Monday
Marcos Fernandez-Tous, associate professor of space propulsion and hypersonic aerodynamics at the University of North Dakota, discusses whether AI make spacecraft propulsion more efficient.
Tuesday
Angeline S. Lillard, Commonwealth professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, explores how we get better outcomes at lower cost for preschool children.
Wednesday
Sonia Villapol, associate professor and neuroscientist at the Center for Neuroregeneration and the Department of Neurosurgery at the Houston Methodist Research Institute, determines if you can trust you gut to heal you brain.
Thursday
Katherine Wilkinson, professor of biology at San Jose State University, examines proprioception.
Friday
Resh Gupta, postdoctoral research associate at Washington University in St. Louis, looks into mindfulness may help to lower anxiety for some, but not all.
Catch up with The Academic Minute from 8/17 - 8/21
Monday
Colleen Heflin - Syracuse University
New SNAP Rules Threaten the Ability of Older Adults to Retire and Live With Dignity
Colleen Heflin is a professor of public administration and international affairs. She is also a senior research associate in the Center for Policy Research and a research affiliate in the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health. She has served as associate dean of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and chair of the Public Administration and International Affairs Department.
Tuesday
Jason Davis - Syracuse University
Does This Person Even Exist?
Dr. Jason Davis is a research professor in the office of Research and Creative Activity at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and co-director of both the Newhouse Synthetic Media Lab and the Emerging Insight Lab. At Syracuse University, Dr. Davis research focuses on the development of AI tools for the detection of synthetic media and disinformation well as STEM focused communication and professional development.
Wednesday
Lawrence Chua - Syracuse University
Architecture as Chronopolitical Infrastructure
Lawrence Chua is a historian of the modern built environment with an emphasis on the trans-regional histories of Asian architecture and urban cultures. He is the author of Bangkok Utopia: Modern Architecture and Buddhist Felicities, published in the University of Hawai’i Press’ Spatial Habitus series in 2021. His current research project, “Untimely Interventions,” investigates the ways modern architecture structured colonial and nationalist perceptions of time and sovereignty in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos from 1893 to 1958. The study frames modern built-forms as “chronopolitical infrastructure”—material sites where the historical consciousness and territorial logic of empire were actively constructed.
Thursday
Ryan Griffiths - Syracuse University
The Case Against Breaking Up America Why Secession Would Make Things Worse, Not Better
Ryan Griffiths focuses on the dynamics of secession and the study of sovereignty, state systems, and international order. He teaches a variety of courses in international relations. His two recent books include: (1) The Disunited States: Threats of Secession in Red and Blue America and Why They Won’t Work (Oxford University Press, 2025); and (2) Before Colonization: Non-Western States and Systems in the Nineteenth Century (Columbia University Press, 2025, with Charles Butcher). Previously, he taught at both the University of Sydney in Australia and at John Hopkins University. He earned a Ph.D. in international relations and comparative politics at Columbia University in 2010.
Friday
Dana Cusano - Syracuse University
Finding Whales Before It’s Too Late
Dana Cusano is a bioacoustician and behavioral ecologist whose research focuses primarily on the acoustic behavior of marine mammals. Her interests include the use of vocal signaling in animals and the link between vocalizations and behavior. Specifically, she is interested in the social interactions between individuals and how arousal may be reflected in acoustic signals. Past research has also centered on investigating the movement of animals in response to anthropogenic disturbance with the use of animal movement models.
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