Senior relies on skills developed in PLS and data science to create sustainable solutions for communities in need As an A&L undergraduate, Sara Ferraro is contemplating big ideas like the pursuit of social justice and human dignity — and developing concrete, sustainable solutions for communities in need. The Program of Liberal Studies and data science minor have enabled Ferraro to implement tangible strategies for organizations and communities from Appalachia to Guatemala. “I believe in the common good, and I want to figure out my place in contributing to it,” Ferraro said. “Health is the overarching term that I can apply to all my experiences so far, whether that is environmental health, physical health, emotional health, or resilience.” Read more With NSF-funded research, historian Ted Beatty aims to show how engineers rose in prominence and shaped the modern world Entrepreneurial tycoons, inventors, and shop-floor workers are often celebrated throughout history, but the story of the engineer isn’t something that’s taught in school. Notre Dame historian Ted Beatty aims to change that, thanks to a $250,000 research grant from the National Science Foundation that will fund a book, several articles, and an interactive database showcasing the critical-but-often-overlooked role engineers played in shaping society as we know it. He seeks to tell the story of the rise of engineers — not just at outdoor worksites and inside factories but also in corporate boardrooms and government agencies across the globe. Read more Video: The studio art major at Notre Dame What is the studio art major like at Notre Dame? “It’s so supportive,” Mallory Spiess said. “There’s a whole different environment when you’re surrounded by a lot of other creators and artists and designers.” Majors pursue their passions while developing skills such as creativity, comfort with ambiguity, empathy, and communication. Watch the video In research and community outreach, psychology Ph.D. student strives for science to influence policy and make an impact on the public Morgan Widhalm Munsen knows that effective communication is key for scientific research to have real life implications. So, in addition to conducting significant research of her own as a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Psychology, Munsen also pursues community-based projects that make science more accessible and understandable to the general public. “It’s not like you can do research and then suddenly expect it to be meaningful to people,” Munsen said. “Which is why I think it’s so important for scientists and researchers to tell stories about their research and help to make it as relevant as possible to people.”  Read her story Political scientist receives Distinguished Scholar Award from International Studies Association’s Religion and International Relations Section Daniel Philpott, a Notre Dame professor of political science, has received the 2021 Distinguished Scholar Award from the International Studies Association’s Religion and International Relations Section. Philpott, the section’s awards committee noted, is a key figure in the first generation of scholars to incorporate religion into the study of international relations. His research focuses on the relationship between religion and democracy, ethics, peace-building, reconciliation, and religious freedom. Read more Vanesa Miseres awarded Humboldt Research Fellowship to shed new light on Latin American women’s commentaries on war  An Alexander von Humboldt Foundation fellowship, which promotes international academic cooperation among distinguished scholars from Germany and abroad, will enable Vanesa Miseres to spend 2022 writing and researching at the Freie Universität in Berlin. “This fellowship is both an honor and a great opportunity to advance in my second book and to strengthen the dialogue between Notre Dame faculty and other distinguished international institutions,” the associate professor of Spanish said. “It is also a meaningful recognition for women with a diverse background in academia — and in particular, for those of us who work with foreign languages and are underrepresented among awardees.”  Read more Copyright © 2021 | University of Notre Dame | College of Arts & Letters

Share this email: Manage your preferences | Opt out using TrueRemove™ Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails. View this email online. 101 O'Shaughnessy Hall Notre Dame, IN | 46556 US This email was sent to . To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.

Subscribe to our email list.