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College Students with Disabilities Are Too Often Excluded
AnnCatherine Heigl, a sophomore at George Mason University, recently attempted to join all eight sororities at her school. All eight turned her down. If you ask her sister, who Tweeted about how the experience left AnnCatherine “unwanted and devastated,” the reason the sororities denied AnnCatherine is because she has a disability: Down syndrome. This kind… Read More
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Mentors Play Critical Role in Quality of College Experience, New Poll Suggests
In order to have a rewarding college experience, students should build a constellation of mentors. This constellation should be a diverse set of faculty, staff and peers who will get students out of their comfort zones and challenge them to learn more – and more deeply – than they thought they could. Students should begin… Read More
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Why Some Counties Are Powerhouses for Innovation
By the time the application window closed, Amazon had received 238 proposals from cities and regions throughout North America looking to become the second headquarters of the behemoth tech company. Amazon invited proposals especially from places that looked a lot like its native Seattle: metro areas with more than a million people; a stable and… Read More
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Why Science Matters So Much in the Era of Fake News and Fallacies
Democracy and social progress die without science and fact-based knowledge. Science and facts are the foundational basis for rational and logical disputation and the possibility of reaching some truths. Fake news, on the other hand, is a calculated assault on democratic freedoms. The power of the notion of fake news and of its practitioners is… Read More
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Teaching in America’s Prisons Has Taught Me to Believe in Second Chances
In 2007, I gave someone a second chance. I was in Danbury Federal Correctional Institution recruiting women for a new program for people returning from prison that I was running in New York City. A woman approached me and handed me her portfolio. It was basically a detailed resume of her accomplishments, skills and goals… Read More
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College Admission Scandal Grew Out of a System That Was Ripe for Corruption
As part of the “Operation Varsity Blues” case that federal prosecutors announced March 12, dozens of people – including Hollywood actresses and wealthy businessmen – stand accused of having bought their children’s way into elite colleges and universities. As a researcher who has studied how young athletes get admitted to college, I don’t see a… Read More
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Why Double-Majors Might Beat You Out of a Job
Two college majors are better than one. That is the conclusion that researchers are beginning to reach. Prior research has already shown that students who double major can earn more than peers who majored in only one field. New research we conducted recently shows that double majors fare better in another way as well: They… Read More
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Millennials Are US$1 Trillion In Debt – But They’re Better at Saving Than Previous Generations
New findings from the New York Federal Reserve reveal that millennials have now racked up over US$1 trillion of debt. This troubling amount of debt, an increase of over 22 percent in just five years, is more than any other generation in history. This situation may leave you wondering how millennials ended up in such… Read More
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More American Students Are Studying Abroad, New Data Show
Kelsey Hrubes knew she had a challenge on her hands when she visited Germany as a study abroad student back in 2015. “I was forced to adapt to cultural norms I had never considered before and try to comprehend everything in a new language,” recalls Hrubes, a software engineer at Microsoft and 2017 Iowa State… Read More
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We Talk About Artistic Inspiration All the Time – But Scientific Inspiration Is a Thing Too
I don’t know why it took so long to dawn on me – after 20 years of a scientific career – that what we call the “scientific method” really only refers the second half of any scientific story. It describes how we test and refine the ideas and hypotheses we have about nature through the… Read More