The recent revelation that the National Security Agency collects the personal data of United States citizens, allies and enemies alike has broken the traditional model governing the bond between science and society. Most breakthrough technologies have dual uses. Think of atomic energy and the nuclear bomb or genetic engineering and biological weapons. This tension never […]

 

The other winners are the Colorado School of Mines, Northeastern University, University of California-Berkeley, University of Illinois at Chicago, and the universities of Kentucky, Utah, Pittsburgh, Arizona and Connecticut. Virginia Tech will work on through-the-earth communication systems and a new risk-management approach to safety, while WVU will work on safety systems at surface mines and […]

‘In for the right reasons’ Dan Kennedy, a professor of journalism at Northeastern University who is writing a book on changes in the newspaper industry, said he is encouraged that Bezos is taking the risk. “He seems to be in for the right reasons,” Kennedy said. “He sees it as a civic trust, and wants […]

College graduates struggling to repay their student loans should have an easier time getting their debt eliminated if they go into bankruptcy, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Saturday. Warren laid out several reforms to address the rising costs of higher education in a speech at the Education Writers Association’s Conference on Higher Education, held at […]

– Twitter data may be able to predict representative state polls of support for presidential candidates for states, days, or smaller regions and time periods when polling is unavailable. (watch out Nate Silver!) [from research by Northeastern University political scientist Nicholas Beauchamp; the paper is here.]  

Over the past 30 years, the United States has steadily averaged about 20 mass killings each year, according to James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University criminology professor who studies such events.  

In a purely self-serving item, I was honored to read Arika Okrent’s writeup of one of my research projects for one of my favorite blogs,Mental Floss. In true internet style, it’s a top ten list: “Top 10 Viral Hits of the Pre-Civil War Years.” For as long as there have been means to distribute information widely, […]

You would not think that a constitutional law argument before the justices of the Supreme Court the stuff of engaging nights in the theatre. Stories of lawyers presenting their legal positions and members of the Court challenging and clarifying what they hear may be the high light of a bar association dinner but plainly for […]

Jack Levin, a professor of sociology and anthropology at Northeastern University with expertise in criminology, has studied the link between animal cruelty and other crimes and anti-social behaviors with colleague Arnold Arlucke. In a previous study Mr. Levin conducted with Mr. Arlucke, the two found that animal abusers are five times more likely than a […]

November 8, 1988 – Loses the election to Bush by roughly seven million votes, earning 111 electoral votes in the Electoral College to Bush’s 426. 1991-present – Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Northeastern University in Boston and visiting professor at the Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA. 2000 – Publishes “How to Get Into Politics and Why: A Reader,” […]

At Northeastern University, the second-oldest co-op school, students graduate with up to 18 months of internship experience. It joins roughly 100 other U.S colleges offering some structure of co-op. The model has been around for over 100 years and while not all institutions offer the initiative, students can and should consider adopting co-op into their […]