Elliot S. Weissbluth

UChicago’s Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society has received a grant from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to launch an initiative that will assess the current state of humanistic teaching and research in higher education and explore its future prospects. Learn more: http://ms.spr.ly/6048Q1TkK

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Duke Kunshan University recently hosted the Annual Presidents’ Forum of The Alliance of Asian Liberal Arts Universities (AALAU), a consortium dedicated to strengthening collaboration among liberal arts institutions across Asia. Over three days of lively panels and conversations, delegates explored how interdisciplinary learning can better serve a fast-changing region, reflecting a mission that has shaped DKU since day one. We were honored to welcome representatives from American University of Central Asia (AUCA), Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University, China Academy of Art, Chiang Mai University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen 香港中文大学（深圳）, East China Normal University, HKUST Guangzhou, Hong Kong Baptist University, Lingnan University, NYU Shanghai, ShanghaiTech University, SYMBIOSIS INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, Tunghai University, University of Glasgow, and Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. #DukeKunshanUniversity #AALAU #LiberalArtsEducation #HigherEducation #AsianUniversities #InterdisciplinaryLearning #GlobalEducation

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We ended 2025 with the fantastic news that Professor Margaret Chon was awarded a Bellagio Center Residency by The Rockefeller Foundation. This prestigious program has hosted thousands of artists, policymakers, scholars, authors, practitioners, and scientists from all over the world across every discipline, including Maya Angelou, Dikgang Moseneke, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Mary Robinson and more. Professor Chon, Donald & Lynda Horowitz Endowed Chair for the Pursuit of Justice at Seattle University School of Law and a distinguished leader in intellectual property law and sustainable development, will develop legal frameworks that leverage generative AI for multilingual scientific translation, aiming to break down barriers to global knowledge exchange and advance equitable innovation and technology transfer worldwide.

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📝 NEW BLOG POST Adapting Gramsci’s framework through retroductive inference: Insights from Kazakhstani higher education By Aikerim Kargazhanova (Bektemirova), The George Washington University Read here: https://lnkd.in/ezYs-ycK

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Dr. Jiun-Yu Wu and his international collaborators represented SMU Simmons at the 2025 American Psychological Association Annual Convention (https://bit.ly/3Jeylqh) , sharing cutting-edge research at the intersection of education, technology, and human-AI collaboration. In partnership with NYCU Vice President Chou and a Taiwan-based research team, Dr. Wu presented findings from a nationally representative study examining school students’ digital distraction and internet addiction across gender and educational stages. He also showcased two multiple grant-supported projects: 📚 A study on reading literacy for elementary, junior, and senior school students using generative AI and internet technology. 🧠 Research on self-directed learning and reading strategies for sixth graders in tech-enabled environments. These presentations highlight the power of international collaboration and innovative approaches to addressing pressing educational challenges in the digital age. #APA2025 #SMU #SMUSimmons #EducationResearch #DigitalDistraction #InternetAddiction #GenAI #ReadingLiteracy #SelfDirectedLearning #SMUSimmonsResearch

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At Anatolia American University, we believe education should connect students with the stories, challenges, and realities shaping our world. We were honored to welcome investigative journalist Fani Nikiforaki for her guest lecture, “The Egg: How One Story Crossed 11 Borders — From Local Clues to Global Truths.” Drawing from her contribution to Bloomberg’s Loeb Award–winning investigation into the global human egg trade, she shared valuable insights into the power of investigative journalism, ethical reporting, and cross-border collaboration. The event offered our students and faculty a unique opportunity to explore how local observations can uncover complex global issues — and how persistence, critical thinking, and responsible storytelling remain essential in today’s media landscape. At Anatolia American University, we remain committed to creating meaningful academic experiences that inspire curiosity, global awareness, and real-world engagement. #AnatoliaAmericanUniversity #InvestigativeJournalism #HigherEducation #GlobalAwareness #Journalism #AcademicExcellence Read more: https://lnkd.in/dFv8vEta

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From vaccines to quantum research, UChicago PME Prof. Aaron Esser-Kahn is pioneering ways to harness the body’s innate immunity that makes vaccines safer and more effective – while lending his expertise to cutting-edge quantum research. “I was now part of a bigger team that could work together and build new things,” he said upon arriving at UChicago PME in 2017. “It’s a place that is well-suited to move ideas out of the laboratory and into the world.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/geevsjHs University of Chicago | Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago #uchicago #pme #quantum #research #engineering #uchicagoinindia

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Johns Hopkins University graduate Ryan Alezz has been named a Schwarzman Scholar, a highly selective program at China’s Tsinghua University modeled after Oxford’s Rhodes Scholarship. Scholars have all costs covered as they pursue a one-year master’s in global affairs in Beijing. The 2026-2027 cohort will include 150 students representing 40 countries and 83 universities from around the world. Born in Dubai of Palestinian descent, Alezz graduated from Hopkins in 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering. While at JHU, he served as president of the Muslim Student Association, where he promoted interfaith partnerships and advocated for institutional support for students’ religious needs. He also designed pacemaker training simulators and an automated food distribution system for food deserts, and served as an EMT and community health worker in Baltimore. He credits this time with teaching him how to “think like an engineer,” allowing him to break down large problems to find evidence-based solutions. “Hopkins gave me the freedom to move between engineering, medicine, policy, and community work, and that interdisciplinary culture played a major role in preparing me for opportunities like Schwarzman,” he says. Alezz has also pursued service and research projects around the world, working in the Gambia, Uganda, and at the Thailand-Myanmar border. “I saw how health outcomes are shaped not only by clinical care, but by policy, infrastructure, and governance,” he says. “Growing up in a family of Palestinian refugees shaped how I understand health, instability, and access to care. It instilled in me a desire to work in humanitarian and low-resource settings, particularly in the Middle East, while also strengthening health systems in underserved communities like Baltimore.” After Tsinghua University, Alezz plans to attend medical school, where he will continue to combine his passions for medicine, engineering, and policy. “I aspire to become a physician-engineer who can move fluidly between clinical care, systems design, and policy, addressing both immediate patient needs and the structural factors that determine long-term outcomes,” he says. “Schwarzman’s emphasis on global leadership and China’s rising role in global development and interdisciplinary problem-solving felt like a natural fit for the kind of physician-engineer I hope to become. Being named a Schwarzman Scholar is deeply humbling, and I feel both honored and excited to join a community committed to thoughtful, cross-cultural leadership.”

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One among thirty international students selected for a fully funded Cambridge ERA-AI Fellowship, IIIT-H student Nanda Rajiv walks us through her two-month tenure as a Technical AI Governance Research Fellow, where fresh insights and new direction was gained amidst blooming daffodils and ancient stone buildings. https://lnkd.in/gMu-6RMt

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👏 Zicklin School of Business Associate Professor Xi Dong (Bert W. Wasserman Department of Economics and Finance) co-authored a paper that was listed in the Journal of Finance's top 25 most cited articles. Prof. Dong's article is entitled "Anomalies and the Expected Market Return." Read more: https://lnkd.in/eumHhY-m #ZicklinBusiness #BaruchCollege #ZicklinResearch #faculty #research #mostcitedarticle #JournalofFinance

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Dr. Yolanda Watson Spiva, Ph.D., BCC, President of Complete College America (CCA), joins Studiosity Chief Academic Officer, Prof. Judyth Sachs to explore the intersection of equity, access, and institutional transformation, underpinned by CCA’s bold mission of improving completion rates for 10 million students across 53 systems. Dr. Watson Spiva addresses AI and the need to shift away from policing towards a pedagogy-first approach, and discusses embedding "universal design" support into institutional infrastructure to ensure every student can persist and successfully complete their degree, regardless of zip code. 🎧 https://lnkd.in/g9w_G_Xv

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On December 29, 2025, Peking University HSBC Business School hosted Nobel Laureate Professor Thomas J. Sargent for a public lecture titled "AI: Past, Present, and Future." Speaking to over 300 faculty, students, and professionals, with nearly 100,000 viewers online, Professor Sargent traced the intellectual lineage of artificial intelligence from the scientific revolution to today's machine learning. The event featured a keynote lecture followed by a dialogue moderated by Associate Professor Chen Liang, and a concluding discussion with PHBS founding dean Professor Hai Wen. Associate Professor Shi Jiao served as host. This highlight video captures key moments from the lecture and audience engagement. 🔗Full Lecture: https://lnkd.in/gFaJcC-G #NobelMindsAtPKU #PKUPHBS #PKUEvents

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A small retailer in Mexico City modernized with better signage and basic inventory tracking. Revenue jumped 15-25%. That kind of growth is possible for small businesses worldwide, yet many resist modernization. Stanford GSB Professor Sridhar Narayanan studied why. His research on 1,100 retailers found that simple changes yielded a return on investment within six months. So what holds businesses back? Some lack technical know-how. Others fear attracting unwanted attention from tax authorities. Many assume customers will abandon them for looking “too modern.” Why does this matter? Small businesses are engines of employment and growth. They extend credit to customers without access to formal banking, create jobs, and connect large companies to local markets. Understanding what helps them modernize affects not only individual owners but also entire economies. Listen to explore the research: https://lnkd.in/eN9PY5GU 

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Fitsum Gebremichael, a veteran educator at Hawassa University, observed that the shift toward autonomy is a necessary step to meet global academic and research markets. Drawing parallels to institutions such as Harvard and Stanford, Fitsum argued that autonomous universities may need to evolve into research-specialised entities that use revolving funds. Success will depend on researchers’ ability to seek grants and produce applied research that addresses national development challenges. #Educational #Policy #Ethiopia Read more - https://shorturl.at/7Mw90

Is new technology blurring the lines between our bodies and our devices? UChicago Assoc. Prof. Pedro Lopes explores how humans and computers will not only interact, but integrate together in the future. http://ms.spr.ly/6040tdjME

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Google.org has provided a $1 million USD support to Dr. Thamar Solorio, Vice Provost of Faculty Excellence and Advancement and Professor of Natural Language Processing at MBZUAI (Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence), to lead a transformative research initiative. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dqdeKDmY Google, MBZUAI (Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence), Yossi Matias, Eric Xing #FintechNewsUAE #Google #MBZUAI #UAE

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UChicago PME researchers, as part of an international collaboration, have demonstrated a groundbreaking quantum speed-up: a task that would take 20 million years classically was completed in just 15 minutes using quantum learning techniques. “Ultimately, we could take these quantum signals and process them with a quantum processor, allowing us to have more applications with quantum advantage," said Prof. Liang Jiang, who led UChicago PME’s team in the collaboration Read more: http://ms.spr.ly/6045ssUF5

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