Even with all the hype around streaming, traditional TV still dominates ad spend. Advertisers are putting $139 billion into linear ads this year, compared to just $33 billion for ads on streaming/connected TV.

With no way to track individual behavior among traditional TV viewers, it’s difficult to determine whether all that spending gets results. New research from the University of Notre Dame helps determine the return on investment for TV ads, ironically by using digital data. By combining massive datasets that track exactly what households watch and buy second by second, the study separates the real impact of TV ads from other factors.

Traditional methods of measurement, which rely mostly on ratings and aggregate market data, appear to overestimate ad effectiveness by 55 percent in a study of advertising for food delivery services, according to Shijie Lu, the Howard J. and Geraldine F. Korth Associate Professor of Marketing at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. Lu’s research, “Leveraging Large-Scale Granular Single-Source Data for TV Advertising: An Identification Strategy,” is published online in Marketing Science.

Imagine that a household watches only part of a live game. If a food delivery ad airs during the portion they watched, they may see it; if it airs earlier or later, they may miss it. That timing difference creates a kind of natural experiment, helping the researchers isolate the ad’s true effect from other factors, such as which households were already more likely to order food. Researchers could not easily do this before with traditional TV measurement. Smart TV tracking now provides second-by-second household viewing data, making this kind of measurement possible at a much finer level.

Using LG smart TV data, Lu and co-authors Tsung-Yiou Hsieh from Oklahoma State University and Rex Yuxing Du from the University of Texas at Austin analyzed the viewing habits of millions of people who opted in to sharing their viewing data, letting the researchers see exactly what was on peoples’ screens — broadcast networks such as NBC and ABC, specifically — over a four-month period. The study didn’t track streaming apps like Hulu or Amazon. LG watched what viewers watched and connected that data to people’s food delivery app usage to measure ad impact.

“This is a game-changer,” Lu said, “because we can now link precise TV viewing data with real purchase history to measure TV ad effectiveness more credibly.

“Brands are overestimating their campaigns and wasting money on ineffective placements,” he said. “We show TV ads are only about half as effective as we thought. When corrected, the real sales impact is much lower, which has important implications for how advertisers evaluate performance and allocate spending.”

In addition to showing that traditional measures greatly overstated the effects of TV ads, the new measurement method revealed additional insights that could help companies better target their ads.

Data show that promotions for first-time buyers increase retention. Viewers’ responsiveness to ads peaks within two days of purchasing food on a delivery app, with the highest engagement rate found among customers who have ordered two to four times previously. Young, tech-savvy sports fans are better prospects than older news viewers.

“The old ways of measuring TV ads are missing an important part of the picture, because they do not fully account for who is more likely to see ads and who is more likely to buy,” Lu said.

Traditional TV ad tracking confuses ad effectiveness with pre-existing habits (like who is already likely to buy or who watches a lot of TV), leading to inflated results. This research fixes that by isolating the random timing of ad slots within shows, allowing the team to accurately measure the true sales lift of TV ads and determine how that impact varies based on a customer’s history.

The study provides a powerful tool for more precisely measuring the return on investment of TV advertising. By targeting ads based on what viewers actually buy — not just demographics like age or gender — this approach brings digital-level precision to TV.

Contact: Shijie Lu, 574-631-5883, slyu@nd.edu

A record-tying four University of Notre Dame students, all from the College of Science, have been named 2026 Goldwater Scholars in recognition of their exceptional promise as future leaders in the natural sciences, engineering and/or mathematics. Juniors Charles Sander, Katherine Sopko, Ian Talty and Oliver Wardhana each will receive $7,500 for tuition and other expenses for the upcoming 2026-27 academic year.

This is the third consecutive year that Notre Dame has had four Goldwater Scholars.

“At Notre Dame, we seek to form scientists who are driven by curiosity, grounded in purpose and committed to serving others through scientific discovery,” said Holly Goodson, interim associate dean for education and undergraduate programs in the College of Science. “The Goldwater Scholarship affirms those same ideals by supporting students who aspire to research careers that advance the natural sciences, engineering and mathematics. Charles, Katherine, Ian and Oliver exemplify this alignment of mission by balancing intellectual excellence with a desire to make a difference. Their achievements reflect the very best of a Notre Dame science education.”

Charles Sander

Sander is an honors biological sciences, economics, and applied and computational mathematics and statistics (ACMS) triple major from Sacramento, California. He is a Glynn Family Honors Scholar, a Phi Beta Kappa early inductee and a Stamps Scholar. At Notre Dame, Sander conducts neurobiology research in the lab of Christopher Patzke, the John M. and Mary Jo Boler Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences. His work with Patzke has led to research collaborations under the mentorship of Patrick Flynn, the Fritz Duda Family Professor of Engineering; Meenal Data, the Jane Schoelch DeFlorio Collegiate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, and others at Notre Dame. He has also conducted neuroscience research on Alzheimer’s disease under Nobel laureate Thomas Südhof at Stanford University. Currently, he is involved in bioinformatics research with Jun Li, professor of ACMS at Notre Dame. He is also writing a review paper on the therapeutic properties of psychedelics under the mentorship of Diane Lane, assistant teaching professor of biological sciences. Outside of his research, Sander does community health work with the Eck Institute for Global Health. He also serves as director of academic affairs for Notre Dame Student Government, is a teaching assistant in the introductory biology lab, and is associate chief of staff of Scientia.

Katherine Sopko

Sopko is an honors biochemistry major from Waltham, Massachusetts. She conducts research in the lab of Mariko Morimoto, the Huisking Foundation, Inc. Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Notre Dame. In the Morimoto Lab, Sopko contributes to research around the development of chimeric molecules to promote cancer cell elimination through immune response modulation. She is co-president of the Biotechnology Club, a chemistry tutor, a peer tutor for first-year chemistry and biochemistry students, and a member of both Farley Hall Council and the Hesburgh Women of Impact program.

Ian Talty

Talty is an honors chemistry and mathematics double major from Haddonfield, New Jersey. He conducts research with Aliaksandra Lisouskaya, associate research professor at Notre Dame, in the Radiation Laboratory. Talty contributes to research around the formation rate of transition metal oxides. He is vice president of the Chemistry and Biochemistry Club and treasurer of the Curling Club. In his free time, he volunteers around South Bend through Mercy Works.

Oliver Wardhana

Wardhana is an honors biological sciences and ACMS double major from Arcadia, California. A Glynn Family Honors Scholar, he conducts research in the lab of Xin Lu, the John M. and Mary Jo Boler Collegiate Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at Notre Dame. In the Lu Lab, Wardhana is involved in a benchmarking study comparing single-cell RNA sequencing cell type annotation methodologies, algorithms and tools. The study is also his thesis project. He is president and co-founder of iGEM@ND, a student-run synthetic biology team. The team won a gold medal at the 2025 iGEM Grand Jamboree in Paris. In his free time, he volunteers at Holy Cross School in South Bend through Mercy Works.

In applying for the Goldwater Scholarship, Sander, Sopko, Talty and Wardhana all worked closely with the Flatley Center for Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement (CUSE), which supports the intellectual development of Notre Dame students via scholarly engagement, research, creative endeavors and the pursuit of fellowships.

Emily Buika Hunt is assistant director of scholarly development for CUSE.

“Congratulations to Charles, Ian, Katherine and Oliver on the well-deserved recognition of their hard work and accomplishments. Each one of them has chosen to take advantage of the opportunities available to them at Notre Dame, including research, mentorship and rigorous coursework,” Buika Hunt said. “Many Notre Dame faculty and staff members have played an important role in their development thus far, and will continue to do so as they move forward into their future studies and careers.”

CUSE works with dozens of aspiring Goldwater Scholars each application cycle, Buika Hunt said, supporting them through the application process by offering guidance on writing, content framing and reference choices. A faculty nomination committee reviews the materials and selects the nominees. Rising sophomores and juniors who are interested in applying for the 2027 application cycle should reach out to CUSE by September to learn more.

Named for former U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater, the Goldwater Scholarship seeks to foster and encourage outstanding sophomores and juniors to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, engineering and mathematics. It is the preeminent undergraduate award of its type in these fields.

For more on this and other scholarship opportunities, visit cuse.nd.edu.

With a significant new investment, the University of Notre Dame’s College of Arts & Letters is launching the Human Neuroimaging Center to drive innovation in interdisciplinary neuroscience and uncover how brain networks shape the remarkable capacities of the human mind.

The center’s work explores enduring questions in the psychological and brain sciences, including how the biological foundations of the mind enable learning, resilience and flourishing — capacities central to the fullness of human life.

Led by Aron Barbey, the Andrew J. McKenna Family Professor of Psychology, who joined the Notre Dame faculty last fall, the center advances an integrated vision of modern neuroscience grounded in scientific rigor, humanistic insight and ethical responsibility.

“Neuroscience opens new ways of understanding the human mind and the lives it shapes,” Barbey said. “Advances in brain imaging now allow us to see the brain with remarkable precision, revealing the constellation of networks that underlie perception, memory, language and thought. Once uncovered, insights from neuroscience move beyond the laboratory, shaping how learning is defined, how mental illness is understood, and how responsibility and care are imagined.”

Barbey and his research team will utilize advanced neuroimaging techniques — including high-resolution functional and structural MRI, diffusion tensor imaging and computational modeling — to investigate the foundations of human intelligence.

He joined Notre Dame’s Department of Psychology after faculty appointments at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. At Illinois, he held multiple leadership roles at the Beckman Institute, including director of the Center for Brain Plasticity. He later served as the Mildred Francis Thompson Professor and director of the Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior at Nebraska.

His previous research — supported by more than $30 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and several other organizations — has explored how intelligence emerges from the network organization and dynamics of the human connectome, applying methods from cognitive neuroscience, experimental psychology and computer science.

“At Notre Dame, I believe we have a remarkable opportunity to lead in neuroscience because of the breadth of expertise on our campus — not only in psychology, and increasingly in neuroscience, but also in the humanities and social sciences.” – Aron Barbey

Ultimately, his work aims to deepen understanding of the neural foundations of intelligence and to advance innovations in cognitive enhancement, neurorehabilitation and biologically inspired artificial intelligence. Barbey’s research investigates how the brain’s finite architecture gives rise to the flexibility of human intelligence — our capacity to learn, adapt and solve the diverse problems we face in life.

The Human Neuroimaging Center, co-located with the Veldman Family Psychology Clinic at 501 N. Hill Street in South Bend, will support a growing group of Notre Dame human neuroscience faculty, including three junior faculty who will arrive this fall, with more new hires planned for the coming years.

Barbey, his team and other neuroscientists will use a state-of-the-art Siemens Magnetom Cima.X 3 Tesla whole-body MRI system to produce structural, functional and metabolic brain imaging, enabling characterization of the human connectome with remarkable precision.

“Neuroscience offers a profound new lens through which we can view the human experience — one that enriches our existing strengths in the humanities, arts and social sciences, offering new ways of developing deep insights about how we think, feel and interact,” said Kenneth Scheve, the I.A. O’Shaughnessy Dean of the College of Arts & Letters. “At the same time, this center will help us build meaningful scientific collaborations across campus in a way that establishes Notre Dame as a leader in the holistic study of the human mind.”

The center is organized around seven research themes that investigate how brain networks support the capacities that shape human life — and how this knowledge can be used with care and responsibility:

• Neuroscience of human intelligence — How do differences in the organization and dynamics of the human connectome shape memory, attention, reasoning and problem solving?

• Neuroscience of lifespan development — How does connectivity evolve from childhood through adulthood, and how do experiences — including education and embodied practices such as handwriting — influence developmental trajectories?

• Neuroscience of belief systems — How do executive, social and affective brain networks support belief systems and moral decision making, including participation in social, ethical and religious practices?

• Neuroscience of mental health — How do changes in brain network function contribute to mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions, and how can insights into these changes advance diagnosis and new approaches to treatment?

• Neuroscience of traumatic brain injury (TBI) — How does a TBI disrupt and reorganize the network architecture of the human connectome, and how can neuroimaging guide better diagnosis and treatment protocols in student-athlete and military populations?

• Neuroscience of human performance in military service — How do multiple dimensions of performance — across cognitive, physical and neurobiological measures — change over the course of military service, and how can long-term measurement help strengthen readiness while supporting the health and resilience of service members?

• Neuroscience of brain health promotion — How can modern scientific interventions — including cognitive training, non-invasive brain stimulation, mindfulness meditation, physical activity and nutrition — shape brain connectivity to promote brain health and resilience across the lifespan?

  

“The mission of our neuroimaging center is to advance neuroscience through rigorous research that is attentive to the broader human questions that inspire it,” Barbey said, “seeking not only to understand the complex and dynamic networks of the human brain, but also to ensure this knowledge benefits the individuals and the communities that we serve.”

Through these themes, Barbey sees ways for neuroscience to engage directly with broader questions of human development, belief, health, performance and responsibility — ensuring that scientific advances are interpreted in light of history, culture and enduring questions of human meaning.

“At Notre Dame, I believe we have a remarkable opportunity to lead in neuroscience because of the breadth of expertise on our campus — not only in psychology, and increasingly in neuroscience, but also in the humanities and social sciences,” he said. “The brain is more than a biological system; it underlies how we think, learn and relate to one another. Its activity is shaped by biology and experience — including culture, history, family and community. For that reason, neuroscience matters not only for what it reveals about the brain, but for how its insights enrich learning, promote health and enable flourishing — in service of human dignity and the good we share.”

Originally published by Arts & Letters at al.nd.edu on April 2.

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

Established by the late Pope Francis in 2016, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development supports the Church’s worldwide efforts in the areas of human dignity and human rights, economic justice, care for creation, migration and displacement, as well as peace, conflict and humanitarian crises.

As a dicastery member, Father Groody will contribute to the body’s ongoing discernment process that will help orient the Church’s mission and priorities. He will continue in his roles at Notre Dame while serving the dicastery.

While numerous Notre Dame faculty members have served the Vatican as consultants to dicasteries and have been named to pontifical academies and commissions, Father Groody’s appointment is a distinct honor, noted University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C.

“To be called upon by the Holy See to serve in this capacity is a testament to Father Groody’s deep commitment to leadership in service of the most vulnerable among us. This appointment is also an affirmation of Notre Dame’s ongoing contributions to Catholic social thought, to integral ecology and to forming leaders dedicated to the common good,” Father Dowd said. “I am profoundly grateful for Father Groody’s dedication to the University and to the Church, and I am confident that his leadership will be a tremendous blessing as he helps to guide the Church in these areas.”

The most notable precedent in Notre Dame history is the appointment of then-President Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., as a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture by Pope St. John Paul II in 1983.

“I am truly honored and humbled by Pope Leo’s appointment,” Father Groody said. “My vocation is to serve, together with my colleagues at Notre Dame and around the world. The work of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development is vital to informing the Church’s response to the world’s most vulnerable people and the most pressing global challenges of our time.”

Father Groody’s academic and pastoral work has focused in part on migration, theology, refugees and human displacement — areas that are directly relevant to the mandate of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. An internationally recognized expert on migration, Father Groody is also an award-winning author, teacher and documentary film producer. He has written four books and numerous articles and has edited or co-edited five books. His works have been translated into nine languages.

Father Groody’s most recent book, “A Theology of Migration: The Bodies of Refugees and the Body of Christ,” includes an introduction written by Pope Francis and received first-place recognition from the Catholic Press Association.

This announcement follows Father Groody’s appointment under Pope Francis in 2025 to the General Council of the Laudato Si’ Higher Education Center in Castel Gandolfo, which is now known as Borgo Laudato Si’.

In that role, Father Groody helps shape the vision, direction and formation of the center, as well as advising on initiatives and global partnerships. He also plays an essential role in Notre Dame’s recently announced partnership with the Vatican’s Laudato Si’ Center to establish a Global Alliance dedicated to integral ecology and global sustainability.

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

On Thursday evening (March 26), Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, presided and preached at a Mass for peace at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. The Mass was held in light of ongoing global conflicts and in the spirit of Pope Leo XIV’s prayer for disarmament and peace earlier this month.

Father Dowd began his homily by encouraging those in attendance to consider the immense suffering caused by the wars that rage in the Middle East, Ukraine and elsewhere — particularly as the Church approaches Holy Week and prepares to commemorate the Lord’s Passion.

“In a sense, the Lord’s Passion is being played out on a daily basis as people are killed, disfigured, orphaned, widowed, rendered homeless or displaced,” Father Dowd said. “We all know that the suffering is immense.”

Father Dowd stated that as Christians and members of the Notre Dame community, “we are compelled to ask ourselves what God is calling us to do in the face of all this pain.”

“We are so privileged here on this campus to have the opportunities we have to conduct research, to study and to learn together. However, this Catholic university must never exist in a bubble,” he said. “And we must make sure that we are never indifferent to the suffering that goes on in the world around us.”

Referencing the Mass’s readings from the Gospel of Matthew 5:1-12, Father Dowd noted that Jesus calls on his disciples to be peacemakers.

“Let me propose that all of us, regardless of our discipline, our major or minor, regardless of our research agenda or our career goals, all of us in one way or another are called to be peacemakers and peacebuilders,” Father Dowd said.

Being a peacemaker or peacebuilder, he continued, does not mean being naive to the dangers in the world, being oblivious to the affronts to human rights and human dignity, or giving way to bullies or aggressors who seek to dominate, exploit or destroy.

Rather, Father Dowd said that in order to be peacemakers in the pattern of Jesus, “we must deepen our understanding of these realities and take them seriously.”

“Jesus immersed himself in the violence that afflicted the people of his day, especially those on the margins of society, who are so often those who pay the highest price for war,” Father Dowd said. “In fact, his redemptive mission demanded such immersion, and he himself was a victim of such violence.

“Being a peacemaker means, among other things, doing everything we can to seek nonviolent solutions. Being a peacebuilder means doing everything we can to create conditions that make war less likely in the future. Both peacemaking and peacebuilding require hard work — the hard work of building bridges.”

Father Dowd concluded his homily by noting that Pope Leo has been clear and persistent in calling for a ceasefire and for renewed dialogue as the war with Iran and in the Middle East “intensifies, causing immense suffering and possibly making us all less secure.”

He exhorted those present to join their prayers to the prayers of Pope Leo, to pray for peace, that every person might become the peacemaker that our society and world need.

Father Dowd also prayed for governmental leaders, that they might be guided by wisdom in decisions that bring an immediate end to bloodshed, for the safety of the men and women in the armed forces and their families, and for all victims of war.

“Even as we take the violence and threats of violence in our world seriously, let us never grow cynical or fatalistic,” he said. “Let us not lose heart and instead cultivate hope through all that we say and all that we do. As we commemorate the Lord’s Passion soon, let us not forget the end of the story: The Lord Jesus, who was put to death in a most humiliating way, was raised from the dead.

“There is no killing the power of love. There is no killing the Prince of Peace, in whom a new day always dawns. Let us pray that we might cooperate with the crucified and risen Lord, who is mysteriously in our midst, to be the peacemakers and peacebuilders the world needs.”

Father Dowd’s full homily is available at president.nd.edu.

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

The ranking is based on academic reputation, employer reputation and research impact. Out of 150 universities included, Notre Dame’s score of 92.2 bested the University of Oxford (89.2), Harvard University (89.1), Durham University (88.7) and Boston College (88.3).

“To be ranked No. 1 in the world for two years in a row is a momentous accomplishment for which all our faculty and staff deserve great credit,” said Fr. Khaled Anatolios, the John A. O’Brien Professor of Theology and chair of the department. “As a department, we take the measure of our own performance less from external rankings than from fidelity to our mission. Nevertheless, these consistently top rankings demonstrate that our fidelity produces scholarly results that are literally second to none in commanding international admiration.”

Guided by the ideals of “faith seeking understanding” and bringing together “things new and old,” the department has six principal areas of research — moral theology, history of Christianity, liturgy, biblical studies, systematic theology and world religions and world church.

In addition to offering a doctorate and four master’s degree programs, Notre Dame’s theology department maintains a strong commitment to undergraduate education by supporting more than 800 theology majors or minors and teaching the theology courses that all Notre Dame students take as part of the University’s Core Curriculum.

Originally published by Arts & Letters at al.nd.edu on March 26, 2026.

The 2025 class comprises nearly 500 scientists, engineers and innovators across two dozen disciplines including anthropology, astronomy, biological sciences, chemistry, engineering and physics. AAAS is one of the world’s largest general scientific societies and publisher of the Science family of journals.

“It is wonderful to see these scholar-teachers receive this well-deserved recognition,” said John. T. McGreevy, the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost and Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History. “We are proud to celebrate the achievements of our distinguished colleagues whose scientific contributions help advance Notre Dame as a leading global Catholic research university.”

Notre Dame faculty elected to the 2025 class of AAAS Fellows include:

• Danny Chen is a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. Chen is being recognized for his contributions to the field of computational bioscience with a particular focus on his work to improve biomedical imaging. However, his research interests span a number of other areas including machine learning, computational geometry, algorithms, data mining and parallel and distributed computing. Chen holds eight U.S. patents in computer science, engineering and biomedical technologies and has authored more than 500 journal articles, conference papers and book chapters.

• Joshua Shrout is a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences and has a concurrent appointment in the Department of Biological Sciences. Shrout studies the behavior of bacterial communities, which has implications for both human health and the natural environment. His research seeks to understand how bacteria sense and respond to nearby cues, coordinate gene expression and function as populations when growing on surfaces. Shrout was recognized for both his research contributions and the example he is setting for the next generation of interdisciplinary scientists.

“From developing algorithms that enhance life-saving medical imaging to uncovering the mechanisms at work in microbial biofilms, Professors Chen and Shrout demonstrate the ways in which engineering can make significant contributions to improving public health,” said Patricia J. Culligan, the Matthew H. McCloskey Dean of Engineering at the University of Notre Dame and a class of 2023 AAAS Fellow.

Becoming a fellow of AAAS is a lifetime honor that recognizes members’ efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications in service to society. It is among the most distinct honors within the scientific community.

AAAS launched its lifetime fellowship recognition in 1874, about 25 years after the association was founded. This first cohort included Rev. Joseph Celestine Basile Carrier, C.S.C., who in 1865 became the first director of the newly established College of Science at the University of Notre Dame.

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

The honorees are:

Marguerite Barankitse (doctor of laws)

Marguerite Barankitse, a humanitarian leader and teacher, is credited with saving more than 50,000 children and providing them with access to health care, education and culture through her organization, Maison Shalom (House of Peace). In 1993, as civil war raged in Burundi, Barankitse, a Tutsi, tried to hide 72 of her closest Hutu neighbors to keep them safe from persecution. They were discovered and executed, while Barankitse was forced to watch. She was, however, able to shelter 25 children from the massacre. This experience set her on a path toward humanitarian work, which she continues to this day, providing refugees and children affected by war with access to education, health care, economic empowerment and psychosocial support. What began as a relief effort has evolved into a comprehensive development entity, offering job training, microfinance and medical care across Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2015, following her protests against government overreach in Burundi, Barankitse was forced to relocate to Rwanda, continuing her work in exile. Animated by her deep Catholic faith and belief in the inherent dignity of every human being, Barankitse has been a stalwart advocate for human rights, often at great cost to her own safety and livelihood.

Mary Cunningham Boyce (doctor of engineering)

A distinguished expert in mechanical engineering and champion of interdisciplinary scholarship to confront global challenges through basic research and real-world implementation, Mary Boyce is provost emerita and professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University. She joined the faculty at Columbia in 2013, serving as dean of the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. She was appointed provost in 2021 and oversaw the return to campus following the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to her tenure at Columbia, Boyce was a faculty member at MIT for 25 years. A leading researcher of polymeric materials and soft composites, her groundbreaking contributions include creating new modeling methods for the use of engineers in commercial products, transportation vehicles, and biomedical devices, among others. Boyce’s contributions to the field led to her election as a fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and her election to the National Academy of Engineering. She is the recipient of numerous honors, including the 2024 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Mechanical Engineering, the 2020 Timoshenko Medal and the 2015 Engineering Science Medal.

Eamon Duffy (doctor of laws)

Eamon Duffy is an emeritus professor of the history of Christianity at the University of Cambridge and a former president and fellow of Magdalene College at Cambridge. Originally from Dundalk, in County Louth, Ireland, Duffy is a renowned scholar of Christianity in the Middle Ages and the Reformation, the history of the papacy, and Christian material and visual culture. Duffy has written extensively for both scholarly and popular audiences, and two of his books, “The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580” and “The Voices of Morebath: Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village,” are widely credited with reshaping the modern understanding of Catholicism in late medieval England as a vibrant and popular faith rather than a dying institution. In addition to his academic achievements, he was a member of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences and chaired the editorial board for the Calendar of Papal Letters, tasked with publishing Vatican material concerning Britain and Ireland between the 14th and 16th centuries. For his outstanding scholarship, Duffy was elected a fellow of the British Academy in 2004. He is also a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. In 2017, Duffy was one of two Cambridge professors honored with a Papal Knighthood by Pope Francis in honor of his outstanding work for the Church and the Holy See.

Christopher J. Murphy III (doctor of laws)

Having earned an undergraduate degree at Notre Dame, a J.D. from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Harvard University, Chris Murphy joined with his father-in-law and a group of investors in 1972 to purchase The First Bank and Trust Company of South Bend, now 1st Source Bank. He joined the bank as a director in 1972 and an employee at the end of 1976. He has served the organization as a board member, president, CEO and, most recently, executive chairman for more than 50 years, growing it to become the largest locally held financial institution in the region and consistently recognized among America’s best banks. Deeply committed to a life of generous service, Murphy has offered his considerable talents to numerous organizations seeking to address some of society’s most critical needs — including health care, economic development, education and support for the arts — at the regional, state and national levels. Among many other leadership positions, Murphy has served as chairman and CEO of the World Presidents’ Organization, on the international board of The Young Presidents’ Organization and on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. In 2001 he was inducted into the Indiana Academy and served as chair of its board of regents. He was named Business Leader of the Year by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce in 2000, was inducted into the South Bend Community Hall of Fame in 2013, and has twice been named a Sagamore of the Wabash, Indiana’s highest honor. He and his wife, Carmen (Carmi), are parents to six children, including four Notre Dame graduates.

J. Christopher Reyes (doctor of laws)

J. Christopher Reyes is co-founder and chair of Reyes Holdings LLC, one of the largest global providers of food and beverage production and distribution services, with operations spanning North, Central and South America, as well as Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific. Reyes founded the company with his father and brother in 1976, beginning as a small beer distributor in South Carolina, and today delivering 1.3 billion cases of food and beverages globally each year. A widely respected philanthropist and member of many charitable boards, Reyes is a distinguished lifetime director of the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and a director of Northwestern Memorial Healthcare and the Ronald McDonald House Charities. He has served on Notre Dame’s Board of Trustees since 2003, providing invaluable leadership and wise counsel to three University presidents. Reyes and his wife, Anne, have four children, three of whom are graduates of the University.

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R. (doctor of laws)

Named a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2016, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., has served as the sixth archbishop of Newark since 2017. The son of Irish immigrants and the eldest of 13 children, he was ordained a priest for the Redemptorist Order in 1978 and ministered for 11 years in parishes in his native Detroit and Chicago. After serving as superior general of the Redemptorists, he was ordained archbishop in 2010 and appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to serve as the Secretary of the Congregation (now Dicastery) for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. From 2012 to 2017, he led the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. In addition to his responsibilities in the Archdiocese of Newark, he serves on the Vatican’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, the Synod of Bishops, the Dicastery for Culture and Education, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, the Council for the Economy, the Dicastery for Bishops, and the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. Fluent in five languages, Cardinal Tobin is a graduate of Holy Redeemer College with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, and he earned a master’s in religious education and a Master of Divinity degree from Mount St. Alphonsus Seminary.

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

Amid the Trump administration’s legal challenge to birthright citizenship, Amy Hsin is among a group of scholars who have submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, providing social science evidence for the justices to consider as they hear a case this spring.

The brief argues that birthright citizenship — the legal right to citizenship for all children born in the United States — strengthens the country’s economy and promotes better educational and health outcomes. It also warns that ending birthright citizenship would have far-reaching consequences, including expanding the country’s undocumented population.

“The research overwhelmingly shows that birthright citizenship has profoundly positive effects on individuals and society,” said Hsin, professor of migration in the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs and a core faculty affiliate of the school’s Klau Institute for Civil and Human Rights.

Background: a legal challenge to birthright citizenship

Hsin was one of the scholars who contributed to the amicus brief in Trump v. Barbara. The case centers on a legal challenge to a 2025 executive order by President Trump that would restrict birthright citizenship.

The order says that U.S. citizenship applies only to children whose parents have permanent legal status, but challengers have cited the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

In U.S. law, this has long been understood through the principle of “jus soli” (“right of the soil”), which dictates that people are U.S. citizens because they are born here, not because of their parents’ legal status. The Trump administration has argued for a narrower interpretation, saying that the children of parents without legal status are not subject to U.S. jurisdiction.

Brief outlines consequences of narrowing citizenship rights

Research cited in the brief highlights the negative consequences the authors say would occur as a result of revoking birthright citizenship, including:

• Harming the economy. The brief cites research showing that immigration increases economic growth, workforce participation and innovation. It notes that children benefiting from birthright citizenship are projected to contribute about $7.7 trillion to the U.S. economy over the period from 1975 to 2074. It also says second-generation immigrants provide a net lifetime fiscal contribution of about $85,000 per person, meaning they pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits. The research shows that citizenship increases earnings and upward mobility, while a lack of legal status reduces productivity and earnings.
• Reducing educational opportunity. The brief highlights evidence that legal status strongly influences early childhood learning, K-12 progress and college access. It says that without legal status, students face barriers such as ineligibility for financial aid, restricted employment opportunities and uncertain futures, all of which reduce their incentives to pursue education.
• Worsening physical and mental health. Research cited in the brief shows that citizenship affects access to health care and long-term health outcomes, with undocumented immigrants experiencing measurably worse outcomes than those with documentation. This affects a range of health issues, from hypertension and cancer to anxiety and suicide.
• Expanding the undocumented population. The brief says ending birthright citizenship would prevent millions of U.S.-born children from becoming citizens — 4.8 million by 2045 and 12.8 million by 2075. That change could affect approximately 255,000 children per year, or about 1 in 18 U.S. births.

“We would, for the first time in U.S. history since slavery, create an underclass of people who have no pathways to formal inclusion into the country in which they are born,” Hsin said. “This would mean the erosion of fundamental rights that have been the foundations of who gets to claim citizenship in the United States.”

Providing evidence for decision makers

Hsin is one of the 10 scholars who wrote the amicus brief and one of the approximately 140 scholars who signed it. The brief widely cites immigration research, including research by Hsin and fellow Keough School faculty member Francesc Ortega. It builds upon Hsin’s earlier work to provide evidence that can inform courts as well as lawmakers.

Hsin previously contributed to a 2019 amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, following the Trump administration’s attempt to rescind the program.

In January, she contributed to a policy report outlining the benefits of the landmark 1982 Plyler v. Doe Supreme Court decision, which has faced growing challenges at the state level in recent years. The report highlighted how reversing the decision would disrupt the U.S. workforce and undermine child welfare.

The new brief continues Hsin’s work to inform decision makers by sharing relevant research.

“I’m happy to be part of this group of scholars who have worked together on this important document,” Hsin said. “We hope it will contribute insight as the justices consider this case.”

Originally published by Josh Stowe at keough.nd.edu on March 24.

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

Part of the 2025-26 Notre Dame Forum, the panel discussion brought together leaders from the University and NBC Sports to reflect on the impact and evolution of this storytelling platform.

Notre Dame President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., opened the conversation by positioning the WWYFF series within the broader theme of this year’s forum, “Cultivating Hope.”

“We know that there are many people in our world who find it difficult to hope,” Father Dowd said. “In order to be agents of hope, we need to take the challenges in our world seriously. And that’s essentially what the ‘What Would You Fight For?’ series is all about — highlighting ways that our faculty and students are addressing the greatest challenges in our world through their research and their scholarship.”

NBC Sports play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico moderated the panel discussion, which featured Rob Hyland, coordinating producer of NBC Sunday Night Football; Notre Dame 2011 alumna Lindsay Schanzer, supervising producer of NBC Sports; Meenal Datta, the Jane Schoelch DeFlorio Collegiate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Notre Dame; and Notre Dame undergraduate Lauren Eglite, a chemical engineering major.

Through 117 two-minute spots over the past two decades, produced in partnership with NBC Sports, the WWYFF series has showcased Notre Dame’s effort to build a better world and inspire hope through research, scholarship and service. Along the way, the series has won three Telly Awards and a 2024 Sports Emmy for outstanding public service content.

Tirico reflected on the unique power of pairing sports with storytelling.

“The campus community’s foundation is the faculty, professors and staff, and to be able to share their stories, not just of what it means in the Notre Dame community, but what it means globally — that’s the power of Notre Dame,” Tirico said. “And what better place to share that for the last two decades than the ultimate front porch of the University? Because athletics is the front porch. … When you can marry those two vehicles, now it’s more than just a football team and a little commercial during the game. It’s a story of what an institution is all about.”

For faculty members like Datta, whose innovative research on glioblastoma was highlighted in the WWYFF feature “Fighting to Cure Brain Cancer,” the experience of being featured in the campaign offered a tangible, inspiring connection with those who benefit most from her research.

“I think what touched me the most was the communication from patients, from their families, from their loved ones, from Domers who emailed me and said, ‘My roommate passed away from this disease,’ from Notre Dame alumni who are still fighting the disease today,” Datta said. “And remembering that what we do is for people was a very important reminder. I think that that was the most valuable response that we received.”

The conversation also showcased the unique impact the series had on one future Notre Dame student. Eglite, now a sophomore, shared how watching the WWYFF piece “Fighting to Cure Food Allergies” in Notre Dame Stadium in 2017 inspired her to come to Notre Dame, and inspired her father to work alongside engineering professor Başar Bilgiçer to advance his research and create a safer future for millions living with allergies.

Her story was featured in the 2025 piece “From reaction to resolution: The future of allergy treatment.”

A reception following the panel discussion allowed participants to talk with more than 30 Notre Dame faculty who have been featured in WWYFF pieces and hear updates on their research and its impact.

A full recording of the event is available here.

Corcelli, who has served as interim science dean since July, was selected through a comprehensive national search launched after his predecessor, Santiago Schnell, was appointed as Dartmouth’s provost.

“In multiple roles at Notre Dame, including associate dean, department chair, and most recently as interim dean, Steve has consistently earned the respect of his colleagues and proven to be a wise and visionary leader who is deeply dedicated to our Catholic mission,” Father Dowd said. “I am confident that under his leadership, the College of Science will continue to play an essential role in Notre Dame’s pursuit of excellence as a global Catholic research university.”

As dean, Corcelli will lead six departments comprising more than 280 faculty, more than 600 doctoral students, and 1,726 undergraduate student majors. He will guide the college in its mission to prepare the scientific leaders of tomorrow, seek greater understanding of the natural world and foster discoveries that answer the world’s toughest questions and solve its most enduring problems.

John T. McGreevy, the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost, said Corcelli rose to the top of a highly qualified pool of candidates. “Over the past two decades at Notre Dame, he has shown a commitment to collaboration and innovation in the laboratory and the classroom,” McGreevy said. “Steve’s leadership experience, his background as a first-generation college student, his distinction as a nationally recognized computational chemist and his commitment to the University’s Catholic mission will make him a superb dean of the College of Science.”

Corcelli leads a research program focused on the molecular-level understanding of aqueous acids, bases and salts, as well as on the mechanisms of biomolecular binding. His lab uses advanced simulations to investigate ion transport in aqueous electrolytes — relevant to battery technologies — and the binding interactions critical to biological function and drug development.

He has received national recognition for his research, including an NSF CAREER Award, a Sloan Research Fellowship, and the Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award. Corcelli is a fellow of the American Chemical Society and a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences. He has authored over 90 publications and given more than 100 invited talks.

Corcelli is also a dedicated educator who has received multiple teaching awards, including the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the Thomas P. Madden Award for Excellence in Teaching First-Year Undergraduates.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Brown University and his doctoral degree in chemistry from Yale University. After completing a postdoctoral research position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he joined Notre Dame’s faculty as an assistant professor in 2005.

Prior to his appointment as interim dean, Corcelli served as chair of the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry from 2022 to 2025, and as the associate dean for interdisciplinary studies and faculty development in the College of Science from 2019 to 2022.

“I am deeply honored to serve as the William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science,” Corcelli said. “Notre Dame has a unique opportunity to integrate scientific discovery with its Catholic mission in ways that serve both the University and the broader world. I look forward to working with our community to strengthen partnerships across the University and beyond; support our faculty, students and staff in their pursuit of discovery and learning; and advance an intellectually ambitious vision for science in service to the common good.”

McGreevy thanked the search committee for its work over the past several months. “Members represented the University well and were diligent in identifying, evaluating and recruiting an excellent pool of candidates,” he said. “I appreciate their steady work and discernment throughout the search process.”

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

Amid widespread concern that American political discourse has become less substantive and less civil, often devolving into personal insults, the question of why political elites engage in divisive rhetoric has continued to puzzle the public.

A new study co-authored by University of Notre Dame political scientist Marc Jacob offers a provocative explanation: The answer, quite simply, is media attention.

“The core finding is clear,” Jacob said. “Personal attacks are strongly associated with greater media coverage but show no correlation with fundraising, vote margins, legislative success or personal wealth.”

Developed within the Polarization Research Lab, a research initiative studying political division in the U.S. and around the world, the study was published by PNAS Nexus, a publication of the National Academy of Sciences. Its authors introduce the concept of the “conflict entrepreneur” — a legislator who disproportionately levels personal attacks on the integrity, morality or intellect of their peers.

“Usually when we think about conflict in politics, it’s about political parties and candidates disagreeing on issues to discuss them and arrive at a compromise,” said Jacob, assistant professor of democracy and global affairs in the Keough School of Global Affairs. “But we are seeing an increasing trend that is not about policy anymore. Conflict takes the form of personal attacks, a new communication style that is shaping democratic politics.”

To map the concept of a conflict entrepreneur, the researchers conducted a large-scale descriptive analysis of the 118th U.S. Congress, which convened from January 3, 2023, to January 3, 2025. They linked a dataset of 2.2 million public statements — ranging from floor speeches and press releases to newsletters and social media posts — to records of media coverage, campaign finance and electoral outcomes. Using a large language model, the team systematically distinguished between legitimate “critical debate” on policy and personal attacks on character.

The researchers found an asymmetric pattern: While personal attacks occur in both parties, they are delivered 2.7 times more frequently by Republicans than by Democrats. Personal attacks also occur 1.3 times more frequently in the House of Representatives than in the Senate.

The most striking finding, however, is the disconnect between an antagonistic rhetorical style and traditional political success, Jacob said.

A legislator who devotes just 5 percent of their communication to personal attacks receives a level of cable news coverage comparable to a colleague dedicating 45 percent of their time to substantive policy debate. For context, the paper notes that the 25 most combative members of Congress receive more cable news attention than the 75 least combative members combined. On social media, posts containing personal insults are shared far more frequently than those focusing on critical policy debate, an average of 606 reposts versus 244.

This high visibility in the media, however, appears to exact a legislative price: The more frequently a member of Congress uses personal attacks, the less likely they are to engage in policy discussion. In addition, conflict entrepreneurs are less likely to co-sponsor legislation and receive fewer assignments to prestigious standing committees.

“These findings suggest that politicians are using the attacks as a strategy to become part of the national political debate without relying on conventional means of legislative work and policymaking,” Jacob said.

The study also challenges the assumption that incivility is a reflection of a legislator’s polarized district: The authors found no correlation between a legislator’s use of personal insults and the baseline partisan animosity in their constituency. In fact, many of the most abrasive legislators come from districts with comparatively moderate electorates. This finding suggests that for a small cohort of elites, a politician’s primary career goal is not the traditional trifecta of reelection, policy influence or institutional power, but media celebrity. As a retired member of Congress noted in a quote used in the paper, “The most recent additions to Congress don’t care about policy; they care about getting attention.”

This dynamic, where visibility is decoupled from political accountability, poses a significant threat to democratic norms, according to the researchers. They conclude that the primary incentive structure is maintained by a media attention economy that prioritizes conflict.

“Most of the communications made by legislators are focused on policy,” Jacob said. “But it is fair to say there is an overemphasis by the media, which unduly covers legislators who attack others. This attention incentivizes people to engage in incivility if the only way to break through is with insults.”

The researchers’ conclusion is both a warning and a call to action: If left unchecked, the corrosive nature of conflict entrepreneurs may continue to erode democratic discourse.

“Political party leadership and media gatekeepers have a central role to play in shifting the incentive structure,” Jacob said. “It’s time to reward those who advance policy and to stop promoting personal attacks as political entertainment, and the media should reflect on what is truly newsworthy. The health and stability of American democracy depend on it.”

The study was co-authored by Yphtach Lelkes of the University of Pennsylvania and Sean J. Westwood of Dartmouth College.

Originally published by Renée LaReau at keough.nd.edu on March 17.

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

Sister Raffaella Petrini, F.S.E., president of the Pontifical Commission and Governorate of Vatican City State, will be the principal speaker and receive an honorary degree at the University of Notre Dame’s 181st University Commencement Ceremony on May 17, Notre Dame President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., announced today.

In February 2025, the late Pope Francis appointed Sister Petrini, a member of the religious congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, to the dual roles of president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and president of the Governorate of Vatican City State. She is the first woman to hold these top leadership positions in the Vatican. Prior to these appointments, Sister Petrini served as secretary general of the Governorate of Vatican City State.

“Sister Raffaella is an extraordinary leader who works tirelessly for the common good and radiates the peace, love and hope of Christ. As the highest-ranking woman in the Vatican, she embodies the future of women’s leadership in the Church, having served Pope Francis and now Pope Leo with deep wisdom, unfailing dedication and true humility,” Father Dowd said. “It is a privilege to have her address the members of the Class of 2026 and their loved ones who are sure to be inspired by her words and prophetic witness.”

As president of the governorate, Sister Petrini is responsible for the administrative operations of Vatican City State, which has approximately 600 inhabitants and nearly 2,000 employees. Her responsibilities include managing public services; overseeing security, health care and the Vatican Museums; chairing the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State; and ensuring that all operations align with the pope’s mission.

Sister Petrini is also a member of the Dicastery for Bishops, which assists the pope in the selection and appointment of bishops, and the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, the body responsible for managing Vatican finances.

On Feb. 3, Pope Leo XIV appointed Sister Petrini to the Commission for Reserved Matters, the entity responsible for awarding financial contracts in confidential areas of the Vatican.

Born in Rome, Sister Petrini is a distinguished scholar and economist. She holds a degree in political science from Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali (LUISS) in Rome, a master’s degree in organizational behavior from the University of Hartford and a doctorate in social sciences from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. In addition to her responsibilities in the Vatican City State, Sister Petrini is a professor of welfare economics and sociology of economic processes in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Angelicum.

Sister Petrini visited the Notre Dame campus in November 2023 to present the Keeley Vatican Lecture at the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, focusing on integral human development and organizational management rooted in a “leadership of care.”

The 2026 University Commencement Ceremony will be held in Notre Dame Stadium on May 17 beginning at 9 a.m. with the academic procession.

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

The Top 100 U.S. Universities ranking highlights and celebrates U.S. academic institutions that play a large role in advancing innovation through the critical step of protecting their intellectual property through patents. A strong patent portfolio enables and empowers researchers to translate their inventions: bringing important technologies to the marketplace, bolstering the economy and creating impactful societal solutions.

Patents awarded to Notre Dame over the past year include new printable electronics and biosensing devices; highly specific insecticides; new methods for cancer drug development, single-cell capture and nanoparticle assembly; new systems to enable fast flight; novel dyes for bioimaging; new technologies for making wireless communication more secure and more energy-efficient; and more.

“Securing a place among top patent grantees requires a robust research and innovation ecosystem, one which we have cultivated here at the University,” said Karen Deak, executive director of the University’s IDEA Center. “We’re proud to empower our researchers to translate their discoveries into impact, and ensure that Notre Dame’s research does not merely exist in the lab, but is positioned to drive economic growth and improve lives through commercialization.”

“These universities and their inventive faculty are at the forefront of driving national innovation and competitiveness,” said Paul R. Sanberg, president of the NAI. “By moving their ideas to market and protecting their IP with patents, these institutions are ensuring that the U.S. not only remains competitive on the global stage, but directly shapes the future of innovation.”

The NAI has published the Top 100 Worldwide Universities list since 2013 and introduced the Top 100 U.S. Universities list in 2023 to provide a more focused view of the national innovation landscape and the contributions made by U.S. academic institutions.

In addition to its institutional rankings, the NAI also recognizes individual academic inventors through its fellows and senior member programs. Current Notre Dame faculty who have also been elected NAI fellows include Nosang Myung, the Bernard Keating-Crawford Professor of Engineering and the faculty director of the Analytical Science and Engineering at Notre Dame (ASEND) core facility and the Materials Characterization Facility; Edward Maginn, the Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Engineering and associate vice president for research; Ashley Thrall, the Myron and Rosemary Noble Collegiate Professor of Structural Engineering; Hsueh-Chia Chang, the Bayer Corporation Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; and Gary Bernstein, the Frank M. Freimann Professor of Electrical Engineering.

Recently, three faculty members were selected as senior members: Jonathan Chisum, associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering; Patrick Fay, the Stinson Professor of Nanotechnology; and Tom O’Sullivan, the Frank M. Freimann Collegiate Professor of Biomedical Electronics.

Learn more about innovation at Notre Dame on the IDEA Center’s website.

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

As a result of this change, FIRE has been reclassified as a College Institute instead of a University Institute, now reporting to Mendoza’s Office of the Dean rather than the Notre Dame Office of the Provost. The reclassification benefits FIRE, Mendoza and the University by aligning the Institute more closely with Mendoza’s faculty and academic programs while continuing its support of the world-class real estate education and research across the University.

“Real estate is a critically important topic of study for many academic disciplines, very much including business, as it sits at the intersection of finance, markets, the real economy, households and the common good of communities,” said Martijn Cremers, Martin J. Gillen Dean of the Mendoza College of Business.

“Bringing the Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate into the business school strengthens the Institute’s academic foundation and will create new opportunities for faculty research and collaboration across the University,” Cremers added. “The Institute will continue to serve faculty and students interested in real estate across the University, so that, accordingly, this change will better integrate the business school within the University.”

Founded to advance real estate education and research at Notre Dame, FIRE supports one of the University’s most popular academic offerings: the real estate minor offered through the Department of Finance at Mendoza, which in spring 2026 enrolled more than 500 undergraduate students from 28 majors across the University. The multidisciplinary program combines coursework in real estate finance, economics, architecture and other disciplines, and offers experiential learning opportunities and engagement with industry professionals.

The Institute also contributes to graduate business education at Mendoza, offering real estate courses and programming for Notre Dame MBA students interested in real estate investment, development and capital markets.

The research of FIRE’s affiliated faculty examines real estate markets, housing, finance and the built environment. Among them is Marco Giacoletti, associate professor of finance, whose research focuses on real estate finance, housing markets and mortgage securitization.

“Locating FIRE within Mendoza gives the Institute a natural academic home and connects our work more directly with faculty whose research intersects with real estate,” said Michael O’Malley, executive director of the Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate. “It will help strengthen research collaborations, expand educational opportunities, create new opportunities for Notre Dame students to engage with professionals in the real estate industry, and allow the Institute to remain multidisciplinary.”

Beyond its academic programs, FIRE leads initiatives that examine important challenges related to land use, housing and community development.

The Institute’s Church Properties Initiative explores how churches and religious institutions can steward their land and buildings in ways that support both their mission and the needs of surrounding communities. Through research, convenings and collaboration with scholars and practitioners, the initiative examines issues such as adaptive reuse, land use and the sustainable development of faith-based property.

FIRE also advances research and dialogue on housing challenges through its Affordable Housing initiative, which brings together academics, policymakers and industry professionals to examine the structural causes of housing shortages and explore solutions to expand access to affordable housing.

FIRE will continue to support interdisciplinary research and partnerships across the University, including its ongoing partnership with Notre Dame’s College of Arts & Letters, School of Architecture and Law School. Ongoing collaborations have also included joint faculty hires with the College of Arts and Letters and the development of study abroad courses offered by Eugenio Acosta, director of undergraduate programs for FIRE, along with faculty in Architecture.

Before the first home football game of each season, FIRE hosts FIREworks, its real estate career fair that brings leading firms to campus to connect with Notre Dame students interested in internships and full-time opportunities in real estate, as well as the FIRE Fall Kickoff, a one-day conference which welcomes hundreds of alumni back to campus to meet students and network with other real estate professionals.

“FIRE is proud to now be housed within Mendoza,” O’Malley said. “This change supports our vision of real estate serving as a powerful force for good. The move will accelerate stronger connections between our academic programs, faculty research and the real estate industry.

The University of Notre Dame’s Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate (FIRE) has joined the Mendoza College of Business, giving the institute a new academic home.

As a result of this change, FIRE has been reclassified as a College Institute instead of a University Institute, now reporting to Mendoza’s Office of the Dean rather than the Notre Dame Office of the Provost. The reclassification benefits FIRE, Mendoza and the University by aligning the institute more closely with Mendoza’s faculty and academic programs while continuing its support of the world-class real estate education and research across the University.

“Real estate is a critically important topic of study for many academic disciplines, very much including business, as it sits at the intersection of finance, markets, the real economy, households and the common good of communities,” said Martijn Cremers, Martin J. Gillen Dean of the Mendoza College of Business.

“Bringing the Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate into the business school strengthens the institute’s academic foundation and will create new opportunities for faculty research and collaboration across the University,” Cremers added. “The institute will continue to serve faculty and students interested in real estate across the University, so that, accordingly, this change will better integrate the business school within the University.”

Founded to advance real estate education and research at Notre Dame, FIRE supports one of the University’s most popular academic offerings: the real estate minor offered through the Department of Finance at Mendoza, which in spring 2026 enrolled more than 500 undergraduate students from 28 majors across the University. The multidisciplinary program combines coursework in real estate finance, economics, architecture and other disciplines, and offers experiential learning opportunities and engagement with industry professionals.

The institute also contributes to graduate business education at Mendoza, offering real estate courses and programming for Notre Dame MBA students interested in real estate investment, development and capital markets.

The research of FIRE’s affiliated faculty examines real estate markets, housing, finance and the built environment. Among them is Marco Giacoletti, associate professor of finance, whose research focuses on real estate finance, housing markets and mortgage securitization.

“Locating FIRE within Mendoza gives the institute a natural academic home and connects our work more directly with faculty whose research intersects with real estate,” said Michael O’Malley, executive director of the Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate. “It will help strengthen research collaborations, expand educational opportunities, create new opportunities for Notre Dame students to engage with professionals in the real estate industry and allow the Institute to remain multidisciplinary.”

Beyond its academic programs, FIRE leads initiatives that examine important challenges related to land use, housing and community development.

The institute’s Church Properties Initiative explores how churches and religious institutions can steward their land and buildings in ways that support both their mission and the needs of surrounding communities. Through research, convenings and collaboration with scholars and practitioners, the initiative examines issues such as adaptive reuse, land use and the sustainable development of faith-based property.

FIRE also advances research and dialogue on housing challenges through its Affordable Housing initiative, which brings together academics, policymakers and industry professionals to examine the structural causes of housing shortages and explore solutions to expand access to affordable housing.

FIRE will continue to support interdisciplinary research and partnerships across the University, including its ongoing partnership with Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters, School of Architecture and Law School. Ongoing collaborations have also included joint faculty hires with the College of Arts and Letters and the development of study abroad courses offered by Eugenio Acosta, director of undergraduate programs for FIRE, along with faculty in architecture.

Before the first home football game of each season, FIRE hosts FIREworks, its real estate career fair that brings leading firms to campus to connect with Notre Dame students interested in internships and full-time opportunities in real estate, as well as the FIRE Fall Kickoff, a one-day conference which welcomes hundreds of alumni back to campus to meet students and network with other real estate professionals.

“FIRE is proud to now be housed within Mendoza,” O’Malley said. “This change supports our vision of real estate serving as a powerful force for good. The move will accelerate stronger connections between our academic programs, faculty research and the real estate industry.

The event, which will feature opening remarks from University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., will be moderated by NBC Sports play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico.

Panelists will reflect on the impact and evolution of this storytelling as part of this year’s Notre Dame Forum theme, “Cultivating Hope.”

Over the past 20 years and through 117 two-minute spots, produced in partnership with NBC Sports, the WWYFF series has showcased Notre Dame’s effort to build a better world and inspire hope through research, scholarship and service.

A reception will follow the panel discussion where faculty featured in WWYFF spots and their teams will be available to speak with attendees. The list of faculty members who will be in attendance can be viewed here.

Panelists will include Rob Hyland, coordinating producer of NBC Sunday Night Football; Notre Dame alumna Lindsay Schanzer ’11, supervising producer of NBC Sports; Meenal Datta, the DeFlorio Collegiate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Notre Dame; and Notre Dame undergraduate Lauren Eglite, a chemical engineering major.

Datta’s work on glioblastoma includes a first-of-its-kind experiment exploring tumor models in microgravity at the International Space Station. Her research was highlighted in the WWYFF feature, “Fighting to Cure Brain Cancer.”

Eglite was 12 years old and attending a Notre Dame home football game with her dad when she saw a WWYFF feature about groundbreaking peanut allergy research in 2017. That moment inspired Eglite, who has a life-threatening peanut allergy, to come to Notre Dame where she is now working alongside engineering professor Başar Bilgiçer to advance his research and create a safer future for millions living with allergies. Her story was featured in the 2025 piece “Still Fighting to Cure Peanut Allergies.”

The WWYFF series has won three Telly Awards and a 2024 Sports Emmy for outstanding public service content.

The event is free and open to the public. Large bags and backpacks will not be permitted.

As chairman of the Special Olympics International board of directors, Shriver has played a leading role in driving the organization’s largest expansion in its history — growing the movement from 1 million athletes to over 4 million athletes in more than 200 countries and territories around the world.

Shriver is also the co-founder of UNITE, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people bridge political divides, and was instrumental in developing the Dignity Index — a new tool to help Americans disagree without demonizing each other.

“Drawing on his deep faith, Tim has devoted his life to being a force for good. Whether through his leadership of Special Olympics, his work in education or his commitment to fostering civil discourse, he is a tireless advocate for human dignity,” Notre Dame President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., said. “In awarding him the Laetare Medal, we honor his inspiring witness and his dedication to building bridges in service of a more just and compassionate world.”

Special Olympics — a global movement to end discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities through programming in sports, health, education and inclusive leadership — was founded in 1968 by Shriver’s mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Shriver’s father, Robert Sargent Shriver, also served as president and board chair in the 1980s and 1990s.

“My parents never retired. They loved their work. They loved the Special Olympics movement. So my mom and dad were not looking to hand off the torch; they just wanted someone to help carry it,” Shriver said. “Most of all, I think they wanted confidence that whoever was going to lead the movement into the future understood it. And we have tried to maintain that same vision — to see the dignity of every human being and to stay focused on what matters most, which is that every child who comes into this movement deserves to be treated with dignity and hope and justice and joy. Give them a chance, every one, no exceptions.”

Shriver joined the Special Olympics movement in 1996 and currently serves as chairman. During his tenure, he has broadened Special Olympics’ global reach and sought to enhance the quality of life for millions of people with disabilities by creating new initiatives in athletic leadership, health services and education development.

To date, the Healthy Athletes initiative, launched in 1997, has provided free health care screenings to more than 2 million athletes in more than 135 countries. And the Special Olympics Unified Sports initiative, which began in the 1980s and was significantly expanded under his leadership, brings together athletes with and without intellectual disabilities on the same playing field to promote a culture of inclusion.

“I look at the work of the last half century of the Special Olympics movement as largely shifting the lens from, ‘What’s wrong with them?’ to ‘How much can we accomplish if it’s us, not us versus them? If we’re all seen as equally gifted, as opposed to some being better than others?’” he said. “These were all lessons that were taught to me very early in life, and I’m grateful for them.”

Shriver earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, a master’s degree from Catholic University and a doctoral degree in education from the University of Connecticut. He began his career in public education and helped launch the field of social and emotional learning (SEL) by leading the New Haven Social Development program, which pioneered SEL strategies across K-12 classrooms. Building on that program’s success, Shriver co-founded the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) at Yale in 1994 and chairs its board of directors.

Building on his experience with Special Olympics and convinced that treating others with dignity eases division, Shriver founded UNITE in 2018 to try to bridge the political divides in the United States. Launched in 2022, the Dignity Index is an eight-point scale to gauge whether the language people use reflects contempt or respect for those with other views. The UNITE team now works with politicians, educators, faith leaders and corporations across the country to advocate for dignity as a “winning strategy” in every field of endeavor.

Shriver, who has also served as executive producer of several award-winning films, is the author of the New York Times bestseller “Fully Alive: Discovering What Matters Most” and co-editor of “The Call to Unite: Voices of Hope and Awakening.”

In recognition of his visionary leadership, he has been honored with numerous awards, including the Medal of the City of Athens, Greece; 1995 Connecticut Citizen of the Year; the Order of Manuel Amador Guerrero of the Republic of Panama and the Presidential Medallion from the University of Illinois. He has also received honorary degrees from Georgetown University, Fordham University and Villanova University, among others.

The Laetare (pronounced lay-TAH-ray) Medal is so named because its recipient is announced each year in celebration of Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent on the Church calendar. “Laetare,” the Latin word for “rejoice,” is the first word in the entrance antiphon of the Mass that Sunday, which ritually anticipates the celebration of Easter. The medal bears the Latin inscription, “Magna est veritas et praevalebit” (“Truth is mighty, and it shall prevail”).

Established at Notre Dame in 1883, the Laetare Medal was conceived as an American counterpart of the Golden Rose, a papal honor that antedates the 11th century. The medal has been awarded annually at Notre Dame to a Catholic “whose genius has ennobled the arts and sciences, illustrated the ideals of the Church and enriched the heritage of humanity.”

Previous recipients of the Laetare Medal include Civil War Gen. William Rosecrans; Governor of New York Alfred Smith; actress Helen Hayes; Catholic Worker founder Dorothy Day; teacher, musician, liturgist and scholar Sister Thea Bowman; novelist Walker Percy; counselor and advocate for death row prisoners Sister Helen Prejean; Cardinal Joseph Bernardin; singer Aaron Neville; actor Martin Sheen; and CEO of Feeding America Claire Babineaux-Fontenot.

“I know I don’t belong in the company of many of the people who have received this medal,” Shriver said. “I think it’s being given to me as a placeholder for the people who are doing the work every day. It’s being given to me so that the athlete who’s in a refugee camp in Tanzania running 50 meters this afternoon will somehow know that the world is paying attention, and so that his mom at the finish line will know that her son matters. I’m a good channel for people who deserve it, and I’m grateful to be able to be that channel.”

Shriver is the only Laetare Medalist in Notre Dame history whose parents were both recipients as well. His mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, received the Laetare Medal in 1988 for her own work with Special Olympics, and his father, Robert Sargent Shriver, was the 1968 Laetare Medalist in recognition of his work in founding the Peace Corps. Timothy Shriver’s uncle, President John F. Kennedy, received the medal in 1961.

Read more about 2026 Laetare Medalist Timothy Shriver here

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

The University of Notre Dame’s Just Transformations to Sustainability (JTS) Initiative has partnered with the Vatican’s Laudato Si’ Center for Higher Education to establish the Global Alliance for Laudato Si’, an international network dedicated to supporting integral ecology and global sustainability. The alliance will serve as a hub for connecting, amplifying and spearheading research, curriculum and action initiatives for supporting a sustainable future, as inspired by the principles articulated by Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudato si’ (On Care for Our Common Home) and embraced and amplified by Pope Leo XIV as he begins his papacy.

The Global Alliance was created to strengthen cooperation among universities worldwide and connect sustainability leaders in academia and beyond to advance a shared vision for transformative change. Responding to Pope Francis’ call to “hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor,” the partners hope their combined efforts will effectively address global environmental degradation, inequality and ecological injustice.

The alliance launched with an inaugural meeting March 9-10 at the Laudato Si’ Village in Castel Gandolfo, the pontifical summer residence outside of Rome. Nearly 100 researchers and institutional leaders — representing more than 60 universities across Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa, as well as major international organizations — gathered to develop a shared research and action agenda and a long-term vision for the alliance.

Speakers and participants stressed the need for collaboration that connects the natural and applied sciences with philosophy, anthropology, the social sciences and theology — building research networks that generate cutting-edge knowledge, inform public debate and contribute to the development of policies and strategies for sustainable development.

“We emerge from this first gathering of the Global Alliance with a renewed sense of purpose and hope,” said University of Notre Dame President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C. “These interdisciplinary research and education initiatives reflect our commitment to an integral ecology that recognizes the deep connections between environmental sustainability and human dignity and flourishing. We look forward to the many ways this collaboration will serve the common good and advance care for our common home in the days ahead.”

Representatives from both Notre Dame and the Vatican attended the meeting at the Laudato Si’ Village, including Cardinal Fabio Baggio, director general of the Laudato Si’ Center for Higher Education, undersecretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and one of the founders of the Global Alliance, and Sister Alessandra Smerilli, secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and member of the board of directors for the Laudato Si’ Center for Higher Education.

The convening will serve as a catalyst for significant positive action at the local, regional and global levels, and the insights that emerged will provide a roadmap for the alliance to follow.

“This enthusiasm must now be translated into concrete objectives through working groups that will continue beyond the conference, launching a lasting process of collaboration among research centers and institutions,” Cardinal Baggio said.

Arun Agrawal, founding director of Notre Dame’s JTS Initiative and the Pulte Family Professor of Development Policy at Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, said Notre Dame’s research expertise and mission-driven approach to addressing environmental issues make it uniquely suited to help advance this effort.

“We feel that Notre Dame, a leading Catholic research university, is positioned to assist the Holy See in its objective to seek transformative change in a manner consistent with the best available science, as well as the foundational elements of integral ecology and integral human development,” Agrawal said.

Rev. Daniel Groody, C.S.C., vice president and associate provost for undergraduate education and professor of theology and global affairs, said that it was important for the alliance members to gather together as a global community because the issues being faced are shared. “The environment is something that affects all of us,” he said. “We can come together as a human community before God and reflect on how we can work together to preserve our common home.”

“It’s also important to see how Notre Dame can be at the service of the Church,” Father Groody added. “We can connect the research engine of Notre Dame with the research needs of the Church, especially as we’re looking at the problems of the world and helping those who are afflicted, particularly the most vulnerable members of our human community.”

Together, the Global Alliance hopes to advance three main goals: to form a global network of leaders and institutions focused on sustainability, to create thematic working groups for developing research plans and educational curricula on sustainability, and to strengthen Catholic visibility and contributions to international sustainability dialogue.

Six interdisciplinary working groups will advance the main research areas of the Global Alliance in the coming years. Their work will focus on strategic priorities that include:

• • removing barriers to access to water, energy and food security
  • transforming economic systems toward more sustainable and just models
  • developing best practices and tools to promote collective action

“There is already so much inspiring work being done all over the world,” Agrawal said, “and the goal of the Global Alliance is not to substitute for any of that work, but rather to share, to learn, to connect and to support what is already going on and to provide a space in which anyone who is interested in sustainability and integral ecology can learn from what others have done and to build on that.”

A key element of Notre Dame’s strategic framework, the JTS Initiative is the University’s far-reaching response to the urgent and cascading effects of sustainability challenges on food, energy, water and infrastructure — all of which threaten the well-being and dignity of people everywhere. The initiative brings together interdisciplinary scholars, dedicated students and action partners from around the world to advance transformative solutions for a more just and sustainable future.

“We look forward to cultivating these new relationships with other global leaders in the sustainability field and operationalizing the interdisciplinary research needed to effect this deep and lasting change in our world,” Agrawal said.

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

More than 184 million people in rural sub-Saharan Africa rely on shared handpumps for clean water. However, more than 50,000 of the pumps are broken, leaving millions in jeopardy of losing their safe water supply.

New research from the University of Notre Dame studies how local nongovernmental organizations in Ethiopia, Malawi and the Central African Republic decide when to maintain and repair 3,584 community handpumps when information about pump functionality is incomplete or uncertain. The ongoing research has helped NGOs provide more consistent and safe access to water for more than a million people across the three countries.

“Our results show that well-timed preventive maintenance can substantially reduce downtime and, in many cases, lower logistics costs — an important factor for NGOs with limited budgets,” said lead author Chengcheng Zhai, assistant professor of information technology, analytics and operations at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. Her findings in the paper, titled “Keep the Water Flowing: The Hidden Crisis of Rural Water Management,” are forthcoming in the journal Manufacturing & Service Operations Management and won the 2024 Service Science Best Cluster Paper Award from the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, a prestigious international research recognition.

Along with co-authors Alfonso Pedraza-Martinez, Notre Dame’s Greg and Patty Fox Collegiate Professor of IT, Analytics and Operations, and Rodney Parker, Kurt Bretthauer and Jorge Mejia from Indiana University, Zhai examined detailed data on mechanic visits and water-point functionality from three countries that use very different approaches to water handpump maintenance.

Based on field research, Zhai and colleagues learned that the NGOs operating in the Central African Republic visit each water handpump once per year as part of a pre-scheduled rotation. The NGO in Ethiopia has an incoming call center that relies on community reporting of handpump breakdowns. The NGO in Malawi runs an outgoing call center, which contacts each community to inquire about the handpump condition so broken ones can be repaired.

The team developed a dynamic optimization model, called the Markov Decision Process, that adapts to each NGO’s current maintenance model and identifies optimal schedules for mechanics to visit and conduct the necessary maintenance and repair services, with the goal of reducing water pump downtime while balancing the logistics cost.

“Under this approach, NGOs perform both preventive maintenance and any needed repairs during each scheduled visit,” Zhai said.

Using this model, the NGO observes how many pumps are reported broken in each cluster and how long it has been since the last visit, and then decides which cluster its mechanics should visit next.

There are a number of complicating factors in determining maintenance practices. NGOs responsible for maintaining the water sources operate with limited staff and budgets. They must carefully plan their mechanics’ travel routes to keep pumps working while minimizing downtime and the costs of transportation and spare parts. At the same time, they must decide how much to invest in collecting information from communities about pump failures and whether their maintenance strategy should be more proactive (scheduled visits) or reactive (responding to reported breakdowns).

It can be tough to figure out if fixing things as they break or sticking to a strict schedule actually works best.

“If there is plenty of data and the water pumps are reliable, reacting as things break is best,” Zhai said. “But if repair demand is high, sticking to a scheduled, proactive plan works better.”

Applying their analytics model across thousands of water handpumps and multiple time periods revealed substantial reductions in downtime.

Enhanced logistics including well-scheduled preventive maintenance and repair service reduced maintenance downtime by 47 percent to 62 percent in Ethiopia, up to 53 percent in Malawi, and by 42 percent to 55 percent in the Central African Republic), with varying cost impacts ranging from savings in Malawi and Ethiopia and a 15 percent to 19 percent increase in the Central African Republic.

“This vital research offers a clear path to keeping water flowing, delivering sustainable, safe water access for underserved rural communities across Africa and strengthening health and long-term resilience,” Zhai said. “Our findings are critical for NGOs working with tight budgets and incomplete information.”

While NGOs may assume preventive maintenance increases costs, the study shows that when preventive maintenance is scheduled optimally, significant logistics savings are achievable. For organizations with limited budgets, these savings can free up resources for other critical activities. Even in cases where costs rise, the major improvements in pump uptime can justify the added expense.

“This paper is part of our comprehensive research agenda on water management in sub-Saharan Africa. We are using analytics to improve the location, allocation, maintenance and funding of water projects in countries like Malawi, Ethiopia and the Central African Republic,” said Pedraza-Martinez, who also serves as faculty director of the Meyer Business on the Frontlines program. “Moreover, thanks to a collaboration with the Frontlines program at the Mendoza College of Business, MBA students are building on our research to advise NGOs and social enterprises focused on water management, helping these organizations improve their strategies and operations. This is research with a positive and tangible social impact.”

Contacts: Chengcheng Zhai, 574-631-5445, czhai2@nd.edu; Alfonso Pedraza-Martinez, apedraz2@nd.edu