The Rev. Edward Sorin C.S.C., arrived in northern Indiana in November 1842 to snow-covered woods and fields, directed to create a new Catholic University. He named this new school “L’Université de Notre Dame du Lac” in his native French, and the new university was chartered by the Indiana Legislature in 1844.
From that humble beginning, the University of Notre Dame has flourished in both the arts and the sciences, ushered forth by specific initiatives to elevate pedagogy in both fields and to raise the level of research completed on campus and around the world. Notre Dame, while ranked in the top 20 for national universities, has not made as significant of strides on the global stage, but Santiago Schnell, William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science, aims to elevate the profile of Notre Dame’s science reputation worldwide.
With global visibility as one of his key priorities, Schnell hopes to foster a culture of excellence, inclusion, and achievement.
“We will be supporting our top-tier faculty to engage more globally, to actively participate in international society and meetings, and to organize international meetings and workshops,” Schnell said. “This sets up strong and long-term collaborations with scientists abroad, pursuing research visits in universities abroad, which take a lot of work and time.”
Historically, Notre Dame’s research strengths have been in areas including high energy particle physics, nuclear physics, vector biology, global health, analytical chemistry, organic chemistry, and mathematics/logic. But Schnell doesn’t just want to rely on past success. These areas are like “beacons of light” leading the way for all of the other disciplines to follow, he described. Schnell seeks to make strategic, cross-college investments that leverage these strengths and expand upon them.
Notre Dame was invited to join the Association of American Universities (AAU), a cohort of the top 71 research institutions in the country, in 2023. As the first religious institution in this prestigious consortium, Notre Dame is now positioned to propel its research forward. While retaining traditional support to both undergraduate and graduate education, the College of Science is simultaneously strengthening its postdoctoral training program and supporting faculty advancement in the pursuit of representing world-class leaders.
“If we want to make a bigger impact on being known globally, we have to get out and showcase our message so that the ranking is driven more by what we do and we stand for,” Schnell said. “We are here to transform humanity.”
The following scientists are just a fraction of the more than 260 professors within the College of Science who engage globally through their work. Whether their work is done in or with people in another country, for another country, or for the general good of our global home, researchers keep a keen eye on how their research will affect people everywhere.
Yuhsin Tsai, Tom and Carolyn Marquez Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy, studies the intersection between particle physics and cosmology.
Where do we fit into the Universe? How did we come to be?
Our physical forms contain a multitude of particles, including metals, that originated from stars that exploded or merged billions of years ago. In his work, Tsai collaborates with researchers throughout the United States, Europe, and East Asia to understand the cosmic origin of gravitational waves, the identity of dark matter, and solutions to other puzzles of the quantum Universe.
“There are still many things we don’t know about our Universe from its very early time,” Tsai said. “So with my particle physics background, I can provide possible solutions or predict observable signals in cosmological data.”
On one of Tsai’s office walls is a poster of the Universe, which shows how “flat” it is: flat as in homogenous. The blue, red, orange, and yellow map shows color-coded areas that represent temperatures in what could be an impressionist painting … and given the scope of the entire Universe, the temperatures aren’t as different as one would think.
“For such a big Universe, why does every point look so similar today?” he said. “The current understanding of this is that the Universe once went through a phase called inflation, cosmic inflation, when the Universe expanded. Many exciting physics can happen during this time.”
He uses data from experimental physicists, from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and from other areas to propose some different physics phenomena that might occur in the early Universe and during the inflation. Cosmic inflation refers to a rapid and exponential expansion of the Universe that occurred in its very early moments, right after the Big Bang.
As recently as 20 to 30 years ago, particle physicists and cosmologists were not able to speak the same language to bridge the gap between fields, but continued research has now connected them. Tsai regularly collaborates with other scientists from all around the world.
Understanding how the Universe works on a fundamental level is beyond global, he notes. “It’s for people who want to know ‘what does the Universe look like’,” he said. “It is true that it’s not like material science, biology, or medicine where you have a direct application; this is more about finding out how we got here.”
Stefano Castruccio, Notre Dame Collegiate Associate Professor in the Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics, uses computational methods to alleviate worldwide environmental issues.
Like with astrophysics, one may not immediately think about how mathematics and statistics have a global presence, but the reality is that mathematics is a global language.
“I have a collaboration with people in biology working with bioclimate, and I have a collaboration with people in civil and environmental engineering, to study problems related to air pollution,” he said. “For example, how can we assess different levels of air pollution across different cities? Or, for questions about our future climate, like, what is the climate going to look like?”
Castruccio is a finalist for the Gordon Bell Prize in Climate Modelling by the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) Awards committee.
He is part of an interdisciplinary research team from KAUST that developed an exascale climate emulator, a climate model that uses a type of supercomputing with extensive hardware to simulate Earth's climate system at extreme detail.
The emulator addresses the growing computational and storage needs of a high-resolution Earth-system model that considers the physical, chemical, and biological interactions within Earth’s climate system. By using computer models, the team can extrapolate and possibly predict climate behavior under various conditions.
Climate change is not simply a problem of whether the Earth is warming; it is a much larger problem that affects businesses and people from many different walks of life.
“Understanding the local impact of climate change is of paramount importance in planning how to allocate resources for its mitigation,” Castruccio said. “This will alleviate the negative consequences in areas and communities which will be more severely impacted but have insufficient resources to adapt.”
Nicole Achee, John P. Grieco, and Neil Lobo, research professors in the Department of Biological Sciences, focus on research in an area of science that Notre Dame has been known for since the 1960s: public health and vector-borne diseases.
They are part of a rich history of mosquito and entomology research that began with George B. Craig Jr., a National Academy of Sciences member who was one of the first endowed professors at Notre Dame as the Clark Professor of Biology.
With an almost-second-home in Belize for the past 35 years, Achee and Grieco collaborate with international partners to find solutions in reducing the burden of malaria and other vector-borne diseases, which are those that are passed to humans by mosquitoes and other insects.
“The vast majority of the burden of vector-borne diseases occurs in areas of the world where people don’t have access to the facilities and services that we have here in the states,” Grieco said. “And that’s not to say that those diseases aren’t here in the United States as well, but the vast burden — from mortality and illness — is occurring globally.”
Achee, in addition to other roles, also serves as a scientific director for the Unitaid-funded Advancing Evidence for Global Implementation of Spatial Repellents (AEGIS) project conducting clinical trials in Mali, Kenya, and Sri Lanka that will help shape global health policies for the use of spatial repellents to prevent mosquito-borne diseases. Grieco has an extensive background in repellents for disease vectors, and Achee and Grieco are co-directors of the Belize Vector and Ecology Center.
One of the mosquito species Lobo studies is Anopheles stephensi, a mosquito from India that invaded Africa, creating outbreaks of malaria. Lobo is also studying new and novel species of vectors in the Kenya highlands, which are experiencing an increase in infections because of climate change. Lobo is doing similar research in multiple countries across Asia and Africa.
“I look at how to translate all academic research into operational feasibility, operational work,” Lobo said. “How do you get countries to function in the best way possible with their limited budgets?”
In addition to his operational work, Lobo has co-led a project that involved spatial repellents, which are products that release airborne concentrations of an active ingredient into a home or building with the intention of keeping disease-carrying insects out. His research will generate evidence, required for any global recommendations, for distribution of a repellent intervention.
“Our job is to make sure we don’t have a job,” he said. “So if we would all work with that mindset — with all of these countries and with global health across the planet — we would have progressed far, far more in our battle with vector borne diseases than where we are right now.”
Achee and Grieco said they have relied on past work by other Notre Dame researchers in addition to Craig — including Frank Collins, David Severson, and Nora Besansky (another National Academies of Sciences member), as they complete their work in public health.
“Notre Dame has afforded us an amazing opportunity to network with people around the world who have worked at Notre Dame,” said Grieco.. “The students who have left Notre Dame but established themselves on their own … it’s not just the leaders but their ‘progeny.’”
As a 1990 Notre Dame graduate, Grieco has noticed that the University now has a much bigger global health footprint, thanks in part to the work done through Notre Dame’s Eck Institute for Global Health, which is headed by Director Bernard Nahlen, also a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences.
The work they do can’t be accomplished without strong relationships with international partners, because identifying how best to reduce vector-borne diseases requires knowledge of the details and intricacies of sites where these diseases occur, Achee said.
“As undergraduates we never had an opportunity to study global health or public health,” Grieco said. “The global health minor for undergraduates is amazing; I think I would have taken that myself.”
Mayland Chang, research professor, and Shahriar Mobashery, Navari Professor in Life Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, study bacterial antibiotic resistance, discovery of novel antibiotics, and create compounds for diseases like diabetic foot ulcers.
Research partners Chang and Mobashery focus on understanding the molecular basis of diseases, employing a multidisciplinary approach to help people worldwide who suffer from conditions for which limited treatments exist — or where new therapeutics are needed as old ones fail.
“The way we approach looking at projects is to look for ones that affect the most number of people globally,” Mobashery said.
However, he stressed that they tend to avoid tackling diseases that would require patients to take medication indefinitely. The approach is counter to how many pharmaceutical companies operate. “Most pharmaceutical companies are interested in products you can sell for chronic ailments, like high blood pressure or high cholesterol,” he said.
Chang developed a compound that, in laboratory settings and in animal models, healed diabetic foot ulcers. This condition primarily affects elderly, often less affluent individuals on Medicaid.
“(Drug companies) are not going to get premiums for that drug; they’re not going to make a lot of money. And once you heal that ulcer, it may not recur for three years,” Chang said.
In addition to the diabetic foot ulcer compound, the researchers have tackled projects addressing antibiotic resistance. One project addresses ways to eliminate Clostridioides difficile (C. diff), a bacterium that causes diarrhea and colon inflammation, or colitis. People who have taken antibiotics, especially those recently in hospitals or long-term care facilities, are particularly vulnerable. The C. diff spores, which lead to reinfection, need to be targeted by antibiotics. Unfortunately, current treatments fail to do so effectively.
Most recently, Mobashery, along with other collaborators including Chang, identified a potential way to treat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
“I am inspired to have created something that will help people and has the potential to move forward clinically,” Mobashery said. “If that information is useful for someone to take it and run with it, I will be pleased about that too.”
Anna Simon-Robertson, associate professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy, studies nuclear physics, nuclear energy, and national security.
How do we use nuclear astrophysics to maintain our country’s stockpile of nuclear weapons — numbering just under 4,000 — to protect the innocent and vulnerable around the world?
Part of Simon-Robertson’s work applies astrophysics principles to nuclear stockpile stewardship. Her research aids in modeling the behavior of nuclear devices to ensure that they are safe and operational. Her other research in nuclear astrophysics guides our understanding of the origin of elements in the Universe.
Though it might not sound like it, both of these areas of research are connected.
For both applications, she studies capture reactions, where an atomic nucleus absorbs a particle, such as a neutron, proton, or other light particles. After the particle is “captured,” the nucleus releases the excess energy in the form of gamma radiation, in order to return to a stable state. By measuring the emitted gamma radiation, Simon-Robertson determines the reaction cross section — or the probability of that reaction — which is a key component of the stockpile modeling.
She uses the accelerators at Notre Dame’s Nuclear Science Laboratory located in Nieuwland Hall of Science.
“Whether my group is working on understanding nuclear astrophysics processes or helping to model a nuclear device, our contribution is a part of a broader effort,” she said.
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The desire to research problems that can solve global issues is not unusual among university scientists at top institutions. At Notre Dame, researchers can continue to elevate their work and the research profile of the entire University, Schnell said.
Schnell likens the journey to raise Notre Dame’s research profile worldwide to the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage from different parts of Europe leading to the shrine of the Apostle James in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. His goal is for each of the College of Science departments to be ranked in the top 50 in the world, which would allow Notre Dame to be ranked in the top 20.
“Before you can do the Camino de Santiago, the long route, you have to train yourself and prepare yourself,” he said.
The journey is not unlike the one the founders of Notre Dame took as they traveled to this land north of South Bend to create an institution of higher learning, arriving to blankets of snow and frost. But it is still a quest to preeminence.
“We train ourselves to become very good in research, and as we become excellent at research, it is time to continue the journey and start to showcase what we do around the world,” Schnell said.
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Story by Deanna Csomo Ferrell