’s lab tested samples using particle-induced gamma-ray emission ion beam analysis and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry to determine the material’s total fluorine content and identify the specific type of PFAS present. High fluorine levels are a telltale sign of the presence of PFAS.

New and used bands were included in the study. The samples were also broken down by price point. Bands with price points less than $15 were listed as “inexpensive,” while those between $15 and $30 were considered “midrange” and those more than $30 were classified as “expensive.” Three of the bands tested were considered expensive, and all three contained significantly elevated levels of fluorine.

“Fifteen of the 22 bands we tested had a high percentage of total fluorine concentrations, and nine contained PFHxA,” Wicks said. “The others used some other unidentified surfactant that wasn’t in our targeted analysis.”

All three of the bands identified at the expensive price point and 12 of the 14 bands at the midrange price point contained highly elevated quantities of measurable fluorine. All five inexpensive bands contained very little total fluorine, measuring less than 1 percent.

Forever chemicals have been linked to multiple health conditions including immunosuppression, hormonal dysregulation, developmental delays in children, low birth weight and accelerated puberty, high blood pressure in pregnant women, and an increased risk of certain cancers, such as kidney and testicular cancer.

Peaslee said the results suggest that a more comprehensive study is needed to test the levels of PFAS band wearers are exposed to.

Heather Whitehead, a Notre Dame graduate and former doctoral student in Peaslee’s lab, was also co-author of the study.

Contact: Jessica Sieff, associate director of media relations, 574-631-3933, jsieff@nd.edu

ND Expert: Hurricanes like Milton, Helene are the new normal

2024-10-07T14:26:00-04:00

There is no rest for weary Florida residents who have yet to recover from Hurricane Helene. Less than two weeks since the Category 4 storm made landfall, battering the state and surrounding southeast region, another major hurricane is charting a dangerous path toward Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Hurricane Milton, a Category 5 storm as of Monday, has reportedly reached sustained winds of 160 mph as it threatens a direct hit to the Tampa Bay area. Forecasters expect its path to cross the state, delivering a hit to Orlando residents as well.

Milton’s rapid ascension—and its arrival coming on the heels of an already devastating storm—is the new normal, according to Tracy Kijewski-Correa, professor of engineering and global affairs and the William J. Pulte Director of the Pulte Institute for Global Development, part of Notre Dame’s Keough 91��Ƶ of Global Affairs.

Times are changing

Tracy Kijewski-Correa

“There have been three hurricanes impacting the Big Bend area of Florida in the past 13 months, each with different characteristics and landfalling in areas previously assumed not to be at high risk based on prior historical events,” Kijewski-Correa said. “They came in such rapid succession that the repairs from earlier storms were not even completed before the next struck. The models used to capture storm risk must contend with the fact that the past no longer predicts the future and that impacts can even be compounded by subsequent storms. Our inability to predict the full scope of future, potentially compounding events questions whether we can keep waiting for the storm to build back better. It’s time to build better before.”

An expert on disaster risk reduction, civil infrastructure and housing, and director of the National Science Foundation-supported Structural Extreme Events Reconnaissance (StEER) Network, Kijewski-Correa was recently part of the study team that authored a National Academies report on compounding disasters in Gulf Coast communities.

Increasingly, residents in those communities barely have time to document their losses between storms.

Housing continues to be our greatest vulnerability

“Even in states like Florida with some of the most rigorous building codes, there is no mandate to upgrade homes built before those codes were enacted,” Kijewski-Correa said. “Older pre-code buildings in coastal inundation zones of Florida suffered extreme to complete damage, while those built to modern codes were relatively undamaged. Building codes save property and lives, and reduce the financial burden and community disruption that we all have to bear. We have the engineering solutions to build resiliently, but we lack the political will. In the absence of mandated retrofits, we must continue to create strong insurance, tax and, most importantly, market incentives for owners to upgrade their properties to the latest construction standards or, when necessary, retreat. That is only possible when the growing risk and cost of living in hazard-prone areas is honestly and clearly communicated to the public in multigenerational terms.”

Milton and Helene are a result of human action — and inaction

“There are no natural disasters,” Kijewski-Correa said. “Natural hazards become disasters as the result of human actions. Helene reiterates the importance of heeding warnings, despite prior storm experiences. The failure to do so cost many lives. Both coastal storm surge in Florida and interior Appalachian flooding from Helene were predicted well in advance. Those predictions enabled officials and other trusted local actors to issue actionable guidance on how to prepare and mobilize support for the most vulnerable. Citizens need to heed that guidance. As the climate changes, we will have more extreme rainfall events. These storm events will exceed past precedent, making past experiences less relevant in deciding how to prepare and respond. Reliable guidance delivered by trusted actors must be met with good faith actions by citizens, now more than ever.”

Kijewski-Correa is a faculty affiliate at Notre Dame's Environmental Change Initiative.

Contact: Jessica Sieff, associate director of media relations, 574-631-3933, jsieff@nd.edu

The forever problem

2024-08-05T16:09:16-04:00

The University of Notre Dame is tackling “forever chemicals,” identifying environmental impacts, developing new ways to measure and manage contaminated water supplies, exploring new methods of treatment.

Read the story

Downwind states face disproportionate burden of air pollution

2024-07-31T12:46:00-04:00

A recent Supreme Court decision to block a federal rule curbing interstate air pollution further complicates efforts to reduce emissions and adds to an already disproportionate burden on “downwind” states, according to researchers at the University of Notre Dame.

Paola Crippa (Photo by Wes Evard / University of Notre Dame)

“Toxic air pollution is really not as well known by the general public as you would hope, given its impact on human health,” said Paola Crippa, assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences. “Most studies peg it as the, or at least one of the top three, largest causes of early human mortality. It cuts off about three years from global life expectancy. This is especially important for urban communities, where air pollution tends to be the highest.”

Air pollution poses a significant threat to respiratory health, is associated with asthma and can lead to chronic disease, cancer and premature death, according to the National Institutes of Health.

“Each year, air pollution kills 7 to 9 million people worldwide, including 200,000 Americans. And in the United States, much of this toxic pollution crosses state borders,” said Richard Marcantonio, assistant professor of environment, peace and global affairs in the University of Notre Dame’s Keough 91��Ƶ of Global Affairs. “The Supreme Court’s decision pressed pause on a plan to help regulate this cross-state pollution.”

The ruling blocked the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Good Neighbor Plan,” housed under the Clean Air Act, which requires “upwind” states to implement improvement plans to reduce ground-level ozone and nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants and other industrial sources. Three states — Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia — along with various large industrial companies and trade organizations sued the EPA after the agency rejected those plans, which it determined to be insufficient, and moved to enforce its own plan. The EPA has stated that nitrogen oxide emissions decreased by 18 percent across 10 states where its plan was enacted in 2023.

Richard Marcantonio (Photo by Barbara Johnston/University of Notre Dame)

Crippa and Marcantonio, with co-authors Danielle Wood, program director of the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative, and Alixandra Underwood at the International Food Policy Research Institute, recently published a study exploring the Clean Air Act in the journal Environmental Management. Their study focuses particularly on Section 126, a measure by which downwind states can take action and petition the EPA to directly regulate sources of interstate air pollution.

The researchers examined all 13 petitions filed through Section 126 by downwind states between 2000 and 2022.

The study showed downwind states face several challenges in using the measure, ultimately rendering it ineffective. Downwind states can petition the EPA to directly regulate sources of air pollution, such as nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter, across state lines. However, those states experience lengthy response times, petitions are accepted infrequently and petitioners are required to collect proof showing improvement plans have failed — the kind of internal information from the source facilities that downwind states are not likely to get.

“In order to actually apply the good neighbor rule as it stands today, the burden of proof in court has been placed on the downwind states, and to date, they have been unsuccessful in court,” Crippa said. “If an upwind state is producing pollution that unequally affects a downwind state, they should be able to easily and effectively do something about it — that is the idea behind the federal government supporting federalism amongst the states. Right now, that’s not happening.”

Danielle Wood (Photo by Barbara Johnston / University of Notre Dame)

Measuring and attributing air pollution across state lines is a challenge, Crippa said. How a region determines the source or sources contributing to poor air quality comes down to air quality models able to track the wind flow and pollution transport — critical to developing informed air quality assessments. These assessments play a significant role in alerting the public to poor conditions and increasing public awareness.

But, Crippa said, “This information is insufficient when the goal is to develop policies and implementation strategies to reduce local air pollution.” High pollution levels experienced in a local neighborhood may be only partially dictated by nearby emission sources, she said. “We are developing a new way of thinking about air quality management where regulations are not enforced based on political boundaries, but on dynamical physical boundaries that reflect the actual pollution dispersion boundaries.”

Crippa explained that new regulatory boundaries should be defined to include areas experiencing similar air quality conditions, rather than left to political and state boundaries. This type of boundary could ensure that current practices of exporting pollution to neighboring states through energy production and industry are significantly reduced. The research team is currently working on a companion study outlining proposals for air quality management based on these new boundaries.

The Supreme Court’s decision put the plan on hold, leaving the EPA and affected states without an immediate solution.

“It underscores how our regulatory system continues to be hamstrung when attempting to address some of the biggest challenges to its mission: to protect human health and the environment,” Marcantonio said. “Going forward, I hope policymakers will address this issue through an approach that centers human health first and protects the rights of downwind states.”

Crippa, Marcantonio and Wood are all affiliated with Notre Dame's Environmental Change Initiative. The study was conducted with support from the Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society.

Contact: Jessica Sieff, associate director of media relations, 574-631-3933, jsieff@nd.edu

ND Expert: NASA’s cancellation of VIPER is a frustrating setback for lunar exploration

2024-07-24T15:51:00-04:00

Last week, NASA announced it canceled its plans to send the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) to the Moon’s southern polar region. The rover was meant to search for water and other resources called volatiles, such as hydrogen, ammonia and carbon dioxide, which easily evaporate in warm temperatures.

Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, reiterated the agency’s commitment “to exploring the Moon for the benefit of humanity” through other missions.

Fifty-five years have passed since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made a giant leap for mankind. Clive Neal, professor of civil and environmental engineering and earth sciences at the University of Notre Dame and an expert in lunar exploration, said losing the VIPER program is another frustrating setback for U.S.-led efforts to explore the Moon.

Neal answers five questions about the program and lunar exploration below.

What was the goal of the VIPER program and why was it important?

Well, it’s the only volatile prospecting mission that NASA has. NASA wants to send humans back to the Moon — U.S. policy states NASA shall “extend human economic activity into deep space by establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon.” We’re going to need life-support consumables in situ to do that — water, hydrogen, oxygen — so we need to know where those life-supporting consumables are. You don’t want to put a base for humans in the wrong place — you need water and other consumables to be accessible. Therefore, we need to know how much is there? Can we extract it? Can we access it? Is there reserve potential in this resource? That is critically important data. Now we’re going to have to rely on non-U.S. missions to do the prospecting for us.

The mission was also significant in terms of industry and job growth around space technology and exploration. From a higher education standpoint, that is a new sector of the economy that students can train in and be a part of and help grow.

What impact would a mission like VIPER have on other types of missions?

If you can make water in situ resource utilization work on the Moon, it will most definitely work on Mars, because the lunar environment is much more extreme. Mars has a tenuous atmosphere. But the one thing the Moon and Mars have in common is that they are both toxic to humans. We need water, we need oxygen, we need life-support consumables to protect humans.

VIPER was designed for robotic prospecting for these life-support consumables, which in turn reduces the risk of human exploration on the Moon and other destinations.

Would you call the Moon a testbed for exploring other aspects of our universe?

It’s definitely a testbed. In a paper published after he died, Krafft Ehricke, a German space engineer, said, “If God wanted man to become a spacefaring species, He would have given man a Moon.” It’s in our own backyard. Right now, we don’t know how to protect humans and keep them alive in deep space, so we do it in our own backyard first. That then enables humans to explore more distant destinations.

What other impacts could come from a lunar prospecting mission like VIPER?

There is great commercial and economic potential in space exploration. The whole point of going up there is to make life better down here. We’re creating job opportunities for our graduates. We’re starting to stimulate a whole new sector of our economy. And then there is the technology development needed to explore other worlds that have untapped benefits for life on Earth.

The Moon’s lack of atmosphere allows for an abundance of helium-3, a vital component for developing helium fusion energy. It has been calculated that one space shuttle cargo bay full of helium-3 would fuel the energy needs of the United States for one year. China is very interested in developing fusion technology. They’re looking at the Moon as a way to get clean energy and we should also be looking at the Moon as a clean energy source.

It’s all interconnected. Right now, we’re looking at water and ice because we need it for human exploration — for life support and for rocket fuel. But there are other volatiles that are going to be there and they will be useful. There are lots of good science, exploration and commercial interactions that can go on here.

What’s needed in terms of supporting lunar exploration?

We need to re-educate the public to look at our space agency budget as an investment in the future of the nation. The sector is getting big enough that commercial services are growing, and that’s what we want to see in cislunar space. We could actually end up with a huge space economy. If we go forward to the Moon together, we could learn so much and improve life on Earth.

Contact: Jessica Sieff, associate director of media relations, 574-631-3933, jsieff@nd.edu

Experts say use of political memes are a predictor of political violence

2024-06-04T10:57:00-04:00

Tim Weninger

In a study of social media activity prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, researchers at the University of Notre Dame say a sharp increase in politically salient imagery online — visual content designed to influence, dehumanize, manipulate and motivate audiences — was a predictor of the conflict.

With collaborators at Colby College and Kennesaw State University, the researchers collected post history from a select group of 989 Russian milbloggers – a term used for "military bloggers" who tend to post about military or war matters. The Russian group's content, which regularly focused on Russia and Ukraine relations, was posted to the social media platform Telegram between October 2015 and March 2023 to a total of more than 5.3 million posts and 3.2 million images.

The study is available at arxiv.org, an open-access resource for research prior to peer review.

Using a combination of subject matter expert and AI analysis, the study showed an 8,925 percent increase in the number of posts and a 5,352 percent increase in images posted by the same accounts two weeks prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

“What we see is a massive campaign,” said Tim Weninger, the Frank M. Freimann Collegiate Professor of Engineering, director of Graduate 91��Ƶ in Computer Science and Engineering at Notre Dame and co-author of the study. “That kind of rapid increase shows that, yes, there is predictive power to these social media campaigns. When we see a giant amount of propaganda being spun up on platforms like Telegram, it means something is impending. These are precursors to an eruption of violence.”

Weninger is an expert in disinformation and fake news. He has studied how dehumanization is used in the lead-up to hostilities and helped develop an early warning system to fight disinformation online.

To analyze data on such a massive scale, the research team used artificial intelligence, computer vision techniques and forensic analysis to identify a subset of posts leading up to and immediately following the invasion — a total of 144,048 images — all of them posted between Feb. 15 and March 15, 2022.

Subject matter experts in political violence and Russian-Ukraine relations, including Ernesto Verdeja, associate professor of peace studies and global politics at Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace 91��Ƶ and the Keough 91��Ƶ of Global Affairs, performed a two-stage analysis of the images and identified politically salient narratives.

Ernesto Verdeja

“Using this sophisticated AI system in conjunction with a group of experts on political violence and Russia and Ukraine, we were able to trace in near-real time not only the sharp rise in visual social media, but also the kinds of narratives that shape political discourse and drive instability,” said Verdeja.

Previous research has shown that politically salient image patterns — propaganda by way of visual content — have been used to sow discord and even threaten the integrity of democratic elections. But Weninger said the research team wondered if such activity could also be a real-time warning sign of politically motivated violent events.

In their analysis, the research team focused on three key functions of politically salient images in instability contexts, exploring how images may promote in-group solidarity, out-group vulnerability and epistemic insecurity.

“Wherever there is political instability, these are the kinds of stories that are told,” Weninger said. “So, the question is, ‘Do we see these stories told in propaganda efforts and social media?’ Indeed, we do. This is a definitive example — proof — of propaganda efforts on social media predicting violence.”

He added that it’s important to note not every instance of violent conflict will come with a barrage of social media beforehand, such as the current war between Israel and Hamas — in which case he saw no buildup of politically salient content prior to Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, but observed an increase in the aftermath of that attack.

The study’s analysis of video and imagery is significant. “The emotional impact of a video or an image is so much more than a tweet,” he said, and a big reason why TikTok and YouTube Shorts are so popular.

“Modern social media is images and short videos,” Weninger said. “That’s what no one in the field was looking at — that's what we are working toward monitoring.”

Contact: Jessica Sieff, associate director of media relations, 574-631-3933, jsieff@nd.edu

The Commencement of the class of 2024

2024-05-19T12:43:00-04:00

The University of Notre Dame welcomed 26,620 graduates, family, friends and faculty to Notre Dame Stadium on Sunday (May 19) to celebrate its 179th Commencement Ceremony.

President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., presided over the ceremony for the last time as president, before stepping down at the end of the month after 19 years in the role to return to teaching and ministry at Notre Dame.

Serving in dual roles, Father Jenkins also delivered the commencement address for the ceremony, which was followed by a performance from Irish folk band The High Kings.

A total of 3,343 degrees were conferred over the weekend, including 2,275 degrees to undergraduate students during Sunday’s ceremony.

Honorary degrees were conferred on Jack Brennan, the chair emeritus of Vanguard, a Fellow of the University and chair of the University’s Board of Trustees; medicinal chemist Sabine Hadida, senior vice president and San Diego site head at Vertex Pharmaceuticals; Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States; and sculptor Jaume Plensa.

Father Jenkins also received an honorary degree during the ceremony.

In an invocation to fellow graduates, salutatorian Shaker Erbini reflected on moments of mercy, support and even loss — which left an indelible mark on a class that began their college careers in the first year of a global pandemic and are ending it amid global conflict.

“Oh God, we ask you to let us be voices for the voiceless,” Erbini said. “May you guide us to use the privilege and influence we have as members of the Notre Dame family to bring peace and justice to all who are suffering and oppressed in the world. Let us be forces for good.”

That sentiment was echoed by valedictorian Isabela Tasende, who recalled her first flight bound for South Bend, Indiana, and Notre Dame’s campus after “nine long months in lockdown.” Calling herself a “Panamanian theater kid,” Tasende said that as she adapted to her new life on campus, she “quickly realized the most pivotal lessons Notre Dame had to offer revolved not just around academics, but on finding the courage to have hope amid hardship.”

“Hope is not passive,” she said. “Hope is not naïve. And most surprisingly, hope comes not just from our successes against injustice, but from the love we share and the communities we build along the way.”

Tasende emphasized the support felt from within the University, through faculty, facilities and labs and from families, friends, mentors and peers, and credited her parents, “hard-working immigrants” with an understanding of what it means to “have gratitude motivate discipline.”

“Just so, the privilege of a Notre Dame education calls us out of complacency and into responsibility to do what we can with what we have been given, and to give back to those who have made our journeys possible.”

University of Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C. gives the Commencement address at the 2024 Commencement Ceremony in Notre Dame Stadium. (Photo by Matt Cashore/University of Notre Dame)

Father Jenkins delivered an emotional, personal and poignant commencement address. Opening with a little humor, he noted graduates likely would have preferred to hear from a number of guest speakers from the pope to Taylor Swift, but "you got me.”

“It is true, I don’t have the star power of others on the list above,” he said. “But I have a few things they do not have.”

Speaking of his shared experience as a student at Notre Dame, graduating in 1976, Father Jenkins shared several personal photos including his yearbook photo, a photo of his dorm room and a photo taken with friends at Knute Rockne’s grave, which was located in South Bend’s Highland Cemetery at the time.

Asking that each graduate give their parents a round of applause for their love and support, Father Jenkins told of the lessons he learned from watching his own parents and how he’s carried those lessons with him throughout his life.

His father was a gastroenterologist who took the time to sit with his patients and ask about their families, their children and their worries in addition to routine medical questions.

“I have had the chance to observe and learn from many highly accomplished leaders, but watching my dad talk to his patients not just about their medical ailments, but about their lives, taught me the most about the power of treating every individual as a person worthy of respect.”

From his mother, a “rare combination of kindness and strength” who raised 12 children, he learned the building blocks of community.

“She was not a strict, tightly organized manager of the household,” he said. “But she laid down two inviolable rules: first, do your part for the common good, second take care of your siblings — particularly those younger than you. No one has taught me more about how to build and sustain a community.”

Speaking to a class “like no other,” one of the first to return to a “socially distanced, masked, Purell-drenched and somewhat tense campus,” Father Jenkins echoed comments made by Tasende in her address about the loss of Valeria Espinel and Olivia Laura Rojas, two students who were killed in a car accident in October 2020.

“The COVID disruption, isolation and hardships were difficult, but nothing wounded our hearts more than losing these two young women,” Father Jenkins said. “They now rest in God’s arms, but they are still members of the class of 2024.” Degrees were awarded to both students’ families over the weekend.

Recognizing the challenges faced by the class of 2024 over the course of their time on campus, he also acknowledged the realities of the tumultuous world they would enter when they leave campus.

“There are wars that kill thousands of innocents; the intrinsic dignity of human life is disregarded; climate change continues apace as the earth, our common home, is damaged; we see around the world great inequities and grinding poverty; authoritarian regimes have emerged and democratic institutions struggle; there are bigotries of various kinds and systematic injustices,” Father Jenkins said.

He noted that while rhetoric and a “hatred for the opposition” may be an effective strategy when it comes to winning elections and encouraging political mobilization, it “leaves us unable to talk to one another, solve problems through compromise and pursue the common good together.”

“My message today is very simple: don’t succumb,” Father Jenkins said. “Don’t be seduced by hatred. Rather show the world that your commitment to your convictions does not require that you show contempt for those who do not share them. I encourage you to express your convictions, join with those who agree, and work diligently for what you believe. But I urge you also to be suspicious of rhetoric that casts those who disagree as evil. I urge that you do not dismiss dissenters. I urge that you engage not only the like-minded, but also those with a different view. And I hope you enter into those conversations with an openness to learn as well as teach, to understand the other person as well as correct their errors. In short, treat your dialogical opponent with respect, and thereby show them love."

Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, chief executive officer of Feeding America, at the 2024 Commencement Ceremony in Notre Dame Stadium. (Photo by Matt Cashore/University of Notre Dame)

Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, chief executive officer of Feeding America and recipient of the 2024 Laetare Medal, remarked on a serendipitous connection to Sister Thea Bowman. A member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, Sister Bowman was the granddaughter of a slave and the first African American to be awarded the Laetare Medal — the oldest and most prestigious honor given to American Catholics.

Babineaux-Fontenot had been visiting an ailing family member and had been praying for “a better understanding of my assignment here,” when she drove by a church she’d attended when previously in the area that was named for Sister Bowman.

“As I began to learn about Mary Thea Bowman, there were profound ways that our life stories converged and very clear divergences as well,” she said. “And within my quest to know more about her life, I came to better understand my role today.”

Both Babineaux-Fontenot and Sister Bowman felt a strong calling toward their future at a young age.

“Around the same age that I, as a young girl, declared to my father that I would become a lawyer when I grew up, she declared to hers that she would become a Catholic,” Babineaux-Fontenot said.

“Sister Thea, as she was affectionately known, proceeded to live a life filled with service,” she added. “As she opened her whole self to others, including her identity as a Black, Catholic woman, she unlocked and embraced the fullness of those around her. She was, at her core, a bridge builder across human-made divides.”

Sister Bowman was diagnosed with breast cancer in her early 50s and died at 52 years old, just seven weeks before she was due to accept the Laetare Medal. The honor was awarded posthumously.

Babineaux-Fontenot was also diagnosed with breast cancer as she entered her 50s.

Cancer allowed her to “pivot,” she said, and led her to her current role as chief executive officer of Feeding America, a national network of more than 200 food banks and 60,000 charitable and faith-based partners with a mission to rescue, store and distribute food to more than 49 million people each year.

“My cancer woke me and led me to Feeding America where I’ve been blessed to be of service and to serve alongside extraordinary people,” Babineaux-Fontenot said. “People who, even in the face of a global health pandemic with significant risk to their own health, chose to provide meals to nearly 60 million people in 2020 alone. And, boy did they provide: 6.7 billion meals. And, my work at Feeding America has led me here.

“I am here,” she said, and called on graduates to consider, “What will it mean to the world that you are here too? What will we together choose to be in the world?”

Babineaux-Fontenot closed with words from Sister Bowman herself.

“I think she knew that at moments like this, we set superhuman expectations for ourselves. She knew, in ways I still struggle, that perfection is neither attainable nor, apparently, required,” Babineaux-Fontenot said. “In her words: ‘I think the difference between me and some people is that I’m content to do my little bit. Sometimes people think they have to do big things in order to make change. But if each one would light a candle, we’d have a tremendous light.’”

At the conclusion of the ceremony, Father Jenkins gave his last charge to the class of 2024 marking the end of a historical tenure as president of the University of Notre Dame — and the start of a new chapter.

Read transcripts of Father Jenkins’ speech and others delivered during the ceremony.

Contact: Sue Ryan, Executive Director, Media Relations, 574-631-7916, sue.ryan@nd.edu

Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.: 2024 Commencement Address

2024-05-19T11:01:58-04:00

Cardinal Pierre, Mr. Jack Brennan, Chair of our Board of Trustees, distinguished honorees, Notre Dame faculty and staff, parents and families of our graduates, and, above all, graduates of the Class of 2024: Welcome. Congratulations!

Let me begin with an apology. If you asked a graduating class who they would like as a commencement speaker, you might hear some of the following nominations:

The Pope;
The President of the United States;
Michelle Obama;
Taylor Swift;
Or, if not her, Travis Kelce.

They’d want star power - some name recognition.

But, Class of 2024, you got me. Apologies! First, you make it through the pandemic, and then you get me as a Commencement speaker. You can’t catch a break!

It is true, I don’t have the star power of the names listed above, but I have a few things that they do not have. One is that I sat in the seat that you are sitting in at my Commencement some 48 years ago.

Since I’m leaving the presidency I’m going to risk my reputation, throw caution to the wind, open the vault and show you some images from my undergraduate days.

Here is my yearbook photo.

My mother was upset for a long time that I didn’t get the haircut before the photo.

What was my dorm? Grace Hall.
Here is a typical room in Grace Hall in the 70’s.
So, what happened to the memorable traditions of Grace Hall and my senior year room?

They’re now university offices.
If those walls could talk!

My friends and I were all in for the North Dining Hall, the best dining hall on campus.

The big treats in the day were the occasional ice cream sundae bar and the even more occasional steak night which always was a source of great excitement.
There was definitely no southwest salad on Thursdays or bots to deliver food across campus.

My friends and I made the ritual pilgrimage for a photo at Knute Rockne’s grave then at Highland Cemetery near South Bend airport.

You guys had to endure the pandemic, but we had the fashions of the 1970’s to deal with.

And here is my Commencement Speaker, Vernon Jordan.

I’m sure he gave a great speech, but I don’t remember a word of it!
No doubt, that’s something you will say about your commencement speaker in a year or two.

So, my undergrad experience is one advantage in giving your Commencement speech. A second is that I’ve had the privilege to walk with you during your years at Notre Dame. And, thirdly, no one — aside from your parents — believes in you more, prays for you more, or is more hopeful for your future.

Speaking of your parents, I now ask you graduates to stand, turn, look in the direction of your parents and family and give them a big round of applause.

The reason for that applause is not simply because they raised you, supported you and loved you. It is also that the gifts you have to share with this world are gifts you received, at least in part, from them.

When I sat in your seat 48 years ago, I certainly appreciated my parents, but I did not realize how much I owed them.

In high school, I spent my summers working at a hospital in Omaha, Nebraska where my father served as a doctor. I would sometimes be making a bed or emptying a bedpan when my dad would come into the room to see one of his patients. I had observed that some doctors on rounds would enter the room with charts and a phalanx of interns, ask some medical questions and leave. I noticed that my dad would come in, pull up a chair, sit and ask a few medical questions. But he would often go on to ask about the person’s family, their children, or what they were worried about.

I have had the chance to observe and learn from many highly accomplished leaders, but watching my dad talk to his patients not just about their medical ailments but about their lives taught me the most about the power of treating every individual as a person worthy of respect.

My mother was a rare combination of kindness and strength. She had twelve children. Yes, we were Catholic. My home was always full of life and lots of chaos. She was not a strict, tightly organized manager of the household, but she laid down two inviolable rules: first, do your part for the common good, second take care of your siblings — particularly those younger than you. No one has taught me more about how to build and sustain a community.

Graduates, you have received a superb education from truly distinguished faculty who were dedicated to your learning. Spend some time thinking also about the gifts, often overlooked, that came from your families. Be confident in your gifts, but always be grateful to those from whom they came.

Class of 2024, your time has been like no other class. In addition to the ordinary anxieties of a first year in college, you came to a socially distanced, masked, Purell-drenched and somewhat tense campus. You had to endure regular COVID tests, isolation in South Bend hotels, spikes in positive cases, lock-downs and lots and lots of meals in Styrofoam containers.

Then, in October of 2020, these two beautiful friends, Valeria Espinel and Olivia Lara Rojas were tragically killed in a traffic accident, as Isabela said in her Valedictory and Shaker said in his Salutatorian prayer. The COVID disruption, isolation and hardships were difficult, but nothing wounded our hearts more than losing these two young women. They now rest in God’s arms, but they’re still members of the class of 2024 and yesterday, we awarded their families honorary degrees.

We are fortunate to have with us today Valeria Espinel’s father and brother, Ramon and Nicolas and members of her family. They’re right across from me and I’m going to ask them to stand so we can let them know how much we appreciate their presence with us today.

The Espinel family has taught us what it means to have hope and grace in the face of tragedy.

Class of 2024, your background, your education, your experiences and your hard work have given you the gifts the world needs. You will bring to the world intelligence, vitality and hope. But I don’t need to tell you about the challenges. There are wars that kill thousands of innocents; the intrinsic dignity of human life is disregarded; climate change continues apace on the earth, and our common home, is damaged; we see around the world great inequities and grinding poverty; authoritarian regimes have emerged and democratic institutions struggle; there are bigotries of various kinds and systemic injustices.

While these global threats are daunting, I’d like to speak today about something more pedestrian yet more in our control and perhaps more critical to solving the challenges. I’d like to talk about how we deal with our disagreements and advance our views.

I recently had the chance to speak to a long-standing member of Congress who has announced his retirement, somewhat dismayed at the state of the institution. He observed that partisan politics have adopted a business model that requires each side to differentiate themselves from the other, vilify the opposition, stoke hatred and thereby generate financial contributions and votes. It is, he said, as if stoking hatred for the opposition, however defined, is an essential part of political mobilization on both sides. Yet that strategy, though perhaps effective at winning elections, leaves us unable to talk to one another, solve problems through compromise, and pursue the common good together.

My message to you today is very simple: don’t succumb! Don’t be seduced by hatred. Rather show the world that your commitment to your convictions does not require that you show contempt for those who do not share them.

I encourage you to express your convictions, join with those who agree, and work diligently for what you believe. But I urge you also to be suspicious of rhetoric that casts those who disagree as evil. I urge that you do not dismiss dissenters. I urge that you engage not only the like-minded, but also those with a different view. And I hope you enter into those conversations with an openness to learn as well as teach, to understand the other person as well as correct their errors. In short, treat your dialogical opponent with respect, and thereby show them love.

The invitation to vilify an opponent is so seductive perhaps because it can seem like a confirmation of our own virtue. If we speak only to those with whom we agree, our contempt for the evil opposition can seem a sign of our own moral superiority. We despise the others so much, we tell ourselves, because they are so evil and we are so good. Our prayer is like the Pharisee in Luke’s Gospel, “Thank you, Lord, that I am not like other people: swindlers, the unjust, adulterers, tax-collectors . . . or people who think like that.” But that is a false prayer to a false god.

As St. Augustine wrote, “It is strange that we should not realize that no enemy could be more dangerous to us than the hatred with which we hate him.” Or, as a friend once said in a more commonplace metaphor, “Hatred is an acid that corrodes any container that carries it.”

My second piece of advice is this: find ways to engage and build relationships beyond work and narrow social groups. Be an active member of your parish or Church; work at a homeless center or a food bank; serve on your school board; be a big brother or big sister; coach a youth soccer team. Most of all, get off your phones! Make real human communities and not simply digital connections. Such activities are not only good in themselves they help us make connections with people we otherwise would not have known.

Such activities are not only good in themselves, they help us make connections with people we otherwise would not have known. Such activities alleviate what a recent Surgeon General has called an epidemic of loneliness in our country. To paraphrase the words of the distinguished political scientist, Robert Putnam, who visited our campus this year: Join a club. Don’t bowl alone!

Class of 2024, you are especially suited to do these things because you know what it is like to get through a stressful, trying period by joining with others. You made it through the COVID pandemic, on campus, in person, in a community. Here. Few college students in this country can say that.

You know better than anyone how to join with others, confront daunting challenges and get through hard times.

One hundred years ago, before this stadium had been built, there was a growing debate about a nickname that was being pinned on our football team. An alumnus wrote to the Scholastic objecting to “Fighting Irish” name because, he said, “not all our players are of Irish descent!” Another fired back, “You don’t have to be from Ireland to be Irish!”

A few years later, the then-President Fr. Matthew Walsh issued a statement: “The university authorities are in no way averse to the name ‘Fighting Irish’ as applied to our athletic teams … I sincerely hope that we may always be worthy of the ideal embodied in the term ‘Fighting Irish.’

In 2006, at my first Commencement as Notre Dame’s President, the then-President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, was the speaker. She said to us, “The language you use here, the “Fighting Irish” … what we mean when we talk about it is an indomitable spirit, never tentative, always fully committed, to life itself … an indomitable spirit that always seeks to dig deeper to find the courage to transcend … that’s really the spirit of the Fighting Irish.”

Class of 2024, that is who you are. No other class in Notre Dame’s history has had to show more tenacity, more grit, more ‘fight’ to come to this day. Be proud of what you have done. Use what you have learned here and show the same fight in meeting the challenges before you.

Know that you will always have a special place in my heart because of what we’ve been through together. As I often say, one of my true joys as President is to meet alumni of Notre Dame all around the world and hear of their remarkable accomplishments and their dedicated service. That will certainly be true for you, members of the class of 2024. I look forward to the time, years hence, when I will meet you and feel proud that you are a graduate of Notre Dame.

Thank you. God bless you all.

Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.: 2024 Citation for Hesburgh-Stephan Medal for John J. Brennan

2024-05-19T10:55:00-04:00

When Notre Dame inaugurated the Hesburgh-Stephan Medal, it was to recognize members of our Board of Trustees for uncommon and exemplary contributions to the governance and mission of the University.

In 1967, University President Father Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C., and then Board Chair, Edmund A. Stephan, framed the legal structure under which Notre Dame shifted its governance model to a two-tiered model of a Board of Fellows and the full Board of Trustees, both including lay and religious members, which became a blueprint for similar changes at religious institutions across the country. This medal recalls that partnership.

Sir, you are a most fitting recipient of this medal, for you have served this University with the same dedication, devotion, and vision that characterized the leaders for which it is named. A Trustee for 15 years and Board Chair for eight, you understand well the opportunities and challenges with governance of a modern global Catholic research university.

You have been a transformative Board Chair, reinvigorating the Board and more sharply focusing its governance role; restructuring Board committees and more clearly defining their roles; refreshing the Board with talented, committed, and diverse new members; overseeing the transition of a President and other key University officers; and showing almost boundless generosity with your treasure and time to assist the President and other leaders, making possible the progress Notre Dame has seen during your tenure. Sir, your legacy at Notre Dame will live long beyond your time as chair.

With profound gratitude for your selfless servant-leadership, for the many ways you inspire us and for all your friendship shown to so many of us, the University of Notre Dame bestows the Hesburgh-Stephan Medal on John J. Brennan, Boston, Massachusetts.

Shaker Erbini: 2024 Invocation

2024-05-19T09:46:00-04:00

As is our tradition at the University of Notre Dame, let us begin with prayer.

Oh God, Creator of the Heavens and Earth, you are the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful. Your mercy is the reason we are able to gather here today. Your mercy is infinite; it encompasses everything. It is visible in the relationships that we have formed over our four years here and that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

It was felt in the moments in which we were given advice by a friend or mentor, the moments in which we prayed together, and the moments in which we endured the loss of several classmates to unexpected accidents and the loss of loved ones to the pandemic. Your mercy made it possible to spend our freshman year here, on campus, when so many universities could not afford to do the same. Your mercy continues to be felt in this moment, four years later, as we graduate with our classmates. May you let us always observe, feel, and experience your mercy in our lives.

Oh God, we cannot be thankful to you without thanking those whom you have put in our lives to support us.

Thank you to our families who have had to sacrifice so much for us to be here. And thank you to our Notre Dame family who welcomed us, nurtured us, and challenged us to become better students, friends, and servants of yours.

Oh God, you are the knower of the unseen. You know the dreams we hope to accomplish in our hearts, so we ask you to make them a reality. You also know our intentions, so we ask you for a sincere intention in all that we do. Let our intention be for your sake, not because you benefit, but because we benefit and the world benefits when we sincerely strive for your sake.

Finally, Oh God, we ask you to let us be voices for the voiceless. May you guide us to use the privilege and influence we have as members of the Notre Dame family to bring peace and justice to all who are suffering and oppressed in the world. Let us be forces for good.

We ask you to please protect us, guide us, and bless us in this endeavor as we leave our home. Amen.

Notre Dame celebrates 125 years of wireless innovation and education

2024-04-18T13:03:00-04:00

The University of Notre Dame is celebrating 125 years of wireless research, education and innovation with a modern re-enactment of one of the first long-range wireless transmissions conducted in the United States and a full-day symposium of panels and lab tours on Friday (April 19).

On April 19, 1899, Jerome Green, a professor in the University’s electrical department, transmitted a wireless message from Notre Dame’s Basilica of the Sacred Heart to Saint Mary’s College — known as Saint Mary’s Academy at the time — more than a mile away.

The experiment was a marvel for its day. Green and his students built their own radio equipment, taking inspiration from the wireless telegraphy system developed by Guglielmo Marconi. Wooden posts were used to suspend a 150-foot-long wire transmit antenna from the spire of the Basilica. Faculty and students confirmed receipt of the message using a similar antenna at Saint Mary’s Science Hall, now called Bertrand Hall.

The modern re-enactment of the transmission will also take place between the Basilica and Bertrand Hall, though the transmit antenna will be shortened since the Basilica’s spire is no longer accessible. The transmitter and receiver equipment has been updated to account for the thousands of wireless transmitters and receivers active today in the surrounding area as well as the evolution of electronic circuits over the past 125 years.

Panel discussions will address the history of early wireless experiments, contributions to wireless innovation and radio spectrum access by researchers at Notre Dame, wireless broadband digital inclusion, and the future of wireless and research initiatives. Lab tours in Cushing-Fitzpatrick Hall and Stinson-Remick Hall are being offered to showcase the University’s current research capabilities, including collaborative partnerships at the regional and national levels.

Nick Laneman, director of SpectrumX, co-director of Notre Dame’s Wireless Institute and professor of electrical engineering. (Photo by Matt Cashore/University of Notre Dame)

“There are a lot of issues that people take for granted, or are completely unaware of, when it comes to wireless technologies and their natural resource, the radio spectrum,” said Nick Laneman, professor of electrical engineering, co-director of Notre Dame’s Wireless Institute and director of SpectrumX, the National Science Foundation Spectrum Innovation Center. “When you communicate with family and friends, check the weather or schedule a rideshare on your smartphone, you’re not using just your mobile device and the cellular network. You’re leveraging satellite systems that collect measurements used in weather forecasting — and those satellites also rely on the radio spectrum to both sense and communicate their data. You’re relying on GPS to identify your position to inform the weather or rideshare app of your location. There are a bunch of different wireless systems you’re relying on, and they all rely on the radio spectrum.”

Numerous technology and application developments in wireless since early experiments like Green’s now require careful deliberation when it comes to allocating radio spectrum for various uses, both nationally and globally. Notre Dame is at the forefront of this critical area of research and public scholarship through its leadership role in SpectrumX, a collaboration of experts from more than four dozen organizations in academia, industry and government.

Academic voices have largely been missing from conversations on spectrum management and allocation, Laneman said. Notre Dame’s faculty and collaborative network of engineering, scientific, economic and legal expertise in SpectrumX is poised to propose technology and policy options and better inform policymakers as they evolve regulation and spectrum management approaches for the 21st century.

The University, through a parallel initiative, was selected in October to receive a Strategy Development Grant to lead the Midwest Wireless Innovation Strategy Development Consortium, part of the newly launched Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs Program announced by the U.S. Department of Commerce and its Economic Development Administration. The consortium will develop a strategy to connect, strengthen and grow a network of more than 20 partners specializing in advanced wireless technology innovation, commercialization and workforce training.

“It’s an exciting time in wireless, much like in the early days of Marconi, Green and others, but for different reasons,” Laneman said. “Now all aspects of modern life are supported by wireless applications. Government and non-government entities are all trying to make better use of the radio spectrum to sustain innovation, economic development and national security. Academics and entrepreneurs can contribute in significant ways — and support partners in government and industry — to address these technology and policy challenges, and balance the needs of these important applications.”

Through these initiatives, Notre Dame and its collaborators look forward to celebrating even more achievements in wireless over the next 125 years.

Learn more about 125 years of wireless innovation and education at Notre Dame at https://wireless.nd.edu/125-years/.

Contact: Jessica Sieff, associate director of media relations, 574-631-3933, jsieff@nd.edu

Notre Dame professor Monisha Ghosh testifies at Senate hearing on ‘Spectrum and National Security’

2024-03-21T17:30:00-04:00

Monisha Ghosh, professor of electrical engineering at the University of Notre Dame, testified on Thursday (March 21) before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on the topic of “Spectrum and National Security.”

The hearing, chaired by U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, focused on the critical need for a “coordinated and comprehensive approach to domestic spectrum policy,” believed to be critical to U.S. national security. The committee sought opinions from experts on countering international threats and ways to ensure “the United States leads in spectrum use policy that protects the nation’s critical national security and economic competitiveness missions.”

Increased reliance on and use of spectrum — radio frequencies used for everything from mobile broadband to GPS navigation as well as satellite and defense applications — have raised questions about how to manage what is a key natural resource efficiently and effectively.

Ghosh stressed the need for policies that enhance national security through sustainable allocation of spectrum. Those policies, she said, must balance the current and future needs of the commercial wireless sector, scientific applications and mission-critical federal operations including radar used for defense, weather, aviation, GPS navigation and satellite systems.

“The U.S. leads the world today in innovations in spectrum policy that have delivered wireless applications that impact all aspects of our life, from broadband connectivity to national security and scientific breakthroughs,” Ghosh said in her written testimony. “This leadership must continue to ensure that all options are evaluated to create a sustainable spectrum strategy for every system that requires access to spectrum.”

Ghosh is an expert in spectrum sharing and coexistence, wireless networks, signal processing, wireless broadband mapping, measurements and experimental methods. Before coming to Notre Dame, she served as chief technology officer at the Federal Communications Commission, developing strategies in response to explosive growth of broadband wireless communications technologies.

In addition to her faculty position, Ghosh serves as policy outreach coordinator for SpectrumX, a National Science Foundation Spectrum Innovation Initiative Center led by Notre Dame’s Wireless Institute. The center is a collaboration of experts from more than four dozen academic institutions, businesses and government organizations working to transform the landscape of spectrum research, education, collaboration and management.

Ghosh also emphasized the need for dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) — a practice allowing both government and private users to access the same frequency at the same time while protecting primary users from potentially harmful interference.

According to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, DSS has been used by the Citizens Broadband Radio Service, a multi-tiered licensing framework through which federal and non-federal entities access the same band of radio frequency at 3.5 GHz. “While the government isn’t using the airwaves, companies and the public can gain access through a tiered licensing arrangement,” the NTIA has said.

“Dynamic spectrum sharing is a key technological innovation that was conceived of and first implemented in the U.S.,” Ghosh wrote in her testimony. “However, we must continue the innovations to ensure that both policies and technologies lead to the development of a truly sharing-native wireless ecosystem that continues to serve all needs.”

Before concluding, Ghosh urged the committee to consider the need for long-term spectrum research and development.

“The U.S. has always led the world in spectrum policy and technology innovations,” she said. “I’m confident that the actions of this committee and the all-of-government approach outlined in the National Spectrum Strategy will solidify our position.”

Notre Dame celebrates 125 years of wireless innovation and research this year: The University conducted the first long-distance wireless transmission in North America in 1899. Those early experiments have led to numerous technology and application developments in wireless that now require careful deliberation when it comes to allocating radio spectrum for certain uses. Through research at the Wireless Institute and SpectrumX, Notre Dame continues to be at the forefront of wireless innovation.

Contact: Jessica Sieff, associate director of media relations, 574-631-3933, jsieff@nd.edu

Microfluidic environments alter microbe behaviors, opening potential for engineering social evolution

2024-02-06T12:21:00-05:00

Microbes are social beings.

Much like humans, they communicate and cooperate with each other to solve problems bigger than themselves. In a microbial community, there will even be free riders, and others that police them.

So, what if researchers could influence their social evolution to promote certain behaviors? Doing so can be vital to solving many of today’s challenges such as combating infection and antibiotic resistance, developing microbial strategies for wastewater treatment or harvesting alternative energy sources.

A research group led by Dervis Can Vural, an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Notre Dame, explored how the social evolution of microbes can be manipulated by tuning the physical parameters of the environment in which they live. The results were recently published in Biophysical Journal.

“Fluid dynamics changes everything,” Vural said. “What we wanted to know was whether we could engineer the social structure of microbial communities. Based on our models, the answer is yes.”

Microorganisms communicate and cooperate using various secretions that are costly to produce, yet provide a benefit to the whole community. These products are called “public goods.” For example, they might secrete digestive enzymes, which then break down the food around them, and this benefits all.

Then there are cheaters. These free riders don’t contribute to the pool of public goods as much, but they still benefit from the contributions of others — and they are a detriment to the system.

“Cheaters care more about their own success than that of the community,” Vural explained. “Since they contribute less to the public goods, they can dedicate more resources to self-reproduction. So, they multiply faster than others and eventually, they will dominate the population. The act of cheating spreads and you see very few microbes actually doing the work — and when nobody does the work, the whole population collapses.”

Through physically and biologically realistic computational models, the researchers set out to understand how to control the interaction structure to “help utilize the full potential of microbial populations,” they wrote in the study.

Fluid flow creates shear forces, a kind of motion that pulls microbial clusters apart and causes them to fragment. “If clusters fragment more often than the rate at which cheating mutants show up, cooperation prevails,” Vural said. “So, by controlling the pattern of flow, we can control the pattern of cooperation.”

Vural’s team looked at multiple means of controlling the evolution of social behavior, including applying different flow patterns through various chambers, funnels, microchannels, filters and chemicals, and in some cases in periodic pulses. Some models were designed to create a vortex, which, through its shear pattern, localized cooperators within a ring while pushing cheaters to the outer rim of the environment — essentially localizing cooperation.

“You can have microbes cooperate within one vicinity but nowhere else,” Vural explained. “You can promote cooperative behavior so there are no cheaters popping up and threatening the population. You can do the opposite — encourage cheaters to kill off a population of microorganisms if desired. And you can do anything in between. You can fine-tune the degree of cooperation.”

Vural’s approach doesn’t attempt to inhibit microbes’ ability to secrete a public good or waste or act as a cheater — instead, it creates an environment that causes the microorganisms to evolve in one way or the other. “We’re not dealing with individuals,” he said. “We’re making a whole population evolve by adjusting the physics in a way that incentivizes them to cheat or cooperate.”

The study is the latest research from Vural on the potential of engineering social evolution in microfluidic environments. “Turning these ideas into experimental reality will be a complex undertaking,” he admitted, saying that it will require a very fine-tuned device fixed with microscopic tubes, filters and flow chambers. But he said the results are very promising and motivate “evolutionary engineering” as a new field of study.

“Our work is typically theoretically driven, but in this case, we were motivated by the very real possibility of engineering social evolution,” Vural said. “Experiments will be complicated but there is huge potential for practical use.”

The simulations were carried out by Vural’s student Gurdip Uppal, now at Harvard Medical 91��Ƶ.

Contact: Jessica Sieff, associate director, media relations, 574-631-3933, jsieff@nd.edu

Competitors on the field, Notre Dame, Ohio State remain collaborators in research

2023-09-21T11:01:53-04:00

While the undefeated Fighting Irish and the Ohio State Buckeyes will meet as competitors Saturday (Sept. 23) at Notre Dame Stadium, the two universities have a long history of collaborating off the field to advance research in semiconductor and microelectronics, business and economics.

Semiconductors and microelectronics

Notre Dame is one of 11 founding members of the Midwest Semiconductor Network, led by Ohio State University, which aims to support the development of semiconductor nanofabrication facilities in the Midwest as well as the broader, national efforts to promote U.S. leadership in semiconductors and microelectronics. Alan Seabaugh, the Frank M. Freimann Professor of Electrical Engineering and director of Notre Dame Nanoscience and Technology (NDnano) has served on the network’s steering committee, which also has a focus on designing the curriculum needed to prepare a skilled workforce and create opportunities for experiential learning.

Learn about NDnano here.

Learn more about the Midwest Semiconductor Network here.

Read about “The Chip Makers” here.

Business and Economics

“Lyft” vs. “Lift.” What’s in a name? A lot, actually, when it comes to brand names. John Costello, assistant professor of marketing at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, and Jesse Walker and Rebecca Walker Reczek at Ohio State University studied how unconventionally spelled brand names may influence positive consumer perceptions. Their research, published in the Journal of Marketing, included 3,000 participants and eight experimental studies, measuring real and incentive-compatible consumption behavior.

‘Powerful Conversations’ with TSU President Glenda Baskin Glover to explore race, gender and faith in leadership

2023-08-30T08:30:00-04:00

Now more than ever, Americans are identifying as multiracial, with numbers growing from 9 million people in 2010 to 33.8 million in 2020. That shift is sure to impact what the seat of power in America will look like for future generations.

Angela Logan

That’s the focus of “Powerful Conversations,” a series hosted by Angela Logan, the St. Andre Bessette Academic Director of the Master of Nonprofit Administration Program and associate teaching professor at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, exploring the importance of race, gender and faith to the work of leadership. Logan’s first guest is Glenda Baskin Glover, president of Tennessee State University.

Logan and Glover will discuss a new framework for business leadership, experiences learned over the course of Glover’s career, fostering an environment for cultural identity, and the impact faith and family can have on one’s professional life.

“One of the reasons why this topic jumped out at me was the whole notion of ‘what does a leader look like?’” Logan said. “When you think of a leader, women — women of color, Black women — don’t immediately jump to mind. When I looked at leadership theory, I was nowhere to be found. Even 20 years later, there’s still not a lot of room for women leaders who look like me to see themselves in the literature. For someone who looks like me, who is just starting out in their career, they haven’t seen research that reflects their experiences.”

The fireside chat will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday (Aug. 31) in the Morris Inn’s Smith Ballroom. The event is free and open to the public. A livestream of the event will be available for those unable to attend in person.

Glenda Baskin Glover

“I’m honored to be included in this very important discussion on Black women in leadership,” said Glover. “It is extremely important to showcase all facets of what success looks like, because oftentimes women of color are not included. While many of us may be referred to as trailblazers, we want to normalize Black women as effective leaders from the C-Suite to the classroom and beyond.”

Glover announced she will retire at the end of the spring 2024 semester, capping a decade of service in the role as president of one of the country’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). In 2022 President Joe Biden appointed her to serve as vice chair of the President’s Board of Advisors on HBCUs. She is one of two African American women to hold the Ph.D., J.D., CPA combination in the country. Glover has also served as president of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. (AKA), America’s oldest service organization founded by college-educated African American women.

“Managing two multimillion-dollar organizations at the same time (TSU and AKA) is something I’m eager to talk about,” Logan said, “because that is a clear integration of professional, personal and civic interests.”

Logan has been studying the intersection of race, gender and nonprofit philanthropic leadership for 20 years, interviewing women in leadership positions at various nonprofit foundations. She found two key indicators for success: how faith played a role in their lives and the influence their families had on them.

Her research also focuses on the impacts of having a holistic, integrated life. “Your faith has an impact on how you show up in the world and in your work,” she said.

Understanding how to have an integrated faith life, regardless of the type of faith, can ground women in why they do their nonprofit work.

“If you don’t have something to ground you,” Logan said, “the work will grind you up.”

The conversation will kick off a historic weekend as the Fighting Irish prepare to take on the TSU Tigers in the football season’s home opener. It’s the first time in program history the Irish will play an HBCU. Several events are scheduled on and around campus exploring the historical and cultural significance of HBCUs and football and community at HBCUs, as well as leadership and the culture of diversity.

[See the list of campus events here.]

“It’s going to be an amazing opportunity for our campus and our community,” Logan said of the full slate of events taking place over the weekend. “Thinking about the [TSU Aristocrat of Bands] marching band, the presence of Black fraternities and sororities on campus — it’s going to be magical to see.”

Contact: Jessica Sieff, associate director, media relations, 574-631-3933, jsieff@nd.edu

Notre Dame panel to shine light on current and historical significance of HBCUs

2023-08-28T15:01:51-04:00

When the University of Notre Dame hosts Tennessee State University (TSU) this weekend (Sept. 2), it will be the first time in program history the Irish will take to the field with a Historically Black College and University (HBCU).

Several campus and community events are scheduled to commemorate the historic matchup — beginning with “The Historical and Current Significance of HBCUs,” a panel discussion highlighting the vital role HBCUs have and continue to play in higher education in the United States.

The panel will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday (Aug. 31) at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center’s Patricia George Decio Theatre. The event is free (but ticketed) and open to the public. (Ticket information is below. To reserve tickets now click here.)

“Historically, HBCUs were formed to educate the sons and daughters of former slaves and to give African Americans an opportunity to gain an education and then build a career and a life,” said Eric Love, event host and organizer and director of staff diversity and inclusion for Notre Dame’s Office of Human Resources. “Today, these schools are still underfunded compared to white contemporary institutions but play a significant role in better serving the African American population — and are doing more with less.”

Earlier this year, a report by ABFE: A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities and Candid, a nonprofit research group that focuses on nonprofits, foundations and grants, found that funding to HBCUs from large foundations in the U.S. has declined from 2002 to 2019.

According to the report, “The average Ivy League institution received 178 times more foundation funding than the average HBCU.”

Thursday’s panel will begin with a keynote by Charlie Nelms, former chancellor of North Carolina Central University — an HBCU — and professor emeritus at Indiana University (IU). Nelms received his undergraduate degree from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, also an HBCU, and a master’s degree and doctorate in education from Indiana University. He was the first African American chancellor of an IU campus when appointed to chancellor of IU East in Richmond, Indiana, in 1987. He would serve in the role until 1994. In 2019, the Indiana University Press published his book “From Cotton Fields to University Leadership: All Eyes on Charlie, A Memoir.”

Nelms has been “intricately involved” in HBCUs throughout his career, training future leaders, advocating on their behalf and fundraising, Love said. “It’s monumental that we have someone with his experience to give our keynote.”

Members of the panel include Charles H. Galbreath Jr., president of the TSU National Alumni Association and a senior consultant in the field of juvenile justice; Rev. Hugh Page Jr., vice president for institutional transformation and advisor to the president at Notre Dame; Nyrée McDonald, associate dean, graduate enrollment management in the Graduate 91��Ƶ; and Cidni Sanders, executive director of diversity communications in Notre Dame’s Office of Public Affairs and Communications.

Panelists will share personal stories and experiences of their time attending HBCUs. Love said he hopes the discussion will educate staff on the enduring relevance of HBCUs, including how graduates contribute to the greater good as leaders in their respective fields.

With so many events scheduled over the weekend, Love said students, faculty, staff and the South Bend community will have a unique opportunity to explore the impact and influence of HBCUs beyond the game.

“The goal is to learn, expand our knowledge, build camaraderie with other institutions and with each other as well,” Love said.

[See the list of campus events here.]

“This weekend is about more than just a sporting event,” Love said. “It’s an educational experience. It’s a cultural experience. It’s giving reverence to HBCUs and the important work they’ve done from their inception.”

Tickets may be reserved at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center online or by calling the ticket office at 574-631-2800. Tickets will be available for pickup at the ticket office one hour prior to performance. A reception will follow.

To guarantee your seat, pick up your tickets at least 15 minutes prior to the show. In the event of a sellout, unclaimed tickets will be used to seat patrons waiting on standby.

Contact: Jessica Sieff, associate director, media relations, 574-631-3933, jsieff@nd.edu

Scientists find PFAS in feminine hygiene products

2023-08-11T14:37:00-04:00

Researchers at the University of Notre Dame are sharing findings from a study on perfluorinated substances (PFAS), known as “forever chemicals,” in a wide range of feminine hygiene products.

Graham Peaslee

Graham Peaslee, professor of physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Notre Dame, and graduate student Alyssa Wicks are presenting their results at a meeting of the American Chemical Society this weekend, which will be submitted for a peer-reviewed publication soon after the conference.

The researchers tested more than 100 samples, consisting of both packaging and individual products, for fluorinated compounds including menstrual underwear, disposable and reusable pads, tampons, menstrual cups, panty liners and disposable and reusable incontinence underwear.

Relatively high total fluorine levels were found in a subset of period underwear, which researchers said indicates use of intentional polymeric PFAS, which are PFAS added directly to the synthetic fabric when it is being made. The highest amounts measured with total fluorine were over 100,000 parts per million. This is equivalent to fluorine making up 10 percent of the product.

Some — but not all — disposable pads, reusable pads, disposable incontinence underwear and wrappers tested were found to contain intentional fluorination as a treatment to the product. Others showed no measurable fluorine at all.

“We found a high level of fluorine content in only some of the products tested, which tells us treating these products with PFAS is not essential,” Peaslee said. “Since this is a dangerous class of chemical compounds — we know PFAS build up in the bloodstream and that they cause serious health issues — we should move away from any non-essential use of PFAS in consumer products.”

Some products tested contained fluorine concentrations that were considered “unintentional fluorine contamination,” which could be due to the use of polymer processing aids. Those products included some period underwear, disposable pads, reusable pads, tampon applicators, disposable incontinence pads and underwear, and plastic wrappers.

This isn’t the first study to determine the presence of PFAS in feminine hygiene products, Wicks said. Researchers in China published a study earlier this year, though that study focused on mostly Chinese-made products. In 2019, Peaslee tested a pair of Thinx brand period underwear. His analysis found that inner layers of the underwear had been treated with PFAS.

Choosing to conduct a more extensive study of feminine hygiene products and packaging, Wicks tested each item using particle-induced gamma-ray emission spectroscopy — a novel method Peaslee developed that allows for measurement of total fluorine content in minutes.

A subset of 42 various products underwent targeted analysis using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry to determine the presence and concentrations of specific types of PFAS. “This type of targeted PFAS analysis that Alyssa performed is the necessary confirmation that the total fluorine measured originally comes from the use of polymeric and non-polymeric PFAS in these products,” Peaslee said.

“A much larger study is needed to make stronger conclusions about the feminine hygiene product industry as a whole,” Wicks added.

Perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) are a major public health and environmental concern. Used primarily for their nonstick, water-resistant properties, the chemicals have been linked to several adverse health risks, including an increased risk of prostate, kidney and testicular cancer; immune suppression; low birth weight; developmental delays in children; accelerated puberty; and behavioral changes.

While scientists have yet to determine how well specific PFAS are absorbed through the skin, Wicks said direct dermal absorption is one of two routes of exposure. Like other items treated with PFAS (fast food wrappers, cosmetics, school uniforms and firefighter gear among them), these feminine hygiene products invariably end up in landfills.

[Learn more about Peaslee's research on PFAS in firefighter gear.]

“Since PFAS are persistent chemicals,” Wicks said, “they will travel through soil into irrigation water and drinking water sources and end up being a source of contamination for all humans — not just those who use or wear the products we studied.”

Contact: Jessica Sieff, associate director, media relations, 574-631-3933, jsieff@nd.edu

An education in service to others: Researching the potential of trauma-informed care

2023-05-09T16:34:00-04:00

As central command of the human nervous system, the brain is a symphony of billions of neural connections — each inextricably linked to every facet of our being.

Genetic, environmental, cellular and molecular factors have a profound impact during development in early childhood through adolescence. Neuroscience has shown that the brain is as sensitive as it is captivating, as quick to learn as it is vulnerable to trauma.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 61 percent of adults have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE) in their lifetime — incidents of physical, emotional or sexual abuse; neglect; witnessing acts of violence, substance abuse or mental health issues; natural disasters; grief and loss.

Understanding the needs and expectations of the developing nervous system and the neural architecture that guides everyone from early childhood through adolescence and into adulthood is at the core of the Developmental Neuroscience and Brain Health Community-Engaged Research courses, both taught by Nancy Michael, the Rev. John A. Zahm, C.S.C., Associate Teaching Professor and director of undergraduate studies in neuroscience and behavior.

As part of these courses, Michael’s students work with area organizations such as the Robinson Community Learning Center, the South Bend Center for the Homeless, the Family Justice Center of St. Joseph County, Beacon Health System and the St. Joseph County Department of Health to apply the principles of neuroscience in programs that can impact children and adults at different stages of development.

Senior Lydia Liang works with preschoolers at the Robinson Community Learning Center.
(Photo by Barbara Johnston/University of Notre Dame)

By working with these partners, the goal is to create healthier communities,
develop a better understanding of human resilience and help individuals and communities live closer to the way our human nervous systems expect for wellness — a paradigm shift to how we live now, Michael said.

“We have a biological imperative to have people consistently caring for us, a place in the world and a purpose,” Michael said. But the reality, she said, is too often too many do not experience healthy, consistent care, and cultural norms in the United States around success and rugged individualism can perpetuate the belief that asking for help at any age is a sign of weakness — “which is a complete contradiction to a foundational imperative that all human nervous systems need for health and well-being across a lifespan.”

Adversity is embedded in the human experience and there are different dimensions of experience that can become traumas, Michael said. What often becomes trauma evolves in the developing or developed brain when the expectations from the environment — consistent, responsive and compassionate care; regular fresh air; body movement; three-dimensional multi-sensory experiences — go unmet.

The further one’s experience is from the brain’s expectations, the greater the vulnerability of the nervous system — what initially begins as an adaptation to a particular environmental experience can have a domino effect within our neural circuitry, damaging brain cells in the hippocampus, impairing cognition and memory, leading to an increased risk of anxiety, depression and chronic illness in adults. This is why positive relationships become so critical in tipping the scales, and protecting individuals across all periods of life.

With all people, and especially those of us who have had a harder go of it, Michael says, the opportunity is to take what we know about the “non-negotiables” for brain health, and do our best to care for ourselves and others, in ways that all brains expect.

Health care systems have identified childhood trauma as a primary community health concern, and ACEs have been linked to at least five of the top 10 leading causes of death in the country. Prevention could result in 21 million fewer cases of depression, 1.9 million fewer cases of heart disease and 2.5 million fewer cases of obesity, and annual health care savings of billions of dollars.

Area health care workers, social workers and law enforcement officials recognize the problems associated with ACEs. What they need are solutions.

“If we wait for the hospitals, the policymakers or the system to solve these problems, more likely than not, those problems won’t get better — they’re more likely to get worse because we are abdicating our personal responsibilities for our own and each other’s well-being,” Michael said. “We construct our sense of safety from the earliest stages through the care of others. We’re completely dependent upon care from others, and while caregiving behaviors change and caregiving relationships change, we are never independent from how we are perceived and how we are integrated into the broader community. We grow from being dependent to interdependent. We are obligated to one another on a biological level, far beyond what most of us can fathom.”

Through a combination of neuroscience, organizational change theory and community capacity building strategies, Michael and her students work with their community partners to develop organizational strategies promoting trauma-informed care — aimed at shifting perspectives so all people get the treatment they need with dignity, regardless of appearances.

“The community work is about communicating neuroscience clearly enough so that everyone develops an understanding of what all human nervous systems expect,” said Michael. “When we have a better understanding of what the nervous system needs, we do a better job meeting those expectations for ourselves and for the people in our lives.”

Frank Spesia, PACEs (positive and adverse childhood experiences) coordinator for the St. Joseph County Department of Health, said students taking part in Michael’s courses are a “valuable resource.”

“People are poorly educated in causality,” Spesia said. “Neuroscience, and this work with Nancy’s students, helps to connect the dots and show how things don’t happen in a vacuum. The thing we’re selling is so obvious when you hear it. We’re asking people to be nicer to each other.”

The course teaches students how to apply neuroscience to real-world issues in communities with varying needs, but the education goes much deeper: teaching them how to use their education in service to others.

“In this work, you can’t follow a plan step by step,” junior Tom Krapfl said. “You can’t make a plan for the community based on your perceived needs for them. You have to listen to what they really need. It’s different than any other work.”

This semester, Krapfl is working with Self-Healing Communities of Greater Michiana, a coalition focused on building strategies and implementing community change models driven by neuroscience to address trauma, healing and human resilience in area communities and organizations such as South Bend’s Center for Hospice Care.

Krapfl provides information about services available through hospice care, bridging what he called a “knowledge gap” between what people know and what resources are actually available to them. He said he has been genuinely moved by his coursework with Michael, working with individuals going through the grieving process.

“It’s emotional work, seeing the kind of support caregivers need,” he said.

Senior Lydia Liang works with the Robinson Community Learning Center’s preschool program, interacting with children ages 3-5, and said she’s seeing a lot of children dealing with ACEs. They come to the RCLC with different experiences. Some are children of refugees, some are immigrants and others are from within the local community.

“They’re so young and already they have gone through so much,” she said. “But there’s an opportunity to rewrite the stories these communities are used to. Seeing how many people live such a different life, it has put an emphasis on how important this work is. Every little thing contributes in some way.”

Michael said: “Liang’s project this semester involves incorporating neuroscience learnings into informational materials sent home to parents to educate them on neuroscience and early childhood brain development.

“There’s not a single strategy that’s going to be universally adoptable. I’m a neuroscientist, and I believe in data. But from an individual and community healing lens, when the person in front of me has experienced trauma and then feels hopeful that things can be different—that is also a valid and reliable measure. A lot of this work is about hope—and igniting courage to take action.”

Expert panel to discuss PFAS in firefighting gear with documentary film screening

2023-04-13T15:09:00-04:00

Peaslee

On April 29 (Saturday), the University of Notre Dame will host a screening of “BURNED: Protecting the Protectors” — a short documentary exploring the link between perfluorinated substances, known as “forever chemicals,” and decades of cancer in the firefighting community.

The screening will take place at the DeBartolo Performing Art Center’s Browning Cinema at 6:30 p.m.

The film follows the story of Diane Cotter, whose husband, Paul, a firefighter of 27 years at the time, was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Cotter’s concern led her to question the materials used in Paul’s gear.

Her persistence led her to Graham Peaslee, professor of physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Notre Dame. Peaslee’s research found fabric used for firefighter turnout gear tested positive for the presence of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), a toxic class of fluorine compounds called “forever chemicals.”

Peaslee and his lab have found PFAS in a growing list of industrial and consumer products including cosmetics, school uniforms and fast food wrappers. His research was further explored in Notre Dame’s What Would You Fight For? series.

Bilott

The screening will be followed by a moderated Q&A to discuss the issue of PFAS in firefighter gear and the making of the film with Peaslee alongside the film’s director, Elijah Yetter-Bowman, and Rob Bilott, partner at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP.

Bilott has gained international prominence in connection with uncovering and disclosing the worldwide impact of environmental contamination by PFAS, particularly PFOA and PFOS — and has secured benefits in excess of $1 billion for a wide array of clients adversely impacted by PFAS contamination, including through key leadership positions in the nation’s first-class action, personal injury, medical monitoring and multi-district litigations, and jury trials involving PFAS.

Yetter-Bowman is an award-winning filmmaker and founder of Ethereal Films, whose work focuses on interdisciplinary action to address major social issues.

In 2022 the studio released “Angel of Alabama,” the story of Brenda Hampton, an investigator who, through her expertise and passion for justice, identified the source of massive environmental contamination in Alabama. Hampton’s efforts led to a permanent water solution in her community, and her efforts have resulted in international progress — including policy changes at fast food giant McDonald’s.

Yetter-Bowman and producer Mark Ruffalo

The discussion will be moderated by Jennifer Tank,the Ludmilla F., Stephen J. and Robert T. Galla Professor of Biological Sciences and director of Notre Dame’s Environmental Change Initiative.

This is a free but ticketed event.

To guarantee your seat, pick up your tickets at least 15 minutes prior to the show. In the event of a sell-out, unclaimed tickets will be used to seat patrons waiting on standby.

Contact: Jessica Sieff, assistant director of media relations, 574-631-3933, jsieff@nd.edu