The Conversation

Why does Trump want to abolish the Education Department? An anthropologist who studies MAGA explains 4 reasons

Written by Alex Hinton, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology; Director, Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, Rutgers University - Newark

A pedestrian walks past the Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building on Feb. 3, 2025, in Washington. Pete Kiehart for The Washington Post via Getty Images

“And one other thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education.”

President Donald Trump made this promise in a Sept....

How AI can help in the creative design process

Written by Tilanka Chandrasekera, Professor of Interior Design, Oklahoma State University

A student works on a design in a fashion merchandising lab.Fashion Merchandising Labs at Oklahoma State University, CC BY-ND

Generative artificial intelligence tools can help design students by making hard tasks easier, cutting down on stress, and allowing the students more time to explore innovative ideas, according to new research I published...

Why Americans need well-informed national security decisions – not politicized intelligence analysis

Written by Mark S. Chandler, Professor of Practice and Director, Government Relations - Intelligence and Security Studies Department, Coastal Carolina University

U.S. intelligence workers gather information from around the world to help guide leaders' decisions.da-kuk/E+ via Getty Images

The United States’ security depends on leaders who make well-informed decisions, including matters ranging from diplomatic relations around the world to economic relations, threats to the U.S., up to the deployment of...

The illusion of equal opportunity for minority NFL coaches

Written by Joseph N. Cooper, Endowed Chair of Sport Leadership and Administration, UMass Boston

On the day after the New England Patriots ended their NFL season with a miserable 4-13 record, team owner Robert Kraft fired Jerod Mayo, the team’s first Black head coach. In a press conference following his decision, Kraft explained that he put Mayo in “an untenable situation” by hiring him to lead an underperforming team.

Kraft&...

California wildfires force students to think about the connections between STEM and society

Written by Erika Dyson, Professor of Religous Studies, Harvey Mudd College

Satellite imagery shows the front line of the Palisades fire in Los Angeles on Jan. 11, 2025.Maxar Technologies/Contributor

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

Title of course:

“STEM & Social Impact: Climate Change”

What prompted the idea for the course?...

Is DOGE a cybersecurity threat? A security expert explains the dangers of violating protocols and regulations that protect government computer systems

Written by Richard Forno, Teaching Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, and Assistant Director, UMBC Cybersecurity Institute, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

People protest DOGE's access to sensitive personal data.AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), President Donald Trump’s special commission tasked with slashing federal spending, continues to disrupt Washington and the federal bureaucracy. According to published reports, its teams are dropping into federal...

Kendrick Lamar’s big Super Bowl moment

Written by Christina L. Myers, Assistant Professor of Journalism, Michigan State University

Lamar's Super Bowl appearance marks a political reckoning for the NFL.Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images

In the September 2024 NFL ad announcing Kendrick Lamar as the halftime performer at Super Bowl 59, the 37-year-old rapper stands before a colossal American flag, feeding footballs into a machine that launches the balls to wide receivers.

“Will...

Anti-LGBTQ+ policies harm the health of not only LGBTQ+ people, but all Americans

Written by Nathaniel Tran, Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Administration, University of Illinois Chicago

Courts across the nation are debating whether LGBTQ+ people should be protected from discrimination.Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

In 2024, state legislatures introduced an all-time record of 533 bills targeting LGBTQ+ populations. These policies create a patchwork of legal landscapes that vary widely between and within states, affecting aspects of...

How populist leaders like Trump use ‘common sense’ as an ideological weapon to undermine facts

Written by Dannagal G. Young, Professor of Communication and Political Science, University of Delaware

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, is part of a 'revolution of common sense' led by President Donald Trump.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

It’s “the revolution of common sense,” President Donald Trump announced in his second inaugural address.

And so it is. The latest installment of that assertion came in his Jan. 30, 2025,...

AI datasets have human values blind spots − new research

Written by Ike Obi, Ph.D. student in Computer and Information Technology, Purdue University

Not all human values come through equally in training AIs.RerF/iStock via Getty Images

My colleagues and I at Purdue University have uncovered a significant imbalance in the human values embedded in AI systems. The systems were predominantly oriented toward information and utility values and less toward prosocial, well-being and civic values.

At...