Education (Colleges & Universities)
Here's a look at documents from public, private and community colleges in the U.S.
Featured Stories
Washington & Jefferson College: Christianity Across America - Narrative Interpretations of Christianity in Relation to Western and Island Geographical Climate Cultures
WASHINGTON, Pennsylvania, March 24 -- Washington and Jefferson College issued the following news:
* * *
Christianity Across America: Narrative Interpretations of Christianity in Relation to Western and Island Geographical Climate Cultures
Usually, the first choice you make in your mind regarding the Magellan Project is a seemingly simple, yet truly complex decision - "Where should I even go?" With a vast array of locations at your disposal, the options may seem dauntingly endless, but by the end, you will land on a destination that speaks to you. Sometimes, you may even get to experience the
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Pennsylvania, March 24 -- Washington and Jefferson College issued the following news:
* * *
Christianity Across America: Narrative Interpretations of Christianity in Relation to Western and Island Geographical Climate Cultures
Usually, the first choice you make in your mind regarding the Magellan Project is a seemingly simple, yet truly complex decision - "Where should I even go?" With a vast array of locations at your disposal, the options may seem dauntingly endless, but by the end, you will land on a destination that speaks to you. Sometimes, you may even get to experience theconnections between two diverse places within the same continent! W&J junior Kendall Tietsworth chose to take her studies to two US states that couldn't be more different and found herself researching in the cities of Bozeman and Big Sky, Montana, as well as Kona and Hilo, Hawai'i. Through her Magellan Project, Kendall set out to understand three levels of Christian faith - the faith itself, the "people in the religious group who create their system of faith," and "where and how the personable human interpretation [...] continues to develop because of geographical differences."
While researching her Magellan Project through fieldwork and interpersonal experience, Kendall emphasized that her study's purpose was "not only to give a statistical and observational perspective" on the differences and similarities between how Montana and Hawai'i display their faith, but to "also [give] non-mainstream Christians a place to voice the aspects of their faith that are most inherent to them as believers." One of the most important factors in the Magellan Project's success is how well you are able to draw on diverse experiences and viewpoints. Kendall succeeded at that from the very start, simply because of the way her project was structured. While the ideals of faith presented in Bozeman, Big Sky, Kona, and Hilo might not be 1:1 with the prevailing idea of Christianity, Kendall's Magellan Project highlights the beauty in diversity of thought and faith practice by giving a voice to those who may not always have one.
While finishing up her project, Kendall reached clear conclusions about the differences among the distinct forms of Christianity she immersed herself in. Montana's prevailing Christian faith systems and practices "tend to emphasize [a] personal relationship with God" that leads to church and practicing environments to highlight both "the humanity and divine" and "cultivate a community environment in which authentic faith supports regular conversation and life." Meanwhile, Hawai'i provided an evident and eye-opening contrast, where the general shared Christian faith tended "to lean heavily into spiritual ritual," and was unique from other American forms of the faith "in its [...] openness towards both believers and non-believers in order to fulfill the higher purpose of evangelism and subsequent salvation."
All told, Kendall's Magellan Project provides a deep insight into the various facets of the largest religion on Earth, while highlighting just how much it can differ from region to region. As a Magellan student, it is your responsibility to connect yourself to the destination you find yourself in and truly immerse yourself in the ideals and cultural values of where you'll be staying. Whether or not you're comparing two places or comparing your Magellan experience to your life at home, it is always of utmost importance to recognize the diversity of livelihoods in your mind, and Kendall's project provides a fantastic example of that.
* * *
About Washington & Jefferson College
Washington & Jefferson College, located in Washington, PA., is a selective liberal arts college founded in 1781. Committed to providing each of its students with the highest-quality undergraduate education available, W&J offers a traditional arts and sciences curriculum emphasizing interdisciplinary study and independent study work. For more information about W&J, visit www.washjeff.edu, or call 888-W-AND-JAY.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.washjeff.edu/christianity-across-america-narrative-interpretations-of-christianity-in-relation-to-western-and-island-geographical-climate-cultures/
Saint Joseph's University: Expert Angle - Climate Fiction
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, March 24 -- Saint Joseph's University issued the following Q&A on March 23, 2026, by Madeline Marriott with Justin E. Everett, PhD, professor of English:
* * *
Expert Angle: Climate Fiction
Justin E. Everett, PhD, talks branches of climate fiction, emerging subgenres and reading recommendations.
*
For as long as humans have been writing, there have been stories about the natural world. Since the turn of the 21st century, though, climate fiction has emerged as a publishing category, and has garnered readership as climate change continues to be at the forefront of
... Show Full Article
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, March 24 -- Saint Joseph's University issued the following Q&A on March 23, 2026, by Madeline Marriott with Justin E. Everett, PhD, professor of English:
* * *
Expert Angle: Climate Fiction
Justin E. Everett, PhD, talks branches of climate fiction, emerging subgenres and reading recommendations.
*
For as long as humans have been writing, there have been stories about the natural world. Since the turn of the 21st century, though, climate fiction has emerged as a publishing category, and has garnered readership as climate change continues to be at the forefront ofthe cultural zeitgeist.
SJU News talked to Justin E. Everett, PhD, a professor of English who teaches courses in climate fiction, about the history and development of the genre.
"Climate fiction opens up a window that lets us process and experience grief for what's happening to our world." Justin E. Everett, PhD, Professor of English
* * *
When did climate fiction become a recognized genre?
Climate fiction as a term came about in 2005, but it was being written long before then. There are two branches, and the older of the two interests me more as it comes out of speculative fiction. That one really started getting going around 1945 during what cultural historians call the "Great Acceleration" -- when we first had definite physical markers of the change in the environment. Eventually, we get important works like Octavia Butler's "Parable of the Sower."
Then, after 2000, climate change is becoming more widely known, and what pops up is non-speculative climate fiction, or naturalistic fiction. This includes authors who might have some speculative angle, but aren't associated with science fiction, like Emily St. John Mandel, Barbara Kingsolver and Charlotte McConaghy.
* * *
Why do you think it's important to read (and to teach) climate fiction?
Climate fiction opens up a window that lets us process and experience grief for what's happening to our world. It also helps us understand the magnitude of the changes, because when we look at it year to year, it's gradual, but when we look at over a human lifespan, it's profound. These books also help us explore the reality of what collapse looks like and how we might be able to rebuild.
* * *
Are there any trends you expect to see in the future of the genre?
There's a new subgenre that's been gradually emerging -- an offshoot of speculative fiction called Solarpunk, which looks at the positive possibilities for the future after the end of global capitalism. What will our lives look like? Are we in more local economies? Do we live in a more agrarian way?
* * *
What books would you recommend for a climate fiction beginner?
I recommend Barbara Kingsolver's "Flight Behavior," Charlotte McConaghy's "Migrations" and Richard Powers' "The Overstory." "The Overstory" won the Pulitzer Prize, and it's a long book with interwoven stories of different families whose lives center around trees. It's an epic book in its sense of scale and a really wonderful story.
* * *
What's next on your to-read list?
I go back and forth between speculative and non-speculative and between fiction and non-fiction. I just picked up Vigil, the latest by George Saunders, which is about a dying industrialist who is one of the guiltiest people when it comes to climate change.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.sju.edu/news/expert-angle-climate-fiction
SUNY Chancellor King Joins Students for a Roundtable on Emergency Aid Grants
ALBANY, New York, March 24 -- The State University of New York issued the following news release:
* * *
SUNY Chancellor King Joins Students for a Roundtable on Emergency Aid Grants
SUNY Emergency Aid Grants Enhance Access, Completion, and Success for Students
*
State University of New York Chancellor John B. King Jr. held a roundtable with SUNY students to discuss how emergency aid grants have made the pathway to higher education more accessible. The emergency aid funds span 47 of SUNY's colleges and universities and work to support students by financing unexpected costs such as emergency
... Show Full Article
ALBANY, New York, March 24 -- The State University of New York issued the following news release:
* * *
SUNY Chancellor King Joins Students for a Roundtable on Emergency Aid Grants
SUNY Emergency Aid Grants Enhance Access, Completion, and Success for Students
*
State University of New York Chancellor John B. King Jr. held a roundtable with SUNY students to discuss how emergency aid grants have made the pathway to higher education more accessible. The emergency aid funds span 47 of SUNY's colleges and universities and work to support students by financing unexpected costs such as emergencyhousing, car repairs, medical crisis, and technology like a laptop breaking.
"SUNY's emergency aid grants support our students navigating financial hardships that threaten to disrupt their path to a degree, taking focus away from their academic dreams," said SUNY Chancellor King. "We champion student success. With emergency support initiatives, our students can feel more secure knowing they have a support system when challenging moments arise."
SUNY Trustee Eunice A. Lewin and SUNY Trustee Luca O. Rallis, Co-Chairs of the Student Life Committee, said, "Emergency aid helps our campuses quickly and effectively address our students' needs to make sure they complete their degrees, achieve academic excellence, and reach their full potential. SUNY has an unwavering commitment to supporting students' basic needs and we are proud to continuously champion and grow initiatives that break down barriers to student success."
Governor Hochul's 2026-27 Executive Budget includes $600,000 in dedicated state support for SUNY to expand campus emergency aid grant programs. This builds on SUNY's November 2025 expansion of student emergency aid at 10 community colleges through a grant from the Gates Foundation.
During the roundtable, Chancellor King heard from students that have utilized SUNY's emergency aid funds, as well as from SUNY staff that help process applications and administer the emergency aid. The students shared their experiences using SUNY's emergency aid funds to highlight the importance of the program. Emergency aid funds can be used by students to cover costs associated with unexpected events including a car breakdown, medical crisis, emergency housing situation, or other emergency.
Emergency aid grants are part of SUNY's ongoing commitment to expanding support for student basic needs. In 2017, SUNY launched the emergency aid pilot program at seven campuses supported by an over $600,000 grant from the Gerstner Family Foundation and the Heckscher Foundation for Children. In November 2025, Governor Hochul announced $550,000 in emergency assistance for SUNY's community college food pantries to combat the food insecurity crisis. In September 2025, SUNY also hosted the first Basic Needs Summit to celebrate the SUNY campus and community members working to improve access to essential resources. SUNY also offers the Arthur O. Eve Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), which provides access, academic support, and supplemental financial assistance to students from low-income backgrounds, many of whom are the first in their families to attend college. Fact sheets outlining SUNY's commitment to basic needs can be found here (https://www.suny.edu/media/suny/content-assets/documents/news/Basic-Needs-Support-factsheet-2025.pdf) and here (https://www.suny.edu/media/suny/content-assets/documents/news/Food-Insecurity-factsheet-2025.pdf).
* * *
About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY's 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country's oldest school of maritime, the state's only college of optometry, 12 Educational Opportunity Centers, over 30 ATTAIN digital literacy labs, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.7 million students across its portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2025, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and annually one in three New Yorkers who earn a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit suny.edu.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.suny.edu/suny-news/press-releases/3-26/3-23-26/aid-grants.html
Rutgers: Teaching Robots to Fly Like Birds
NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey, March 24 (TNSjou) -- Rutgers University issued the following news:
* * *
Teaching Robots to Fly Like Birds
Rutgers researchers replace motors with smart materials in an innovative approach to flight
By Kitta MacPherson
A bird banking in a crosswind doesn't rely on spinning blades. Its wings flex, twist and respond instantly to its environment.
Engineers at Rutgers University have taken a major step toward building bird-like drones that move the same way, flapping their wings like real birds, using electricity-driven materials instead of conventional electromagnetic
... Show Full Article
NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey, March 24 (TNSjou) -- Rutgers University issued the following news:
* * *
Teaching Robots to Fly Like Birds
Rutgers researchers replace motors with smart materials in an innovative approach to flight
By Kitta MacPherson
A bird banking in a crosswind doesn't rely on spinning blades. Its wings flex, twist and respond instantly to its environment.
Engineers at Rutgers University have taken a major step toward building bird-like drones that move the same way, flapping their wings like real birds, using electricity-driven materials instead of conventional electromagneticmotors to power them.
In a study published in Aerospace Science and Technology, aerospace researchers Xin Shan and Onur Bilgen describe a "solid state" bird-like drone, typically referred to as an ornithopter, whose flexible wings flap and twist without motors, gears or mechanical linkages. Instead, the system relies on the piezoelectric effect, special materials that change shape when voltage is applied.
"We apply electricity to the piezoelectric materials, and they move the surface directly, without extra joints, extra linkages or motors," said Bilgen, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the Rutgers School of Engineering. "The wing is a composite including a piezoelectric material layer and a carbon-fiber layer. Apply voltage to the piezoelectric layer, and the whole composite flexes."
With their bird-like design, ornithopters offer a level of flexibility that makes such drones well suited for future tasks such as search and rescue, environmental monitoring, inspection of hard-to-reach places, and urban package delivery, where aircraft must navigate around buildings, wires, people, and so much more.
The research team also developed a powerful computer model that connects all the important physics involved in flight at once: wing and body motion, aerodynamics, electrical dynamics, and the control architecture. That allows engineers to test and optimize designs virtually before building physical prototypes, saving time and money while speeding development.
"We've scientifically demonstrated that this type of ornithopter can be possible when we make certain material assumptions," he said. "We can show the feasibility of designs that are not yet physically possible."
For now, the primary obstacle is the performance of the piezoelectric material.
"Today's piezoelectric materials are not capable enough," Bilgen said. "However, our mathematical model allows us to look into the future with reasonable assumptions."
Bilgen first encountered ornithopters in 2007 while he was a graduate student, but he said his interest deepened in 2013, when he began seriously exploring how flapping-wing flight might be reimagined using smart materials. Various companies have built experimental bird-like drones, but most existing designs rely on motors, gears and conventional actuators to drive wing motion.
Those systems, Bilgen said, struggle to match the performance of natural wings, which flex and respond continuously to changing air.
Bilgen says nature offers powerful lessons for engineers.
"Things that need to move fast must be lightweight," he said. "That's why bird wings are delicate structures, and aircraft wings mimic bird wings."
While birds and insects provide inspiration for the work, Bilgen's goal isn't simple imitation.
"We don't want to just mimic nature," he said. "We want to exceed what nature does."
So far, most prototypes of robotic birds rely on mechanisms that imitate bones and muscles. Bilgen's team is taking a simpler path.
"We want to achieve flapping flight without bone-like structures or muscle-like actuators, flapping in a much simpler way," he said.
Instead of motors acting as muscles, thin strips called Macro Fiber Composites (MFCs) are glued directly on their models onto flexible wings. When electricity flows through them, the wings flap, twist and morph.
"The carbon fiber acts like feathers and bone, and the surface-mounted MFCs act like muscles and nerves," Bilgen explained.
Because the system has no gears or joints, the researchers call it a mechanism-free or solid state ornithopter.
Flapping wings offer advantages that spinning propellers found on conventional drones cannot, especially at small scales. "When flapping wings come in contact with the environment, they're less destructive to themselves and to what they contact," Bilgen said.
The use of piezoelectric materials or other smart materials could also improve renewable energy systems.
"A turbine blade is basically a rotating wing," Bilgen said. "We've been looking at applying piezoelectric materials to turbine blades to see if there are aerodynamic benefits."
By subtly changing blade shape in real time, engineers may be able to influence how air flows across the blade surface. That could lead to more efficient wind turbines, he said.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.rutgers.edu/news/teaching-robots-fly-birds
Montana State NASA Team Headed to Europe for Total Solar Eclipse
BOZEMAN, Montana, March 24 -- Montana State University issued the following news:
* * *
Montana State NASA team headed to Europe for total solar eclipse
By Diana Setterberg, MSU News Service
At the invitation of NASA, a team of seven Montana State University students will travel to Spain this summer to fly stratospheric balloons while conducting sophisticated experiments during a total solar eclipse.
This is the sixth time that MSU's Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project members will lead student teams from American universities as they investigate eclipse-driven phenomena and share images
... Show Full Article
BOZEMAN, Montana, March 24 -- Montana State University issued the following news:
* * *
Montana State NASA team headed to Europe for total solar eclipse
By Diana Setterberg, MSU News Service
At the invitation of NASA, a team of seven Montana State University students will travel to Spain this summer to fly stratospheric balloons while conducting sophisticated experiments during a total solar eclipse.
This is the sixth time that MSU's Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project members will lead student teams from American universities as they investigate eclipse-driven phenomena and share imagestaken from the edge of space.
On Aug. 12, the MSU students will experience the total eclipse from Borgas, Spain, where they will conduct engineering flights along with teams from the University of North Florida and the universities of Bridgeport and Hartford in Connecticut. Each team will fly two balloons which, like weather balloons, rise to altitudes where the darkness of space and curvature of Earth are visible. The six craft will carry differing payloads of up to 13 pounds of scientific equipment needed for a variety of experiments, including some designed by local Spanish students. Among other investigations, the teams will measure changes in the concentration of atmospheric ozone during the eclipse and monitor the eclipse's effects on radio communications. A long-range radio communications device called LoRa, designed by students at MSU, will be employed for the latter experiment.
"LoRa can communicate where the payload is and also send us great information about what's going on with radio signals as things change in the atmosphere with the darkening from the eclipse," said Angela Des Jardins, director of the Montana Space Grant Consortium and associate research professor in the Department of Physics in MSU's College of Letters and Science. "So, it's a little bit communications, a little bit science, and it also pushes the bounds on what that technology can do and shows us how far we can possibly transmit a good signal with that system."
The eclipse's path of totality, where the moon will completely obscure the sun when viewed from Earth, will begin in northeastern Siberia around sunrise and then pass over Greenland before arriving at the western edge of Iceland. There, near the city of Reykjavik, NEBP atmospheric science teams from the University of Idaho and University of Kentucky will fly balloons equipped with radiosondes to record and transmit temperature, pressure, humidity and wind data. The teams will work with scientists from the University of Iceland to record the eclipse's effects in the tropopause between the lower layer of Earth's atmosphere and the stratosphere. Des Jardins said the findings will help scientists better understand the atmosphere in general, which can lead to better weather predictions and climate models.
Between them, the two teams in Iceland will fly 80 small balloons beginning 18 hours before and continuing eight hours after the eclipse. They will conduct more frequent flights during sunrise, sunset and the eclipse itself, which will occur in the mid-afternoon local time.
The path of totality then will traverse the Atlantic Ocean to northern Spain, where it will arrive a little before sunset. After launching balloons toward their destination altitude -- 90,000 to 120,000 feet -- the student engineering teams will direct on-board equipment from the ground to gather data and capture video and still images of the moon's shadow on Earth from the near-space perspective. After the flights end, the payloads will parachute to the ground in darkness, and the students will follow beacon signals to recover them the next day.
NEBP, which is sponsored by NASA and the National Science Foundation, was founded at MSU in 2014 by Des Jardins to provide an opportunity for university and high school students to engage in advanced engineering and atmospheric science experiments during the 2017 total solar eclipse in the U.S. The success of the program led to subsequent student missions for eclipses in Chile in 2019 and 2020, the southwestern United States in 2023 and portions of the southern and eastern U.S. in 2024. Scientific findings from some NEBP missions have been published in prestigious journals and presented at scientific conferences.
"We have this opportunity to be part of NASA's presence for the eclipse in Europe because our great project came to mind when they were thinking about doing science for eclipses," Des Jardins said. "This is something our students will never forget."
* * *
Original text here: https://www.montana.edu/news/25186/montana-state-nasa-team-headed-to-europe-for-total-solar-eclipse
Goldberg Discusses Climate Communication and Audio Storytelling as Host of Ask MIT Climate
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, March 24 -- The Massachusetts Institute of Technology posted the following Q&A on March 23, 2024, involving Ask MIT Climate podcast host Madison Goldberg:
* * *
3 Questions: Communicating about climate, in audio and beyond
Madison Goldberg, the new host of the Ask MIT Climate podcast, talks about her career as a science communicator as well as ideas she thinks it's important for climate communicators to convey.
*
Since her first journalism fellowship covering energy and the environment at the NPR station in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Madison Goldberg has been drawn
... Show Full Article
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, March 24 -- The Massachusetts Institute of Technology posted the following Q&A on March 23, 2024, involving Ask MIT Climate podcast host Madison Goldberg:
* * *
3 Questions: Communicating about climate, in audio and beyond
Madison Goldberg, the new host of the Ask MIT Climate podcast, talks about her career as a science communicator as well as ideas she thinks it's important for climate communicators to convey.
*
Since her first journalism fellowship covering energy and the environment at the NPR station in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Madison Goldberg has been drawnto science communication and audio storytelling. Now, after reporting on topics from solar storms to sewer systems to cryptography, she's bringing her passions to MIT as the new host of the Institute's climate change podcast.
Launched in 2019 as TILclimate, the show began its eighth season this year with a new name: Ask MIT Climate. But the podcast's mission remains the same: teaming up with scientists and subject matter experts to bring listeners clear, accessible information on climate change topics in 15 minutes or less.
In this interview, Goldberg talks about her path to science communication, the ideas she thinks it's important for climate communicators to convey, and what makes MIT an exciting place to share knowledge with the world.
Q: Did you always know that you wanted to be a science communicator?
A: I didn't! My first love in science was astronomy. I grew up looking at the stars a lot, and I was very lucky to do an internship in high school at UC Santa Cruz with a professor in their astronomy department. Space kind of puts everything in the biggest possible perspective, and for me, that's a very calming thing.
And then in college, I wanted to do something closer to home, so to speak. I found that Earth science was very exciting to learn about, because pretty much all the sciences are somehow involved. You know, you've got chemistry, biology, physics... everything all rolled into one. Also, I still got to tap into a lot of what I loved about astronomy, in terms of exploring deep time and big scales. And I was very motivated by a lot of the problems in Earth and climate science, because they tie so closely to people's lives.
I expected to continue with research, but I discovered that what was especially compelling to me was learning about this stuff and then talking to people about it. And in my senior year of college I learned that science communication, and science journalism, was a field that you could be in.
I took a science podcasting course that year -which I still can't believe even existed -and I got my first taste of interviewing people and working in audio, which was just incredible. I had loved podcasts for so long, and so the medium felt really familiar.
Q: What is important for science communicators to convey about climate change?
A: One of the ideas that I try to always keep in mind, and that I think is really important to convey, is that climate change affects every single aspect of our lives. And we need to communicate about it accordingly.
I think it's crucial to consider the ways climate change intertwines with all these other realms of people's experiences; it affects where we live, it affects what we eat, it affects the economy, it affects our health. Approaching it in isolation doesn't seem to be the most productive framework. As communicators, we have a responsibility to listen and learn and talk about all these many and varied ways that climate change shows up in people's lives.
This idea of things intertwining also reminds me of a really central theme in Ask MIT Climate: that working towards climate solutions not only allows us to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, but it can also help make people's lives better in other ways. And we get to think expansively about the future we want to build.
Q: What makes MIT an exciting place to be engaged in climate communication?
A: The folks that I've talked to at MIT are just so kind and generous with their time. And these people are so busy! They have so much on their plates, and yet, somehow, even when I have a million follow-up questions, extremely prominent researchers will hop on a Zoom or exchange emails to answer them. I feel so lucky to be part of this community.
Related to what I mentioned earlier, I also appreciate the interdisciplinary climate work that happens at MIT. Tackling climate change is a generational challenge, and it requires inputs from all kinds of fields. And at MIT we have, for example, the Climate Project, the Climate Policy Center, the Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy, the Living Climate Futures Lab -all of these ways to approach the issue and bring folks into the conversation who have different expertise, experiences, and perspectives. I think it's really special to be at MIT, to see that happen in real-time, and to see students, faculty, and staff working to bridge across subject matter boundaries.
Above all, I've been shown such generosity, and I'm so grateful. I feel like I can never express enough gratitude for the people inside and outside of MIT who have spoken to me about their work and about their lives. All I can hope to do is to communicate that information faithfully. Because I think there's a huge number of people who are curious about climate change and what we can do about it, and who want to learn.
***
Original text here: https://news.mit.edu/2026/3-questions-madison-goldberg-communicating-about-climate-0323
Diehl Family Establishes $2.1 Million Gift for Scholarships at UH's Fertitta College of Medicine
HOUSTON, Texas, March 24 -- The University of Houston issued the following news:
* * *
Diehl Family Establishes $2.1 Million Gift for Scholarships at UH's Fertitta College of Medicine
Planned estate gift will expand access to medical education and support future physicians
Key Takeaways
* $2.1M planned estate gift: will establish a new scholarship endowment for the University of Houston's Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine, aimed at expanding access to medical education.
* Bob Diehl and Teresa Evans Diehl Scholarship Endowment: will support students with financial need, helping
... Show Full Article
HOUSTON, Texas, March 24 -- The University of Houston issued the following news:
* * *
Diehl Family Establishes $2.1 Million Gift for Scholarships at UH's Fertitta College of Medicine
Planned estate gift will expand access to medical education and support future physicians
Key Takeaways
* $2.1M planned estate gift: will establish a new scholarship endowment for the University of Houston's Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine, aimed at expanding access to medical education.
* Bob Diehl and Teresa Evans Diehl Scholarship Endowment: will support students with financial need, helpingreduce debt and allowing future physicians to focus on training and service.
* Gift will strengthen UH's mission and future growth: will enhance enrollment expansion, increase the pipeline of primary care doctors and advance long-term impact through the university's centennial campaign.
By Bryan Luhn
The University of Houston's Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine has received a planned estate gift commitment estimated at $2.1 million to establish a scholarship endowment, expanding access to medical education and strengthening the pipeline of physicians who will serve communities across Texas and beyond.
The commitment creates the Bob Diehl and Teresa Evans Diehl Scholarship Endowment, which will provide scholarships for full-time medical students who demonstrate financial need and meet academic standards.
"I attended and graduated from the University of Houston, as did my wife, and the school has always meant a great deal to me," Diehl said. "We never had children and after my wife passed away, I saw that I could do something that would impact young people in a different way without being a parent."
Once realized, the endowment will generate annual scholarship support for students enrolled in the Fertitta College of Medicine, helping reduce financial burdens and enabling them to focus on their training as they prepare to meet the growing health care needs of their communities.
"I took a job with UPS and realized that I could actually make a good living and achieve certain aspirations and goals with hard work and perseverance," Diehl said. "I retired after 38 years with the company. It brings me happiness to know that my endowment will make a difference in young people's lives and in the communities that will need those future doctors."
The Fertitta College of Medicine was founded to improve health outcomes in underserved communities by preparing the next generation of primary care physicians. Since welcoming its inaugural class of 30 students in 2020, the College has steadily expanded its enrollment and reach. With classes expected to grow to 120 students in the coming years, scholarship support will play a critical role in ensuring talented students can pursue medical education regardless of financial circumstances.
* * *
"The Diehl family's generosity will open doors for talented future physicians who are called to serve our communities but may otherwise face financial barriers to pursuing a medical education."
- Jonathan McCullers, dean of UH's Fertitta College of Medicine
* * *
"Endowed scholarships like this do more than ease the burden of tuition -- they empower our students to focus on learning, leadership and compassionate care," said Jonathan A. McCullers, UH vice president of health affairs and dean of the Fertitta College of Medicine. "We are deeply grateful to the Diehls for their vision and commitment to expanding access to health care through education."
As a member of the University's In Tempore Legacy Society, Diehl joins other alumni who have included UH in their estate plans to support future generations of students.
"Planned gifts like this are among the most powerful investments in the future of the University," said Russell T. Dunlavy, vice president for advancement and alumni. "The Diehl family's generosity reflects a deep belief in the power of education to change lives far beyond a single generation. This commitment ensures the University can continue to grow its impact and serve as a catalyst for opportunity well into the future."
The gift also supports Can't Stop Houston: The Centennial Campaign, UH's historic fundraising initiative focused on expanding opportunities for students, advancing research and strengthening the University's impact ahead of its 100th anniversary next year.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.uh.edu/news-events/stories/2026/march/03232026-com-diehl-gift.php
