But which year was the biggest transformational year of them all? Northeastern University historian Ben Schmidt plotted out the years used in the titles of dissertation tracked by the American Historical Association for the last 120 years, and came up with the graph below:

Maria Stein, associate vice president of Northeastern University’s cooperative-education and career-development programs, said her school can’t produce enough students trained in “big data analytics,” or using computing power to sift, sort, and compile massive amounts of data that can help corporations understand customers and expand their businesses. Such tech jobs usually require a software development […]

At noon today, he smiled broadly, again and again, as a throng of senior citizens pressed forward, angling to pose for a photo with him. In the afternoon, he clapped his hands, keeping time with a rousing church choir. He bowed his head as dozens of local clergy members — Catholic and Protestant, Muslim, Jewish […]

Peter Stokes is executive director of postsecondary innovation in the College of Professional Studies at Northeastern University. He’s supportive of the concept behind badges, and thinks there are no real technical obstacles to making them work. But Stokes remains skeptical of badges having a major impact on higher education, at least for now. “The big […]

Walter Robinson, a former investigative reporter at the Boston Globe who is now a professor of journalism at Northeastern University, said state lawmakers shouldn’t need a special commission to tell them their actions should be subject to public scrutiny. “It has been 233 years since the ratification of the Massachusetts Constitution and its Declaration of Rights, which […]

Jack Levin, co-director of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Northeastern University, said so many variables are at play when examining homicides that it’s “almost impossible to give a definitive explanation for the dramatic decline.” But he said the aging population definitely makes a difference. “There’s a larger number of older people, the baby boomers […]

Two Chicago area players were named Wednesday to the 21-member U.S. Olympic women’s hockey team that has become the favorite to win the gold medal next month in Sochi, Russia. They are forward Kendall Coyne of Palos Heights, a Northeastern University junior, and high-scoring defenseman Megan Bozek of Buffalo Grove, who won NCAA titles at […]

Stephanie Pollack, associate director at Northeastern University’s Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy, said lawmakers’ lack of urgency to make the commuter tax urgent may be attributed to a perception that it affects only wealthier commuters. “It makes Congress just think, well, it doesn’t affect that many people, or it affects people on commuter […]

The effects of the chronic issues stemming from sequestration and the acute problems that accompanied the shutdown will probably continue to be felt by scientists for years to come. “Given the impact we already have seen, we urge the members of the House and Senate who are negotiating funding for FY 2014 and beyond to end sequestration, […]

If you’re strapped for time and cash, a certificate can be the next best alternative to the long-term investment of a master’s degree. “The certificate is great for a career professional that’s already experienced to some degree, looks to broaden and deepen their knowledge and seeks to have the opportunity to understand leading practices,” says […]

Rand Paul says he cares about the unemployed. He says it’s “our moral obligation as a society to take care of those who cannot take care of themselves.” That “no one asserts that the problem [of long-term unemployment] is people not wanting to work.” Rather “the problem is not in the minds of the unemployed, but […]

Only in Chicago, where murder is a macabre civic pathology and an almost daily habit, would the slaughter of more than 400 people in 2013 be cause for relief. But with the 503 killings of 2012 still haunting the city, this year’s 410 through Dec. 26 is an improvement. Context, though, counts: These two years […]