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Yale School of Medicine: Kuan Wins NIH New Innovator Award to Map Brain Connections
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, Oct. 7 -- The Yale University School of Medicine issued the following news:
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Kuan Wins NIH New Innovator Award to Map Brain Connections
By Sophia Ramirez
October 06, 2026
Aaron Kuan, PhD, assistant professor of neuroscience at Yale School of Medicine, has been awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director's New Innovator Award. The award recognizes Kuan as an early career innovator in his field, and provides his lab with $475,000 per year for the next five years to support his work in advanced brain mapping.
"We design systems that will make it possible
... Show Full Article
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, Oct. 7 -- The Yale University School of Medicine issued the following news:
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Kuan Wins NIH New Innovator Award to Map Brain Connections
By Sophia Ramirez
October 06, 2026
Aaron Kuan, PhD, assistant professor of neuroscience at Yale School of Medicine, has been awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director's New Innovator Award. The award recognizes Kuan as an early career innovator in his field, and provides his lab with $475,000 per year for the next five years to support his work in advanced brain mapping.
"We design systems that will make it possibleto map the entire brain and study the individual connections between neurons," says Kuan. The connections between neurons, called synapses, are too small to be seen through conventional light microscopes. Kuan and the members of his lab work with electron microscopes and X-ray imaging techniques to map synapses, and they aim to eventually develop comprehensive atlases of the brain.
"Right now we have a very high-level view of the human brain. It's like looking at a map," says Kuan. "We can see the highways but when you zoom in, it's all blurry. We want to be able to see all the way down to the street level and see all the connections in the brain."
Mapping brain connections
The study and mapping of these brain connections is called connectomics. Kuan's lab aims to pioneer a new subset of this field called comparative connectomics. While at a high level the brain is largely the same across different populations, there can be important and subtle differences between individuals. Part of Kuan's work is studying the differences between different brains to understand how the connections can influence brain disorders or decision making.
"The long-term goal is to have the ability to map many samples and understand the differences between them," says Kuan. "We could map the differences between genetic backgrounds or disease states or even species to understand how evolution selects different types of brain circuits."
In this project, Kuan's lab is investigating the communication between different brain regions. "It's particularly important in higher primates and humans," says Kuan. "We have a huge expansion of the cortex into distinct brain regions that are specialized for different functions, but they have to work together."
Brain regions have to communicate across large expanses. Neurons serve as the connectors, specifically the parts of neurons that project across these expanses, called axons. Kuan likens axons to cables that convey information and says that studying them could provide insight into neurological disorders.
"There are a lot of data from MRI research that suggest different psychiatric disorders are related to communication between certain brain regions. But we've only observed that at a coarse level where we can't see the individual cables," says Kuan.
Kuan says his lab will use the NIH New Innovator Award funding to build a next-generation electron microscopy and tomography system to advance their comparative connectomics work.
They will also use the funding to focus on inhibitory neurons, which prevent the transmission of signals around the brain. Kuan's recent research has shown that these cells play an active role in decision making by controlling when other neurons can be active.
"Inhibitory neurons are divided into different subclasses, and we're starting to appreciate that those subclasses have different roles in the circuit," says Kuan. "We're trying to map the connectivity of specific types of inhibitory neurons to understand what their roles are in supporting high-level cognition."
The NIH New Innovator Award is part of the NIH High-Risk, High-Reward Research program, which supports researchers as they take on innovative new projects. Kuan says that this support is incredibly valuable for his lab's innovative work.
"We're trying to push the envelope about what is possible in the field," he says. "To do this we need to develop new technologies, and we are so grateful that the NIH is willing to give us this support early on in our work."
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Original text here: https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/kuan-new-innovator-award-map-brain-connections/
Study reveals how individual experiences shape the brain's wiring
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama, Oct. 7 -- The University of Alabama issued the following news:
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Study reveals how individual experiences shape the brain's wiring
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A new study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham suggests that, while each brain is wired differently, the portions used for demanding, attention-heavy tasks may become the most distinctly personal. The study, led by Pinar Demirayak, Ph.D., a researcher in the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, explores the idea that experience reshapes neural connections, making the brain's networks better suited to their lived environment.
Rewriting
... Show Full Article
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama, Oct. 7 -- The University of Alabama issued the following news:
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Study reveals how individual experiences shape the brain's wiring
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A new study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham suggests that, while each brain is wired differently, the portions used for demanding, attention-heavy tasks may become the most distinctly personal. The study, led by Pinar Demirayak, Ph.D., a researcher in the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, explores the idea that experience reshapes neural connections, making the brain's networks better suited to their lived environment.
Rewritingthe rules of sight
Researchers from the lab of Kristina Visscher, Ph.D., an associate professor in UAB's Department of Neurobiology, found that the more attention a brain region receives, the more its connections to the rest of the brain become distinct across individuals, while regions used more passively look strikingly familiar from person to person.
To test this idea, Demirayak and her colleagues took advantage of a unique property of the visual system. Central vision, or the sharp detailed vision at the center of a person's gaze, and peripheral vision, or vision outside of the direct point of gaze, are processed by separate regions of the brain's primary visual cortex.
"We examined this in two contexts where different parts of primary visual cortex are used for more, or less, attention-demanding visual tasks," Demirayak said. "We rely on the amazing fact that the visual cortex is retinotopically organized; that is, central vision is processed by different cortical regions than peripheral vision."
Individuals with healthy eyesight rely heavily on central vision via the eye's fovea for effortful visual tasks such as reading a page or scanning a face, while peripheral vision is rarely used for effortful tasks. Some individuals who lose their central vision, often due to macular degeneration, adapt by developing a preferred retinal locus, or an area of remaining peripheral retina that effectively becomes a substitute fovea.
Over time, this area becomes the primary region used for tasks that once relied on central vision, while the rest of the peripheral vision continues to function as normal. To further explore this occurrence, Demirayak zeroed in on a well-understood feature of the visual system that allowed researchers to compare heavily and lightly used regions of the brain side by side.
Fingerprints in the brain
Using scans from 23 individuals with healthy vision and 21 individuals with central vision loss, collected while they were at rest, Demirayak mapped how each region's whole-brain connectivity pattern compared in each person. In the individuals with healthy vision, the results showed that the parts of the brain that process peripheral vision looked almost identical from person to person, while the parts of the brain that process central vision were highly individualized.
"We find that the whole-brain patterns of connections to the cortical representations of peripheral vision are quite similar from person to person," Demirayak said. "On the other hand, when you look at whole-brain patterns of connections to central representations, they are idiosyncratic, like people's fingertips."
One exception to the rule
The second half of the study focused on individuals who had lost their central vision as adults. Their brains did not rewire dramatically -- with one exception, in the exact location Demirayak's theory would predict.
"We find that whole-brain patterns of connections of the visual cortex do not change much for people with central vision loss, except in the cortical representations of the preferred retinal locus, which people use preferentially for attention-demanding tasks."
Because these patients developed vision loss later in life, the individualized pattern in their preferred retinal locus could not be attributed to patterns established early in brain development. Instead, it appeared to be a product of the specific way each person came to use that section of the cortex.
"The cortical representation of the preferred retinal locus shows more idiosyncratic patterns of connections than the central region," Demirayak said. "This suggests that the idiosyncratic connections are associated with experience, not development, since these patients developed vision loss in adulthood."
A new lens on plasticity
Beyond the visual system findings, the study proposes a broader methodological shift in how scientists study brain plasticity. Rather than comparing the average brain pattern of one group to another, the researchers measured how far each individual's pattern strayed from the norm.
"We're excited about the findings, in part, because it has opened our eyes to new ways of thinking about adult plasticity," Demirayak said. "The field often examines neural plasticity by comparing the mean of one group to the mean of a control group."
"That ignores the knowledge that each person's pattern of brain connections starts out distinct, and an experience is likely to perturb each system slightly differently," Demirayak said. "By examining the idiosyncrasy of the connections, we can identify plasticity in connection patterns."
The researchers note the approach could eventually support more personalized rehabilitation strategies for people with vision loss, because a "one-size-fits-all" model can miss how differently each patient's brain has adapted. More broadly, they suggest the same idiosyncrasy-based method could be applied to other kinds of experience-driven brain change, from the motor cortex of musicians to the brains of people who have lost limbs.
What emerges is a new picture of adult plasticity, not a dramatic rewiring, but a slow, individualized recalibration.
Additional authors of the study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience and titled "Increased Attentive Use Is Linked to More Idiosyncratic Functional Connections," were lab members Pauline Stewart and Rachel Chua, and Leland Fleming, Ph.D., Texas A&M University.
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Original text here: https://www.uab.edu/news/research-innovation/study-reveals-how-individual-experiences-shape-the-brains-wiring
LSUS herpetologist part of groundbreaking research published in renowned journal
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, Oct. 7 -- Louisiana State University Shreveport campus posted the following news:
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LSUS herpetologist part of groundbreaking research published in renowned journal
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SHREVEPORT - An LSU Shreveport herpetologist is part of ground-breaking research in the gecko world.
Dr. Stuart Nielsen, assistant professor of biology, was part of a team that established nearly 20 new genomes for geckos, publishing the research in the journal "Science."
A genome is an organism's complete set of genetic instructions, made up of all the DNA stored in its cells.
"We published new
... Show Full Article
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, Oct. 7 -- Louisiana State University Shreveport campus posted the following news:
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LSUS herpetologist part of groundbreaking research published in renowned journal
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SHREVEPORT - An LSU Shreveport herpetologist is part of ground-breaking research in the gecko world.
Dr. Stuart Nielsen, assistant professor of biology, was part of a team that established nearly 20 new genomes for geckos, publishing the research in the journal "Science."
A genome is an organism's complete set of genetic instructions, made up of all the DNA stored in its cells.
"We published newgenomes for geckos spanning essentially the gecko tree of life," Nielsen said. "So whereas there were just a handful of gecko genomes before, now we have somewhere between 25-30 of what we call chromosome-level genomes.
"This is a really, really powerful resource for people to do all kinds of studies."
The journal "Science" is one of the most revered peer-reviewed journals with an acceptance rate of 5.3%. Many other peer-reviewed journals have a 20-40% acceptance rate.
Determination of sex in mammals (males give an X or Y chromosome to offspring) and birds (females give the determining chromosome) is standard across species.
But reptiles include both of these systems plus a temperature-dependent sex determination system in which external temperature can be the deciding factor for the sex of offspring.
Geckos are unique among reptiles in that they transitioned between sex-determination systems.
But this research suggests that geckos transition between systems in a particular way instead of randomly, determined by a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
"We know a lot about mammal sex chromosomes and bird sex chromosomes, but reptiles are this third lineage that we don't know a lot about," Nielsen said. "From our research, essentially every time we look at a new gecko species, we get a different sex-determining region of the genome.
"Reptiles, specifically geckos, will eject a (sex determination) system and get a new one. All these things happen that theory says shouldn't happen."
Nielsen's role in the research was to collect numerous species of gecko samples.
Over the last 10 years, he's collected geckos from Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Honduras and Australia, the last of which contained the bulk of the gecko samples used in this research.
Nielsen's postdoctoral advisor Dr. Tony Gamble, an expert in evolutionary biology at Marquette University, connected with the Beijing Genome Institute and eventual lead author of the study Dr. Yang Zhou.
Nielsen added that because of the extreme diversity of geckos, hints to larger evolutionary questions such as why certain traits evolve and how are they expressed in organisms could have more clarity.
"This research really provides a resource and an amazing data set that we've never had before," Nielsen said. "Here's this amazing group of creatures, and what are some of the questions we can now ask with this resource?"
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Original text here: https://www.lsus.edu/lsus-herpetologist-part-of-groundbreaking-research-published-in-renowned-journal
Irish prime minister announces government funding for the UB James Joyce Museum
BUFFALO, New York, Oct. 7 -- The University at Buffalo (State University of New York) posted the following news release:
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Irish prime minister announces government funding for the UB James Joyce Museum
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BUFFALO, N.Y. - Taoiseach Micheal Martin, the prime minister of Ireland, announced late last month that the Irish government will provide $90,000 in funding to the University at Buffalo Libraries for the planned UB James Joyce Museum.
Martin, as part of a series of engagements in New York, met with Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sept. 23 to announce the support through Ireland's Department of Foreign
... Show Full Article
BUFFALO, New York, Oct. 7 -- The University at Buffalo (State University of New York) posted the following news release:
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Irish prime minister announces government funding for the UB James Joyce Museum
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BUFFALO, N.Y. - Taoiseach Micheal Martin, the prime minister of Ireland, announced late last month that the Irish government will provide $90,000 in funding to the University at Buffalo Libraries for the planned UB James Joyce Museum.
Martin, as part of a series of engagements in New York, met with Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sept. 23 to announce the support through Ireland's Department of ForeignAffairs and Trade. The funding will go toward the museum's integrated welcome area and "Ulysses Unbound," an immersive audio-visual presentation. Both elements are still in the early stages of design.
"We are truly grateful for the Irish government's support of the UB James Joyce Museum and are delighted to have them as a partner on the project," said James Maynard, PhD, curator of the UB Poetry Collection. "Our relationship with Ireland and the Irish diaspora is very important to us."
Maynard notes that the Irish government has had a presence with the project since 2021 when the university unveiled a 36-foot-tall mural of Joyce in downtown Buffalo meant to raise awareness for the UB James Joyce Collection, the world's largest and most comprehensive collection of manuscripts and materials by and about Joyce, widely regarded as the most influential literary figure of the 20th century.
"When we launched the comprehensive campaign for the Joyce Collection and the museum at that unveiling, we did so with the help of the Consulate General of Ireland, New York," says Maynard. "They were with us when we announced the campaign five years ago and their support continues now."
The funding announcement from Martin is the latest step in the ongoing and broad support UB has received for the museum. In June 2023, $10 million in funding was secured through the advocacy of Rep. Tim Kennedy, then a New York state senator, and the support of Gov. Hochul.
The UB James Joyce Museum, an international destination and cultural landmark, will be built across 11,000 square feet on the first floor of Abbott Hall on the university's South Campus.
The museum is expected to attract visitors from around the world to experience the achievements of James Joyce. Tentative opening is planned for 2028.
Bert Gambini
News Content Manager
Humanities, Economics, Social Sciences, Social Work, Libraries
Tel: 716-645-5334
gambini@buffalo.edu
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Original text here: https://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2026/10/Irish-Government-Joyce-Museum.html
Indiana University-Columbus: Tom and Barbara Schoellkopf Continue Generous Support of Mental Health Counseling
COLUMBUS, Indiana, Oct. 7 -- Indiana University Columbus campus issued the following news:
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Tom and Barbara Schoellkopf continue generous support of mental health counseling
More students and residents across South Central Indiana will have access to mental health counseling services and counselor training opportunities at Indiana University Columbus thanks to the generosity of Tom and Barbara Schoellkopf.
Oct 6, 2026
Both Indiana University alumni, the Schoellkopfs have long been champions of mental health services and counselor education in Columbus. Their support established the Tom
... Show Full Article
COLUMBUS, Indiana, Oct. 7 -- Indiana University Columbus campus issued the following news:
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Tom and Barbara Schoellkopf continue generous support of mental health counseling
More students and residents across South Central Indiana will have access to mental health counseling services and counselor training opportunities at Indiana University Columbus thanks to the generosity of Tom and Barbara Schoellkopf.
Oct 6, 2026
Both Indiana University alumni, the Schoellkopfs have long been champions of mental health services and counselor education in Columbus. Their support established the Tom& Barbara Schoellkopf Community Counseling Center in 2019, which offers free and reduced cost counseling services while providing graduate students with supervised clinical experience.
"Over the years, we've watched the IU Columbus Mental Health Counseling program develop compassionate, confident and highly skilled counselors who are making a difference in the lives of individuals and families throughout our region," Barbara Schoellkopf said. "We've also been continually impressed by the dedication, expertise and genuine care demonstrated by the program's faculty. We want to ensure that high-quality counselor education remains available in Columbus for years to come."
Their latest gift allows for enhanced clinical staffing and technology upgrades that ensure the continued growth of the Schoellkopf Community Counseling Center. Their support also continues to fund an annual paid internship and enhances scholarship opportunities for IU Columbus mental health counseling graduate students entering field experience.
"We hope this gift will strengthen the program's reputation for excellence, help attract outstanding students and faculty, expand opportunities for local students, and support the growing need for mental health counselors in South Central Indiana," Tom Schoellkopf said.
Since opening, the Tom & Barbara Schoellkopf Community Counseling Center has hosted 1,452 therapy appointments, serving 144 clients from IU Columbus, Ivy Tech, Purdue Polytechnic, and the surrounding communities. The Center has provided 80 graduate students with real time observation of and feedback on their mental health counseling skills.
Through the Schoellkopf Community Counseling Center and the Mental Health Counseling Program, IU Columbus is helping address a critical shortage of mental health professionals throughout South Central Indiana.
"The Schoellkopfs' continued investment is helping prepare the next generation of counselors," said Darrin Carr, IU Columbus Mental Health Counseling Program Director. "Their generosity has made a profound impact on both our students and the communities they go on to serve."
This gift is part of the Never Daunted campaign, which unites all IU campuses through fundraising and engagement in pursuit of a shared vision for the future. The campaign expands opportunities for students, fuels life-changing innovation, and strengthens communities across Indiana and beyond.
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Original text here: https://news.iu.edu/columbus/live/news/53706-tom-and-barbara-schoellkopf-continue-generous
Columbia Climate School: September Research Roundup - Select Papers
NEW YORK, Oct. 7 -- The Columbia Climate School issued the following news:
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September Research Roundup: Select Papers
By Francesco Fiondella
October 6, 2026
Every month, researchers at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and other parts of the Columbia Climate School publish work that deepens our understanding of the planet.
This month, we wrote about the impact of livestock on Madagascar's native animals, robot sailboats in the Southern Ocean, New York City's $300 million methane problem and how extreme heat is spreading beyond summer.
Here are additional studies by our researchers that
... Show Full Article
NEW YORK, Oct. 7 -- The Columbia Climate School issued the following news:
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September Research Roundup: Select Papers
By Francesco Fiondella
October 6, 2026
Every month, researchers at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and other parts of the Columbia Climate School publish work that deepens our understanding of the planet.
This month, we wrote about the impact of livestock on Madagascar's native animals, robot sailboats in the Southern Ocean, New York City's $300 million methane problem and how extreme heat is spreading beyond summer.
Here are additional studies by our researchers thatare worth noting.
When U.S. Embassies Stopped Reporting Air Quality, Pollution Rose
For more than a decade, U.S. embassies and consulates provided independent, publicly available air-quality readings in cities around the world. When that program was suspended in 2025, pollution increased in those cities, according to new Climate School research.
Using satellite observations across 46 cities, researchers found that the loss of embassy reporting was followed by about a 33% increase in aerosol pollution. The increases were largest and most persistent in places without another publicly available national air-quality monitoring system.
To estimate the impact of losing embassy monitoring on fine-particle pollution, the researchers compared the satellite data with embassy readings collected before the shutdown. They found an increase of about 1.9 micrograms per cubic meter of PM2.5, the tiny airborne particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs. The authors also tested alternative explanations and found little evidence that pollution was already rising in those cities before the reporting stopped.
"Public access to trusted environmental data appears to be part of what creates accountability for pollution," says lead author Zoey Zhou, an assistant professor at the Columbia Climate School. "Data is evidence, and we're seeing a trend not just internationally but in the U.S. of ending programs that gather climate and environmental data."
Why it matters: The findings suggest that environmental transparency can function as a form of environmental governance. When credible, real-time pollution information disappears, some of the environmental gains associated with public disclosure may weaken.
Other Columbia-affiliated authors: Fanyu Wang and Douglas Almond, Columbia University.
Hidden Urban Deprivation Extends Far Beyond Megacities
Hundreds of millions of people live in densely built, poorly connected neighborhoods that can signal serious living-condition deficits. Mapping these patterns across 5,132 cities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, a new study estimates that about 395 million people live in such neighborhoods. Africa had the highest relative prevalence of people living in deprivation, at 43.6% of urban residents. About 136 million people, or more than one-third of the total, live in small and medium-sized cities (less than 1 million residents) that are often overlooked in global urban data and policy discussions.
The study builds on the City Segments Layer developed by Dana Thomson of the Climate School's Center for Integrated Earth System Information (CIESIN) and colleagues. The layer divides cities into standardized, neighborhood-sized units using open data on roads, waterways, buildings and population.
Along with her colleagues, Thomson, a co-author on the new study, trained a machine-learning model on locally mapped neighborhoods in eight large cities, including Nairobi, Mumbai and Mexico City, then applied it to cities across the three regions.
"Small and medium-sized cities are absorbing a growing share of urban population growth, especially in the Global South, but often have the fewest resources to manage it," says Thomson. "Without comparable neighborhood-scale data, many vulnerable communities remain invisible when planning and investment decisions are made. Making these neighborhoods visible is a first step toward ensuring that basic services and resources reach the people and places that need them most."
Why it matters: Smaller cities often have fewer resources for planning, even as many face rapid growth. The new mapping approach could help identify places that need closer assessment and support efforts toward adequate housing and basic services.
A Forgotten 1941 Heat Wave Offers a New Comparison for 2021
A newly published study reconstructs a major North American heat wave from 1941 that was comparable in magnitude and location to a record-shattering 2021 event, but whose impacts had never been studied in detail. Although the 1941 event was about 1.7 C cooler, it occurred in a much cooler climate and was still extraordinarily rare for its time. The comparison offers a look at how two similarly extreme events, separated by 80 years, affected people and communities very differently.
Sam Anderson, a visiting postdoctoral research scientist at Lamont, and Shawn Chartrand of Simon Fraser University reviewed 357 issues of 25 newspapers and combined those accounts with climate, streamflow, crop, mortality and other data. They found widespread impacts in 1941, including deaths, water shortages, crop damage, wildfires and flooding. The study identified 344 deaths reported as directly or indirectly related to the heat, with drowning a much more prominent cause than in 2021, when most heat-attributed deaths in British Columbia occurred indoors.
"The impacts of any heatwave are shaped not only by its meteorology, but by the social, cultural and historical context in which it occurs," says Anderson. "Our comparison shows that the impacts of future extremes will depend in large part on the world we choose to create."
Why it matters: Comparing two extreme heat waves separated by 80 years shows how changes in infrastructure, technology, behavior and policy can shape who is affected and how.
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Original text here: https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2026/10/06/september-research-roundup-select-papers/
Bowdoin College: Art of Real Thinking in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
BRUNSWICK, Maine, Oct. 7 -- Bowdoin College issued the following news:
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The Art of Real Thinking in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
By Rebecca Goldfine
In a series of stories over the next few months, we'll be visiting courses in economics, English, philosophy, computer studies, and digital and computational studies that approach AI not as a tool to learn, but as a subject for inquiry.
About thirty minutes into economist Martin Abel's ECON 2225: AI and Economics, the conversation shifted into a debate about whether AI companions--for the elderly or as romantic partners, for instance--were
... Show Full Article
BRUNSWICK, Maine, Oct. 7 -- Bowdoin College issued the following news:
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The Art of Real Thinking in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
By Rebecca Goldfine
In a series of stories over the next few months, we'll be visiting courses in economics, English, philosophy, computer studies, and digital and computational studies that approach AI not as a tool to learn, but as a subject for inquiry.
About thirty minutes into economist Martin Abel's ECON 2225: AI and Economics, the conversation shifted into a debate about whether AI companions--for the elderly or as romantic partners, for instance--werea net benefit to society.
The students opened an app and recorded their responses, which appeared as a graph on a screen. Most disagreed, but a few agreed or even strongly agreed. Abel asked one of them to explain their answer.
"There are people who are lonely, depressed, or feel they're on the outside of society," a student replied. "They can use a companion to have something to communicate with."
But another rebutted: "Yes, there are benefits, but it's not a net benefit to society."
"It's akin to putting a Band-aid on a wound," a third student spoke up. "Depression rates are high, attention spans are low, and this is pushing us farther away from having positive, real, human interactions. Maybe it's good for older people but not young people; it's absolutely terrible for them."
Abel also offered his thoughts: "AI companions might help with loneliness in the short run but possibly will contribute to loneliness in the long run. If the AI companion is always pleasant and affirming, you don't get challenged or develop the skills you need in a relationship, like how to navigate conflict or how to work through disagreement. And young people could get the wrong impression of what a relationship will look like."
The conversation continued, with the class examining AI therapists and even querying an actual AI companion Abel pulled up on his phone, asking it questions like "Do you have values?" "Do you have friends besides [Martin]?" and "Is there anything you're not allowed to say or do?"
But the class had to move on. "We could discuss this for hours and hours," Abel said, turning the class's focus to economics, including how companies plan to maximize profits, possibly by developing user dependency or "attachment hacking."
"One of the goals for the class is learning the potential and limitations of AI and how it affects different aspects of society, specifically through the lens of economics," Abel explained in a meeting after class. His students begin by studying the fundamentals of AI and its impacts on companionship, mental health, and creativity. They then examine its effects on productivity and employment across sectors such as health, education, law, and finance.
Throughout the semester, small groups of students are assigned to research topics related to the syllabus and to lead class presentations. Following each one, Abel provides his observations not just on the information they gather and analyze, but on how they lead their lesson.
For one pair who presented about AI companionship and loneliness, he emphasized the importance of facing the group rather than turning to their PowerPoint slides, and he also encouraged them to dig deeper or push back after a peer shared a strong statement or opinion.
This kind of feedback, Abel said, is just as important as teaching the concepts and tools of economics. "The class also develop skills that matter beyond economics: critical thinking, reasoning through complexity, and intellectual humility."
AI and Writing
In his first-year writing seminar, ENGL 1021: Writing With and About Generative Artificial Intelligence, Associate Director of the Baldwin Center for Learning and Teaching John Paul Kanwit is pursuing another set of questions on writing, the value of creative works, and what happens when a machine becomes a cowriter or editor.
For an exercise in a recent class session, Kanwit instructed his students to open their laptops and feed their as-yet ungraded essay drafts into an AI chat tool. "Ask it questions like, 'Are my topic sentences analytical? Are my transitions logical? Does the organization make sense? Do I have a balance of claims and evidence?'" he prompted.
After students spent a few minutes focused on their screens, Kanwit spoke up: "Did it help without rewriting your stuff?"
One student said she had found it constructive. "It started by telling me what I did well but then said I should fix this and that and expand on a specific idea. It was critical, but it started out gently."
Another said she requested it point out grammatical and spelling errors, and "it found some!"
One complained, however, that while it offered suggestions for revisions, "The sentences it recommended were too fluffy. There are eight adjectives in them and two em dashes."
Kanwit offered his own thoughts: "There is a myth that AI is a good writer. I don't think it's true."
This is the third year Kanwit has taught this class as a first-year writing seminar. These required classes cover a variety of subjects, but all share a focus on developing students' writing skills.
Kanwit said he designed his course because he thought young people would be interested, and that he was interested in "engaging with them over what the studies have to say about AI and writing--whether it gets in the way of developing our voices or gets in the way of developing our own thoughts."
"Where does it get in the way and where does it help? Should we use it at all?"
The class also considers AI through the lens of cultural studies. "Can we analyze an AI-produced text or image in the same way we would look at a human product?" he asks. "I am interested in having them help figure this out."
Over the course of the semester, each student writes four essays. They first turn in a draft and after receiving feedback, turn in a rewritten version. "The premise is that writing is a process, and you're going to produce better writing with feedback," Kanwit said.
Because his seminar is also examining AI, Kanwit asks that they seek feedback not just from him, their classmates, and writing assistants, but also from AI. This way, they can compare human and machine responses and even evaluate which source they end up trusting more.
Their final essay prompt is to outline a problem related to AI and and propose a solution. Past paper topics have focused on energy, water, privacy, surveillance, aligning AI with human values, and art. One even suggested that Bowdoin build its own sustainably powered data center.
Jacob Colton '29, a learning assistant for the course, joined the students for the first half of the class. He said he had taken the course last year, choosing it among the many seminar options, because he wanted to think about "how to use AI as a tool and how to use it ethically."
October 06, 2026
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Original text here: https://www.bowdoin.edu/news/2026/10/ai-in-the-curriculum.html
