Ian Thomsen - News @ Northeastern

He’ll donate the face shields he’ll make in his dorm

After the pandemic forced him to leave campus in March, mechanical engineering student Max Seidel joined with a friend to produce and donate 4,250 shields to hospitals, police departments, schools, and other organizations. Seidel returned to campus over the weekend with plans to continue production using a 3D printer from his single room in International Village.

by Ian Thomsen September 2, 2020

Remembering Raymond Robinson, Northeastern’s legendary history professor

A collector of George Washington memorabilia an an organist at university graduation ceremonies, Robinson taught history at Northeastern for 57 years while making a bit of it himself. He died peacefully Sunday at age 92.

by Ian Thomsen September 2, 2020

COVID-19 testing opens on Monday at Northeastern’s new testing facility at Cabot Physical Education Center. Photo by Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University

I was tested for COVID-19 on campus. Here’s how it went.

When testing for the Northeastern community begins Monday at the Cabot Physical Education Center, quick and painless will be the goals. “We don’t want you to lose a big chunk of your day,” says David Luzzi, senior vice provost for research and vice president of Northeastern’s Innovation Campus.

by Ian Thomsen August 16, 2020

She was already trying to help Lebanon. Then there was an explosion in Beirut.

Karen Fayad, a Northeastern engineering student, is working with the charity Jobs for Lebanon to raise money for food and reconstruction efforts to help her country recover from the Port of Beirut explosion.

by Ian Thomsen August 13, 2020

Members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People protest the Boston school committee in 1963. This photo is among thousands of online records available within the Archives and Special Collections at the Northeastern Library (image published by the Boston Globe, courtesy of the James W. Fraser Photograph Collection). Courtesy of the Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections

How did the Black Lives Matter movement get to where it is today?

Historical perspective on the civil rights movements of the past is offered by the Archives and Special Collections at the Northeastern Library. “Placing the current movement in a much longer time horizon really gives you critical context,” says Dan Cohen, dean of the university library.

by Ian Thomsen August 6, 2020

Press clippings from Jefferson County, Alabama.

The untold stories of 123 Black people killed by white police officers in one Alabama county

No officers were convicted for the killings, which occurred between 1932 and 1968 in Jefferson County, Alabama, according to a three-year investigation by Northeastern's Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project. “What are the numbers in other police departments across the country?” asks Katie Sandson, a legal fellow for the project who led the study.

by Ian Thomsen July 30, 2020

A member of the Northeastern facilities team sanitizes and cleans Snell Library. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Inside Northeastern’s plans to support a safe and healthy campus when students and faculty return this fall

State-of-the-art air filtration systems, hand sanitizers and wipes by the thousands, and teams of cleaners spraying and scrubbing public spaces around the clock are among the innovations that are enabling Northeastern to reopen its campus. (But don’t forget your mask.)

by Ian Thomsen July 26, 2020

The men's rowing team practices the day before the Head of the Charles Regatta. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern University

COVID-19 forced Northeastern to suspend sports in the fall. That doesn’t mean the games are over.

Jeff Konya, Northeastern’s athletic director, hopes the Huskies’ fall sports programs—including men’s and women’s soccer, rowing, and cross country—will be rescheduled in spring 2021. “It's not a cancellation,” he says.

by Ian Thomsen July 18, 2020

Police officers are reflected in the glass wall of a bus stop as a demonstration calling for the defunding of the police department marches by on June 13, 2020 in Philadelphia. AP Photo/David Goldman

The research is clear: White people are not more likely than Black people to be killed by police.

When President Donald Trump responded to a question about Black people who have died at the hands of U.S. law enforcement by focusing his attention on white victims, he was engaging in a “grotesque” misdirection, says Matt Miller, a Northeastern professor who studies gun violence. “Black people are more likely to be killed per capita by law enforcement than are white people,” Miller says.

by Ian Thomsen July 16, 2020

Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Under legal pressure, the US government reverses rule that targeted international students

“Rescinding the rule announced last week benefits everyone—international students, universities, and the United States as a whole,” said Joseph E. Aoun, president of Northeastern. “We must continue to make our universities, and our nation, a welcome place for students and scholars from all over the world.”

by Ian Thomsen July 14, 2020

Posts by Ian Thomsen