The Academic Minute

How do we capture tumbling satellites in outer space?Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba, PhD candidate in aerospace engineering at the University of Florida, looks at how to bring them under control.Faculty Bio:Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba is a Ph.D. Candidate in Aerospace Engineering researching guidance, navigation, and control for spacecraft proximity operations, with a focus on capturing noncooperative and tumbling satellites. She is Co-founder and CEO of Vicillion Inc., an aerospace company, and serves as Director of Spaceport Developments and R&D Career Astronaut-Candidate at Titans Space Industries. She works on expanding equitable access to space, including launch infrastructure development in Africa.Transcript:Space surveillance networks track tens of thousands of human-made objects in orbit, and estimates put the number of debris fragments larger than a centimeter above one million. Among the larger objects are hundreds of intact satellites that have simply stopped working. Removing one before it breaks apart into new debris is not mainly a problem of reaching it. It is a problem of control.A servicing spacecraft is a robotic mechanic sent to refuel, repair, or relocate a disabled satellite, and it meets two very different targets. A cooperative satellite holds a steady orientation and carries a docking fixture and navigation markers, so the servicer has a known place to attach. A noncooperative satellite offers none of that. It may tumble, its mass and inertia may be poorly known, and its structure was never designed to carry the loads of capture.Guidance and control designs have generally treated these cases separately. My work looks at developing a single framework for both, treating position and orientation as one coupled six-degree-of-freedom problem over steering them with separate controllers that can work against each other near the target.That coupling matters most at contact. When a robotic arm touches a tumbling body, the reaction pushes the servicer backward, and the arm acts as a long lever, so a gentle nudge at the tip can throw the vehicle off course. The control law has to hold the servicer at a safe standoff, match the target’s rotation closely enough that contact becomes a controlled transfer of momentum, and retreat if the target moves unexpectedly.Ongoing work tests how far one control law can stretch across a range of target masses and rotation rates, from satellites built to be caught to the far larger population that was never meant to be.Read More:[The Conversation] - Rescuing satellites is harder than it looks – a growing space junk problem will make doing so more important[AIAA] - HARMONIA: A Hybrid Docking and Grappling System for Next-Generation In-Orbit Servicing and Active Debris Removal This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

Employers may look for different things on resumes than you might think.Murugan Anandarajan, professor of decision sciences at Drexel University, discusses this.Faculty Bio:Murugan Anandarajan, PhD is Vice Dean and Professor of Management Information Systems at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business, where he also serves as Academic Director of the Dornsife Office for Experiential Learning and the Center for Applied AI and Business Analytics. He founded the Career Readiness Center.His research focuses on artificial intelligence, analytics, digital transformation, and the future of work, with publications in leading journals including Decision Sciences, Journal of Management Information Systems, and Journal of International Business Studies. His work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the National Institute of Justice, and has been featured in outlets including The Conversation, Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes, and Fast Company.Transcript:What makes someone stand out when they’re applying for their first professional job?With all the attention on AI, it’s easy to think technical skills matter most.But when my colleagues and I surveyed more than 600 employers about what they look for in new graduates, we heard something different.They want people they can trust.Technical skills are important, employers also want someone who is dependable, professional, and works well with others.In fact, reliability and professionalism were the two highest-rated qualities in our study. They ranked ahead of every technical skill we measured.And the employers’ comments told us why.One employer talked about rejecting applications because of poor writing. Others emphasized curiosity and a willingness to learn.They weren’t simply looking for people who knew the latest tools.They were looking for people who could grow.That has important implications for colleges and universities.Preparing students for work isn’t just about teaching knowledge. We need to give students real chances to tackle new problems, work with others, and see how a workplace really runs. Internships and experiential learning provide those opportunities.One finding from the study has stayed with me.Employers aren’t just hiring for what someone knows today.They’re hiring for what that person can become.And I think that’s one of the most important lessons for anyone starting a career. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

Finding common ground in a war zone is difficult but not impossible.Steve S. Medeiros, PhD candidate in the Experimental Anthropology Lab at the University of Connecticut, examines how tradition can create connections during combat.Faculty Bio:Steve S. Medeiros-PhD CandidateExperimental Anthropology LabUniversity of Connecticut-Affiliated ResearcherWilliam Joiner Institute for the Study of War and Social ConsequencesUniversity of Massachusetts, Bostonhttps://anthropology.uconn.edu/https://www.umb.edu/joinerinstitute/Transcript:I liked Muhammed. Under different circumstances I think we would likely have been good friends. He had the dangerous job of interpreting for my Army unit during the Iraq war in 2004. So, when he disappeared for a while, I assumed the worst.But then he turned up with an uncharacteristically scruffy beard, explaining that as a Shiite Muslim, he was observing a period of not shaving to mourn the death of his uncle—an important man in his life.I immediately remembered my father describing an identical tradition from when he was growing up Catholic in the Azores.Temporarily at least—our roles as soldier and interpreter, American and Iraqi, Catholic and Muslim—faded into the background. We were two twenty-something guys talking about our fathers and uncles, and an unlikely shared tradition.Decades of research have shown that humans are “groupish.” We gravitate toward groups and shape our identities through the people and communities we belong to. Think about how much of your life connects to your family, friends, religion, and nation.Imagine you’re a devoted Red Sox fan traveling abroad. You walk into a pub and notice someone wearing a Red Sox cap and jersey. In an unfamiliar place, that symbol becomes a beacon of familiarity—an invitation to connect with someone who feels less like a stranger.That’s what happened between Muhammed and me. Discovering we shared this mourning tradition allowed us to connect personally despite the hostile environment.My father died in 2019. It turns out my father was wrong in thinking this tradition’s utility had long since passed. As my large family kept vigil as he slipped away, I told the story of Muhammed. Moved, my nephews decided not to shave for seven days, to mourn my father—an important man in our lives.Read More:[The Conversation] - A shared mourning ritual helped an American soldier and an Iraqi interpreter find common ground This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

Mental health is especially important during pregnancy.Rachel Eakley, clinical assistant professor at the Rory Meyers College of Nursing at New York University, determines why more support is needed.Faculty Bio:Rachel Eakley, PhD, PMHNP-BC, RN, is a Clinical Assistant Professor at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. Her research has been focused on perinatal mental health and improving access to evidence-based interventions for depression and anxiety, specifically understanding clinical reluctance among outpatient psychiatric providers to treat mental health concerns during pregnancy and improving the preparedness of the mental health workforce to meet the needs of pregnant people. She maintains a passion for improving pre-licensure and continuing education with an emphasis on the well-being of students, professionals, and patients alike - highlighting the importance of applying a trauma-informed lens across roles. In addition to her faculty role at NYU Meyers, she maintains a private practice, providing a combination of psychotherapy and psychopharmacological treatment for adults and adolescents. Prior to joining the faculty at NYU Meyers, Prof. Eakley worked as an inpatient psychiatric nurse, study clinician at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, and adjunct clinical instructor and lecturer at NYU Meyers.Before being drawn to the applied clinical work of nursing, Eakley studied Psychology and English at Boston University, followed by an MA in psychology at NYU Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Eakley earned her BS, MSN, and PhD at NYU Meyers. She has received postgraduate training in couple, family, and individual therapy modalities.Transcript:Untreated mental health conditions during pregnancy have been associated with serious and potentially life threatening consequences - including preeclampsia, preterm birth, postpartum depression, and even suicide deaths. Treatment guidelines from leading professional organizations discourage the blanket discontinuation of medication during pregnancy and promote careful consideration of the risks of treatment vs nontreatment. Despite this, patients are less likely to be screened or treated for mental health concerns during pregnancy. Pregnant people may be reluctant to seek mental healthcare - including medications - for many reasons - for example, fear of stigma or judgment by family or medical staff, concerns about potential adverse effects of medications during pregnancy. However, mental health providers are also unwilling to treat patients during pregnancy, according to patients and maternal health providers. To better understand these patterns, my colleagues and I interviewed outpatient mental health providers -psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners, psychiatrists, and trainees - about their practice.Many felt unprepared or reluctant to work with pregnant clients and noted that the topic was not included in training, unless sought out specifically. Many were unaware or under-informed of available resources and best practices for treatment during pregnancy. Those who were willing to consider medications were more likely to center risk assessment on the impact of untreated mental health conditions during pregnancy for both the pregnant person and fetal development. These providers were not necessarily more comfortable, but instead, described greater tolerance of uncertainty.Providers who were unable to tolerate uncertainty, tended to set limitations around treatment options or decline to treat people who are pregnant altogether. They tended to focus on the lack of complete certainty about the safety of medication for the fetus and on perceived legal risk to themselves.These insights may be helpful in updating professional training to improve the readiness of the mental health workforce caring for people during pregnancy.Read More:[ScienceDirect] - Understanding the prescribing practices of mental health providers during pregnancy: The role of uncertainty in the patient-provider relationship[Journal of Nursing Education and Practice] - Supporting psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners’ preparedness to treat mental health concerns during pregnancy: Results from a grounded theory study This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

What if you could improve your brain health throughout your lifespan? Lori Cook, director of Clinical Research at the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas at Dallas, says it’s possible.Faculty Bio:Lori Cook, PhD, CCC-SLPDirector of Clinical Research, Center for BrainHealthAdjunct Assistant Professor, School of Behavioral and Brain SciencesUT DallasTranscript:What if one of the biggest myths about aging is that our brains are destined to decline?Most of us assume that getting older means losing cognitive ground year by year.Our latest research suggests a very different story.My colleagues and I followed nearly 4,000 adults, ranging in age from 19 to 94, over a three-year period. We wanted to know whether brain health could actually improve across adulthood, not just be protected from decline. Participants could engage in online interventions that combine brain strategy training, lifestyle tips, personalized coaching, and ongoing performance tracking using the BrainHealth Index™, a multidimensional metric that tracks three key factors of brain health: clarity of thinking, emotional balance, and a sense of connectedness to people and purpose. Brain health improved across the lifespan. Young adults improved. Older adults improved. Even participants who started with the highest scores continued to make gains over time, suggesting that we have not yet found the upper limit of the brain’s ability to adapt and grow. We also found that people who started with the lowest levels of brain health often improved the most. In other words, poor brain health was not fixed. The brain’s capacity for change remained remarkably strong.But perhaps the most important finding was this: improvement wasn’t passive. The greatest gains occurred among people who consistently engaged in brain-healthy habit-building. The tools provided became vehicles for ongoing growth. Participants who continued practicing these strategies in their everyday life experienced the most meaningful improvements in performance.The takeaway is simple. We have spent decades extending human lifespan. The next frontier is extending brain health span. Our findings suggest that, regardless of age, we have more agency over our brain health than previously imagined. The brain is not defined by decline. It is defined by possibility.Read More:[Center for BrainHealth] - New Nature Scientific Reports Study Challenges the Inevitability of Cognitive Decline and Proves Brain Gain is Possible at Any Age[Nature] - Measuring and increasing the brain health span across adulthood: a public health imperative This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

How does obesity in midlife affect your chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease? Stephen Wong, professor of radiology and medicine at the Houston Methodist Research Institute, looks into the links.Faculty Bio:Dr. Wong holds the John S. Dunn Presidential Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Engineering and is a Professor of Radiology and Medicine with Tenure and Chief of Medical Physics at Houston Methodist. He is renowned for his groundbreaking contributions across multiple disciplines, including medical imaging, life sciences, finance, and technology.At Houston Methodist, Wong founded several key centers and labs, including the Division of Shared Resources at Houston Methodist Neal Cancer Center, the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Center for BRAIN, the Advanced Cellular and Tissue Microscopy Core, the Translational Biophotonics Lab, the Center for Modeling Cancer Development, the AI in Innovative Medicine lab, and Systems Medicine and Bioengineering Department. His research has been consistently funded by NIH for three decades. He has published over 500 peer-reviewed scientific papers and five books. He has trained and mentored over 170 Ph.D., MD/Ph.D., and postdocs, with four now holding endowed chairs or distinguished professor positions.Dr. Wong’s research focuses on a systems-based understanding of health and disease to develop cost-effective strategies for disease management and healthcare delivery. The mission of his lab is to engineer medicine and biology, discovering novel drugs and biomarkers and developing advanced diagnostic and therapeutic devices. The research emphasizes improving the detection, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer, neurological disorders, and metabolic diseases. Current projects include understanding and targeting micro- and macroenvironments of cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, applying spatial and systems biology methods for drug and biomarker discovery in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, creating label-free point-of-care molecular diagnosis and interventional devices, and developing novel artificial intelligence applications to transform the triage, diagnosis, treatment of strokes and related disorders.Transcript:Researchers have long recognized midlife obesity as a major modifiable risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. But how does a metabolic disorder that begins outside the brain drive neurodegeneration inside it? Our team set out to find that missing link. What's new is that obesity doesn't just raise Alzheimer's risk generally — it alters specific lipid pathways affecting brain immune cells and neurons, revealing a mechanism we may be able to target. We found that obesity disrupts the balance of phosphatidylethanolamine, or PE, an essential membrane lipid that helps brain cells communicate, respond to stress, and maintain function. Abnormal PE accumulation remodels cell membranes and disrupts communication between metabolic tissues, brain immune cells, and neurons. As PE rises, immune cells become less effective at protecting healthy tissue, while neurons show more stress and produce more Alzheimer's-associated toxic proteins — together accelerating disease progression. This reframes obesity not just as a risk factor, but as a biologically actionable disease modifier — opening the door to earlier detection, metabolism-informed biomarkers, and therapies that target these mechanisms before irreversible brain damage occurs. To uncover this, we integrate a systems medicine approach that allows us to connect metabolic imbalance with specific brain-cell behaviors. Looking ahead, we aim to combine AI and multi-omics to identify drug candidates and accelerate precision therapies that preserve brain health before memory loss begins.Read More:[Houston Methodist] - Tiny cell messengers in obese individuals accelerate Alzheimer’s linked plaque buildup in the brain This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

Can self-control in third grade predict your success later in life?Andrew Koepp, assistant professor of applied psychology at New York University, examines whether it can.Faculty Bio:Dr. Koepp is a developmental psychologist who studies how early education settings foster children’s development. Much of his research leverages within-person designs to understand how to support children in applying self-regulation in service of their learning. Together with classroom observations and ecological momentary assessment, he collects high-volume behavioral data from wearable devices to collect intensive observations of children’s everyday behavior and experiences. In addition to observational designs that “zoom in” on daily experiences, he also uses national, longitudinal datasets to “zoom out” and understand contextual influences on children’s development in diverse populations. Across his work, he bridges basic and applied science to create practical knowledge to inform interventions and educational practice to support children’s development. He has obtained funding from the National Science Foundation to support his work and has published in leading journals such as JAMA Pediatrics, Child Development, Developmental Psychology, and Developmental Science.Prior to joining NYU, Andrew completed postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2023, he was awarded a fellowship from the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation.Transcript:Think back to your third-grade classroom. What kind of a student were you? If you’re like most of us, there were times you were attentive and engaged and there were other times when you were restless and distracted. In those moments, my third-grade teacher used to tell us, “I might have just done a cartwheel and you would have missed it.” I believe that if we can understand when and why children have more self-control, we can create more moments of engaged learning in the classroom. In this study, my colleagues and I wanted to test the idea that children’s self-control wears out across the school day. We focused on restlessness and impulsive movement that can be quantified using devices similar to Fitbits. If we found that children were getting more restless towards the end of the school day, that could indicate declining self-control. We used data from a longitudinal study that followed several hundred children into adulthood. We found that in third grade, children tended to lose a bit of their impulse control as the school day dragged on. Those who could keep it together for longer had better math and reading scores when they got to high school and were more likely to have completed college by the time they were 26. So your behavior in third grade can predict how far you will go in school. But the data also suggest that if self-control wears out, then maybe it can also be restored. In our study, children’s self-control appeared to reset by the start of each school day, suggesting restorative impacts of nightly sleep. Similarly, children appeared to recover self-control following higher levels of activity during the lunch period, suggesting benefits of activity, nutrition, and social interaction. In our future work, we hope to investigate daily experiences that might restore children’s self-control to help them make the most of their learning opportunities.Read More:[APA PsycNet] - Keeping it together: Hourly dynamics of children’s behavioral regulation at school in a decades-long cohort study.[PMC PubMed Central] - Keeping It Together: Hourly Dynamics of Children’s Behavioral Regulation at School in a Decades-Long Cohort Study This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

Is tenure for professors misunderstood?Kent Kauffman, professor of business law at Purdue University Fort Wayne, says yes.Faculty Bio:Kent Kauffman is Professor of Business Law, and MBA Programs Faculty Liaison, in the Doermer School of Business at Purdue University Fort Wayne. He is the author of “Navigating Choppy Waters: Key Legal Issues Faculty Need to Know,” published by Bloomsbury, which tackles the vital legal dilemmas faculty face in their work as scholars and teachers.Transcript:Tenure has a history that is centuries old. Harvard had a form of it when Massachusetts was a colony, and Thomas Jefferson provided it to faculty at the college he founded, the University of Virginia. Sadly, to many tenure is the gimmick that protects professors from ever getting fired. Not only does tenure not create a job for life, but more faculty don’t have tenure than do by a ratio of over two to one. That does not bode well for academic freedom, tenure’s first purpose. While academic freedom is for all faculty, including part-time instructors, those with tenure are its best defenders.To those who achieve it, tenure creates a vested interest in continued employment. This means tenured faculty have a binding expectation of continued employment, except for what the law categorizes as “just” or “adequate cause.” In fact, the apt comparison to tenured faculty are federal judges, who—like professors—occasionally do things that are politically unpopular but who Article III of the Constitution grants “tenure during good behavior.” Private university faculty have tenure rights from applicable tenure policies, while public university faculty also have the 14th Amendment’s due process clause as a source for tenure protection. But tenure is not a kingly right. There are commonly accepted, “adequate cause” reasons for revoking tenure: serious misconduct; incompetence; and a financial emergency at one’s university. However, the prevailing misimpression about the reasons behind tenure and the failure to understand that tenure benefits more than those who have it, has contributed to a threat to tenure’s existence. Some states have worked to restrict or abolish it. But this year, a Tennessee legislator withdrew his bill to eliminate tenure, at least temporarily, after learning about tenure’s history and purposes. Thomas Jefferson would have cheered.Read More:[Bloosmbury] - Navigating Choppy Waters This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

Term limits in politics open doors for more women candidates. Why is this?Samantha Pettey, professor of political science at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, examines the data.Faculty Bio:Samantha Pettey is a Professor of Political Science in the Department of History and Political Science at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. She holds a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, an M.A. from the University of Rhode Island, and a Ph.D from the University of North Texas. At MCLA, she teaches a wide variety of courses in American Politics, some of which include Women and Politics, Campaigns & Elections, and Political Psychology. Her research interests are a blend of gender politics, campaigns and elections, and US institutions both at the state and national levels. Her forthcoming manuscript titled “Run, Women, Run!: Term Limits and Women’s Paths to Power in the States” examines how term limits shape women’s emergence and representation in the states.Transcript:When I recorded an Academic Minute in 2019, women held about 28% of state legislative seats. Today, they hold a third of the seats, and while that progress is meaningful, it’s not parity. In my research, I examined nearly 170,000 state legislative candidates in all 50 states from 1990 through 2022. Given the unique quasi-natural experiment created by term limits, I test many of the book’s hypotheses using difference-in-differences—which compares states with and without term limits before and after they are implemented. I find term limits encourage more women to run, which roughly equates to 4 additional candidates for every 100 women running. Further, at an individual level, term limits increase a woman’s probability of winning and ultimately lead to more women being elected at the state level. For example, in state senates that have term limits, I find 10 additional Republican women winners for every 100 women candidates and 5 additional Democratic women. Leaving the abstract, Massachusetts and California offer a useful comparison. In terms of women’s representation, the Center for American Women in Politics ranks California 4th while Massachusetts ranks 33rd. This is puzzling given the states are similar on many economic and political measures. But California has term limits and women hold nearly half of the seats, while Massachusetts does not have term limits and women make up about 31% of the legislature. This comparison does not mean term limits alone explain the difference, given that one factor rarely does. Instead, my research’s central argument is that term limits matter because they create predictable openings and force turnover in institutions where incumbency has historically favored men. But the broader political environment also matters and when these openings are paired with favorable state environments, more women are ready to take strategic advantage of these openings to run, win, and move through the political pipeline. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

What is the Greek virtue of sophrosyne and why is it important today?Ross Channing Reed, assistant teaching professor of philosophy at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, tells us.Faculty Bio:Ross Channing Reed was an early practitioner of philosophical counseling in the United States, applying philosophical concepts in inpatient and outpatient mental health settings in the 1980s and 1990s. He has been in private practice since 1998. He is certified in philosophical counseling by the American Philosophical Practitioners Association. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy with a specialization in existentialism and phenomenology from Loyola University Chicago. His areas of research include existentialism, ethics, philosophical psychology and philosophical counseling, philosophy of religion, addiction and trauma. Dr. Reed is the author of numerous articles, book chapters, and conference presentations, as well as The Liberating Art of Philosophy, Mindscapes, and Precarity, Trauma, Addiction, and Love in Philosophical Counseling. He teaches philosophy at Missouri University of Science and Technology. For more information see ORCHID 0009-0007-2140-277X and rosschanningreed.substack.com.Transcript:Texting while driving. Bullying others on social media. Buying into the latest conspiracy theory. Passing off AI generated work as your own.This might seem like a random list of 21st-century vices. But I’d argue they’re all examples of the loss of one particular ancient Greek virtue: sophrosyne. For the Greeks, sophrosyne was an intellectual and moral virtue key to self-knowledge, wisdom, and the good life, representing excellence of character, moderation, and self-control. Sophrosyne was connected to phronesis—practical wisdom. Sophrosyne stood in marked contrast with hubris—excessive pride, dangerous overconfidence, and lack of self-insight. As a philosopher and philosophical counselor, my research centers on the intersection of virtue and happiness. I’ve noticed a pronounced connection between sophrosyne and happiness. Evidence indicates that sophrosyne is a requirement for human flourishing.Sophrosyne is not inborn but must be learned through sustained guidance and individual initiative. Aristotle, for example, maintains that you develop sophrosyne like you would learn to play a sport or a musical instrument.The loss of sophrosyne has led to an increase in incivility, a diminished attention span and ability to focus, and is associated with screen addiction, rejection of science, the rise of extreme beliefs, political polarization, the loss of trust in people and institutions, and the global decline of democracy.There are a number of factors, I’d argue, that have led to the loss of sophrosyne, including a decrease in funding for education, greater economic inequality, and the decline of mentoring relationships. Today, mentors have largely been replaced by celebrities and hero culture, with the rich and famous held up as examples worthy of emulation.Temperance, moderation, self-control, discernment – qualities such as these add up to a timeless excellence of character that cannot be faked. Research shows that becoming such a person requires guidance, practice and consistency.Read More:[Psychology Today] - Ross Channing Reed[The Philosophical Salon] - About Ross Reed[The Conversation] - Ross Channing Reed[Bloomsbury] - Precarity, Trauma, Addiction, and Love in Philosophical Counseling This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org