As part of its Civic Life Lunch series, Tisch College hosted a webinar with Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone titled “Somerville on the Move: A City Transformed & Forging a New Path Forward” on Oct. 27.
An estimated 14 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity were used in 2020 to store data, which is the same amount of annual energy used by 1.27 million U.S. homes. To help reduce the amount of energy that data storage uses, a new technique that uses glowing fluorescent molecules has been developed by researchers from Harvard University and Northwestern University.
PERIOD at Tufts hosted a Red Dress Gala on Oct. 15 that raised $1,020 for the Myna Mahila Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides access to menstrual products to communities in India.
The Fletcher School launched a new Master in Global Affairs degree program this fall. The degree is designed for students who want to focus on a single area of study and complete their studies in less time than a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy typically takes.
New cutting edge technology recently installed at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University remindsCheryl London, the associate dean for research and graduate education, of the 1966 sci-fi film "Fantastic Voyage."
Mini-Med Connect, an intensive summer mentorship program for high school students interested in STEM and health care, was introduced last summer by the Center for Science Education at Tufts University. Mini-Med Connect allows high school students to explore career paths in research and medicine while also teaching important social and academic skills for STEM-related fields. The program ran virtually from June 28 through Aug. 6.
32BJ Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the union that represents custodians at Tufts University, held a rally on Friday afternoon in front of West Hall in protest of C&W Services’ failure to extend its contract and meet its demands. C&W Services is the facilities contractor hired by Tufts. The protest was held in collaboration with the Tufts Labor Coalition and was attended by workers, union representatives, students and community members.
President Joe Biden signed a $1.9 trillion stimulus package titled the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 in March. Massachusetts received about $5.3 billion in funding from the bill for post-pandemic recovery efforts. On Oct. 29, the Massachusetts House of Representatives voted unanimously to appropriate around $3.6 billion of the ARPA funding.
An analysis of ancient animal DNA samples has helped identify the genetic homeland of modern horses from around 4,200 years ago. A team of archaeologists spent the last five years collecting thousands of horse samples — from bones to teeth — in locations where the animals could have originated. Researchers utilized radiocarbon dating to figure out the age of different samples and tracked several horse populations before, during and after domestication. By comparing these different populations, the team concluded in a recent report published in Nature thatmodern domestic horses originated from the steppes — which are grasslands located in present-day Russia — before spreading across Eurasia and replacing all preexisting horse lineages.
In Somerville's mayoral election, Ward 7 City Councilor Katjana Ballantyne secured 9,997 votes to City Councilor-at-large Will Mbah's 6,726. This created a margin of victory of 18.27 percentage points.
The Tufts School of Arts and Sciences decided to terminate the Portuguese minor this fall due to lower than optimal enrollments. The unexpected news was recently announced to Portuguese language students and lecturers, who previously believed that the school would preserve the program.
The Tufts Community Union Senate voted on its first resolution of the semester, heard an appeal from Tufts Republicans and heard supplementary funding requests in a meeting on Sunday.
The City of Somerville is redesigning and implementing protected bike lanes and floating bus stops in various locations in order to create a safer environment for cyclists and pedestrians, as well as a more walkable and environmentally sound city.
In collaboration with the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, Snap Inc. has developed the Run for Office Mini, an application built directly into Snapchat to emphasize civic engagement among the app’s users.
Massachusetts State Representatives Jay Livingstone and Liz Miranda introduced an Act to reduce mass incarceration (H.1797) in the state House of Representatives on March 29.The bill would allow all people serving life sentences the opportunity to be eligible for a parole hearing after serving 25 years, also applying retroactively to currently incarcerated people.
Tufts' Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement released a report evaluating the Guardians of Democracy (GoD) program early this semester on Sept. 14. GoD,an initiative developed by the Lou Frey Institute at the University of Central Florida and the Illinois Civics Hub, offers free online courses on civics education pedagogy to K-12 teachers. The report found that the courses improved teachers' knowledge of civics pedagogy and increased their self-awareness about the methods they use to teach the material.
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, who represents Massachusetts’ Seventh Congressional District, announced her endorsements for the Nov. 2 Somerville municipal elections in October. Among other endorsements, Pressley supports Ward 7 City Councilor Katjana Ballantyne over City Councilor-at-large Will Mbah in the Somerville mayoral race.
On Nov. 2, Somerville residents will come together to elect a new mayor. This election is particularly notable for Somerville because it will be the first time in nearly 18 years that Joe Curtatone, Somerville’s current and longest-sitting mayor, will not be on the ballot. Instead, the election will come down to candidates Will Mbah and Katjana Ballantyne, both of whom joined the Tisch Council for Philanthropic Leadership for a forum over Zoom on Oct. 21.
Amid a general trend of increased in-person activities on campus and Greek life events as well as Halloween, one of the most party-filled weekends of the year for college students, Tufts officials emphasized the continued vigilance of COVID-19 policies in October.
The City of Somerville is set to receive nearly $78 million in funds designed to help with the COVID-19 recovery as a part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). President Joe Biden signed ARPA into law in March 2021. The law financially assists municipalities in recovering from the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
