Notre Dame Research

Although seas and oceans cover 70% of the Earth's surface, most of the world turns to smaller freshwater sources for everyday needs — including drinking, washing, and irrigation. In freshwater, even relatively small temperature shifts can lead to blooms of toxic algae, contamination from disease-carrying pathogens, a rise in invasive species, and more. As we prepare for #WorldWaterDay, Notre Dame Research celebrates innovative efforts to predict and control these ecosystem changes. A cutting-edge capability at the Notre Dame Linked Experimental Ecosystem Facility (ND-LEEF) allows scientists to manipulate water temperatures while closely simulating natural conditions. This system, known as ND-LEEF-LETS, contains a heat pump as a key component, which uses just one sixth of the energy consumed by more conventional heating methods. ND-LEEF-LETS is part of the University's Environmental Change Initiative. Learn more about the new discoveries this work can enable:? https://lnkd.in/eka75np9

Congratulations to six innovators from the University of Notre Dame, who are featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for 2025! Seniors Zachary Brown '25 and Liam Redmond '25 earned places in the “Youngest” and “Transportation & Mobility” categories for co-founding Yelo, an innovative social ride network that aims to revolutionize how students connect and travel. Alumnus Royce Branning ‘18 and his co-founder Oliver Hill were also named to this year's list. Their app, Clearspace, intercepts opens of social media apps and requires users to do something — breathing exercises, pushups, or squats, for example — to continue. Kevin Mekulu, MS ‘18, was featured in the healthcare category for his innovative technology DementiAnalytics, which utilizes smart devices and is capable of generating a cognitive assessment of a patient in under five minutes, based on speech, eye tracking, and vitals. A commitment to justice, healing, and peace drives Krystal McLeod, JD ‘21, who was included in the education category for her work as director of New York University’s Center on Violence and Recovery. Brandon Wimbush ‘19 was included in the sports category for his role in co-founding MOGL, a marketplace that helps businesses connect with college athletes to form name, image, and likeness (NIL) marketing deals. Learn more about the honorees: https://lnkd.in/er3-bfYX

Our inaugural Global Health Day Symposium is coming on Friday, March 28, in Jordan Hall. We?invite you to an afternoon of presentations, dialog, research, and imagery focused on advocating for health?as a fundamental right?in an evolving global landscape. If you are a leading investigator, student, community member, or simply curious to learn more about the health challenges disproportionately affecting the poor and marginalized, we hope you can join us. For registration and programming details, please visit our website:?https://lnkd.in/gr-sCwz7 Notre Dame Research University of Notre Dame - Keough School of Global Affairs University of Notre Dame - College of Science

Voting is close! Will you help Shahriar Mobashery and his Notre Dame Research team advance to the Sweet 16 of #STATMadness? Create an account and cast your vote (you can vote up to 5 times) and help us bring this message of hope for #MRSA treatment. https://lnkd.in/e5SDKQKC

Fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks bring users more rapid upload and download speeds, lower latency, and greater reliability on their mobile devices. But steep energy costs have accompanied 5G's rollout. In response, researchers at the University of Notre Dame are producing an antenna that can deliver 5G performance while using one-tenth of the energy of current systems. “Our initial idea was simple: What if we could design similar capabilities into just one very wideband antenna by letting the physics of materials do the work normally done by many power-hungry chips?” said team lead Jonathan Chisum, an associate professor in the University of Notre Dame, Department of Electrical Engineering and an affiliate of Notre Dame's Wireless Institute. Funding from the U.S. Army makes this innovation possible, and industry partnerships will transition this solution to field settings. Learn about the small, lightweight “5G-on-the-move” solution: https://lnkd.in/eFdXaQ6G Photos: Angelic Rose Hubert

“Notre Dame is a uniquely mission-driven place. But that doesn't mean our aspirations or innovations should be small.” —Toni Akintola A junior at the University of Notre Dame, Akintola will compete against the best student entrepreneurs in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in pursuit of the ACC InVenture Prize. The competition will take place on Notre Dame's campus on April 2, and tickets can be reserved here: https://lnkd.in/e67RUxD8 At the event, Akintola will pitch èxodo, a platform that helps connect migrant workers, blue-collar workers, and refugees to job opportunities that will allow them to improve life for themselves and their families. He began work on èxodo during his second year at Notre Dame alongside Carlos Espinoza Banegas, a 2022 graduate of the University of Notre Dame ESTEEM Graduate Program. Learn about the journey to come for entrepreneurship at Notre Dame. https://lnkd.in/emuN27Tc

A team of Notre Dame researchers has advanced to round two of the STAT Madness competition! Vote for their breakthrough in antibiotic resistance. https://lnkd.in/ga_GKHE6

“The eradication of violence against women must be included in any poverty elimination strategy that seeks to place human dignity at the center.” —Abby Córdova, professor at the University of Notre Dame - Keough School of Global Affairs Córdova’s most recent research examines Mexico’s Gender Violence Alerts Program, an unprecedented strategy that relies on local knowledge and collaboration with faith-based and secular civil society groups to create and execute targeted interventions. This research will advance a blueprint for integrating gender equity into global poverty reduction strategies. https://lnkd.in/exQgH7dZ

From the lab to the real world ?? The National Academy of Inventors has named two Notre Dame professors — Tengfei Luo and Matthew J. Webber — Senior Members. This honor recognizes the researchers' “impact on the welfare of society.” Luo is a professor of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering at Notre Dame and the director of M?NSTER Lab (MOlecular/Nano-Scale Transport & Energy Research Laboratory). As a leader in thermal sciences and materials engineering, his research has informed a range of inventions, including energy-saving window coatings, technologies that detect cancer and nanoplastics, and a new desalination method that uses ionic liquids and low-temperature heat. Webber, the acting director of the Berthiaume Institute for Precision Health, has patented inventions that offer better ways to deliver therapeutics — including new targeting strategies for cancer and related diseases as well as new glucose-responsive delivery mechanisms for treating diabetes. Webber is the Keating-Crawford Collegiate Professor at Notre Dame Engineering and associate professor of ND Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Learn about the contributions and outcomes that led to this honor: https://lnkd.in/eZuP_qZ4

Amid extreme poverty and suffering around the globe, researchers at the University of Notre Dame aim to provide knowledge that can build lasting opportunity. A new project studies the effectiveness of poverty reduction programs in rural areas in the Global South, and identifies interventions that can alleviate poverty while conserving the environment. “An increasingly degraded natural environment makes it more difficult to sustain human well-being and increases the risk of people falling deeper into poverty,” said Daniel Miller, co-primary investigator. Toward this end, intentional collaboration and community involvement will ensure that poverty alleviation and environmental protection both remain centered. Joining Miller as primary investigators are geographer Ellis Adjei Adams, political scientist Krister Andersson, and economist Lakshmi Iyer. All four researchers are core affiliate faculty members of the Pulte Institute for Global Development, University of Notre Dame, part of the University of Notre Dame - Keough School of Global Affairs. Miller and Adams are both affiliated with the Environmental Change Initiative. https://lnkd.in/evc6BPNs