Jane A. Lauder, a former senior executive of the Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) and a current member of its board of directors, has been elected to the Stanford University Board of Trustees. Her five-year term begins Feb. 1.“It’s an honor to join the board,” Lauder said. “Stanford has played such an important role in my life and shaped me. I am thrilled to be able to contribute to its continued…
Enzymes are crucial to life. They are nature’s little catalysts. In the gut, they help us digest food. They can enhance perfumes or get laundry cleaner with less energy. Enzymes also make potent drugs to treat disease. Scientists naturally are eager to create new enzymes. They imagine them doing everything from drawing greenhouse gases out of the skies to degrading harmful toxins in the environment.That age-old quest for new enzymes…
Could a student-run pub add a new dimension to campus social life? A group of Stanford students tested this idea with a pop-up pub last month, and the result was a resounding “yes.” The Rough Draught Pub – which was run by students and supported by staff and the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) – hosted over 550 people over two nights. Attendees said the pub, which was held at…
Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) such as autism and Down syndrome are often left behind when it comes to literacy instruction – casualties of the misperception that at best, they could only read by learning to recognize common words by sight. But researchers are finding that students with IDD, like their peers without disabilities, can benefit from a more complex approach, including phonics, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. “I always…
Sarah A. Soule, a scholar of organizational behavior who has held multiple leadership roles at Stanford, will be the next dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford Provost Jenny Martinez announced today.Soule, the Morgridge Professor of Organizational Behavior, has been a member of the GSB faculty since 2008 and served as the school’s senior associate dean for academic affairs from 2016 to 2023. Since September 2023, she has…
When he was a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles in the 1990s, Stanford Law School Professor David Sklansky often participated in the selection of juries. “I would hear potential jurors talk about their views about criminal justice, the police, and about crime in their neighborhoods, and I was repeatedly struck by how complicated and nuanced those views were,” says Sklansky, author of the recently published Criminal Justice in Divided America:…
As cases of dengue fever skyrocketed globally this past year, new findings by Stanford researchers and their international collaborators underscore the importance of one measure that can significantly reduce disease risk: cleaning up trash. Dengue fever is a viral illness spread through mosquito bites. While cases can be asymptomatic, many people experience high fever and painful body aches. Second infections are often more severe and can lead to hemorrhagic fever, shock,…
As wildfires continue to rage across the Los Angeles area, their toll on lives, homes, and natural landscapes is undeniable. Less obvious are the health impacts, such as respiratory issues caused by smoke inhalation and mental health strains of evacuation and loss, that could stretch far beyond the burn zone and linger for years to come.Stanford researchers are working to uncover the full scope of wildfire-related health risks and how…
As artificial intelligence continues to rapidly evolve, Stanford’s AI Playground provides a convenient environment for faculty, staff, and students to experiment with AI technology.Earlier this year, University IT began piloting the AI Playground, a Stanford-hosted environment that allows users to test out and compare a range of AI tools, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Wolfram. As of Oct. 1, the AI Playground is accessible to all Stanford faculty, staff, students,…
A paper detailing the research published Dec. 23 in Nature Biomedical Engineering. McLaughlin and Snyder are co-senior authors. Ahmed Metwally, PhD, a former postdoctoral scholar at Stanford Medicine who is now a research scientist at Google, is the lead author. Delineating details of diabetes Currently, diagnosing diabetes is based solely on the level of glucose in the blood and can be made through a simple blood draw. “But those tests…
On a Saturday morning a week before her fall quarter finals, Stanford senior Ursula Neuner found herself talking about bison.Specifically, Neuner discussed the case of Clifford Walters, who, while visiting Yellowstone National Park in May 2023, rescued a newborn bison from drowning after spotting the distressed calf, separated from its mother, struggling to cross a river. His well-intended efforts were ultimately harmful and futile: the calf was rejected by its…
As computer chips continue to get smaller and more complex, the ultrathin metallic wires that carry electrical signals within these chips have become a weak link. Standard metal wires get worse at conducting electricity as they get thinner, ultimately limiting the size, efficiency, and performance of nanoscale electronics.In a paper published Jan. 3 in Science, Stanford researchers show that niobium phosphide can conduct electricity better than copper in films that…
While the campus is closed for winter break from Dec. 23 through Jan. 3, Stanford’s art museums will remain open during regular hours, and campus visitors are welcome to explore the outdoor public art collection. The Anderson Collection’s 10th-anniversary exhibitions celebrate the museum’s roots and what it means to live with art, while the Cantor offers several exhibitions related to the Asian American Art Initiative and two galleries of new acquisitions…
For many contemporary readers, their first introduction to the poetry of W.H. Auden came not in a course on English literature, but from a more mainstream source: the film Four Weddings and a Funeral, in which a character recites Auden’s 1937 poem Funeral Blues during the titular funeral.“It’s incredibly touching that a poet can write some words that continue to reverberate in the minds of people who don't think of themselves…
In an office on the third floor of Green Library, senior Bradley Strauss sifts through a box of files donated to Stanford University Archives by Cathy Haas, a lecturer in the School of Humanities & Sciences."}">svg]:su-mt-3 md:[&>svg]:su--mt-2 lg:[&>svg]:su-mt-4 [&>svg]:su-w-41 [&>svg]:su-h-43 md:[&>svg]:su-w-[97px] md:[&>svg]:su-h-[102px] su-mr-8 lg:su-mr-19">nIn an office on the third floor of Green Library, senior Bradley Strauss sifts through a box of files donated to Stanford University Archives by Cathy Haas,…
Even in a time of sharp division, people can learn how to have more open, empathetic, and constructive dialogue in disagreements.Norman W. Spaulding, the Nelson Bowman Sweitzer and Marie B. Sweitzer Professor in Law, helps people do just that through ePluribus Stanford, an initiative that seeks to cultivate constructive dialogue on campus.“When we improve skills like active listening and attention to cognitive bias and the ability to charitably summarize what…
Nuclear energy is poised to become the future of energy, and the global race to lead this industry is intensifying. But how can the United States compete and invigorate its nuclear energy industry, particularly amid the explosive growth of artificial intelligence? Stanford students Mandy Alevra, Nuri Capanoglu, Elena Kopstein, and Jackson Painter have ideas.Last week, they traveled to the nation’s capital to present proposals they developed in the fall quarter…
Wearable haptic devices, which provide touch-based feedback, can provide more realistic experiences in virtual reality, assist with rehabilitation, and create new opportunities for silent communication. Currently, most of these devices rely on vibration, as pressure-based haptics have typically required users to wear stiff exoskeletons or other bulky structures.Now, researchers at Stanford Engineering have designed a comfortable, flexible knit sleeve, called Haptiknit, that can provide realistic pressure-based haptic feedback. Their design,…
Your car, your cell phone, your LED holiday lights, even your credit card – all of them contain electronic chips made of semiconductors. These materials manipulate the flow of electricity and provide the foundation for modern electronics.Over the years, American investment in this essential technology has lagged, but the federal CHIPS and Science Act seeks to reinvigorate it. Passed in 2022, this legislation provides the U.S. Department of Commerce with…
The air around us contains a powerful solution for making agriculture more sustainable. Researchers at Stanford University and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia have developed a prototype device that can produce ammonia – a key fertilizer ingredient – using wind energy to draw air through a mesh. The approach they developed, if perfected, might eliminate the need for a century-old method that produces ammonia by…
On Thursday, Dec. 5, the Portola Valley Town Council voted unanimously to approve Stanford’s Portola Terrace residential project. Portola Terrace will provide 27 single-family homes for faculty and 12 affordable housing units for members of the Portola Valley community on a portion of “the Wedge” property along Alpine Road, near Westridge Drive.Intentionally configured as a cluster development, Portola Terrace will occupy only 10.8 acres of the 75-acre property, including nearly 5…
Elvis Presley may have been the king of rock ’n’ roll, but he didn’t invent it. His influences included country music and pop crooners as well as Black artists like Arthur Crudup, B.B. King, Fats Domino, and Little Richard, and the gospel music he loved as a kid in rural Mississippi.Years later, critics would lambaste Presley for “stealing” Black music and profiting from it in ways not open to the…
A longstanding poetics workshop credited with fostering the academic success of many of its past and current members has given rise to a new center dedicated to poetry scholarship.The Stanford Center for Poetics was launched this quarter under the leadership of faculty director Marisa Galvez, professor of French and Italian. Situated within the School of Humanities and Sciences and administered by the Department of English, the center “provides a home…
Professional piano players spend countless hours at the keys, perfecting their craft. For people with smaller hands, this dedication can take a physical toll. Repeated stretching to reach distant keys in a chord can strain muscles and joints and may lead to tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and other injuries.Researchers at Stanford are working to understand the forces involved in the hand movements of elite-level piano players, and how those change…
A basic function of cells is that they act in response to their environments. It makes sense, then, that a goal of scientists is to control that process, making cells respond how they want to what they want.One avenue for this ambition is cell receptors, which function like ignition slots on a cell, requiring keys – such as specific hormones, drugs, or antigens – to start up specific cellular activities.…
How fast is the universe expanding? What is dark matter? Where did we come from?These questions of life, the universe, and everything are just some of the big topics that motivate the new Center for Decoding the Universe at Stanford.Launched in October, the center is an interdisciplinary partnership between Stanford Data Science (SDS) and the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC). The center is the newest of five faculty-led centers…
What is the shelf life of a freshly baked donut? Two days, tops.But when it comes to an entirely different kind of donut – one that Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom described early in the pandemic when he measured the exodus of people from city centers to city suburbs – there appears to be no expiration date.That’s the key takeaway of Bloom’s research of the “donut effect,” a term he helped…
Around 1.5 billion people globally experience some level of hearing loss – that’s nearly 20% of the world’s population. Losing the ability to hear can be devastating, and navigating the potential treatments isn’t always straightforward.What actually causes it? Are there new treatments that can restore hearing? Can it be reversed? How does air travel affect hearing loss?Konstantina Stankovic, MD, PhD, professor of otolaryngology, helps readers navigate these questions and more…
A working model After the researchers integrated their new cancer biopsies as well as other datasets, including transcriptomic data and images from thousands of healthy cells, the AI program – which they named SEQUOIA (slide-based expression quantification using linearized attention) – was able to predict the expression patterns of more than 15,000 different genes from the stained images. For some cancer types, the AI-predicted gene activity had a more than…
Dear Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine, Thank you for sharing your divestment petition on May 6th. We are empathetic to your deep concern for the tragic events of the past year in Gaza and Israel. They have been painful to observe and particularly distressing for those with loved ones in the region who have been living with violence and fear. We recognize the burdens that many people in our…
“We want students to thrive throughout their whole life, and we want them to have the educational experiences that lead to that thriving,” said Professor Susanna Loeb in the opening panel of the 2024 Accelerate Edtech Impact summit at Stanford. “We want that for all students. We don’t just want that for students from well resourced families, and we don’t just want that for students who are motivated and engaged…
The Faculty Senate voted against rescinding its 2020 censure of Scott Atlas, a Hoover Institution fellow who advised President Donald Trump on COVID-19 matters, following a lengthy discussion on Thursday.Deans from the Graduate School of Business, School of Engineering, School of Humanities and Sciences, and School of Law also shared their guiding priorities with the senate during the last meeting of the fall quarter.In response to a senator’s question, Provost…
From TikTok and YouTube to Google Images and AI-driven art generators, visual content is dominating the digital world. More than 3.2 billion images and 720,000 hours of video were posted on the internet every day in 2023, and that figure is rapidly growing. “The production and circulation of images is on a whole new scale,” says Douglas Guilbeault, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business.…
Stanford student traditions have helped define campus life since the university’s founding. But, as senior Sydney Kaminski learned this quarter, not all have had staying power.“There are a lot of Stanford traditions that have been lost to time,” she said.For months, the art history student has been investigating a Big Game tradition that faded out decades ago. In the process, she has uncovered connections to the histories of Asian immigrants…
When federal agencies issue a research grant, they never know if their investment will reap rewards for society. This was almost certainly true in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research funded projects by James “Jay” McClelland, David Rumelhart, and Geoffrey Hinton to model human cognitive abilities.Yet that investment led to a cascade of research progress: a neural network model…
In briefli]:su-m-0">Overpumping groundwater has caused land in parts of the San Joaquin Valley to sink by over one foot per year in many years since 2006.Rapid and uneven sinking has forced multimillion-dollar infrastructure repairs and exacerbated water supply issues for one of the world’s most agriculturally productive regions. California has enough surface water available to replenish key aquifers in the San Joaquin Valley to stop the sinking.A new study shows…
An immune-cell therapy shrank children’s brain tumors, restored neurologic function and – for one participant in a Stanford Medicine clinical trial – erased all detectable traces of a brain cancer typically considered incurable.The trial, among the first successes against solid tumors for engineered immune cells known as CAR-T cells, offers hope for children with a group of deadly brain and spinal cord tumors, including a cancer called diffuse intrinsic pontine…
Cutting back on animal protein in our diets can save on resources and greenhouse gas emissions. But convincing meat-loving consumers to switch up their menu is a challenge. Looking at this problem from a mechanical engineering angle, Stanford engineers are pioneering a new approach to food texture testing that could pave the way for faux filets that fool even committed carnivores. In a new paper in Science of Food, the…
As a PhD student studying finance at Columbia University, Naz Koont learned how the personal relationships bankers develop with their clients build trust and help sell products. At the same time, walking around her Morningside Heights neighborhood and throughout Manhattan, she noticed most of the bank branches she passed were empty. She wondered: Where were the customers and signs of these pivotal in-person relationships?Meanwhile, Koont watched classmates, friends, and other…
The basement beneath the Packard Electrical Engineering Building, once a hallway with researchers working behind closed doors, is now a bustling hub for collaboration. After many years of planning, fundraising, and development, the all-new Stanford Robotics Center officially opened its doors with a reception Nov. 1.The new facility is a bright, open, and vibrant space with a number of research bays arranged side-by-side. In one corner, a dancer pirouettes as…