This Week on The Academic Minute
Monday
Andrey Vyshedskiy, lecturer at Boston University, determines the importance of early learning interventions for children with autism.
Tuesday
Yifan Yu, assistant professor of information, risk, and operations management at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business, examines how emotions in a social media post influences who shares it.
Wednesday
Ryan Wilson, Henry B. Tippie Chair in Accounting at the University of Iowa, asks why the government can’t do our taxes for us.
Thursday
Nathan Swenson, professor of biological sciences and the Gillen director of the Environmental Research Center at the University of Notre Dame, looks for clues to the health of our forests in the canopy.
Friday
Nicole Fenty, associate professor and chair of the Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership Department at the College of Community and Public Affairs at Binghamton University, discusses how simple materials can teach STEM principles and help preschool students engage with learning.
Catch up with The Academic Minute from 4/6 - 4/10
Monday
Chip Manchester - University of Michigan
A Solar Sail Can Help Detect Space Tornadoes
Chip Manchester is a research professor of climate and space sciences and engineering at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on the movement of solar plasma and magnetic fields through the solar system.
Tuesday
Alexis Redding - Harvard University
The Real Secret to Supporting College Mental Health
Alexis Redding is a developmental psychologist with more than twenty-five years of experience supporting young adults in college and the transition to the workforce. She is a faculty member at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she co-leads the higher education program and directs a professional program on college student mental health. She is editor of a newly-released book from Harvard Education Press, Mental Health in College: What Research Tells Us About Supporting Students.
Wednesday
Rosie Dutt - University of North Carolina
Rethinking AI in Education: From Shortcut to Scaffold
Dr. Dutt teaches interdisciplinary computational neuroscience courses, integrating engineering and data science concepts. Her background in communications, consulting, and entrepreneurship helps foster student success and alumni engagement through career development initiatives, connecting students with professional opportunities and strengthening alumni networks.
Thursday
Clare Huntington - Columbia Law School
It’s Time to Regulate AI Companions—and Family Law Can Help
Clare Huntington ’96 is a nationally recognized expert in family law and poverty law. Her wide-ranging scholarship explores the institutions and empirical foundations of the legal system’s approach to relationships. Her research focuses on early childhood development, aging, the impact of AI on our affective lives, and the challenges facing nonmarital families because of the law’s myopic focus on marriage. Huntington has received five teaching awards, including, in 2025, the Willis L.M. Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching.
Friday
Brian Alexander - Washington and Lee University
Thomas Jefferson’s Manual of Parliamentary Practice
Brian Alexander, Ph.D., is associate professor of Politics at Washington and Lee University and director of the W&L Washington Term, an experiential learning program for undergraduates in Washington, DC. He is author of “Jefferson’s Manual of Parliamentary Practice,” (Arcadia Books 2025), “A Social Theory of Congress” (Rowman & Littlefield 2021), and “The Folkways of Congress” (Brookings Institution Press, 2026). He served as American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow and a research fellow at Monticello’s International Center for Jefferson Studies.
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