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Northwestern Buffett Institute for Global Affairs

2025 News

May

In conversation with Richard Joseph, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Buffett Visiting Scholar Haman Mana discussed his new book, an account of Cameroon's descent into authoritarianism under one of the world's longest-serving heads of state.

Biya's Regime: Chronicles of the Shipwreck of the Cameroonian Nation

May 23, 2025
Haman Mana is a Cameroonian journalist and author. He has spent his time as a Buffett Visiting Scholar at Northwestern continuing to run Le Jour, one of Cameroon’s largest daily newspapers, and working on his new book "Biya's Regime" about Cameroon’s slide toward authoritarian rule, from which he was forced to flee following the paper’s investigation of corruption and influence peddling by a powerful media mogul. Watch the recording of his Buffett Book Talk.
 In conversation with Erik C. Nisbet, Owen L. Coon Endowed Professor of Policy Analysis & Communication at Northwestern, Professor Cull provided historical context for recent actions by the Trump administration

America’s Soft Power & Reputational Security in Crisis?

May 22, 2025
Northwestern's Buffett Institute for Global Affairs and Center for Communication & Public Policy hosted a conversation with historian and academic Nicholas J. Cull from the University of Southern California to explore his concept of "reputational security"—the idea that a nation's safety and security are strengthened by its soft power and being well-regarded internationally. Watch the event recording.
With a focus on climate as a central lens, Thinking Globally will introduce students to international studies as a field that bridges disciplines—including history, law, human sciences and cultural analysis—to understand global forces shaping human lives and societies.

New Team-Taught Course Offers Global Gateway to Northwestern Undergraduates

May 16, 2025
Northwestern University undergraduates interested in tackling today’s complex global challenges have a compelling new academic opportunity, Thinking Globally: Climate in International Studies, an innovative course co-designed and co-taught by Lydia Barnett, Associate Professor of History, and Mark Hauser, Professor of Anthropology.
Tyler Lucci shows a group of Northwestern University students how components of a biosensor test are freeze-dried.

Lead biosensors could make water testing accessible for Chicagoans

May 5, 2025 – from Medill Reports
Julius Lucks, co-lead of the Buffett Global Working Group on Making Water Insecurity Visible, has developed a first-of-its-kind at-home water test for lead. It is now being tested in an NSF-funded study led by the working group. In this article, Lucks shares insights into how the test works and how it can empower communities to better understand and address water safety challenges.
Researchers measured children’s levels of well-being during 45-minute sessions of music and breathwork.

Music for Childhood Well-Being Initiative uses music to support children’s well-being worldwide

May 1, 2025 – from The Daily Northwestern
The Music for Childhood Well-Being Initiative is a global, multidisciplinary program that examines music as an intervention for reducing stress and anxiety. This project originated as the Trauma, Music and the Breath Global Working Group at the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs. Today, the project is studying the impact of music on youth well-being in cohorts across Evanston, the United Kingdom and Mexico City to improve mental health worldwide.

April

Event title over aerial shots of campuses in each country

The Government Against the University: Reports from Colombia, Hungary, Poland & Turkey

April 25, 2025
What happens when governments view universities as adversaries? How have universities successfully defended academic freedom? How much autonomy over internal decision-making should universities concede in the face of what seem like existential threats? To explore these questions, the Buffett Institute and Columbia University's Committee on Global Thought organized a panel discussion with university leaders and faculty members from around the world who have confronted—and in some cases fended off—state attacks.
. Agency for International Development (USAID) was started in 1961 under President John F. Kennedy. Getty Images

Soft power and the future of US foreign aid

April 24, 2025 – from Northwestern Now
Dean Karlan, the most recent chief economist of USAID and a professor of economics at Northwestern, recently spoke to the Northwestern community at an event hosted by the Buffett Institute. He talked about his career, our contemporary political situation, and the future of USAID.
Image of NPEP Gallery

NU Prison Education Program hosts free art exhibit through April 22

April 18, 2025 – from Evanston Roundtable
The Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP), supported by the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs’ Epistemic Reparations Global Working Group, hosted a public art exhibit showcasing work by incarcerated artists from Sheridan and Logan Correctional Facilities. The opening reception also included screenings of four short documentaries created through Brent E. Huffman’s Documenting Carceral Injustice Program, a collaboration between Northwestern students and incarcerated individuals, also supported by the Buffett Institute.
Jacqueline Stevens headshot

Northwestern experts on SCOTUS ordering Trump administration to return wrongfully deported Maryland man

April 11, 2025 – from Northwestern Now
The U.S. Supreme Court has left in place an order by a federal judge in Maryland that instructed the Trump administration to return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongfully sent to a El Salvadoran maximum-security prison, to the United States after the administration admitted to an “administrative error.” Northwestern immigration expert Jacqueline Stevens is a professor of political science and the founding director of the Deportation Research Clinic at the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs for Northwestern University. Professor Stevens shared that "a federal government that regularly extradites criminals from foreign countries attempting to evade punishment by the U.S. cannot credibly claim it is unable to organize a flight to Washington, D.C., for someone who desperately wants to return home.”
Beckles spoke about the long history and continuing aftermath of chattel slavery, the practice by which European empires sent African slaves to the Americas for grueling agricultural labor.

Historian Sir Hilary Beckles addresses chattel slavery, postcolonialism and reparations at Buffett Institute event

April 9, 2025 – from The Daily Northwestern
University of the West Indies history professor Sir Hilary Beckles spoke about reparations for chattel slavery in the postcolonial Americas at a recent Buffett Institute event. At the event, Beckles spoke about his research and writings. “All of them focus on one thing: the wrongness of human exploitation of other humans and the inequity of access to resources for decency,” Beckles said. “I came to understand, eventually, that my entire academic discourse was about injustice.”
Sam Meekings headshot

Sam Meekings leads Buffett workshop on storytelling and trauma in Evanston

April 8, 2025 – from Northwestern Qatar
With the support of a Buffett Global Collaboration Grant, Professor Sam Meekings of Northwestern University in Qatar co-organized a workshop with Professor Catherine Belling of the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine that convened scholars, filmmakers and practitioners to examine how storytelling can shape trauma processing and recovery. Learn about the work presented and connections drawn.
—Christopher R. Hill, five-time US ambassador, whose last post was as ambassador to Serbia from 2022–2025 —Kate Fearon, founding member of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition who participated in negotiations leading to the Good Friday Agreement —Sergio Jaramillo, President of Fundación Acordemos and Colombia's former High Commissioner for Peace of Colombia —Pavlo Klimkin, Ukraine's former Minister of Foreign Affairs and co-founder of the Centre for National Resilience & Development —Moderated by Ravi Agrawal, Editor-in-Chief of Foreign Policy

Negotiating Peace in a Multipolar World: Lessons Learned

April 4, 2025
Our yearlong international diplomacy series culminated in our spring-quarter symposium, Negotiating Peace in a Multipolar World: Lessons Learned, organized with Fundación Acordemos. This two-day event brought together diplomats, negotiators and academics to discuss the high-profile peace processes of recent decades, drawing lessons for future negotiations in a world confronting a crisis of multilateralism.
Headshot of Egon Ozer

Exploring the Emergence of Fungal and Bacterial Infections in Pakistan

April 1, 2025 – from Feinberg News
At Northwestern’s Center for Pathogen Genomics and Microbial Evolution, part of the Robert J. Havey, MD Institute for Global Health and supported by the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, scientists are helping track the global spread of antibiotic-resistant infections. Led by Dr. Egon Ozer, the team collaborated with Aga Khan University in Pakistan to sequence the genomes of drug-resistant bacteria and fungi. Their work has already helped identify a dangerous new fungal infection in infants and supports coordinated public health responses across Pakistan.

March

Image of Jeffery Winters

What Is an Oligarchy, and Why Are People Worried the US Is Becoming One?

March 26, 2025 – from Teen Vogue
Jeffery Winters, founder and Director of the Equality Development and Globalization Studies (EDGS) program at the Buffett Institute, recently spoke with Teen Vogue about how to identify oligarchy. He also identified types of oligarchies and their unique features.
JD Vance and Elon Musk in a collage image together.

JD Vance skewers Musk in viral audio clip. Experts say it’s fake

March 24, 2025 – from The San Francisco Standard
In this article, V.S. Subrahmanian’s Global Online Deep Fake Detection System (GODDS) was used to examine the authenticity of an audio clip portraying JD Vance criticizing Elon Musk. The GODDS system was pioneered by the Northwestern Security & AI Lab in the Buffett Institute and is being used to identify deepfakes by journalists worldwide.
Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, a Foreign Policy podcast supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Buffett Institute

The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women (HERO): The Impact of USAID Cuts

March 18, 2025 – from Foreign Policy
The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, a Foreign Policy podcast supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Buffett Institute, features inspiring stories about girl power. In this episode, senior producer Laura Rosbrow-Telem talks to aid workers and direct recipients in Nigeria about the fallout of the cuts so far. After that, host Reena Ninan interviews two special guests about what can be done to address the funding gap.
Logo for the article reading Northwestern's Global Gateway

Northwestern's Global Gateway

March 17, 2025 – from North by Northwestern Magazine
In this article, NBN spotlights the Buffett Institute. The article discusses travel opportunities offered by the Buffett Institute; Buffett symposiums and events; the Buffett Undergraduate Research Fellow program; Buffett's Global Working groups; and more.
The Northwestern for Ukraine club painted the Rock on Feb. 24 to commemorate the three-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The 30-person group has done so every year since the invasion.

Northwestern for Ukraine: Three years in

March 13, 2025 – from North by Northwestern
Northwestern for Ukraine, a student group supporting Ukraine, blends activism and culture through rallies, fundraisers, and community events. They are a Buffett Institute Affiliated Student Group. They’ve also partnered with Buffett for a variety of events, including for a screening of WE ARE U, a film featuring Ukrainian teen activists.
Photo (L-R): Professor Sarah Culloty (Head of the College of Science, Engineering and Food Science at UCC), Professor Barry O'Sullivan (Director of the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics and UCC’s Futures in AI and Data Analytics), Professor V.S. Subrahmanian (Buffett Institute Faculty Fellow and the Head of Northwestern Security & AI Lab), Professor John O'Halloran (UCC President), Professor Ursula Kilkelly (Vice President for Global Engagement at UCC).

Northwestern University and University College Cork establish key partnership on Geopolitics, Artificial Intelligence, and National Security

March 13, 2025 – from University College Cork
The Northwestern Security and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (NSAIL), under the leadership of Professor V.S. Subrahmanian, and the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics and UCC Futures on AI and Data Analytics at University College Cork, under the leadership of Professor Barry O’Sullivan, have entered into a partnership to support collaboration in the area of Geopolitics, Artificial Intelligence, National Security.
Researchers at Lucks Laboratory look at the results of a water test strip. The visible markers on these strips indicate the presence of different contaminants, such as lead and fluoride, in a water sample.

Biosensor research at Northwestern detects water contaminants in Chicagoland area

March 9, 2025 – from The Daily Northwestern
Julius Lucks, co-lead of the Buffett Institute's Making Water Insecurity Visible Global Working Group, led the creation of low-cost water tests using biosensors that change color when detecting contaminants. Tested globally and now in Chicago, the project empowers communities to monitor water safety.
For a fourth year, a delegation of more than a dozen Northwestern students and faculty attended the 29th Conference of Parties (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Baku, Azerbaijan. The annual climate conference convenes world leaders, policymakers and researchers to confront urgent environmental crises and drive solutions. As delegates to COP29, students engaged in critical discussions about global climate governance.

Buffett Q&A: Northwestern Students Research Climate Governance & Solutions at COP29

March 6, 2025
Supported by the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, Northwestern’s undergraduate and graduate student delegates attended the 29th Conference of Parties (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) through a quarter-long research seminar. The students developed original research projects, which they then carried out at the conference. We spoke with four students post-conference to share their experiences and insights.
This month, Young announced the expansion of the WISE Scales implementation to include 40 additional countries — this new data will be a key resource for local researchers in the network to bolster policy-relevant action.

One in 7 Mexican Households — Nearly 6 Million— Report Water Insecurity, Latest Survey Reveals

March 3, 2025 – from Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública
"Water matters for thirst’s sake, but it matters for so much more – for nutrition, mental health, prosperity, disease, and societal stability," says Sera Young, Professor of Anthropology at Northwestern University and co-lead of the Buffett Institute's Making Water Insecurity Visible Global Working Group. Young led the development of the Water Insecurity Experiences (WISE) Scales, a tool used to measure water access & use worldwide and recently partnered with Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health to implement WISE Scales & tackle the country’s biggest water challenges.

February

image of water

Contamination Detection Tool Enables Highly Sensitive Water Testing

February 27, 2025 – from McCormick News
Northwestern University researchers have combined synthetic biology and nanotechnology to create a highly sensitive tool for detecting water contamination. The collaboration, led by professor Julius Lucks, co-lead of the Buffett Global Working Group on Making Water Insecurity Visible, builds on earlier work in DNA-protein interaction and COVID-19 testing. This new platform could eventually monitor both environmental and human health, broadening access to rapid, multiplex chemical detection.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a key driver of geopolitical power imbalances, fueling the competition for technological supremacy and economic dominance and intensifying global disparities. To explore these critical issues, the Northwestern Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, Northwestern Security & AI Lab (NSAIL), and Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics at University College Cork organized a symposium on AI and geopolitics.

Navigating the Geopolitical Stakes of Artificial Intelligence

February 26, 2025 – from Northwestern University McCormick School of Engineering
The Buffett Institute's winter quarter symposium on AI and Geopolitics convened leading strategists, researchers and policymakers to discuss the transformative opportunities and profound challenges that AI poses in geopolitics. Speakers offered insights on how AI technologies influence global power dynamics, national security, economic development, international relations and more, exploring the role that international governance and cooperation will play in its future. Read McCormick School of Engineering's synthesis report on the event.
Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, a Foreign Policy podcast supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Buffett Institute

The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women (HERO): Advocacy Advice from Preethi Herman

February 26, 2025 – from Foreign Policy
The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, a Foreign Policy podcast supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Buffett Institute, features inspiring stories about girl power. In this episode, learn from Preethi Herman about how to launch a digital campaign that actually changes policy.
The screening of the “WE ARE U” documentary took place in Lutkin Hall Tuesday evening.

‘WE ARE U’ documentary highlights Ukrainian teenagers’ resilience during the Russia-Ukraine War

February 26, 2025 – from The Daily Northwestern
Northwestern for Ukraine and the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs screened a documentary about five young teenagers navigating the Russia-Ukraine War, while launching community projects to aid their home country. The documentary featured student Mira Trofymchuk, who is involved with the Buffett Affiliated Student Organization Northwestern Ukrainian Club.
Northwestern University and IFRSF visited Monash University, Indonesia

Monash University Indonesia Hosts IFAR Meeting and Lunch

February 24, 2025 – from Monash University
On February 5, 2025, delegates from the Buffett Institute visited Monash University in Indonesia. The visit highlighted shared commitments to global research collaboration, including a presentation on Monash’s Banten Mosaic project, which explores regional inequalities. The institutions reaffirmed their strong partnership, built through the Arryman Scholars Program and IFAR Postdoctoral Fellowships.
Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, a Foreign Policy podcast supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Buffett Institute

The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women (HERO) | Disrupting Aid: The Security and Economic Implications

February 19, 2025 – from Foreign Policy
The Season 8 premiere of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, a Foreign Policy podcast supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Buffett Institute, features inspiring stories about girl power. In this first episode, you will hear a conversation from Foreign Policy’s Emerging Threats Forum, an official side event of the Munich Security Conference, about the economic and security implications of halting overseas development assistance.
Group who attended the joint meetings.

IFAR Consortium and Buffett Institute, Northwestern University, Strengthen Academic Partnerships in Indonesia

February 14, 2025 – from Indonesian Scholarship And Research Support Foundation
The Buffett Institute and the IFAR Consortium have deepened academic partnerships in Indonesia through meetings with top universities and the Ministry of Higher Education. The delegation explored new collaborations with Atma Jaya Catholic University, UIII, and Monash University Indonesia—focusing on joint research, faculty exchanges, and scholarships.
To Benjamin Netanyahu’s delight, Trump proposes the wholesale ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the creation of a new “Riviera.”

The Madness of Donald Trump

February 5, 2025 – from The New Yorker
Mkhaimar Abusada, Buffett Institute Visiting Scholar and Visiting Lecturer in Political Science and the Middle East and North African Studies Program, was quoted in a piece reflecting on President Donald Trump's recent plans to force Palestinians out of Gaza. Read Abusada's perspective on why "Palestinians are against this and would rather live in tents and in the rubble of their destroyed homes than leave."
Image of Elon Musk jumping in the "x" shape

An Oligarchy Expert Answers Our Questions About Wealth and Empowerment

February 5, 2025 – from Inequality.org
Jeffery Winters, founder and Director of the Equality Development and Globalization Studies (EDGS) program at the Buffett Institute, spoke with Omar Ocampo on how to define and identify an oligarchy in practice. They also gave strategies to dismantle oligarchy and prevent against its formation.
The event, “AI Policymaking: A Tale of Two Domains,” was part of the Fay Lomax Cook Monday Colloquia series hosted by the Institute for Policy Research where NU researchers share timely policy-related research.

‘A tale of two domains’: McCormick professor discusses AI policymaking

February 3, 2025 – from The Daily Northwestern
“The governance of AI is absolutely critical,” shared V.S. Subrahmanian, Buffett Institute Faculty Fellow and Professor of Computer Science at McCormick School of Engineering, at a recent Institute for Policy Research talk on AI policymaking. Subrahmanian was joined by McCormick visiting professor Barry O’Sullivan, a professor at University College Cork in Ireland, who shared how the European Union approaches AI governance and policy.
Global FamDNA Working Group co-lead Sara Huston led a panel on using advanced technologies to identify large numbers of missing children at the ICMP’s summer 2024 roundtable on Ukraine’s missing children.

Buffett Brief: Global FamDNA

February 3, 2025
As conflicts and climate crises proliferate and intensify, countless families are being torn apart. Now, a group is exploring a DNA-based extragovernmental solution to help reunite those separated.

January

Illustration by Emily Lichty of a tree coming out of a book.

Prof. Sarah Dimick talks impact of climate change on global literature at Buffett Institute book event

January 30, 2025 – from The Daily Northwestern
The Buffett Institute for Global Affairs welcomed English Prof. Sarah Dimick to discuss climate change’s impact on the portrayal of nature in global literature. In her discussion, Dimick also introduced the term “climate arrhythmia” to the audience, which refers to environmental irregularities experienced at disturbingly premature or delayed times of the year. Dimick also drew attention to literary efforts for climate change, including poetry performed at United Nations climate negotiations, emphasizing literature’s importance.
cartoon of family reuniting as they walk across a DNA strand.

Build a global genetic database — ‘stolen’ children deserve it

January 29, 2025 – from Financial Times
Sara Huston, genetics ethicist at Lurie Children’s Hospital and research assistant professor at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, is calling for a global DNA database to reunite Ukrainian children taken by Russia. Huston, who co-leads the Global FamDNA Working Group at Northwestern’s Buffett Institute, says the tool could also help families separated by war, migration, or U.S. immigration policy. “For a child who is separated, every day matters,” she said.
screenshot from video story about ICE use of force in deportations.

Two decades of US deportation numbers reveal differences in administrations

January 27, 2025 – from ABC7 Eyewitness News
A recent wave of immigration arrests in Chicago—part of President Donald Trump’s pledge to carry out the “largest mass deportation in history”—has drawn critical analysis from Northwestern University Deportation Research Clinic Director Jacqueline Stevens. In an interview with ABC7 Chicago, Stevens emphasized that the highly publicized raids serve more as media spectacle than effective policy.
Screenshot of live newscast bout deportations.

Trump administration’s deportation process features changes compared to years past

January 27, 2025 – from WGN9 News
Northwestern’s Jacqueline Stevens, founder of the Deportation Research Clinic at the Buffett Institute, is shedding light on key changes in the Trump administration’s deportation efforts. In a recent WGN News segment, Stevens noted the use of military aircraft—rather than private buses or planes—due to legal risks for private carriers.
COP29 was held in Baku, Azerbaijan in November, and students attended in-person or virtually for 12 days. They focused on a variety of topics, from Indigenous participation in climate governance to how water was incorporated into the conference discussions.

Students present posters about their research from COP29 conference

January 26, 2025 – from The Daily Northwestern
Twelve Northwestern students attended the annual Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, COP29, to conduct research. The delegation presented their findings at a poster session held by the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs.
NPR's Ailsa Chang talks to Northwestern University political science professor Jeffrey Winters about what some have called the oligarchy shaping American politics and society.

'Oligarchy' is being used more to describe American society. We ask one professor why

January 22, 2025 – from KUOW
Jeffrey Winters, Director of the Buffett Institute's Equality Development & Globalization Studies (EDGS) program and Professor of Political Science in the Weinberg School of Arts & Sciences, discussed what some have called the oligarchy shaping American politics and society in a podcast with KUOW, Seattle’s NPR news station.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine almost three years ago, nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children have been taken to Russia. A DNA database of Ukrainian families who have lost children is crucial to help these families reconnect — now and in the future.

Build a DNA database to help identify children stolen in conflicts

January 21, 2025 – from Nature
Sara Huston, co-lead of the Buffett Institute’s Global FamDNA Working Group and Research Assistant Professor at Northwestern University and Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, was featured in "Nature" regarding the urgent need for an international DNA database designed specifically to aid the reunification of living family members.
The ban means that TikTok will not magically disappear from a person’s phone but rather eventually cease to function thanks to a lack of updates. New users will not be able to download the app from the Apple or Google stores.

TikTok ban in US: When will the Chinese-owned social media app be banned?

January 17, 2025 – from Yahoo! News
V.S. Subrahmanian, the Walter P. Murphy Professor of Computer Science at the McCormick School of Engineering and a Buffett Faculty Fellow at the Buffett Institute of Global Affairs, discussed how TikTok works and what a ban would mean for users. "Flowing down from the other side either a response to a request from me or of their own volition, there’s data coming from the TikTok side to me and my phone. If that pipe is removed or blocked in the middle, then this flow cannot happen," Subrahmanian shared.
Subrahmanian said he wanted the information in his panel to remain understandable to people regardless of their AI knowledge and said he hopes to train people on how to recognize AI issues before they occur.

Buffett Institute symposium focuses on implications of AI on geopolitics

January 16, 2025 – from The Daily Northwestern
The Buffett Institute for Global Affairs held a symposium on artificial intelligence and geopolitics to explore the implications of AI technologies on national security. McCormick Professor V.S. Subrahmanian and Ireland’s University College Cork Professor Barry O’Sullivan moderated several panels on the implications of AI in national security, economics and governance.
VS Subrahmanian presenting in front of a full room

AI & Geopolitics

January 16, 2025
Our 2024–25 winter quarter Buffett Symposium on AI and Geopolitics convened leading strategists, researchers and policymakers to discuss the transformative opportunities and profound challenges that AI poses in geopolitics. Speakers offered insights on how AI technologies influence global power dynamics, national security, economic development, international relations and more, exploring the role that international governance and cooperation will play in its future.
Thanks to a “cool trick in biochemistry” used to adapt a sensing platform already being deployed by Northwestern scientists to measure toxins in drinking water, researchers can now detect and even measure chemicals at low enough concentrations to have use outside the lab.

An ‘amplifier’ for missed signals produced by our bodies

January 13, 2025 – from Northwestern Now
Julius Lucks, co-lead of the Buffett Institute's Making Water Insecurity Visible Global Working Group, discusses how toxins and other small molecules at low concentrations in the environment or human body may emit quiet signals that are undetectable without “amplification” via specialized lab technology. This technology is currently being used in the working group's National Science Foundation study.
“Biosensors repurposed from nature can, in principle, detect a whole spectrum of contaminants and human health markers, though they’re often not sensitive enough as is,” said corresponding author and Northwestern synthetic biologist Julius Lucks.

A ‘Volume Dial’ for Missed Signals Produced by Our Bodies

January 13, 2025 – from Northwestern University McCormick School of Engineering
Julius Lucks, co-lead of the Buffett Institute's Making Water Insecurity Visible Global Working Group, discusses how a sensing platform already being used to measure toxins in drinking water can be applied to disease detection and monitoring in the human body for nucleic acids like DNA and RNA, as well as bacteria such as E. coli. This technology is currently being used in the working group's National Science Foundation study.
“The Climate Crisis + Media Arts Global Working Group exemplifies the Buffett Institute’s mission. We want to spark interdisciplinary and international collaborations that generate new ways of addressing global challenges,” said Deborah Cohen, director of the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs.

Block Cinema unveils projects from its climate-focused media-funding initiative

January 10, 2025 – from The Northwestern University Block Museum
In late November, The Block Museum of Art unveiled the results of the Buffett Institute's Climate Crisis + Media Arts (CC+MA) Working Group’s transformative media-funding initiative. The two-night event included the first public presentation of six original media artworks made possible with funding from CC+MA.
With the future of TikTok in the U.S. unclear after Friday's Supreme Court oral arguments, content creators in Chicago are bracing for change.

How a US TikTok ban could affect users, creators

January 10, 2025 – from NBC Chicago
V.S. Subrahmanian, the Walter P. Murphy Professor of Computer Science at the McCormick School of Engineering and a Buffett Faculty Fellow at the Buffett Institute of Global Affairs, discussed what a potential TikTok ban would mean for the app's users and creators. "The answer is not simple and some amount of time might be required," Subrahmanian shared.
Signed into law in April 2024, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA) identified China, which owns TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, and other nations — Russia, Iran and North Korea — as “foreign adversaries” of the U.S.

Northwestern experts on SCOTUS hearings on TikTok ban

January 9, 2025 – from Northwestern Now
“At the end of the day, our phones reveal a huge amount of information about each of us. An app that can track all that information potentially can allow China to build a massive intelligence database about each and every person in the country — and their personal network of friends and family," said V.S. Subrahmanian, the Walter P. Murphy Professor of Computer Science at the McCormick School of Engineering and a Buffett Faculty Fellow at the Buffett Institute of Global Affairs on the Supreme Court hearings on a potential TikTok ban.
Matej Jungwirth headshot. His work spans global contexts, including a current project on Ukrainian refugees in the Czech Republic.

The Graduate School Spotlight: Matej Jungwirth

January 7, 2025 – from Northwestern University: The Graduate School
Matej Jungwirth, a Buffett Institute Graduate Research Fellow, is a PhD candidate in Political Science in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. His research explores the impacts of territorial loss and displacement, aiming to illuminate the experiences of displaced communities and guide the development of policy solutions. Learn more about Matej in this profile by The Graduate School.

December

This pioneering study focuses on more than a dozen children who have undergone Fontan surgery, a procedure designed to address a congenital heart defect. These young patients were all born with a single pumping chamber in their hearts, which limits their cardiac output. Increasing blood flow to the lungs is critically important for their health and quality of life.

‘It’s better to sing than to take a pill every day’

December 17, 2024 – from Northwestern Now
Sarah Bartolome, a co-lead of the Buffett Institute's now-retired Trauma, Music & the Breath Global Working Group, is part of a collaboration between the Bienen School of Music and Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital where researchers are exploring whether music and singing can deliver measurable benefits for the heart. Through her Global Working Group, Bartolome jumpstarted the Music for Childhood Well-Being Initiative, which investigates the use of music as therapy for children facing trauma and mental health challenges.
Northwestern investigators, faculty, students and community partners shared and celebrated global health research, education and outreach during the 13th annual Global Health Day organized by the Robert J. Havey, MD Institute for Global Health, held on December 6. Photo by Randy Belice.

Global Health Day Highlights International Collaboration and Health Systems Improvement

December 11, 2024 – from Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine
At the 13th annual Global Health Day organized by the Havey Institute for Global Health, two Buffett Undergraduate Research Fellows, Emily Lynott and Ella Kuffour, presented research they conducted under the guidance of their faculty mentor, Professor Faith Summersett Williams. Learn about their research on health inequities in Switzerland in this Global Health Day recap.

November

“Heaven in a Wild Flower,” directed by filmmaker Jesseca Simmons, kicked off the screening. The six-minute piece is an experimental short film that captures bee imagery on a microscopic scale and calls into question the widespread uses of pesticides. Simmons’ media has been recognized by five different film festivals nationwide, including the Soho London Independent Film Festival.

Block Cinema screens first night of Climate Crisis and Media Arts Showcase

November 24, 2024 – from The Daily Northwestern
Block Museum of Art’s Block Cinema premiered the first of three screenings, “Sanctuary Stations,” as part of its Climate Crisis and Media Arts Showcase Thursday evening. The Buffett Institute for Global Affairs’ Climate Crisis and Media Arts Global Working Group supported the showcase through grants of up to $10,000. The showcase featured a variety of projects, from complete feature films to work-in-progress samples.