Nearly 50 years ago, my parents dropped me off for my freshman year of college, beginning my life in the world of higher education. Over the decades, I’ve been an undergraduate, a graduate student, a professor, an administrator, and a parent of three college students.
I’ve seen students struggle and thrive. I’ve watched young men and women blossom into world-class scholars and take their education in directions I never could have anticipated.

In the spring of 2023, not long after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched his chaotic presidential campaign, I asked him a straightforward question. What do you see as more harmful to America: another term of Joe Biden, or Donald Trump returning to power? “I can’t answer that,” Kennedy replied.
This morning, Kennedy finally stopped being cagey. He announced that he was suspending his campaign and throwing his support to Trump.

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With the Democratic National Convention now behind Kamala Harris, the vice president is officially the Democratic presidential nominee—but now some are asking how her campaign can translate the momentum from recent weeks into winning over voters in key swing states.

This article was originally published by Undark Magazine.
In 2019, an agency within the U.S. Department of Defense released a call for research projects to help the military deal with the copious amount of plastic waste generated when troops are sent to work in remote locations or disaster zones. The agency wanted a system that could convert food wrappers and water bottles, among other things, into usable products, such as fuel and rations.

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Since I moved to New York a couple of months ago, I’ve been paying more attention than usual to people enjoying food in public.

You’re in. You’ve been admitted. And soon your parents will drop you off at your new university. It’s thrilling. It’s daunting. But what will you actually be studying in your freshman year?
All universities claim to provide some kind of intellectual foundation for their students. Sadly, the reality of what freshmen and sophomores are required to study usually belies the admissions-office propaganda.