tag:news.nd.edu,2005:/newsNotre Dame News | News2024-03-18T16:00:00-04:00tag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1606022024-03-18T16:00:00-04:002024-03-18T15:58:09-04:00In memoriam: Ronald Weber, American studies professor emeritus<p>Ronald Weber, a professor emeritus of American studies at the University of Notre Dame, died March 12 in Valparaiso, Indiana. He was 89.</p><p>Ronald Weber, a professor emeritus of American studies at the University of Notre Dame, died March 12 in Valparaiso, Indiana. He was 89.</p>
<p>Born and raised in Mason City, Iowa, Weber earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Notre Dame in 1957. After working for newspapers in Illinois and Iowa, he took his master’s degree in English from the University of Iowa and a doctoral degree in American studies from the University of Minnesota.</p>
<p>Weber taught for two years at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, and then returned to his undergraduate alma mater in 1963 as a faculty member in the Department of Communication Arts. As department chair, he directed a committee that created a program in American studies, which in 1970 merged with the communication arts department and became the Department of American Studies. Weber served as chair of the new department for its first seven years.</p>
<p>Robert Schmuhl, the Walter H. Annenberg-Edmund P. Joyce Professor Emeritus of American Studies and Journalism, said of his longtime colleague: “More than anyone, Ron Weber was responsible for making American studies a distinctive academic entity at Notre Dame. He combined inquiry about literature, history and politics with the practice of journalism and modern communications. He’d tell new faculty members that they had to bring their subjects to life, something he did whenever he entered a classroom. As a writer, he was at home working on a book of literary analysis or history as well as a mystery or spy novel. His rare abilities were those of a rare individual, who will be long remembered.”</p>
<p>Weber focused his writing and research on American literature, journalism and culture and was the author or editor of 19 books of nonfiction and fiction, including murder mystery novels centered on fly fishing in northern Michigan. Two of his nonfiction titles, “Hired Pens” and “The Midwestern Ascendancy in American Writing,” drew praise from a Publishers Weekly reviewer, who called Weber “one of the finest writers on writers,” adding that “previous authors have covered the ground he walks … but no one has covered it better.”</p>
<p>Weber was a Fulbright lecturer in American studies at the University of Coimbra in Portugal in 1968-69, and he received a second Fulbright to Coimbra as well as the University of Lisbon in 1982. He was the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center at Columbia University, and he received the Office of the Provost Faculty Award from Notre Dame in 1976. He was a member of the American Studies Association, Great Lakes American Studies Association and Catholic Commission on Intellectual and Cultural Affairs. He was elevated to emeritus status in 1999.</p>
<p>Weber was preceded in death by his wife of 63 years, Patricia, and a daughter, Andrea Weber. He is survived by two daughters, Elizabeth Krupchak and Kathryn Weber, and three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.</p>
<p>His family will bury his ashes with those of his wife and daughter in Cedar Grove Cemetery at Notre Dame.</p>
<p> </p>Dennis Browntag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1605432024-03-14T13:00:00-04:002024-03-14T11:44:40-04:00Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Maria Ressa to speak at Notre Dame Forum event<p>Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, acclaimed journalist and renowned defender of democracy, will be the featured speaker at the 2023-24 University of Notre Dame Forum event “Safeguarding Democracy in an Era of AI and Digital Disinformation” from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday (March 20) in the Smith Ballroom at the Morris Inn. <a href="https://keough.nd.edu/people/andres-mejia-acosta/">Andrés Mejía Acosta</a>…</p><p>Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, acclaimed journalist and renowned defender of democracy, will be the featured speaker at the 2023-24 University of Notre Dame Forum event “Safeguarding Democracy in an Era of AI and Digital Disinformation” from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday (March 20) in the Smith Ballroom at the Morris Inn. <a href="https://keough.nd.edu/people/andres-mejia-acosta/">Andrés Mejía Acosta</a>, Kuster Family Associate Dean for Policy and Practice at the <a href="https://keough.nd.edu/">Keough School of Global Affairs</a>, will moderate a conversation following Ressa’s lecture. The event is free and open to the public.</p>
<p>In 2012, Ressa co-founded Rappler, the top digital-only news site leading the fight for press freedom in the Philippines. The site earned recognition for combating fake news in addition to exposing human rights abuses by the regime of former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.</p>
<p>“Maria Ressa’s fearless advocacy for democracy and bravery as a journalist is inspiring,” said University President <a href="https://president.nd.edu/about/">Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C</a>. “Having risked her own life and freedom to defend democracy in the Philippines, she is committed to ensuring that we as citizens understand the impact of technology on our democratic processes. We are honored to welcome her back to Notre Dame.”</p>
<p>Ressa was one of two journalists <a href="https://www.rappler.com/about/winners-nobel-peace-prize-2021">awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize</a> in recognition of her “efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace,” the selection committee said. She was the first Filipino to win a Nobel Peace Prize. In 2018, Time also honored Ressa and several other journalists as its Person of the Year “in recognition of those who faced persecution, arrest or murder for their reporting.”</p>
<p>Featured in a Notre Dame “<a href="https://fightingfor.nd.edu/2023/fighting-to-defend-human-rights/">What Would You Fight For” story</a>, she was appointed in February as a distinguished policy fellow at the University’s Keough School of Global Affairs. She also delivered the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies Asia Leadership Forum lecture in spring 2023. She will be presenting at the Keough School’s Washington Office as part of a March 14 <a href="https://keough.nd.edu/event/digital-democracy-defending-democratic-norms-with-new-deliberative-technologies/">discussion on digital democracy</a>.</p>
<p>Born in Manila, Ressa moved to the United States with her family at a young age. After studying at Princeton University, she returned to live in the Philippines and launched her journalism career. Before co-founding Rappler, she worked as a CNN correspondent and bureau chief in Jakarta and Manila. She was also senior vice president in charge of ABS-CBN’s multimedia news operations, managing about a thousand journalists for the largest news organization in the country.</p>
<p>As Rappler’s CEO, Ressa endured multiple arrests by the Philippine government, a barrage of online hate and constant political harassment. She was also arrested on the country’s first-of-its-kind charge of cyber libel. She awaits a decision on that case from the Philippines Supreme Court.</p>
<p>For her principled stance, courage and work on disinformation and fake news, Ressa has won numerous awards around the world, including the prestigious <a href="https://www.rappler.com/about/golden-pen-freedom-2018-award-wan-ifra-maria-ressa-speech">Golden Pen of Freedom Award</a> from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers. In 2021, UNESCO awarded her the <a href="https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/opinion-maria-ressa-unesco-world-press-freedom-prize-speech">Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize</a>. Her work combating fake news is also the subject of a 2020 Sundance Film Festival documentary, “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQpjfWV_p6E">A Thousand Cuts</a>.”</p>
<p>She is the author of three books concerning the rise of terrorism in Southeast Asia: “Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda’s Newest Center of Operations in Southeast Asia,” “From Bin Laden to Facebook: 10 Days of Abduction, 10 Years of Terrorism” and “How to Stand Up To a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future.”</p>
<p>In 2022, she was appointed by the United Nations secretary-general to the leadership panel of the Internet Governance Forum and serves as its vice chair. She has also served as a fellow at the Initiative on the Digital Economy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; as a Joan Shorenstein Fellow at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy; and as a Hauser Leader at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School. She is an inaugural Carnegie Distinguished Fellow at Columbia University’s Institute of Global Politics. In July, she will join the faculty of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs as a professor of professional practice.</p>
<p>This event is co-sponsored by the Office of the President and the Keough School. It is the final keynote event for the 2023-24 Notre Dame Forum on “The Future of Democracy,” a series of discussions designed to foster respectful and informed dialogue on national and global issues. The conversation will be livestreamed at <a href="https://forum2023.nd.edu/">forum.nd.edu</a>.</p>
<p> </p>Notre Dame Newstag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1605252024-03-13T12:59:00-04:002024-03-13T13:51:12-04:00Medieval Institute to host Medieval Academy of America’s 99th meeting in mid-March<p>More than 350 scholars of the Middle Ages will converge Thursday-Saturday (March 14-16) at the University of Notre Dame for the 99th meeting of The Medieval Academy of America, hosted by the Medieval Institute.</p>
<p> </p><p>More than 350 scholars of the Middle Ages will converge Thursday-Saturday (March 14-16) at the University of Notre Dame for the 99th meeting of <a href="https://www.medievalacademy.org/">The Medieval Academy of America</a>, hosted by the University’s <a href="https://medieval.nd.edu/">Medieval Institute</a>.</p>
<p>The institute — the nation’s largest and most preeminent center for understanding the Middle Ages — is a fitting host, said <a href="https://medieval.nd.edu/faculty/thomas-e-burman/">Thomas E. Burman</a>, the Robert M. Conway Director of the Medieval Institute, a Notre Dame professor of <a href="https://history.nd.edu/">history</a> and co-chair of the meeting organizing committee.</p>
<p>“We want to show off our great resources in medieval studies, particularly the Medieval Institute, to all our great visitors,” he said.</p>
<p>The conference’s three themes are “Mapping the Middle Ages,” “Bodies in Motion” and “Communities of Knowledge.”</p>
<p>The Middle Ages, roughly, is the 1,000-year period from A.D. 500 to 1500. While some scholars have singularly focused on Western Europe during that time, assistant director Megan J. Hall said the institute fosters a global focus.</p>
<p>Medieval studies are inherently interdisciplinary, Burman said, and scholars examine the period from a variety of fields, including history, languages, literature, philosophy, theology, art history and music.</p>
<p>While there is a lingering belief that the Middle Ages were a backward time, Burman said the era is responsible for many aspects of modernity, including universities.</p>
<figure class="image image-left"><img src="https://al.nd.edu/assets/561556/thomas_e._burman400x.jpg" alt="Thomas E. Burman" width="370" height="493">
<figcaption>Thomas E. Burman, the Robert M. Conway Director of the Medieval Institute and Notre Dame professor of history.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Middle Ages, he said, offer a 1,000-year-long laboratory to study interactions of Jews, Christians and Muslims. And for Hall — whose research pertains to literature and women’s studies during the medieval era — the period yields information about women’s history and the roots of some stereotypes.</p>
<p>With four plenary lectures and <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wkzB8mZtP1RplHiU7_16g3r4gpMze0KrOJUTgQvIJAY/edit#heading=h.r7r7hnfgx4ga">60 sessions</a> over three days, presenters will share innovative scholarship and reframe perspectives on topics ranging from architecture to pandemics to surgical errors.</p>
<p>Notre Dame graduate students will take part in the meeting, both as academics presenting papers and as volunteers to help the event run smoothly.</p>
<p>“They’re already heavily involved with the MAA and are dedicated to developing their skill base,” Hall said.</p>
<p>A number of grants, awards and publication prizes will be presented at the meeting, and recently elected fellows will be inducted into the MAA, which is the largest organization in the country that promotes excellence in the field of medieval studies.</p>
<p>Throughout the three-day event, Hall said, Notre Dame representatives will provide genuine hospitality, showcase all of Notre Dame and invite scholars to return for future research.</p>
<p>In addition to formal academic presentations, attendees will be invited to use other University medieval resources and programming. There will be relevant pieces at the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, the “Mapping the Middle Ages: Marking Time, Space, and Knowledge exhibit” in the Rare Books and Special Collections section of the <a href="https://www.library.nd.edu/">Hesburgh Library</a>, and a presentation of the cosmology of Hildegard of Bingen at the <a href="https://science.nd.edu/about/facilities/digital-visualization-theater/">Digital Visualization Theater</a> in Jordan Hall of Science.</p>
<p>The 99th meeting will conclude Saturday evening with an Irish dance social called a céilí.</p>
<p class="attribution">Originally published by <span class="rel-author">Beth Staples</span> at <span class="rel-source"><a href="https://al.nd.edu/news/latest-news/medieval-institute-to-host-medieval-academy-of-americas-99th-meeting-in-mid-march/">al.nd.edu</a></span> on <span class="rel-pubdate">March 12</span>.</p>Beth Staplestag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1604542024-03-10T09:00:00-04:002024-03-10T08:19:40-04:00Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America, to receive 2024 Laetare Medal<p>Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, the chief executive officer of Feeding America, will receive the University of Notre Dame’s 2024 Laetare Medal — the oldest and most prestigious honor given to American Catholics — at Notre Dame’s 179th University Commencement Ceremony on May 19 (Sunday).</p><figure class="image image-default"><img src="https://news.nd.edu/assets/561292/fullsize/bj_2.7.24_claire_babineaux_fontenot_1200.jpg" alt="Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America, standing front of a wall mural showing foods and the words values, accountability, and empowerment" width="1200" height="675">
<figcaption>Claire Babineaux-Fontenot (photo by Barbara Johnston/University of Notre Dame)</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, the chief executive officer of <a href="https://www.feedingamerica.org/">Feeding America</a>, will receive the University of Notre Dame’s 2024 <a href="https://laetare.nd.edu/">Laetare Medal</a> — the oldest and most prestigious honor given to American Catholics — at Notre Dame’s 179th <a href="https://commencement.nd.edu/">University Commencement Ceremony</a> on May 19 (Sunday).</p>
<p>Feeding America, a national network of more than 200 food banks and 60,000 charitable and faith-based partners, works to rescue, store and distribute food to more than 49 million people facing hunger each year. It also conducts research on food insecurity and potential solutions.</p>
<p>“Claire Babineaux-Fontenot has devoted herself to answering Christ’s call to feed the hungry and care for those who are most vulnerable, and in doing so has created a network that sustains millions of Americans every day,” said Notre Dame President<a href="https://president.nd.edu/about/"> Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.</a> “Under her visionary leadership, Feeding America has become a beacon of hope not only to the individuals and families it serves, but for all who share her vision of eliminating food insecurity in this country.”</p>
<p>Prior to joining Feeding America, Babineaux-Fontenot was executive vice president of finance and global treasurer at Walmart — the culmination of 13 years on Walmart’s leadership team and a career spanning three decades of increasingly high-profile leadership positions in government, law firms and private corporations.</p>
<p>However, in 2015, she felt strongly that she was being called by God to a higher purpose.</p>
<p>“I knew that there was someplace I was being guided to, and I knew it was going to require faith and confidence in Him,” she said. “I truly did not feel afraid, and I am so grateful for that guidance. I just trusted that He would take me to where He wanted me to be.”</p>
<p>Hunger is a cause that has always been close to Babineaux-Fontenot’s heart. Growing up in Opelousas, Louisiana, she was one of 108 siblings. Through a combination of birth, adoption, and fostering, her parents built a large and loving family and worked tirelessly to help children in need — many of whom had faced neglect, abuse and food insecurity before joining their home.</p>
<p>Serving as CEO of Feeding America feels like a full-circle moment for her, she said.</p>
<p>In the last six years, Babineaux-Fontenot has led the organization through a number of challenges, including navigating a global pandemic and the ensuing increase in food insecurity. Under her direction, Feeding America became the nation’s largest charitable organization in 2022, according to Forbes, and the network distributed 5.3 billion meals in 2023.</p>
<p>But there is still much work to do, said Babineaux-Fontenot.</p>
<p>“Over 10 million children are food insecure here, in the richest country in the history of civilization,” she said. “That means we need to continue to get the word out. We should help people to understand that the game isn’t over. Notre Dame knows a thing or two about football, right? You don’t leave the field before the game is over. The game’s not over with hunger.”</p>
<p>Babineaux-Fontenot is ready to continue the fight. She and her team at Feeding America are seeking new ways to address food insecurity and championing new legislation in Congress. They recently announced a partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services to explore the link between food insecurity and health outcomes.</p>
<p>“Success for Feeding America is having a place at the table in thriving communities where people are creating solutions for themselves,” she said, “and an America where no one — no one — has to wonder where their next meal is going to come from, or the one after that or the one after that.</p>
<p>“That’s my vision, and it’s all possible. These are not pipe dreams.”</p>
<p>Babineaux-Fontenot holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette; a Juris Doctor from Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and a Master of Laws in taxation from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in Dallas. In 2020, she was named one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time magazine and was featured in the 2022 Forbes “50 over 50” list.</p>
<p>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”).</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>Previous recipients of the Laetare Medal include Civil War Gen. William Rosecrans, operatic tenor John McCormack, President John F. Kennedy, Catholic Worker founder Dorothy Day, novelist Walker Percy, Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House John Boehner (awarded jointly), Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, labor activist Monsignor George G. Higgins, jazz composer Dave Brubeck, singer Aaron Neville and actor Martin Sheen.</p>
<p> </p>Carrie Gatestag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1604142024-03-07T09:33:00-05:002024-03-07T09:33:24-05:00Women Lead 2024<div class="intro">
<p>As the University of Notre Dame celebrates International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, meet eight individuals who are accelerating progress in their respective fields and advancing the University’s mission as a leading research institution that is a means for good in the world.</p>
</div>
<div class="section-profile profile-1">
<div class="profile ">
<div class="profile-titles"><a href="https://womenlead2024.nd.edu/" class="btn">Read their stories</a></div>
</div>…</div><div class="intro">
<p>As the University of Notre Dame celebrates International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, meet eight individuals who are accelerating progress in their respective fields and advancing the University’s mission as a leading research institution that is a means for good in the world.</p>
</div>
<div class="section-profile profile-1">
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<div class="profile-titles"><a href="https://womenlead2024.nd.edu/" class="btn">Read their stories</a></div>
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</div>Office of Brand Contenttag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1604022024-03-06T15:19:00-05:002024-03-11T15:32:05-04:00University of Notre Dame ranks as top educational institution and in top 20 on Forbes’ America’s Best Large Employers list<p>The University of Notre Dame has been named as the top educational institution on the Forbes list of America’s Best Large Employers 2024, and was positioned in 20th place overall, ahead of many notable corporations and organizations.</p>
<p>The list of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/lists/best-large-employers/?sh=413e00997b66">America’s Best Large Employers</a>…</p><p>The University of Notre Dame has been named as the top educational institution on the Forbes list of America’s Best Large Employers 2024, and was positioned in 20th place overall, ahead of many notable corporations and organizations.</p>
<p>The list of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/lists/best-large-employers/?sh=413e00997b66">America’s Best Large Employers</a> was identified in an independent survey from a sample of more than 170,000 U.S. employees working for companies employing at least 5,000 people.</p>
<p>“We are tremendously grateful for the talent and dedication of the people who work at Notre Dame and make the University the special place it is,” said <a href="https://president.nd.edu/about/">University President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.</a> “Our employees are our most valuable asset, and so we are delighted to be named as a top employer alongside so many excellent organizations.”</p>
<p>Vice President for Notre Dame Human Resources <a href="https://www.nd.edu/about/leadership/council/heather-christophersen/">Heather Christophersen</a> cited the University’s unprecedented commitment to its employees when discussing the Forbes recognition.</p>
<p>“Notre Dame is committed to consistently investing in our people and fostering a culture that allows our employees to be their best selves,” Christophersen said. “From a historic compensation investment during the pandemic to continued growth of our total rewards program, we are proud to know that our employees value the benefits of being a member of the Notre Dame community.”</p>
<p>In 2022, citing the perseverance of and extraordinary contributions from members of the campus community during the pandemic, Father Jenkins announced a <a href="https://evp.nd.edu/news/notre-dame-makes-historic-compensation-investment-surpassing-75-million/">$25 million commitment</a> to increase base compensation for eligible hourly and salaried University staff, faculty and student workers.</p>
<p>That announcement was the third component in a compensation enhancement strategy that the University introduced in 2022. Across three phases, the overall investment in recurring compensation surpassed $75 million, the largest such investment in employees in the University’s history.</p>
<p>Additionally, in October 2022, the University expanded its employee <a href="https://ndworks.nd.edu/news/the-wellness-center-expansion/">wellness center</a> with additional exam rooms, a bigger physical therapy room, well-being services and an enlarged pharmacy.</p>
<p>Last spring, the University <a href="https://evp.nd.edu/news/office-of-human-resources-announces-enhanced-emotional-well-being-education-benefits/">enriched its emotional well-being and education benefits</a> for employees, announced the addition of a new <a href="https://hr.nd.edu/well-being-culture/news/notre-dame-partners-with-kindercare-to-offer-new-on-campus-child-care-facility/">on-campus child care facility</a> and, most recently, updated its leave programs to enhance the employee experience.</p>
<p>According to Forbes, the list of America’s Best Employers is based on two types of evaluations:</p>
<ul>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p>Personal — Given by employees themselves; also known as direct evaluations. These evaluations have a higher weighting.</p>
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<p>Public — Given by friends and family members of employees, or members of the public who work in the same industry; also known as indirect evaluations.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>To explore Notre Dame career opportunities, visit <a href="http://jobs.nd.edu">jobs.nd.edu</a>.</p>
<p> </p>Notre Dame Newstag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1604002024-03-06T15:00:00-05:002024-03-12T09:41:03-04:00McGrath Institute to host online seminars to help inform new USCCB pastoral statement on disability and inclusion in the Church<p>The webinars, which are free and open to the public, will begin Thursday (March 7) from 3 to 4:30 p.m. EST. Future sessions will take place on March 14 and 21 and April 11, 18 and 25.</p><figure class="image image-default"><img src="https://news.nd.edu/assets/410480/fullsize/cross_and_clouds_feature.jpg" alt="Ornamental cross on the Basilica of the Sacred heart. Photo by Matt Cashore/University of Notre Dame." width="1200" height="675">
<figcaption>Photo by Matt Cashore/University of Notre Dame</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://mcgrath.nd.edu/">McGrath Institute for Church Life</a> at the University of Notre Dame has partnered with the National Catholic Partnership on Disability to offer six online educational seminars for Church leadership on disability and inclusion in the Church.</p>
<p>The series, “<a href="https://ncpd.org/incommunion">In Communion: Advancing the Full Participation of Persons with Disabilities in the Church</a>,” has been created to help inform a new pastoral statement on people with disabilities being developed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.</p>
<p>Pastoral statements are teaching tools used by bishops to communicate official Church teachings on important issues.</p>
<p>The webinars, which are free and open to the public, will begin Thursday (March 7) from 3 to 4:30 p.m. EST. Future sessions will take place on March 14 and 21 and April 11, 18 and 25.</p>
<figure class="image image-right"><img src="https://news.nd.edu/assets/561029/clare_kilbane_300.jpg" alt="Clare Kilbane, director of research and development for the McGrath Institute for Church Life's Digital Education Program" width="300" height="366">
<figcaption>Clare Kilbane (Photo by Matt Cashore/University of Notre Dame)</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Convening a cross-disciplinary group of experts, including people with disabilities, theologians, clergy, lay people and professionals in the field, each session will explore foundational and aspirational concepts important to the pastoral statement and how to enhance the involvement of people with disabilities in the Church.</p>
<p>The seminars will also address the role of the Church in advocating for people with disabilities in society.</p>
<p>“One important goal is to help leaders understand what is required to welcome Church members who experience disability more fully into the life of the Church,” said <a href="https://mcgrath.nd.edu/about/faculty-staff/clare-kilbane-ph-d/">Clare Kilbane</a>, director of research and development for McGrath’s Digital Education Program. “We also plan to explore how methods of inclusion and intentional efforts to promote belonging can transform opportunities for relationship and faith development for all.”</p>
<p>Another emphasis of the seminars will be to equip the authoring committee with a robust understanding of the experiences of people with disabilities, Kilbane said, as well as a recognition of the many and varied barriers they face and an appreciation for the gifts they have to offer the Church.</p>
<p>“We will look at how, through the development of this new pastoral statement, the Church can welcome all members into greater communion and sharing of Divine love, and each individual into a deeper relationship with God,” she said.</p>
<p>The series will begin with an exploration of the impact pastoral statements have on the Church and larger society and an analysis of the existing pastoral statement written in 1978. Participants will also consider how the new statement might advance and deepen the past statement’s teachings.</p>
<p>Subsequent sessions will analyze the concept of disability in general and how it is uniquely experienced by individuals, outline a vision of “full participation” in Church life and explore what it takes to create a Church where all are not only welcome, but also supported in ways that enable full participation.</p>
<p>“Through these seminars, we hope to help Church leadership understand that when persons with disabilities are welcomed — and invited to participate in all aspects of Church life — the Body of Christ is more complete,” said Charleen Katra, executive director of the National Catholic Partnership on Disability.</p>
<p><a href="https://ncpd.org/incommunion">Additional information and online registration are available here.</a></p>
<p><em><strong>Contact:</strong> Carrie Gates, associate director of media relations, 574-631-4313, <a href="mailto:c.gates@nd.edu">c.gates@nd.edu</a></em></p>
<p> </p>Margaret Scroopetag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1602952024-03-06T08:00:00-05:002024-03-06T15:20:44-05:00New Center for Liturgy initiative aims to foster children’s participation in worship<p>The University of Notre Dame has received a grant of $1.25 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. to create a three-year research and education initiative intended to foster children’s participation in worship in the context of late modernity. Lilly Endowment made the grant through its Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative.</p><p>The University of Notre Dame has received a grant of $1.25 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. to create a three-year research and education initiative intended to foster children’s participation in worship in the context of late modernity. Lilly Endowment made the grant through its Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative.</p>
<p>Situated within the McGrath Institute for Church Life’s <a href="https://mcgrath.nd.edu/about/centers-initiatives-and-programs/notre-dame-center-for-liturgy/">Notre Dame Center for Liturgy</a>, the initiative, called Contours of Wonder: Childhood and the Liturgical Imagination, seeks to renew liturgical formation in the Church by identifying the proper dispositions necessary for children and adults alike to worship God. Contours will then develop pastoral programming that cultivates a liturgical-sacramental imagination in dioceses and parishes.</p>
<p>Contours of Wonder is inspired by Romano Guardini’s scholarship on the liturgical formation of the child and adolescent. Commenting on Guardini’s importance to the initiative, Timothy O’Malley, academic director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, noted: “Romano Guardini understood that if we were to develop a humane culture in an age characterized by technology, the abuse of power and frenetic activity, we need to remember what it means to be a liturgical creature. The formation of the child in the proper dispositions for worship will not only be good for the child but also for the entire human family.”</p>
<p>Through Contours, Notre Dame will partner with Villanova University to host three scholarly gatherings, culminating in three research volumes. Based on this research, a series of workshops and a leadership cohort will be piloted in partner dioceses across the United States. Cohort participants will spend a year exploring new ways to approach the liturgical formation of children and will develop implementation plans for their own churches, schools and dioceses. The initiative will culminate in a capstone conference in the summer of 2026.</p>
<p>To promote ongoing scholarship in this area, Contours will also host lectures and webinars throughout the three-year initiative and offer academic research fellowships to undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Notre Dame. An undergraduate course at Notre Dame will also be created, introducing Notre Dame students to contemplative and sacramental practices necessary for human flourishing.</p>
<p>“We are engaging with scholars from across disciplines as well as parents, catechists, pastors and children themselves. Essential to this initiative is ensuring that our research contributes meaningfully to the academy while remaining accessible to the wider Church in a way that inspires a transformation in how children are both understood and formed,” said Lesley Kirzeder, program director of the initiative.</p>
<p>O’Malley concluded by saying: “We are grateful to Lilly Endowment for enabling us to participate in this initiative. Since its founding in 1970, the Center for Liturgy has had a special focus on the formation of children for participation in the liturgy. This grant, therefore, is a natural outgrowth of our mission to renew the liturgical and sacramental imagination of the Church. It’s a gift to engage in this kind of pastorally informed research and teaching that allows us to directly serve the Church in the unique way that a University can.”</p>
<p class="attribution">Originally published by <span class="rel-author">Margaret Scroope</span> at <span class="rel-source"><a href="https://mcgrath.nd.edu/news/contours-of-wonder-childhood-and-the-liturgical-imagination/">mcgrath.nd.edu</a></span> on <span class="rel-pubdate">Feb. 28</span>.</p>Margaret Scroopetag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1603592024-03-05T09:00:00-05:002024-03-11T15:33:29-04:00Land donation supports new approach to affordable housing in South Bend<p>The University of Notre Dame has donated three plots of land to the Northeast Neighborhood Revitalization Organization (NNRO), the nonprofit community development organization serving the increasingly popular Northeast Neighborhood south of campus. The land, along Turnock Street, will be used to build affordable, single-family homes as part of a newly formed community land trust, the first of its kind in Indiana.</p><figure class="image image-default"><img src="https://news.nd.edu/assets/560538/fullsize/bj_2.29.24_712_turnock_st._1412.jpg" alt="Aerial view of a vacant, dirt-covered lot surrounded by single-family homes. Barren trees cast long shadows across the lot. It is late winter." width="1200" height="675">
<figcaption>Notre Dame has donated land in the 700 block of Turnock Street for affordable housing. The land is part of newly formed community land trust.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The University of Notre Dame has donated three plots of land to the Northeast Neighborhood Revitalization Organization (NNRO), the nonprofit community development organization serving the increasingly popular Northeast Neighborhood south of campus.</p>
<p>The land, along Turnock Street, will be used to build affordable, single-family homes as part of a newly formed community land trust, the first of its kind in Indiana.</p>
<p>A fourth lot, also along Turnock, will be used to develop affordable rental housing. Plans call for a small, four-unit apartment building. The building will fit with the existing character of the neighborhood, which includes a mix of owner-occupied and rental homes, townhomes and apartments.</p>
<p>Notre Dame is technically returning the land to the NNRO after previously purchasing it from the organization for redevelopment — specifically, for the University’s long-running <a href="https://treasury.nd.edu/acquisitions/northeast-neighborhood-redevelopment/notre-dame-avenue-housing-program/">Notre Dame Avenue Housing Program</a> for faculty and staff.</p>
<figure class="image image-right"><img src="https://news.nd.edu/assets/560536/bj_2.29.24_705_st._louis_boulevard_1415.jpg" alt="A newly constructed bungalow — gray with white trim — sits between two other houses in a residential neighborhood." width="600" height="338">
<figcaption>The Northeast Neighborhood Revitalization Organization recently finished construction on this one-story home on St. Louis Boulevard in South Bend — it's first community land trust home.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From a strategic perspective, the land trust aligns with Notre Dame’s Catholic values, which regard decent, safe and affordable housing as a human right. Additionally, the University’s <a href="https://strategicframework.nd.edu">strategic framework</a> lists engagement with South Bend and the surrounding community as a priority along with undergraduate education and formation, graduate education, research and scholarship, and Catholic identity.</p>
<p><a href="https://publicaffairs.nd.edu/people/tim-sexton/">Tim Sexton</a> is associate vice president of <a href="https://publicaffairs.nd.edu/">public affairs</a> for Notre Dame.</p>
<p>“As a founding member and key financial contributor to the NNRO, Notre Dame is fully committed to advancing community and economic development in the Northeast Neighborhood for the good of all residents,” said Sexton, a past president of the NNRO. “This includes preserving access to affordable housing in the neighborhood through innovative programs and partnerships such as the community land trust. To that end, we are pleased to contribute to the trust and look forward to working with the NNRO to ensure its success long into the future.”</p>
<p>Jessica McCrea, president of the NNRO, said, “The NNRO is honored to meet the need of preserving affordability in the Northeast Neighborhood by implementing the state’s first CLT home, and we’re not stopping there. Together with support from legislators, funding partners and our board, we were able to make history in 2023 and we look forward to continuing to do so.”</p>
<p>Community land trusts are nonprofit corporations that hold and lease land on behalf of a community-based place, such as a city or neighborhood, for the purpose of maintaining access to affordable housing — even and especially in the face of rising property values.<iframe width="1200" height="673" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iWzmZjym8d4?si=l9OYsbQisNe7L5IH" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>Here, the NNRO worked with the Grounded Solutions Network to establish the land trust. Notre Dame law students, led by James Kelly, clinical professor of law and director of the <a href="https://law.nd.edu/">Law School’s</a> <a href="https://law.nd.edu/academics/experiential-courses/clinics/community-development-clinic/">Community Development Clinic</a>, provided legal support for the trust.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, this is how it works:</p>
<ul>
<li>A family or individual buys a house that sits on land owned by the community land trust.</li>
<li>The purchase price is affordable because the homeowner is buying only the house, not the land.</li>
<li>The homeowner leases the land from the community land trust as part of a long-term, renewable lease — typically 99 years — at a nominal fee.</li>
<li>The homeowner agrees to sell the home at a restricted price to keep it affordable in perpetuity, excluding the value of any improvements they make while living in the home.</li>
</ul>
<p>By excluding land from the cost of construction, the trust offers lower-income individuals the opportunity to take advantage of homeownership as a pathway to long-term security and stability — both personal and financial — while promoting social and economic diversity around campus.</p>
<p>The NNRO is partnering with South Bend Heritage Foundation (SBHF), its longtime operations manager, to develop the parcels, which sit side-by-side along the east side of Turnock between Corby Boulevard and South Bend Avenue, six blocks south of campus.</p>
<figure class="image image-left"><img src="https://news.nd.edu/assets/560537/bj_2.29.24_712_turnock_st._1413.jpg" alt="A view looking north across a vacant, dirt covered lot. It is late winter. Single-family homes can be seen in the background." width="600" height="338">
<figcaption>Notre Dame has donated land in the 700 block of Turnock Street for affordable housing. The land is part of newly formed community land trust.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A nonprofit affordable housing provider, SBHF previously partnered with NNRO on the Triangle Neighborhood, a mixed-income neighborhood adjacent to Eddy Street Commons. The organization is involved in single-family infill development in the Northeast Neighborhood as well, along Hill Street and elsewhere.</p>
<p>On Turnock, SBHF will build one detached, single-family bungalow and two side-by-side duplexes. It will use a set of pre-approved building plans — developed by the city of South Bend with input from the <a href="https://civicinnovation.nd.edu">Notre Dame Center for Civic Innovation</a> — for the duplexes. Work on the bungalow will commence this spring.</p>
<p>The NNRO recently sold its first land trust home — a single-family home on St. Louis Boulevard, a block west of Turnock — for $105,000, including a mortgage subsidy and other discounts. The home was appraised at about $500,000. The home next door recently sold for about $700,000.</p>
<p>“So (the community land trust is) doing exactly what we want it to do, which is maintain housing affordability in the Northeast Neighborhood,” said Marco Mariani, executive director of SBHF.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, buyers must earn less than 80 percent of the area median income, or about $66,000 per year for a family of four, and agree to the conditions of the trust. As a privilege of ownership, they get to sit on the NNRO committee that manages the trust.</p>
<p>“So that’s the community part of the overall land trust operation,” Mariani said.</p>
<p>This is the second time in as many years that Notre Dame has donated land near campus for affordable housing, responding to rapidly rising real estate prices.</p>
<p><a href="https://news.nd.edu/news/notre-dame-joins-with-habitat-for-humanity-to-increase-access-to-affordable-housing-in-south-bends-northeast-neighborhood/">The University donated four lots along Turnock to Habitat for Humanity of St. Joseph County</a> in January of last year. It also facilitated a pass-through donation of $250,000 to the organization to build as many as seven new homes on those lots as well as elsewhere in the neighborhood over the next five years.</p>
<p>The first two — <a href="https://news.nd.edu/news/notre-dame-alumni-assist-with-university-backed-habitat-project/">built with support from the Notre Dame Alumni Association and its Family Volunteer Camp</a> — are nearly finished. The owners are both single fathers from South Bend. One is a Notre Dame employee.</p>
<p> </p>Erin Blaskotag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1603672024-03-05T08:00:00-05:002024-03-05T14:49:43-05:00Through experiential learning, students explore poverty solutions in Nigeria<p>Communities across northern Nigeria are chronically stressed by conflict and climate change, with many residents living below the international poverty line. How can policymakers help them prepare for economic shocks? Notre Dame global affairs students students have researched answers, providing insights that can inform poverty-fighting policies.</p><figure class="image image-default"><img src="https://conductorshare.nd.edu/assets/560388/1200x500/ilab_feature_photo.jpg" alt="Notre Dame global affairs students worked on a research project that can inform global poverty-fighting policies." width="1200" height="500"></figure>
<p>Communities across northern Nigeria are chronically stressed by conflict and climate change. In 2018, for instance, 40 percent of residents lived below the international poverty line, making less than $2 per day, and another 25 percent were vulnerable to poverty. How can policymakers help them prepare for economic shocks?</p>
<p>University of Notre Dame students have researched answers, providing insights that can empower households and communities and inform global poverty-fighting policies.</p>
<p><a href="https://keough.nd.edu/students/emma-hokoda/">Emma Hokoda</a>, <a href="https://keough.nd.edu/students/colleen-maher/">Colleen Maher</a> and <a href="https://keough.nd.edu/students/nancy-obonyo/">Nancy Obonyo</a> recently completed a project through the Keough School of Global Affairs’ <a href="https://keough.nd.edu/master-of-global-affairs/practicum-internship/integration-lab/">Integration Lab</a>, in partnership with Catholic Relief Services. In June and July of 2023, these <a href="https://keough.nd.edu/master-of-global-affairs/">Master of Global Affairs</a> students, who are pursuing concentrations in <a href="https://keough.nd.edu/master-of-global-affairs/sustainable-development/">sustainable development</a>, surveyed more than 1,000 households to evaluate the impact of the $17.6 million USAID-funded Feed the Future Nigeria Livelihoods Project.</p>
<p>The program, which aimed to strengthen agricultural-based livelihoods, was implemented by Catholic Relief Services from 2013 to 2018. Team members finished their project in February by presenting key findings and recommendations at the Keough School’s Washington Office. They briefed an audience that included representatives from Catholic Relief Services, USAID and the International Food Policy Research Institute.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the team found that some interventions were more successful than others, and the program can make improvements through strategic investments.</p>
<p>Key recommendations included:</p>
<ul>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p>Embracing a holistic, systems-strengthening approach focused on foundational interventions that facilitate the success of future interventions.</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p>Incorporating resilience measurement in development projects and future resilience studies in Nigeria.</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p>Strengthening monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning systems for future projects.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>The team evaluated program interventions, which focused on four areas: 1) agriculture and livelihoods, 2) income diversification, 3) government-strengthening activities and 4) nutrition alongside water, sanitation and hygiene.</p>
<figure class="image image-default"><img src="https://conductorshare.nd.edu/assets/560390/1200x700/fieldwork1.jpeg" alt="Notre Dame global affairs students worked on a research project that can inform global poverty-fighting policies." width="1200" height="700">
<figcaption><br>As part of their project, Nancy Obonyo, Colleen Maher and Emma Hokoda worked with Catholic Relief Services partners in northern Nigeria to study and strengthen household resilience.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Students found that during economic shocks, program beneficiaries relied most heavily on agriculture and income activities to survive. Additionally, they confirmed that diversifying income streams beyond agriculture helped households better weather adversity. And they found that government-strengthening activities had the most substantial and statistically significant positive effect on household resilience.</p>
<p>Ultimately, students said the experience helped prepare them for policy-relevant careers.</p>
<p>For Hokoda, it was a window into how development projects unfold. “We wrote a proposal, prepared the institutional review process, created a financial plan, conducted field research and wrote recommendations based on our findings,” she said. “Being an active contributor from start to finish helped me understand the big picture and gain insight into how humanitarian projects are developed and assessed.”</p>
<p>For Maher, it was a master class in qualitative research. “Through this project I discovered a really deep appreciation and enjoyment of qualitative research,” she said. “This past fall, I went on to attend the American Evaluation Association’s conference in Indianapolis, where I had the opportunity to network and discuss this kind of research in depth.”</p>
<p>And for Obonyo, the experience reinforced the importance of holistic thinking in solving problems.</p>
<p>“Through my experience in Nigeria, I learned that people struggle or succeed as part of larger, interconnected communities, and there are many factors that help them prepare for and adapt to economic shocks,” she said. “So we can’t talk about household resilience without talking about foundational interventions such as education and health care as well as peace and security. And we can’t talk about household resilience without talking about community resilience. Having access to things like good roads and adequate drainage in these communities affects each person’s ability to thrive as well as the success of future interventions.”</p>Josh Stowetag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1603482024-03-04T12:46:00-05:002024-03-11T15:33:50-04:00Notre Dame, St. Joseph County to partner for maternal health ‘one-stop shop’<p>Researchers at the University of Notre Dame are engaging community partners in St. Joseph County, Indiana, to improve access to health care services for pregnant and postpartum women in underserved areas of the community with the Pop Up Pregnancy & Family Village program.</p><p>Today, giving birth to a child is no longer the most dangerous part of becoming a mother.</p>
<p>Eighty percent of <a href="https://reviewtoaction.org/sites/default/files/2022-12/Indiana%20MMR-Report-September-2022_0.pdf">pregnancy-associated deaths</a> occur in the postpartum period (up to one year following a birth), according to the Indiana Department of Health. And unlike complications during birth, the vast majority of postpartum deaths are preventable. These risks require immediate interventions aimed at improving the health and well-being of mothers.</p>
<p>Researchers at the University of Notre Dame are taking action by engaging community partners in St. Joseph County, Indiana, to help improve access to health care services for pregnant and postpartum women in underserved areas of the community.</p>
<figure class="image image-right"><img src="https://news.nd.edu/assets/560731/300x/joyce_adams_square.jpg" alt="Female professor with long dark braids wearing a bright blue blouse and gold earrings." width="300" height="296">
<figcaption>Yenupini Joyce Adams/University of Notre Dame</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://globalhealth.nd.edu/about/core-team/?service=undefined&location=undefined&name=&title=&school=undefined&id=yenupini-joyce-adams&dept=undefined&area=undefined">Yenupini Joyce Adams</a>, the <a href="https://globalhealth.nd.edu/education-training/maternal-newborn-and-child-health-mnch-initiative/">Maternal, Newborn and Child Health</a> lead for the <a href="https://globalhealth.nd.edu/">Eck Institute for Global Health</a> at Notre Dame, is spearheading these efforts by implementing new approaches to postpartum care in St. Joseph County.</p>
<p>Adams, who is an assistant professor of the practice for the Eck Institute and concurrent assistant professor of the practice at the <a href="https://keough.nd.edu/">Keough School of Global Affairs</a>, has received funding from <a href="https://www.in.gov/localhealth/stjosephcounty/health-first-indiana/">Health First St. Joseph County</a> to pilot the Pop Up Pregnancy & Family Village program, a monthly “one-stop shop” of existing, evidence-based programs that are currently operating in St. Joseph County communities.</p>
<p>“The goal of the Pop Up Pregnancy & Family Village is to establish a trusted, consistent, monthly ‘one-stop shop’ for mothers and families to access connection to care, resources and support that will address social drivers of health, well-being, and mental health, in addition to physical health during pregnancy and the postpartum period, in one convenient location,” Adams said.</p>
<p>The Pop Up Pregnancy & Family Village program will begin in August and September at locations in South Bend and Mishawaka. There will be no cost for participants to attend and receive care.</p>
<p>Adams will provide a free information session at the St. Joseph County Public Library in April for area health professionals and wellness organizations interested in participating in this important initiative, which is expected to expand to other northern Indiana communities through support from <a href="https://impact.beaconhealthsystem.org/">Beacon Community Impact</a>.</p>
<p>Building partnerships within St. Joseph County is well-aligned with the <a href="https://strategicframework.nd.edu/notre-dame-2033-a-strategic-framework/">University’s commitment</a> to supporting the health and well-being of others through translational research that can advance the local community. Support from the St. Joseph County Health Department, Beacon and Saint Joseph health systems and several community-based organizations for the pop-up project will supplement other <a href="https://hwi.nd.edu/funding/emerging-opportunities-in-health/#:~:text=Emerging%20Opportunities%20in%20Health%20is,Notre%20Dame%20and%20community%20organizations">University-sponsored</a> programs in the South Bend community.</p>
<p>Partnerships with the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute and Beacon Health System are enabling Adams to leverage insights from <a href="https://yjadams.nd.edu/projects/focused-postpartum-care-project-focused-ppc/focused-ppc-an-integrated-postpartum-care-education-and-support-model-for-women-in-ghana/">her work in Ghana</a> to address maternal mortality through group postpartum care programs that will be implemented in Indiana. While group prenatal care programs that offer peer support to expectant mothers are common within U.S. health care systems, group postpartum care models have yet to be implemented. The group postpartum care model developed by Adams will be among the first to be integrated into a health care system in the U.S.</p>
<p>With several ongoing efforts to improve the health of mothers and children, the Eck Institute <a href="https://globalhealth.nd.edu/news-events/news/eck-institute-welcomes-new-partners-to-enhance-the-impact-of-its-maternal-newborn-and-child-health-mnch-work-group/">recently announced a Maternal, Newborn and Child Health working group</a> that is mobilizing University researchers and campus partners to inspire maternal health advancements within the South Bend community.</p>
<p>“The University of Notre Dame is dedicated to working with community partners to develop local programs that accelerate our impact for good in low- and middle-income communities,” said <a href="https://globalhealth.nd.edu/about/core-team/?service=undefined&location=undefined&name=&title=&school=undefined&id=bernard-nahlen&dept=undefined&area=undefined">Bernard Nahlen</a>, director of the Eck Institute for Global Health and professor of biological sciences. “As part of this continuing alliance, the Eck Institute is fully committed to supporting global and local research that seeks to improve maternal health outcomes.”</p>
<p>In the United States, the <a href="https://journals.lww.com/obstetricanesthesia/abstract/2019/03000/postpartum_care_in_the_united_states__new_policies.14.aspx">standard for postpartum care involves just one doctor visit at six weeks post-birth</a>. Adams hopes that by establishing a consistent monthly event that is conveniently located within local communities, “we can reduce health access barriers that have historically led to postpartum health complications and death.”</p>
<p>“Access to postpartum care services should be available to anyone, anywhere,” Adams said. “I am hopeful that we can reduce Indiana’s maternal mortality rates with our partners at the University and in the community. No woman should have to sacrifice her life to give life.”</p>
<p>To learn more about upcoming Maternal, Newborn and Child Health events or to join the working group, visit the <a href="https://globalhealth.nd.edu/education-training/maternal-newborn-and-child-health-mnch-initiative/">Eck Institute for Global Health website</a>.</p>
<p><em><strong>Contact:</strong> Brandi Wampler, associate director of media relations, 574-631-2632, <a href="mailto:brandiwampler@nd.edu">brandiwampler@nd.edu</a></em></p>
<p><em><strong>Contact:</strong> Erin Blasko, associate director of media relations, 574-631-4127, <a href="mailto:eblasko@nd.edu">eblasko@nd.edu</a></em></p>
<p> </p>Christine Grashorntag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1603352024-03-03T10:30:00-05:002024-03-04T13:13:08-05:00Notre Dame mourns death of student<p>University of Notre Dame President <a href="https://president.nd.edu/about/">Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.</a>, joined with the campus community in mourning the passing of sophomore Spencer Vermeule from Cambridge, Massachusetts, who died Saturday (March 2) in a car accident in Elkhart County.</p>
<p>“We are deeply saddened by Spencer’s tragic death,” Father Jenkins said. “On behalf of the entire Notre Dame community, I extend our deepest sympathies to the Vermeule family, and offer prayers of comfort and peace to Spencer’s family, friends and all who knew and loved him.”…</p><p>University of Notre Dame President <a href="https://president.nd.edu/about/">Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.</a>, joined with the campus community in mourning the passing of sophomore Spencer Vermeule from Cambridge, Massachusetts, who died Saturday (March 2) in a car accident in Elkhart County.</p>
<p>“We are deeply saddened by Spencer’s tragic death,” Father Jenkins said. “On behalf of the entire Notre Dame community, I extend our deepest sympathies to the Vermeule family, and offer prayers of comfort and peace to Spencer’s family, friends and all who knew and loved him.”</p>
<p>The Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the accident.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://ucc.nd.edu/">University Counseling Center</a> and <a href="http://campusministry.nd.edu/">Campus Ministry</a> are both available to offer their support to students and others within the Notre Dame community. A memorial mass will be held Tuesday (March 5) at 9 p.m. in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Father Jenkins will preside, and Assistant Vice President for Campus Ministry, <a href="https://studentaffairs.nd.edu/about/division-leadership/rev-peter-mccormick-c-s-c/">Rev. Pete McCormick, C.S.C.</a>, will preach. All are welcome to attend. For those who wish to attend virtually, the Mass will be live-streamed and can be<a href="https://t.e2ma.net/click/y0aksh/igk1aq/2rq5xy" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://t.e2ma.net/click/y0aksh/igk1aq/2rq5xy&source=gmail&ust=1709661926582000&usg=AOvVaw36zhBxrlr2_EjiSuDucy-2" rel="noopener"> viewed here</a>.</p>
<p> </p>Sue Ryantag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1602102024-02-29T14:00:00-05:002024-02-29T13:49:49-05:00Notre Dame literacy research can improve learning outcomes and fight global poverty<p>A new study by a team of Notre Dame researchers makes a significant contribution to understanding the factors that influence how young elementary school students respond to reading interventions in fragile and low-income contexts. It has important implications for addressing educational inequities and improving learning outcomes to create opportunity and lift millions of children globally out of poverty.</p><figure class="image image-default"><img src="https://conductorshare.nd.edu/assets/559857/fullsize/haiti_literacy_intervention1c.jpg" alt="Elementary school students are pictured inside a classroom in Haiti." width="1200" height="600"></figure>
<p>A new study by a team of University of Notre Dame researchers makes a significant contribution to understanding the factors that influence how young elementary school students respond to reading interventions in fragile and low-income contexts.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/728393">The study</a>, published in the Comparative Education Review, evaluated an early-grade literacy intervention in Catholic schools in Haiti. The study has important implications for addressing educational inequities and improving learning outcomes to create opportunity and lift millions of children globally out of poverty.</p>
<p>“This research brings greater attention to questions of educational equity in the acquisition of foundational skills,” said lead author <a href="https://keough.nd.edu/people/tj-dagostino/">TJ D’Agostino</a>, assistant professor of the practice with the <a href="https://pulte.nd.edu/">Pulte Institute for Global Development</a>, part of the University of Notre Dame’s <a href="https://keough.nd.edu/">Keough School of Global Affairs</a>. “Which populations are being well served, which can we serve better, and how do we accomplish that? These findings can help guide future research and policy to expand literacy rates in low- and middle-income countries.”</p>
<p>Past research has shown that achieving reading comprehension by the end of second grade is crucial to progressing in school, which impacts future life opportunities, D’Agostino said. Some studies suggest achieving universal literacy could reduce global poverty by more than 10 percent.</p>
<p>Schools participating in the study received specialized teacher training as well as a curriculum in Haitian Creole and French that included a collated library. The curriculum included time for teachers to read aloud to students as well as time for students to read on their own. A group of coaches regularly visited participating schools to share best practices and evaluate what worked.</p>
<p>The study identified several factors that affected outcomes, including:</p>
<ul>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p><strong>Instructional time </strong>(which suffered in some schools because of high rates of student and teacher absenteeism)</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p><strong>Curriculum uptake</strong> (whether teachers adhered to the new curriculum or instead mixed and matched it with more familiar resources)</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p><strong>School leadership</strong> (which was crucial to protecting time for learning, encouraging teacher buy-in to the program and providing extra support for students)</p>
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<p>Researchers found that rural schools faced particular challenges, D’Agostino said, since they were more remote, received fewer coaching visits, tended to serve more marginalized populations and often experienced higher rates of student absenteeism.</p>
<figure class="image image-right"><img src="https://news.nd.edu/assets/559955/haiti_literacy_intervention_1_1200x675.jpg" alt="A Haitian elementary school student sits at his desk with a book, in a classroom setting" width="600" height="338">
<figcaption>A Haitian boy reads at school as part of a literacy intervention evaluated by Notre Dame researchers. The team’s work can inform the global work of major literacy donors such as USAID.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>D’Agostino worked with fellow co-authors <a href="https://pulte.nd.edu/people/faculty-staff/danice-brown-guzman/">Danice Brown Guzmán</a> and <a href="https://pulte.nd.edu/people/faculty-staff/paul-perrin/">Paul Perrin</a> of the Keough School’s Pulte Institute; <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/liberiste-osirus/">Anasthasie Liberiste-Osirus</a>, a training and technical assistance consultant who previously worked with <a href="https://iei.nd.edu/gc-dwc">Notre Dame’s Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child (GC-DWC)</a>, part of the University’s Institute for Educational Initiatives; and <a href="https://iei.nd.edu/initiatives/global-center-for-the-development-of-the-whole-child/people/kate-schuenke-lucien">Kate Schuenke-Lucien</a> of the GC-DWC.</p>
<p>The literacy intervention and research to evaluate its impact was supported by the <a href="https://iei.nd.edu/gc-dwc-haiti">GC-DWC Haiti</a> in collaboration with Catholic Relief Services, the Catholic Church in Haiti, USAID, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and an anonymous foundation. The program served more than 100,000 first- through third-grade students in nearly 350 schools between 2016 and 2020.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the study helped the Notre Dame team identify questions for future research, the co-authors said, and can inform future literacy interventions by organizations such as USAID, which is the largest bilateral donor of basic education assistance and works in more than 50 countries.</p>
<p>“Improving literacy skills in the school environment is an important part of a broader, deeper set of outcomes needed to address poverty,” Schuenke-Lucien said, noting that researchers sought to engage students holistically using home and church resources as well.</p>
<p>D’Agostino agreed. “It is deeply rewarding to contribute to programs that help people in marginalized communities develop life-changing skills,” he said, “and it is energizing to be a part of Notre Dame’s larger work to fight poverty.”</p>
<p><em>Originally published by Josh Stowe at <a href="https://keough.nd.edu/literacy-research-global-poverty/">keough.nd.edu</a> on Feb. 21.</em></p>
<p><em><strong>Contact:</strong> Tracy DeStazio, associate director of media relations, 574-631-9958 or <a href="mailto:tdestazi@nd.edu">tdestazi@nd.edu</a></em></p>Josh Stowetag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1602822024-02-29T11:28:00-05:002024-02-29T11:28:59-05:00A vision of hope<p>You don’t know what it is to be an advocate until you are one.</p>
<p>That was never more clear to Harry and Gail Koujaian than when their 5-year-old daughter, Hayley, began having difficulty with motor function, verbal communication, and sight words. Then she had her first seizure.</p>
<p>It took six years of patient advocacy—challenging inaccurate diagnoses, meeting with doctors, pushing for medical tests, becoming “parent scientists,” scheduling surgeries, and planning regular therapy sessions—before the Koujaians would get the correct diagnosis: Niemann-Pick disease type C.…</p><p>You don’t know what it is to be an advocate until you are one.</p>
<p>That was never more clear to Harry and Gail Koujaian than when their 5-year-old daughter, Hayley, began having difficulty with motor function, verbal communication, and sight words. Then she had her first seizure.</p>
<p>It took six years of patient advocacy—challenging inaccurate diagnoses, meeting with doctors, pushing for medical tests, becoming “parent scientists,” scheduling surgeries, and planning regular therapy sessions—before the Koujaians would get the correct diagnosis: Niemann-Pick disease type C.</p>
<p>Niemann-Pick disease type C, or NPC, is an inherited, progressive genetic disorder caused by the body’s inability to transport cholesterol and other fatty substances inside of cells. The result is an irreversible dementia-like disease that affects a child’s ability to walk, talk, swallow, and think. The disorder is very rare, affecting one in 120,000 people, and death typically occurs before or during adolescence.</p>
<p>Hayley was diagnosed with the terminal disorder at the age of 11. Her older brother, Alec, was diagnosed shortly thereafter at 13.</p>
<p>The Koujaian family’s experience is all too common. With more than 7,000 different diseases classified as “rare,” 10 percent of the population is likely to encounter a diagnostic odyssey of unnecessary tests and wrong diagnoses in their push for effective care.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nd.edu/stories/a-vision-of-hope/" class="btn">Read the story</a></p>Brandi Wamplertag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1602262024-02-28T11:00:00-05:002024-03-11T15:34:37-04:00Notre Dame makes $68 million commitment to fighting mental health crisis; scalable solutions could become national model <p>The University of Notre Dame is making a historic commitment to fighting the national mental health crisis by bringing together a coalition of benefactors, foundations and other funders who have committed more than $68 million over the past year to develop innovative solutions and expand access to care.…</p><p>The University of Notre Dame is making a historic commitment to fighting the national mental health crisis by bringing together a coalition of benefactors, foundations and other funders who have committed more than $68 million over the past year to develop innovative solutions and expand access to care.</p>
<p>That financial investment will:</p>
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<p>Fund the creation of the new <a href="https://news.nd.edu/news/veldman-family-makes-gift-to-notre-dame-for-a-mental-health-research-and-services-clinic/">Veldman Family Psychology Clinic</a>, which will develop scalable, evidence-based solutions in childhood trauma, suicide prevention and substance use.</p>
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<p>Provide cutting-edge technology that will advance the University’s psychology and neuroscience research.</p>
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<p>Expand the number of faculty and triple the number of students conducting mental health-related research on campus.</p>
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<p>Increase mental health services for Notre Dame students through a unique campus partnership among academic and student affairs units.</p>
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<p>Grow the availability of mental health care in the South Bend region.</p>
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<p>The scope of these solutions is expected to have an impact well beyond campus and the local community — University leaders anticipate outcomes from the multidisciplinary work will serve as a future scalable model for other academic and public institutions.</p>
<p>“As we face what some have called a mental health epidemic, Notre Dame is proud to undertake this ambitious initiative in comprehensive mental health care, research and services,” said <a href="https://president.nd.edu/about/">University President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.</a> “Thanks to generous benefactors who have joined us in recognizing the need for increased support, we will confront this crisis which plagues students and our local and global communities. Together, we will seek evidence-based, effective and scalable solutions to address the overwhelming demand for mental health diagnoses and treatment, and help train the next generation of mental health professionals.”</p>
<p>Notre Dame identified mental health as one of several priorities in <a href="https://strategicframework.nd.edu">its strategic framework</a> for the next decade, and announced the Veldman Family Psychology Clinic in January as a first step in that commitment. Today’s announcement further builds on this strategy with details of how research and services will expand at the clinic and on campus.</p>
<p>Through the new clinic, faculty and graduate students from the <a href="https://psychology.nd.edu/">Department of Psychology</a> will increase mental health care capacity and access for community members, while also researching trauma, suicide prevention and substance abuse, three root causes of the mental health crisis. The goal is to develop innovative solutions that will become scalable treatment models across the country.</p>
<p>This investment is the start of the commitment that will enable Notre Dame to help mitigate the shortage of mental health professionals by increasing the number of senior psychology faculty, tripling the number of clinical psychology graduate students and enhancing the experiential learning opportunities for undergraduate psychology majors.</p>
<p>The treatment capacity of the Veldman Family Psychology Clinic on Hill Street will significantly grow in the coming years, eventually serving more than 1,500 people in the South Bend community annually through mental health assessment, intervention and prevention services. The growth will significantly reduce the current clinic’s wait list and eventually eliminate the wait list for care.</p>
<p>The funding will also provide world-class equipment not currently available to local researchers and providers.</p>
<p>One of the most notable advancements will be the implementation of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology. The equipment, which is atypical for universities without medical schools to own and operate, is a specialized form of MRI used to examine the brain’s functional anatomy.</p>
<p>“The addition of the fMRI machine to our clinical and research operations will greatly improve the speed and capabilities of our faculty to identify and help make an impact on the current mental health crisis,” said <a href="https://al.nd.edu/about/people/sarah-mustillo/">Sarah Mustillo</a>, the I.A. O’Shaughnessy Dean of the <a href="http://al.nd.edu">College of Arts and Letters</a>. “Now, instead of traveling out of the region to use this equipment elsewhere, our faculty will have access to the technology right here in South Bend. This level of access will be a game-changer for our research innovations and patient outcomes.”</p>
<p>The impact of the new clinic will be felt not only in the community and academic circles, but also on campus. With growing collaborations and partnerships among University faculty and administrators, the mental health initiatives are expected to have a significant effect on Notre Dame student mental health care.</p>
<p>On campus, the <a href="https://studentaffairs.nd.edu/">Division of Student Affairs</a>, under the direction of Vice President<a href="https://studentaffairs.nd.edu/about/division-leadership/gerald-olinger-cs-c/"> Rev. Gerard Olinger, C.S.C.</a>, will expand resources to meet the growing mental health care needs of students at an earlier stage, specifically at the University’s <a href="https://supportandcare.nd.edu/">Center for Student Support and Care</a>, the <a href="https://ucc.nd.edu/">University Counseling Center</a> and the <a href="https://mcwell.nd.edu/">McDonald Center for Student Well-Being</a>.</p>
<p>Measurable outcomes anticipated include a decrease in the number of students seeking care for acute or crisis-level needs over the next five years, a designated care and wellness consultant embedded in every college and an increase in the number of students working with care and wellness consultants.</p>
<p>“With mental health standing as one of the defining crises of our times, Notre Dame has a distinct opportunity to transform what holistic mental health care looks like and to serve as a beacon for others involved in this work,” Father Olinger said. “We continue to look for and implement innovative solutions to meet our students where they are in their mental health care journeys, ultimately seeking to implement care at an earlier stage of need.”</p>
<p>Notre Dame’s commitment to solving mental health care issues stems from the University’s identity as a Catholic research institution.</p>
<p>“By caring for the mental health needs of students on campus and advancing psychological training and research, Notre Dame can realize in practice what we are called to do in our mission — be a force for good and a place of service and community,” said <a href="https://provost.nd.edu/people/charles-and-jill-fischer-provost/">John T. McGreevy</a>, the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost.</p>
<p>“This multidisciplinary focus on innovative research and advanced care is just the beginning of how Notre Dame will address the mental health crisis not only on our campus but also nationally.”</p>
<p> </p>Notre Dame Newstag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1602012024-02-27T10:29:00-05:002024-03-11T15:35:29-04:00AI among us: Social media users struggle to identify AI bots during political discourse<p>Researchers at the University of Notre Dame conducted a study using AI bots based on large language models and asked human and AI bot participants to engage in political discourse. Fifty-eight percent of the time, the participants could not identify who the AI bots were.</p><p>Artificial intelligence bots have already permeated social media. But can users tell who is human and who is not?</p>
<p>Researchers at the University of Notre Dame conducted a study using AI bots based on large language models — a type of AI developed for language understanding and text generation — and asked human and AI bot participants to engage in political discourse on a customized and self-hosted instance of Mastodon, a social networking platform.</p>
<p>The experiment was conducted in three rounds with each round lasting four days. After every round, human participants were asked to identify which accounts they believed were AI bots.</p>
<p>Fifty-eight percent of the time, the participants got it wrong.</p>
<p>“They knew they were interacting with both humans and AI bots and were tasked to identify each bot’s true nature, and less than half of their predictions were right,” said <a href="https://crc.nd.edu/about/people/paul-brenner/">Paul Brenner</a>, a faculty member and director in the <a href="https://crc.nd.edu/">Center for Research Computing</a> at Notre Dame and senior author of the study. “We know that if information is coming from another human participating in a conversation, the impact is stronger than an abstract comment or reference. These AI bots are more likely to be successful in spreading misinformation because we can’t detect them.”</p>
<p>The study used different LLM-based AI models for each round of the study: GPT-4 from OpenAI, Llama-2-Chat from Meta and Claude 2 from Anthropic. The AI bots were customized with 10 different personas that included realistic, varied personal profiles and perspectives on global politics.</p>
<p>The bots were directed to offer commentary on world events based on assigned characteristics, to comment concisely and to link global events to personal experiences. Each persona’s design was based on past human-assisted bot accounts that had been successful in spreading misinformation online.</p>
<figure class="image image-right"><img src="https://news.nd.edu/assets/559889/x300/bj_3.5.19_paul_brenner_3545.jpg" alt="Man in blue dress shirt and brown suit jacket.">
<figcaption>Paul Brenner</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The researchers noted that when it came to identifying which accounts were AI bots, the specific LLM platform being used had little to no impact on participant predictions.</p>
<p>“We assumed that the Llama-2 model would be weaker because it is a smaller model, not necessarily as capable at answering deep questions or writing long articles. But it turns out that when you’re just chatting on social media, it’s fairly indistinguishable,” Brenner said. “That’s concerning because it’s an open-access platform that anyone can download and modify. And it will only get better.”</p>
<p>Two of the most successful and least detected personas were characterized as females spreading opinions on social media about politics who were organized and capable of strategic thinking. The personas were developed to make a “significant impact on society by spreading misinformation on social media.” For researchers, this indicates that AI bots asked to be good at spreading misinformation are also good at deceiving people regarding their true nature.</p>
<p>Although people have been able to create new social media accounts to spread misinformation with human-assisted bots, Brenner said that with LLM-based AI models, users can do this many times over in a way that is significantly cheaper and faster with refined accuracy for how they want to manipulate people.</p>
<p>To prevent AI from spreading misinformation online, Brenner believes it will require a three-pronged approach that includes education, nationwide legislation and social media account validation policies. As for future research, he aims to form a research team to evaluate the impact of LLM-based AI models on adolescent mental health and develop strategies to combat their effects.</p>
<p>Additionally, the research team is planning for larger evaluations and is looking for more participants for its next round of experiments. To participate, email <a href="mailto:llmsamongus-list@nd.edu">llmsamongus-list@nd.edu</a>.</p>
<p>The study “LLMs Among Us: Generative AI Participating in Digital Discourse” will be published and presented at the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence 2024 Spring Symposium hosted at Stanford University in March. In addition to Brenner, study co-authors from Notre Dame include Kristina Radivojevic, doctoral student in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and lead author of the study, and Nicholas Clark, research fellow at the Center for Research Computing. Funding for this research is provided by the Center for Research Computing and AnalytiXIN.</p>
<p><em><strong>Contact: </strong>Brandi Wampler, associate director of media relations, 574-631-2632, <a href="mailto:brandiwampler@nd.edu">brandiwampler@nd.edu</a></em></p>Brandi Wamplertag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1601932024-02-27T09:00:00-05:002024-02-27T09:26:43-05:00Graduate students to present research, compete for prize money in annual Three Minute Thesis competition<p>Nine University of Notre Dame graduate students will compete for $4,500 in prize money during the annual <a href="https://graduateschool.nd.edu/graduate-training/research-communication/3mt/">Shaheen Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition</a>. The competition will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 28) inside Jordan Auditorium at the Mendoza College of Business on campus. It is open to the public.</p><p>Nine University of Notre Dame graduate students will compete for $4,500 in prize money during the annual <a href="https://graduateschool.nd.edu/graduate-training/research-communication/3mt/">Shaheen Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition</a>. The competition will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 28) inside Jordan Auditorium at the Mendoza College of Business on campus. It is open to the public.</p>
<p>Sponsored by the <a href="https://graduateschool.nd.edu/">Graduate School</a>, Graduate Student Government and the <a href="https://careerdevelopment.nd.edu/">Meruelo Family Center for Career Development</a>, 3MT is an academic competition that challenges graduate students to explain their research to a broad audience in three minutes or less, offering alumni, industry partners, various campus departments/institutes and the broader community the chance to learn about cutting-edge research at Notre Dame.</p>
<p>“3MT is a fantastic opportunity for graduate students across the University to convey their enthusiasm for their research and its impact on the world,” said Michael Hildreth, associate provost and vice president for graduate studies, professor of physics and astronomy and dean of the Graduate School. “I am always so impressed by the breadth of their studies and the excellence of their work. And, they are all so articulate. Everyone should come out to see this event.”</p>
<p><iframe width="1204" height="675" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rtiOPq5vPyA?si=GJvmvQKopJKpgTO2" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>This year’s finalists are Cynthia Chen (chemical and biomolecular engineering), Liliya Chernysheva (civil and environmental engineering and earth sciences), Henry Downes (economics), Nicholas Herrud (history), Kurt Kohler (biological sciences), Josephine Lechartre (peace studies and political science), Hoon Lee (aerospace and mechanical engineering), Gowthami Mahendran (chemistry and biochemistry), and Amandhi Mathews (biological sciences).</p>
<p>The judges are Monica Arul Jayachandran, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech; Jeff Rea, president and CEO of the South Bend Regional Chamber; Essaka Joshua, professor of English and former associate dean of the College of Arts and Letters at Notre Dame; Michael Hildreth, vice president and associate provost, dean of the Graduate School and professor of physics at Notre Dame; and K. Matthew Dames, the Edward H. Arnold Dean of Hesburgh Libraries at Notre Dame.</p>Erin Blaskotag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1601752024-02-26T14:00:00-05:002024-02-26T12:06:31-05:00Paul Bohn named director of the University of Notre Dame Bioengineering & Life Sciences Initiative<p><a href="https://chemistry.nd.edu/people/paul-bohn/">Paul Bohn</a>, the Arthur J. Schmitt Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame, has been named the inaugural director of the new <a href="https://strategicframework.nd.edu/initiatives/health-and-well-being/bioengineering-and-life-sciences-bels/">Bioengineering & Life Sciences (BELS) Initiative</a>…</p><p><a href="https://chemistry.nd.edu/people/paul-bohn/">Paul Bohn</a>, the Arthur J. Schmitt Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame, has been named the inaugural director of the new <a href="https://strategicframework.nd.edu/initiatives/health-and-well-being/bioengineering-and-life-sciences-bels/">Bioengineering & Life Sciences (BELS) Initiative</a>.</p>
<p>A joint initiative of the College of Engineering and College of Science and a key priority in the University’s <a href="https://strategicframework.nd.edu/">strategic framework</a>, the BELS Initiative will advance human health and wellness through interdisciplinary biomedical research and training — from fundamental advances through detection, prevention and treatment of disease.</p>
<p>“Notre Dame is well-positioned to lead this transformative initiative and to spearhead discoveries that will directly improve human health, particularly for vulnerable and underserved populations,” said <a href="https://engineering.nd.edu/faculty/patricia-culligan/">Patricia J. Culligan, the Matthew H. McCloskey Dean of the College of Engineering</a>. “I can think of no better inaugural director than Paul Bohn, whose deep experience and expertise span across the life sciences and engineering.”</p>
<p>Bohn is an internationally known leader in the field of analytical chemistry. He has served as director of what is now the <a href="https://precisionhealth.nd.edu/">Berthiaume Institute for Precision Health</a> since 2008 and also directs the National Science Foundation-supported <a href="https://cbm.nd.edu/">Center for Bioanalytic Metrology</a>. His research focuses on molecular nanotechnology, personal health monitoring, and imaging of microbial communities. He is a fellow of the American Chemical Society, has authored or co-authored more than 300 publications and holds nine patents.</p>
<p>Bohn will work closely with an executive committee that includes Culligan; <a href="https://science.nd.edu/about/office-of-the-dean/santiago-schnell/">Santiago Schnell, the William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science</a>; and <a href="https://research.nd.edu/people/jeffrey-rhoads/">Vice President of Research Jeffrey F. Rhoads</a> to direct significant new investments in infrastructure and instrumentation over the next decade; work with academic units across campus to recruit faculty scholars to advance research and training in bioengineering and life sciences disciplines; and implement cross-disciplinary graduate and postdoctoral training programs.</p>
<p>“I am excited about this initiative because we are going to be addressing problems that very few other academic institutions are trying to solve, including rare diseases and global health disparities, which align with our Catholic mission,” Schnell said. “We are trying to think strategically about how we can investigate biomedical problems by identifying the tools and technologies we can develop for better diagnostics and treatments anywhere around the world.”</p>
<p>More than 80 Notre Dame faculty and professionals are involved in bioengineering-related research and training in both of the colleges and in multiple dedicated institutes with thriving research portfolios. They study and build everything from engineering models of heart tissues to new drugs to treat cancer and diseases. The Bioengineering & Life Sciences Initiative will build on that strong foundation, facilitating the kind of collaborative, cutting-edge research that leads to impactful results.</p>
<p>“Instead of funding one idea from an individual researcher in a silo, now we are funding entire biomedical research projects as an enterprise,” Schnell said. “This kind of innovation doesn’t happen overnight. The work of the initiative — from identifying the specific research challenges to major breakthroughs — is a multiyear process. But over time, this University-wide effort will make Notre Dame a stronghold of world-changing biomedical research.”</p>
<p>Roughly <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/13-12-2017-world-bank-and-who-half-the-world-lacks-access-to-essential-health-services-100-million-still-pushed-into-extreme-poverty-because-of-health-expenses">half of the world’s population has limited access to essential health services</a>, because of distance, poverty or both. The BELS Initiative will pay particular attention to these marginalized groups, and undertake research that can have a broad impact outside of a traditional hospital or medical facility setting. Notre Dame researchers are uniquely positioned to work with medical professionals around the world to identify and tackle the challenges they face in the field.</p>
<p>“What excites me most about the Bioengineering & Life Sciences Initiative is that it will be a great program in the spirit of Notre Dame’s mission to be a powerful means for doing good in the world,” said Bohn, who earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Notre Dame in 1977 and his doctorate in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “This is an opportunity to work at the frontiers of biomedical research, and that’s exactly where Notre Dame should be.”</p>
<p>Speaking about Bohn’s service to the Berthiaume Institute for Precision Health, Rhoads said, “Paul has been one of our most effective institute directors. Through his directorship of the Berthiaume Institute for Precision Health, Paul used his exceptional, forward-looking leadership skills to grow the institute and help people produce their best work. Paul, thank you for your commitment to Notre Dame and its research mission. We cannot wait to see what you do next with BELS.”</p>
<p>An acting director of the Berthiaume Institute will be named in the coming weeks. To learn more, visit <a href="http://precisionhealth.nd.edu">precisionhealth.nd.edu</a>.</p>
<p>To learn more about the Bioengineering & Life Sciences Initiative, see <a href="https://strategicframework.nd.edu/BELS">strategicframework.nd.edu/BELS</a>.</p>
<p> </p>Deanna Csomo Ferrelltag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1602112024-02-26T13:22:00-05:002024-02-28T09:53:57-05:00Notre Dame develops user-friendly platform to access comprehensive nationwide opioid database<p>A public database has been developed by the University of Notre Dame to provide public access to more than 10 years of national controlled substance transaction information.</p><p>The <a href="https://research.nd.edu/news-and-events/news/fighting-to-combat-the-opioid-crisis/">weight of the opioid crisis</a> is heavy.</p>
<p>From 2006 to 2019, more than 100 metric tons of prescription opioid pain relievers — roughly the weight of a loaded Boeing 757-200 aircraft — were dispensed to individuals across Indiana. Widespread opioid use is leading to devastating socioeconomic and health challenges, but organizations and policymakers working to fix the problem have not had a clear picture of opioid manufacture and travel.</p>
<p>Now, a public database is filling in those details through a user-friendly interface developed at the University of Notre Dame. This platform enables public access to more than 10 years of national controlled substance transaction information. This data structure makes querying easier and faster, providing transactional data on 14 different opioids including fentanyl, hydrocodone and oxycodone.</p>
<p>The database stores the Automation of Reports and Consolidated Orders System (ARCOS), a collection of more than 550 million detailed opioid transactions that were submitted to the Drug Enforcement Administration by manufacturers and distributors of controlled substances from 2006 to 2019.</p>
<p>“Understanding the root of the drug crisis is crucial for medical professionals, researchers and policymakers to mitigate its impact effectively,” said <a href="https://leo.nd.edu/people/william-evans/">William Evans</a>, the Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Economics and co-founder of the <a href="https://leo.nd.edu/">Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities</a> (LEO). “This is critical as this crisis has been particularly devastating for certain groups such as those who have been left behind in the economy. With this data, we now have unbelievable detail about the origins of this crisis, and we hope that this information can be part of developing solutions.”</p>
<p>The ARCOS data became available through <a href="https://farrellfuller.com/paul-farrell-jr/">Paul Farrell Jr.</a>, a 1994 Notre Dame alumnus and co-lead attorney in the <a href="https://www.ohnd.uscourts.gov/mdl-2804">National Prescription Opiate Litigation</a>. Although Farrell and his team at Farrell & Fuller had made the secured data publicly available on their firm’s site, the data set was very difficult to work with given its size.</p>
<p>Wanting to make this data more accessible to researchers, policymakers and health professionals, Farrell and the case’s expert witness met with researchers from LEO and Notre Dame’s <a href="https://lucyinstitute.nd.edu/">Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society</a>. Together, they created a plan for transferring the data to the University and gained a deeper understanding of the data.</p>
<p>Researchers from across campus collaborated with Farrell to develop a website where the<a href="https://www.slcg.com/opioid-data/"> records could be stored for public use</a>. Evans and <a href="https://economics.nd.edu/people/ethan-lieber/">Ethan Leiber</a>, the Gilbert F. Schaefer Associate Professor and director of graduate studies in the <a href="https://economics.nd.edu/">Department of Economics</a>, partnered with the Lucy Family Institute’s <a href="https://lucyinstitute.nd.edu/centers-and-labs/aetl/">Applied Analytics and Emerging Technology Lab</a> (AETL) to facilitate the design and development of the new platform, <a href="https://arcos.nd.edu/">ARCOS.nd.edu</a>.</p>
<p>The website offers customizable queries that trace the journey of individual prescription opioid purchases, from the state and county of manufacture to distribution within communities where they are dispensed.</p>
<p><a href="https://lucyinstitute.nd.edu/people/the-lucy-family-core-team/michael-kennel/">Michael Kennel</a>, lead software solutions architect with AETL, developed the user-friendly interface for ARCOS. He hopes that access to the data on ARCOS.nd.edu will provide insights into understanding the rise of opioid misuse in America.</p>
<p>“The opioid crisis has claimed millions of lives. To change that, researchers need an easier way to obtain and analyze the data behind the crisis,” Kennel said.</p>
<p><a href="https://niteshchawla.nd.edu/">Nitesh Chawla</a>, founding director of the Lucy Family Institute and the Frank M. Freimann Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, noted that the project’s goal to provide user-oriented access to substance abuse transaction data aligns with Notre Dame’s goal of pursuing research that provides discoveries to enhance human well-being. He described the opioid epidemic as “one of society’s wicked problems.”</p>
<p>“Addressing this challenge is central to the mission of the Lucy Family Institute and is aligned with the <a href="https://strategicframework.nd.edu/">University’s strategic framework</a>,” Chawla said. “The data itself is not going to save a life, but the results from our collective research using the data can provide impactful data innovations that promote the prosperity of humanity. We are grateful for this collaboration with LEO, as it truly is a story of domain-informed, data-driven research for societal impact.”</p>
<p>This effort also informs a larger data platform initiative that AETL is launching this year, which “aims to scale impact by reducing barriers to access data and leverage advanced machine-learning resources,” said Rick Johnson, managing director of AETL.</p>
<p>The ARCOS website will expand as more information is collected to include additional years. In anticipation of this, the AETL team is continuing to optimize the user experience by developing enhanced query tools and file export options. Kennel explained that “at AETL, the apps that we build may not necessarily have an immediate impact on someone’s life, but we’re enabling people to do things that will have that kind of lasting impact.”</p>
<p>To learn more about future AETL project collaborations, visit the <a href="https://lucyinstitute.nd.edu/">Lucy Family Institute website</a>.</p>
<p><em><strong>Contact:</strong> Brandi Wampler, associate director of media relations, 574-631-2632, <a href="mailto:brandiwampler@nd.edu">brandiwampler@nd.edu</a></em></p>
<p><em><strong>Contact: </strong>Tracy DeStazio, associate director of media relations, 574-631-9958, <a href="mailto:tdestazi@nd.edu">tdestazi@nd.edu</a></em></p>Christine Grashorntag:news.nd.edu,2005:News/1601682024-02-26T11:15:00-05:002024-02-26T13:02:50-05:00Researchers use AI, Google Street View to predict household energy costs on large scale<p>An interdisciplinary team of experts from the University of Notre Dame, in collaboration with the University of Maryland and University of Utah, have found a way to use artificial intelligence to analyze a household’s passive design characteristics and predict its energy expenses with more than 74 percent accuracy. By combining their findings with demographic data including poverty levels, the researchers have created a comprehensive model for predicting energy burden across 1,402 census tracts and nearly 300,000 households in Chicago.</p><figure class="image image-default"><img src="https://news.nd.edu/assets/559781/fullsize/ming_hu_energy_burden_of_chicago_households_1200b.jpg" alt="Two Google Street View images, one of a multi-story brick apartment building and one of a row of townhouses in Chicago with windows outlined in red, and window-to-wall ratio and shading measured and labeled by an AI program." width="1200" height="593">
<figcaption>Notre Dame researchers analyzed Google Street View images of residential buildings in Chicago to predict household energy expenses.</figcaption>
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<p>Low-income households in the United States are bearing an energy burden that is three times that of the average household, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.</p>
<p>In total, more than 46 million U.S. households carry a significant energy burden — meaning they pay more than 6 percent of their gross income for basic energy expenses such as cooling and heating their homes.</p>
<p>Passive design elements like natural ventilation can play a pivotal role in reducing energy consumption. By harnessing ambient energy sources like sunlight and wind, they can create a more comfortable environment at little or no cost. However, data on passive design is scarce, making it difficult to assess the energy savings on a large scale.</p>
<figure class="image image-right"><img src="https://news.nd.edu/assets/559783/ming_hu_300.jpg" alt="Professor Ming Hu, associate dean for research, scholarship and creative work in the School of Architecture" width="300" height="366">
<figcaption>Ming Hu (Photo by Barbara Johnston/University of Notre Dame)</figcaption>
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<p>To address that need, an interdisciplinary team of experts from the University of Notre Dame, in collaboration with faculty at the University of Maryland and University of Utah, have found a way to use artificial intelligence to analyze a household’s passive design characteristics and predict its energy expenses with more than 74 percent accuracy.</p>
<p>By combining their findings with demographic data including poverty levels, the researchers have created a comprehensive model for predicting energy burden across 1,402 census tracts and nearly 300,000 households in the Chicago metropolitan area. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360132323011538?dgcid=author">Their research</a> was published this month in the journal Building and Environment.</p>
<p>The results yield invaluable insights for policymakers and urban planners, said <a href="https://architecture.nd.edu/faculty/ming-hu/">Ming Hu</a>, associate dean for research, scholarship and creative work in the School of Architecture, allowing them to identify neighborhoods that are most vulnerable — and paving the way toward smart and sustainable cities.</p>
<p>“When families cannot afford air conditioning or heat, it can lead to dire health risks,” Hu said. “And these risks are only exacerbated by climate change, which is expected to increase both the frequency and intensity of extreme temperature events. There is an urgent and real need to find low-cost, low-tech solutions to help reduce energy burden and to help families prepare for and adapt to our changing climate.”</p>
<p>In addition to Hu, who is a concurrent associate professor in the College of Engineering, the Notre Dame research team includes <a href="https://engineering.nd.edu/faculty/chaoli-wang/">Chaoli Wang</a>, a professor of computer science and engineering; Siyuan Yao, a doctoral student in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering; Siavash Ghorbany, a doctoral student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Science; and <a href="https://lucyinstitute.nd.edu/people/the-lucy-family-core-team/matthew-sisk/">Matthew Sisk</a>, an associate professor of the practice in the Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society.</p>
<figure class="image image-right"><img src="https://news.nd.edu/assets/559784/matthew_sisk_300.jpg" alt="Matthew Sisk, an associate professor of the practice in the Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society" width="300" height="366">
<figcaption>Matthew Sisk (Photo by Barbara Johnston/University of Notre Dame)</figcaption>
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<p>Their research, which was funded by the Lucy Institute as part of the <a href="https://globalhealth.nd.edu/news-events/news/health-equity-data-lab-awards-inspire-data-science-innovations-at-notre-dame-in-addressing-healthcare-obstacles/">Health Equity Data Lab</a>, focused on three of the most influential factors in passive design: the size of windows in the dwelling, the types of windows (operable or fixed) and the percent of the building that has proper shading.</p>
<p>Using a convolutional neural network, the team analyzed Google Street View images of residential buildings in Chicago and then performed different machine learning methods to find the best prediction model. Their results show that passive design characteristics are associated with average energy burden and are essential for prediction models.</p>
<p>“The first step toward mitigating the energy burden for low-income families is to get a better understanding of the issue and to be able to measure and predict it,” Ghorbany said. “So, we asked, ‘What if we could use everyday tools and technologies like Google Street View, combined with the power of machine learning, to gather this information?’ We hope it will be a positive step toward energy justice in the United States.”</p>
<p>The resulting model is easily scalable and far more efficient than previous methods of energy auditing, which required researchers to go building by building through an area.</p>
<p>Over the next few months, the team will work with Notre Dame’s Center for Civic Innovation to evaluate residences in the local South Bend and Elkhart communities. Being able to use this model to quickly and efficiently get information to the organizations who can help local families is an exciting next step for this work, Sisk said.</p>
<p>“When you have an increased energy burden, where is that money being taken away from? Is it being taken from educational opportunities or nutritious food? Is it then contributing to that population becoming more disenfranchised as time goes on?” Sisk said. “When we look at systemic issues like poverty, there is no one thing that will fix it. But when there’s a thread we can pull, when there are actionable steps that can start to make it a little bit better, that’s really powerful.”</p>
<p>The researchers are also working toward including additional passive design characteristics in the analysis, such as insulation, cool roofs and green roofs. And eventually, they hope to scale the project up to evaluate and address energy burden disparities at the national level.</p>
<p>For Hu, the project is emblematic of the University’s commitments to both sustainability and helping a world in need.</p>
<p>“This is an issue of environmental justice. And this is what we do so well at Notre Dame — and what we should be doing,” she said. “We want to use advancements like AI and machine learning not just because they are cutting-edge technologies, but for the common good.”</p>
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<p><em>Contact: Carrie Gates, associate director of media relations, 574-993-9220 or <a href="mailto:c.gates@nd.edu">c.gates@nd.edu</a></em></p>Carrie Gates