The Conversation

Engineering the social: Students in this course use systems thinking to help solve human rights, disease and homelessness

Written by Raúl Ordóñez, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Dayton

An engineering education can equip students to work on broader social issues. Photosomnia/E+ via Getty Images

Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.

Title of course:

Engineering Systems for the Common Good

What prompted the idea for the course?

As a control systems...

Medical research depends on government money – even a day’s delay in the intricate funding process throws science off-kilter

Written by Aliasger K. Salem, Associate Vice President for Research and Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Iowa

Of the tens of thousands of grant applications submitted to the National Institutes of Health, only around 1 in 5 is funded.Sean Gladwell/Moment via Getty Images

In the early days of the second Trump administration, a directive to pause all public communication from the Department of Health and Human Services created uncertainty and anxiety among...

In asking Trump to show mercy, Bishop Budde continues a long tradition of Christian leaders ‘speaking truth to power’

Written by Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross

Bishop Mariann Budde leads the national prayer service attended by President Donald Trump at the National Cathedral in Washington on Jan. 21, 2025.AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde’s sermon on Jan. 21, 2025, in which she appealed to President Donald Trump to have mercy toward groups frightened by his position on...

St. Thomas Aquinas’ skull just went on tour − here’s what the medieval saint himself would have said about its veneration

Written by Therese Cory, Associate Professor of Thomistic Studies, University of Notre Dame

The skull of St. Thomas Aquinas during a stop at St. Patrick Church in Columbus, Ohio, in December 2024. Nheyob/Wikimedia Commons

Once, on a road trip in Greece, I stopped with my husband and dad at a centuries-old Orthodox monastery to view its famous frescoes. We were in luck, the porter said: It was a feast day. The relics of the...

Disaster evacuations can take much longer than people expect − computer simulations could help save lives and avoid chaos

Written by Ashley Bosa, Postdoctoral Researcher, Hazards and Climate Resilience Institute, Boise State University

Wildfire smoke rises beyond homes near Castaic Lake as another California wildfire spread on Jan. 22, 2025.AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

When a wildfire notification goes off on your mobile phone, it can trigger all kinds of emotions and confusion.

You might glance outside and see no smoke. Across the street, your neighbors have mixed reactions: One...

Global wildlife trade is an enormous market – a look at the billions of animals the US imports from nearly 30,000 species

Written by Michael Tlusty, Professor of Sustainability and Food Solutions, UMass Boston

U.S. Fish and Wildlife agents inspect a shipment of reptiles at the Port of Miami.U.S. GAO

When people think of wildlife trade, they often picture smugglers sneaking in rare and endangered species from far-off countries. Yet most wildlife trade is actually legal, and the United States is one of the world’s biggest wildlife importers.

New...

Global wildlife trade is an enormous market – the US imports billions of animals from nearly 30,000 species

Written by Michael Tlusty, Professor of Sustainability and Food Solutions, UMass Boston

U.S. Fish and Wildlife agents inspect a shipment of reptiles at the Port of Miami.U.S. GAO

New...

Donors are down, but dollars are up – how US charitable giving is changing

Written by Una Osili, Professor of Economics and Philanthropic Studies; Associate Dean for Research and International Programs, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University

Although the pie is shrinking, the remaining slices are giving more. Say-Cheese/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Although the US$557 billion Americans gave to charity in 2023 marked a 2.1% decline in inflation-adjusted terms, U.S. donations have increased significantly over the past two decades. Giving has grown by about 42% since 2003, according to...

Canada and Greenland aren’t likely to join the US anytime soon – but ‘GrAmeriCa’ is a revealing thought experiment

Written by Peter A. Coclanis, Professor of History and Director of the Global Research Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

For some time now, pundits have been debating whether to take Donald Trump “seriously” or “literally,” as the clever binary coined by journalist Salena Zito in 2016 has it.

This choice comes to mind when I think about the 47th president’s frequent comments recently about incorporating Greenland and Canada into the...

Getting mail to your door is just one part of what the postmaster general does

Written by Jena Martin, Professor of Law, St. Mary's University

Postal workers sort through mail and packages. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

The postmaster general is responsible for getting billions of pieces of mail across the globe, managing hundreds of thousands of employees and caring for some of the country’s most vulnerable Americans.

The agency is currently run by Postmaster General Louis...