Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has expressed his intention, if elected to a second term, to use the U.S. armed forces to suppress domestic protests. The New York Times reports that Trump’s allies are marshaling legal arguments to justify using National Guard or active-duty military troops for crowd control. Moreover, as the Times notes, Trump has asserted […] … learn more→

Title of course: Multimodal Anthropology What prompted the idea for the course? “Multimodal” simply means using more than academic written text to present research findings. My first multimodal science project was a third grade project on humpback whales, which was inspired by a vinyl LP recording of their “songs” that National Geographic mailed out to subscribers. In […] … learn more→

Not long after new college students have finished choosing the college that is right for them, they are asked to declare an academic major. For some students, this decision is easy, as their majors may have actually influenced their choice of college. Unfortunately, this decision is not always an easy one to make, and college students […] … learn more→

The other day, my good friend Professor Narelle Lemon sent me a link to an academic paper called “AI and its implications for research in higher education: a critical dialogue”  because it cited … one of my old blog posts. It’s a good paper, and open access, so I recommend having a read. It’s written as a debate between […] … learn more→

Of the millions of young adults heading off to college this fall, many will be international students. If trends continue, about 1 million students from around the world will come to the U.S. to pursue higher education this year. These young scholars make a big economic impact. Altogether, they pump more than US$40 billion into the U.S. economy and support […] … learn more→

It is the season of university open days and study decisions for Year 12 students. As an academic, the question I get asked most by students and parents is, “will this degree lead to a job?”. It is understandable. However, it isn’t necessarily the right question to ask as young people consider what course will suit them best. Focusing […] … learn more→

Imagine that you are an examiner. You are reading a doctoral thesis. And you’ve nearly got to the end. You’ve read a lot of carefully crafted words which have explained what the research is and why it is as it is. You’ve read the results and what these mean and how they fit with the current […] … learn more→

Title of course: Space/Power/Species What prompted the idea for the course? A few years ago, I came across the architect Joyce Hwang’s artificial habitat for bats at the Griffis Sculpture Park in upstate New York. Titled “Bat Tower,” this outdoor installation was designed to house the little brown bat, an endangered species threatened by a fungal infection […] … learn more→

Title of course: “The Science of Cats” What prompted the idea for the course? I’m an evolutionary biologist who has spent my career studying the evolution of small lizards in the Caribbean. I’m also a lifelong cat lover, but it never occurred to me to do anything scientific with house cats. They’re hard to study – […] … learn more→

The higher education sector in the UK is in financial crisis. Over 60 institutions have announced severance or redundancy programmes, and around 40% expect to be in deficit in 2023-24. The financial collapse of one or more universities is now a distinct possibility, with disruptive economic and social repercussions for the regions in which they are based. This alarming situation is the […] … learn more→