Experts Matter. Find Yours.

Expert Insights: Want More Engagement? Eliminate the Barriers.

Anyone born in the 70’s or earlier will probably remember it well. Time was when playing any kind of video game meant physically disporting yourself to the local arcade—a twilight zone of flashing neon, electronic beeps and bops, and the clink of quarters hitting the slot. As technology advanced, the videogame came to you. Home consoles and TV stations rigged with joysticks duly became the mainstay of gaming. The Atari 2600 brought the arcade experience into dens all over the US; Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Asteroids now at the fingertips of a generation of games who no longer needed to leave home to play. Fast forward to the era of smart phones and hi-tech, and gaming has evolved again. Today, Fortnite, Minecraft, and The Legend of Zelda can accompany you pretty much anywhere—onto a train or a bus, into the canteen at work or school, or under the covers at 2am. In our always-on, on-demand world, video gaming increasingly meets players where they are; a play-anywhere, digital user experience that empowers individuals to engage with their game of choice wherever they are, whenever it suits, and via whatever platform they prefer, desktop or mobile. For users, the benefits seem clear. But what about game producers? As availability expands to new channels and platforms, how does it change user behavior? Does it deepen engagement or does cross-platform continuity simply end up redistributing play—the addition of each new platform shifting players away from, and effectively cannibalizing, existing channels? It’s a conundrum, and not just for video game producers. Retailers, bankers, insurance firms, media, and hospitality providers—anyone with an online-first approach looking to meet their customers wherever they are—should also be cognizant of the potential downsides of channel expansion in the digital space. Weighing in here is research by Professor of Marketing and expert in the intersection of sports and cultural analytics and marketing Michael Lewis. Together with Wooyong Jo of Purdue, Lewis looks at the impact of omni-channel strategy on videogames—a proxy, he says, for other sectors and industries. What they find is critical for marketers and decision-makers in any context or business setting. Increasing the digital touchpoints between your product and customers does impact behavior—but the net results are overwhelmingly positive. Video game players play more, they spend more frequently, and they integrate gameplay more deeply into their everyday lives. In other words, the investment pays off. And the dividends in customer engagement are serious. Switching to the Switch To unpack all of this, Lewis and Jo partnered with a large US video game publisher to analyze player-level behavioral data for one its major titles in the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, or MOBA genre. Players form teams and compete to destroy opposing team’s bases, selecting a character from a set of 100+ options. Revenue for the publisher comes from a “freemium” business model—users can make voluntary purchases to unlock new characters or buy cosmetic enhancements. These purchases are geared toward enhancing the gaming experience but don’t affect competitive outcomes, making them a critical measure of engagement. In 2019, the game was released for the Nintendo Switch, which can be docked in home consoles but is most commonly used as a mobile, hand-held device. PC players were given the option to download this new version and continue gameplay seamlessly using their existing accounts. Analyzing player behavior before and after the adoption of the new Switch platform, Lewis and Jo were able to zoom in on some critical measures of user engagement including game usage or the total number of matches played, in-game spending—what, when and how much players spent—and player inactivity or churn. “We were able to really get into player behavior over time, and what happens when you introduce the Switch option and remove the constraints of having to play in one place—the home or gaming PC,” says Lewis. “What happens when you make it possible for players to access the game they love while they’re commuting or on their lunchbreak?” Plenty, it turns out. Mobile access: gameplay, spending and churn Crunching the data, Lewis and Jo find that mobile access dramatically increases gameplay. Players who adopted the Switch version played approximately 31% more games than before—a dramatic uptick that underscores how flexibility gains translate into new opportunities to play and engage. And that’s not all. Lewis and Jo also find that gameplay becomes less concentrated within narrow windows—after school or work, say—and is now more spread out across the day, the result of the “ubiquity effect,” says Lewis. “Take away the constraints of having to be in a fixed location and you see players adding additional play sessions. Interestingly though, we don’t find any adverse effect on PC gaming. Players are simply playing more, and playing longer, rather than replacing PC time.” Then there’s in-game purchasing. MOBA-type games typically give players the option to voluntarily buy modifications for characters, known as “skins.” These skins are cosmetic enhancements: new armor, costumes, skill animations or effects. Crucially, these kinds of purchases don’t advance players to new levels of success in the game. Instead, they are used for personalization—to demonstrate status or to celebrate an in-game event. Lewis and Jo find that mobile adopters make more frequent in-game purchases. While the overall total doesn’t increase materially, these players are spending small amounts, more often—almost 7% more frequently than before. This makes intuitive sense, says Lewis. If players are logging in more often, they have more opportunities to feel inspired to want to spend on skins. But there’s another factor that may be at work. “With this kind of in-game purchasing, it’s likely that a lot of it is about credibility. When you buy a skin or a character pack, it’s like you have more aura within the game; you want to signal something to other players and let yourself be known. And this is more than just monetary, it’s about a deeper kind of engagement,” says Lewis. “It’s possible that as mobile access makes the game more of a frequent companion, as the rate of play increases, there’s this effect that players fall deeper into the community—their engagement deepens even more.” Interestingly, the shift to mobile access had the most significant impact precisely on those players whose pre-Switch in-game purchasing was lowest. These users, who were arguably most likely to disengage and drift away from the game, became significantly more active once the hand-held option became available. “If you have players spending less and less inside the game, the intuition is that these are the customers you are most at risk of losing,” says Lewis. “Bringing in the Switch has seen these customers—those more prone to churn—actively reengage with the game, maybe because they have greater propensity for the mobile version.” Either way, this should be a particularly interesting finding for marketers, he adds; retaining existing users is typically cheaper than attracting new ones. “The evidence suggests that mobile access can serve not only as a growth strategy, but also a defensive one if it helps keep marginal users engaged; those who might otherwise have detached from the product altogether.” Help Them Switch So far, so encouraging. There is one potential downside to porting a game or online product to a new channel, however, and that is usability. Lewis and Jo find that players who switched between platforms experience a slight, initial decline in in-game performance—likely because of differences in the control systems between devices. Players who’ve been using keyboard and mouse controls may need time to adapt to hand-held controllers. To mitigate this, he and Jo suggest that producers could offer tutorials or introductory gameplay modes that accelerate the learning curve as users adjust to the new interface. In most cases, usability should be factored in as an additional, hidden cost, when developers and organizations are contemplating investing in more online customer touchpoints. “Expanding your online channels will always have some cost. Taking a game from one platform and porting it to another one isn’t free, so you will want to anticipate the hurdles, even as you weigh up the clear benefits,” says Lewis. “The key is to make sure you protect your users. With things like video games, you want to think about how to guide or upskill your players, maybe have them play bots at first to ramp up their capabilities. Whenever you create a new channel that has a different operating system from the user’s perspective, you’re probably going to want to provide some aid to your fan community.” The benefits of omni-channel access should always be weighted against the costs involved, counsels Lewis. Even so, today’s competitive pressures—the seemingly inexorable march of technological innovation and evolving user expectations—are likely to make platform expansion unavoidable for most online businesses. In the world of video gaming, as major franchises release new products across multiple platforms, and player preferences become more sophisticated, companies may simply have to adopt similar strategies to remain competitive. “As everyone else invests in the same new technologies, you almost have to do the same—just as a matter of doing business,” says Lewis. “If you are launching a video game, you’ve got to compete with whatever Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto are doing. You can’t just tell your players they can only engage on one platform. The competition is continuously raising the stakes just in terms of the bare minimum.” Building Fandom: the Connective Cultural Tissue More broadly, Lewis and Jo’s findings speak to how human beings form communities of shared passion around business entities and, perhaps more compellingly, around cultural phenomena: video games, for sure, but also sports teams, music, films, comic books, fashion, and more. Understanding the mechanisms that drive and deepen engagement sheds more light on what Lewis calls the “connective cultural tissue of fandom: ”the powerful social bonds, camaraderie, and shared identity that connect people to cultural entities and to each other. Fandom, he argues, is the “key to our world.” Understanding fan behavior is critical to understanding how it is that games, brands, sporting teams, or politics forge communities built on shared passion. “Whatever your organization or business is, you are going to be interested in driving passion. You want people to engage and love what you do. What we’re looking at in this study is a building block towards understanding how cultural entities fit into consumers’ lives, and how eliminating barriers helps to expand communities and drive relationships—extending reach and engagement by weaving cultural experiences more deeply into everyday life.” The real challenge in front of organizations, be they video game producers or online retailers, says Lewis, is to give their product the kind of “cultural meaning” that creates fans—and not just users. “When you think about the behavior of fans, the level of passion and engagement that exists around cultural phenomena—whatever they are from video games to FIFA, the English Football League to the Super Bowl, Taylor Swift to the Republican Party—that’s where you see the passion that really drives the world. And that to me, is critical in understanding how business works, how societies function, and how our world evolves.”

Downsizing: The Biggest Retirement Myth We Keep Repeating

I have a friend who announced she was downsizing the way some people announce a move to Tuscany. Lightness. Optimism. A touch of smugness. Six months later, she called me from her condo and whispered, “Sue… I think I bought a very expensive closet with a concierge.” Welcome to downsizing, the most celebrated, most recommended, and most wildly misunderstood retirement strategy in Canada. Like most things that sound simple, it works beautifully until you look a little closer. I spent a decade in the reverse mortgage industry watching this play out. Clients would come in — smart, capable, financially savvy people — who had spent years being told their retirement plan was simple: sell the big house, buy something smaller, pocket the difference, and ride off into the sunset. Many of them were sitting across from me because that plan had not worked the way anyone promised. The advice was decades old. Their lives were not. Two Retirees. Same Strategy. Completely Different Outcomes. Let me introduce you to Carol and Robert, whose stories say everything. Carol did everything right. She sold her long-time home, bought a sleek condo, freed up some equity, and checked every box on the “responsible retirement” list. On paper, it was a perfect move. In practice, she lost her community, her routines, her doctor, and a piece of her identity. She found herself sitting in a condo surrounded by unpacked boxes, wondering how a smart financial decision could feel so much like a personal loss. Robert also did everything right, but his story unfolded differently. He sold his home, moved closer to family, bought something smaller, and banked a meaningful sum. What he gained had very little to do with the numbers. He gained connection, belonging, and a life that felt fuller, not smaller. The strategy was identical. The outcomes were not. That is the uncomfortable myth about downsizing. It is not a formula. It is a life decision disguised as a financial one. The Downsizing Math People Love to Quote For decades, downsizing earned its reputation honestly. Retirement was shorter, often fifteen to twenty years. Pensions were stable. Housing was affordable. Families lived closer together. Selling your home and buying something smaller freed up real capital and meaningfully cut expenses. It was practical, logical, and often the right call. Fast forward to today, and almost none of those conditions still apply. Retirement now runs twenty-five to thirty-five years — a span longer than most people’s careers were when this advice was invented. Defined benefit pensions have largely become a public sector privilege. In the 1970s, 90% of private-sector workers with a workplace pension had a defined-benefit plan. Today, that figure has dropped to roughly 40%, and that’s only among the shrinking share who have any pension plan at all (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2025). Housing prices have surged far beyond income growth.  Real estate now accounts for over half of household wealth in Canada. Meanwhile, according to Statistics Canada, the average Canadian at sixty-five has approximately $272,000 in retirement savings, while estimates for a comfortable retirement often exceed $1 million. That is not a gap. That is a canyon. This gap turned the family home into something it was never designed to be. Not just a place to live, but a retirement plan. And once that shift happened, we collectively made a convenient assumption: the only way to access that wealth is to sell the house. That assumption is where things begin to unravel. The four assumptions that made downsizing work are no longer as reliable as they once were. 1. Smaller homes are cheaper. In many markets, the opposite is true. Smaller properties often command higher prices per square foot, and retirees now compete with first-time buyers and investors for the same limited inventory. That charming condo may cost nearly as much as the house you just sold. 2. Selling releases meaningful capital. Transaction costs alone can consume eight to twelve percent of the home’s value. Commissions, legal fees, land transfer taxes, moving costs, repairs. What looks like a windfall on paper can shrink dramatically before you ever see the money. 3. New home costs will be lower and more predictable. Condo fees, special assessments, and rising insurance costs tend to quietly escalate. What was supposed to simplify your financial life can quietly complicate it. 4. The process is straightforward. Market timing plays a much larger role than most people realize. Selling in a soft market while buying in a strong one can erode value on both sides. Downsizing is not just a financial decision. It is a transaction with real timing risk. When all four of these assumptions weaken at once, the outcome can be very different from what was promised. And yet, despite the evidence, the advice has not changed. We still tell people to “just downsize,” as though the calendar hasn’t moved since 1987. Nostalgia is not a strategy. The Part Nobody Puts in the Spreadsheet Here is what the financial projections consistently leave out: the emotional weight of this decision is enormous, and most people dramatically underestimate it. We are not talking about a slight reluctance to pack boxes. We are talking about the deep, visceral human attachment to home. The place where you raised your kids, hosted Thanksgiving, walked the dog, and knew every creak in every floorboard. The urge to age in place is powerful, primal, and not remotely irrational. And when we dismiss it with a spreadsheet, we are not being helpful. We are being reckless. And here is the harder truth: to make the numbers actually work, people often need to move two or three hours away into smaller communities where housing is genuinely cheaper. That means leaving your neighbourhood, your friends, your church, your yoga class, your doctor of twenty years, and your very carefully curated hairdresser. (Finding a new hairdresser in a rural town? That is not a life transition. That is a medical emergency.) Re-establishing a full support network in an unfamiliar community is daunting and exhausting work for anyone at any age. It often requires the senior to resume regular driving, something many are quietly hoping to scale back. And then there is healthcare. Access to specialists, familiar family physicians, and hospital services is non-negotiable for most people over sixty-five. It does not figure neatly into a spreadsheet, but it absolutely figures into the decision. I have never once met a senior who said, “You know what, I’m really glad I had to find a new GP at 72.” The urge to stay put almost always wins. Here is something worth sitting with: every older person knows what it is like to be young, but no young person knows what it is like to be old. That asymmetry matters enormously in this conversation. A well-meaning adult child running scenarios on a laptop has never felt the specific, irreplaceable comfort of a neighbourhood they have lived in for thirty years. Really listening — not just problem-solving — can bridge that gap. Because retirement is a family affair. And the families who navigate it best are the ones where everyone feels heard before anyone pulls out a spreadsheet. The Conversation That Actually Needs to Happen Financing retirement is not a binary choice. Downsize or don’t. That framing does everyone a disservice, and spoiler alert: the senior will almost always choose not to downsize. The real question is what happens next, because “stay put and hope for the best” is not a retirement plan. It’s a wish. The more useful conversation is about how to create cash flow while staying put. And that conversation is a minefield if you are not prepared. Here is the first obstacle: suggesting any kind of loan to finance retirement is a spectacular lead balloon. These are people who spent forty years lecturing their kids to pay off their mortgages and eliminate debt. Debt is the villain in their financial story. It is a bug, not a feature. So when you walk in and suggest that borrowing against their home might be the solution, their internal switchboard immediately puts that call on permanent hold. And if you mention a reverse mortgage? The Cybertruck of mortgages. The product everyone has an opinion about and almost no one fully understands. You will get one of two responses: the “talk to the hand” or the look usually reserved for the person who reheats leftover fish in the office microwave. Is some of that resistance rational? Absolutely. But is some of it just fear in a hat — old anxiety dressed up as financial principle? Also yes. This is why the key is to ask, not tell. The moment you lead with a product, you’ve lost the room. Lead with questions instead: • What are your actual cash flow needs? • How are you planning to meet them? • Are you carrying debt that is quietly strangling your monthly budget? • Do you need a lump sum, or do you need more reliable monthly income? The answers look very different, and they lead to very different solutions. If the goal is to free up monthly cash flow, paying off high-interest debt using home equity may deliver an immediate and meaningful result. A home equity line of credit can do that cleanly. If the goal is ongoing income, a reverse mortgage can provide tax-free monthly payments or a lump sum without requiring a move or a monthly repayment. If there is room on the property, a secondary suite or an addition can generate rental income and potentially add long-term value. For those comfortable thinking a few steps ahead, using a reverse mortgage or HELOC to purchase an annuity or a small rental property creates a stream of sustainable income that has nothing to do with square footage. None of these options shows up in the standard “should I downsize?” conversation. They should. The biggest financial mistake most retirees make is not the decision they choose. It’s the options they were never shown. Back to Carol and Robert Their outcomes were not the result of luck or timing. They were the result of alignment. Robert moved toward what he wanted. Carol moved away from what she felt she should. One decision created a sense of expansion. The other created a sense of loss. No spreadsheet captures that distinction. But it is the distinction that matters most. Downsizing is neither inherently good nor bad. It is simply a tool. When it is driven by clear goals, realistic assumptions, and an honest accounting of both the financial and emotional realities, it can be genuinely transformative. When it is driven by habit, pressure, or advice that stopped aging well some time ago, it tends to lead somewhere Carol knows well. So before you follow the script, pause long enough to ask a different question. Not “Should I downsize?” but “What do I actually need, and what are all the ways I can get there?” Retirement is not about having less space. It is about having more life. The right strategy is the one that gets you there without sacrificing everything that makes life worth living in the first place. Your community. Your doctor. Your Sunday routine. Your hairdresser who finally knows exactly what you mean by “just a trim.” Downsizing is a tool. Like a hammer. Enormously useful when you actually need a hammer. Spectacularly unhelpful when what you really need is a different plan.  The goal was never to end up with less. It was to end up with enough. Ask better questions. You’ll get better answers. And maybe keep your hairdresser’s number. Sue Don’t Retire…Re-Wire!!! My Book is Now Available for Pre-Order I hope you will consider pre-ordering a copy of Your Retirement Reset for you, a friend, or a loved one. It will be on store shelves on September 8, 2026. You can now order on the ECW Press site here. And if you love supporting Canadian booksellers, please also check with your local independent bookstore.

From Amateur Passion to Global Science: How Meteorites Tell the Story of Our Solar System

A recent article in Texas Highways traces how Oscar Monnig, a Fort Worth businessman with no formal scientific training, built one of the most significant meteorite collections in the United States. Beginning in the 1930s, Monnig identified and acquired rare space rocks, often working directly with scientists and collectors, ultimately assembling a collection that would later be donated to Texas Christian University. Today, that legacy is carried forward, and elevated, by Rhiannon Mayne, curator of the Oscar E. Monnig Meteorite Collection and Gallery. Mayne frames Monnig not just as a collector, but as a foundational figure in modern meteoritics whose contributions continue to enable global research. As she notes, his collection ensures that “decades from now” scientists worldwide will still be able to study these materials. “He was definitely one of the most important meteorite collectors of the 20th century,” says Rhiannon Mayne, the curator of the Oscar Monnig Meteorite Collection and Gallery at TCU. She adds that, although he was not a scientist, his gift enables ongoing research in meteoritics. “Decades from now, people all over the world will get to request samples to study because of him.”  Expert Insight: Turning a Private Collection into a Global Research Engine Mayne’s role is central to transforming Monnig’s passion project into a living scientific asset. Under her leadership, the collection, now one of the largest university-based meteorite repositories in the world supports both cutting-edge research and public engagement. Her work highlights a key insight: meteorites are not just curiosities, but critical records of planetary formation. By studying them, scientists can access information about the early solar system, and even Earth’s own origins that is otherwise impossible to obtain. Rhiannon Mayne is the curator of the Oscar E. Monnig Meteorite Collection, one of the world’s largest university-based meteorite collections, which also includes a world-class museum. View her profile The article ultimately becomes a story about continuity—how individual curiosity evolves into institutional impact. Monnig’s amateur pursuit laid the groundwork, but it is experts like Mayne who translate that legacy into ongoing discovery, education and global collaboration. In that sense, Mayne embodies the bridge between past and future: preserving a historic collection while ensuring it remains scientifically relevant, accessible and inspiring for the next generation of researchers.

Artemis II and why repeated missions are essential to lunar success

Getting to the moon wasn’t a one-and-done kind of effort. It took repeated missions, each one teaching scientists and engineers something new, and each one making the next attempt a little smarter and a lot safer. That’s a big reason lunar success eventually became possible: people kept going back, gathering more data, fixing problems, and building confidence step by step. With all eyes on the Artemis II mission's final hours, University of Delaware space professor Bennett Maruca can talk all things space exploration and the race to the moon.  Have you ever wondered why Apollo 11 was named Apollo 11? It's because Apollo 1-10 were already taken! And mostly were fact-finding missions, with many barely leaving the ground, says Maruca.  Space program launches can cost billions of dollars. In order to ensure that they are successful, trial runs need to take place. Space travel leaves very little room for guesswork, and even small mistakes can have serious consequences. By launching multiple missions, experts could spot weaknesses, improve hardware, and make sure astronauts were better protected before taking on even bigger risks. In a way, each mission was like a rehearsal that made the final performances much more reliable. Maruca can reveal facts like this and more. He has been featured in multiple publications. Click his profile to learn more. 

A year after liftoff: UF scientist reflects on historic space flight and the future of biology beyond Earth

One year after his pioneering flight aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, University of Florida space biologist Rob Ferl, Ph.D., is still processing what it meant — not just for his career, but for science itself. “What stands out the most is just the overwhelming gratitude,” Ferl said. “It was such an amazing opportunity for a scientist to go to space and actually do science.” Ferl, a professor in UF’s Horticultural Sciences Department, Director of the Astraeus Space Institute, and Assistant Vice President of Research, became one of the first space biologists to fly alongside his own experiment — a moment that marked a new era in researcher-led missions. His suborbital journey provided a rare opportunity to study how terrestrial biology responds to the very first moments of spaceflight. “For decades, space biology has relied on professional astronauts to carry out experiments designed by scientists on Earth,” Ferl explained. “But to truly understand how biology works in space, I believe you - as the scientist - have to be there. You have to feel the environment.” This September, Ferl and longtime collaborator Anna-Lisa Paul, Ph.D., will be back at Blue Origin’s West Texas launch site, continuing their work with a new series of plant experiments. Ferl and Paul, who directs UF’s Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research and is a professor in Horticultural Sciences, are tracking fluorescently tagged genes in Arabidopsis plants to study how gene expression changes during the rapid shift from Earth’s gravity to the microgravity of spaceflight and back again. It’s a full-circle moment for Ferl, who remains deeply engaged in the same questions that sent him to space a year ago. Unpacking the Transition from Earth to Space Ferl’s experiment focused on the early metabolic responses of plants during the critical transition from Earth’s gravity to the weightlessness of space. “The scientific community has accumulated plenty of data comparing biology in orbit with that on Earth,” he said. “But we’ve known almost nothing about what happens in those first few minutes as organisms enter space and are exposed to microgravity.” Initial results from the flight reveal intense metabolic changes in the early moments of spaceflight. These changes are distinct from, but connected to, the long-term adaptations seen in orbit. Early Findings, Future Impact While the data from Ferl’s experiment are still on the way to being published, the findings are already shaping the direction of ongoing research. The work contributes to a growing understanding of how terrestrial life, from plants to humans, shares fundamental pathways in responding to the space environment. “This has real implications for the future of space missions,” Ferl noted. “As we send more people and more biology into space in support of exploration, we need a comprehensive understanding of how living systems adapt — right from the start.” Ferl and his team will return to Blue Origin’s launch site in Texas in September to continue their research, sending an uncrewed payload of plants into suborbital space. The flight carries no humans—but it does carry an automated experiment designed to advance their understanding of plant biology in space. It’s part of a broader effort to refine what Ferl calls “researcher-tended missions.” A New Course for UF Space Science The mission has not only shaped the trajectory of Ferl’s research, it has also energized Astraeus and the university’s space biology efforts. “This is about building a new kind of science culture,” Ferl said. “One where the scientists are embedded in every part of the mission, from experiment design to the moment of launch.” As the one-year anniversary of his flight approaches, Ferl remains focused on pushing the boundaries of what science in space can be. But he hasn’t forgotten the magnitude of the moment. “Even a year later,” he said, “the most powerful thing I feel is just: thank you. Thank you for the chance to go, to see it for myself, and to bring that knowledge back to Earth.”

Expert Q&A: What is Soft Diplomacy and how does it impact classrooms?

"Right now, storytelling is critical. Language learning is highly personal, and it’s the person-to-person relationships that grease the wheels," says Cheryl Ernst, director of the English Language Institute at the University of Delaware. She recently published English Language Programs as Facilitators of Soft Diplomacy in Innovations in Star Scholars Press. Here's how she's discussing this important topic.  Q: What is the focus of this research, and why is it important? Ernst: ELI and other English language programs provide the ideal space for communication development, cross cultural appreciation, gaining life skills, and raising awareness about people beyond the media. Post pandemic, we’re hearing across campus how individuals feel less connected, and in English language classrooms, connection is critical. Language is only learned through production and practice since it’s a skill that needs to be honed. In language, there is no such thing as perfect. In our classrooms, English is the common goal, and everyone comes to that space at their own levels and overflowing with imperfection. Our students learn to use their vulnerability as a tool. They learn the value of a growth mindset living in a culture that is different from their own, and with that comes an appreciation for difference, respect for others, trust, human-to-human communication. Q: What inspired this research? Ernst: More than 30 years of observation, conversations, experiences, and personal relationships. There was no term to describe the skills English language programs teach beyond grammar (what’s perceived, anyway). Terms like personal diplomacy, person-to-person diplomacy, civic diplomacy, and the like happens all the time and oversimplifies what we do. In my readings, I started to see overlaps between soft power and diplomacy, which led to the concept of Soft Diplomacy. Then what distinguishes Soft Diplomacy from other more common monikers are the variety of skills that happen organically in our classrooms that we rarely acknowledge and students may not recognize. Q: What are some key findings or developments? Ernst: Institutionally, ELPs can do better highlighting the skills beyond English that we teach organically or deliberately. Q: How could this work potentially impact the field or the wider public? Ernst: Respecting ELPs for the space they provide and the skills they offer. It’s not “just English,” rather is learning to communicate in a common language and with people from around the globe. I’d like people to realize that relationships are foundational, that there are common values across nations and that differences are not bad. What version of English is “correct” British or American dialects (the New York? Wisconsin? Alabama? Iowa?). Q: What are the next steps or upcoming milestones in your research? Ernst: A former student and I have launched a podcast series called Soft Diplomacy in Action that focuses on personal stories from those who work in international education. We’ve interviewed an ELI associate professor from Morocco, the UD coordinator of the Mandela Fellows program, a professor who sees (and lives) the diplomatic value of sports, and a retired English language professional. We’re looking forward to continuing these conversations with individuals from a variety of disciplines that also work in this space but through different lenses. ABOUT CHERYL ERNST Cheryl Ernst is the director of the English Language Institute at the University of Delaware where she and her colleagues and students practice Soft Diplomacy every day. Her professional areas of interest include program administration and international marketing, teacher training and working with international teaching assistants, curriculum design, and advanced level academic English (graduate levels). To speak with Ernst her work and the importance of Soft Diplomacy, reach out to MediaRelations@udel.edu.

Director Gennady Miloshevsky, Ph.D., shares his vision for the nuclear program at the VCU College of Engineering

Recently named the nuclear program director at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) College of Engineering, Gennady Miloshevsky, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Mechanical & Nuclear Engineering, answers some questions about the direction of VCU Engineering’s nuclear program and what he hopes it can accomplish. What are your top priorities for the nuclear program at the VCU College of Engineering? I want to focus on student development, innovative research and our rankings in best program lists, but that is not everything. Strategy is important. We need to align ourselves with the country’s national energy needs. There are many new developments in the energy sector, like small modular reactors or fusion energy systems, and having the right faculty to engage with these advancements is important. Providing students with a well-rounded education and good opportunities for gaining experience benefits the College of Engineering’s public and private sector partners. Nuclear subject matter is complex, so higher education is very important for workforce development. We want to build partnerships, like the one we have with Dominion Energy, that support this goal. A priority for me is continuing to establish relationships with Commonwealth Fusion Systems, which seeks to build and operate the first commercial grid-scale fusion plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia. Our workforce partners will benefit from VCU’s well-trained nuclear engineering graduates joining the workforce. So, aligning our strategy with national energy needs, hiring the right faculty to support our programs and building industry partnerships that benefit our student’s education and career opportunities are important things for VCU Engineering’s nuclear program. Where would you like to see the College of Engineering’s nuclear program 10 years from now? I would like to see growth in the nuclear program. For example, some new graduate courses on topics like nuclear materials or fusion energy. In 2024, I developed a general course for fusion energy, so building out a curriculum that goes more in-depth would be good. When you look at small modular reactors and micro reactors, current energy policy does not allow private companies to build their own. However, as energy demands increase, policy could change to where you see these compact devices installed in places like data centers, for example. A more in-depth curriculum allows VCU Engineering students to step into industry roles that lead growth of the energy industry while also ensuring students are capable of adapting to the changing field and taking advantage of new developments. What sort of cross-disciplinary opportunities are there for the College of Engineering’s nuclear program? Nuclear engineering and nuclear science are very interdisciplinary fields. You have physics that covers the nuclear reaction and the radiation it generates, for example, then chemistry is needed when talking about nuclear fuel cycles and nuclear waste. You also need materials science because good materials capable of withstanding radiation and high temperatures are needed in nuclear fission and fusion energy systems. This science then connects to engineering, building the reactors, the energy distribution systems like a power grid. It is a small sample of the overall work, but you see how mechanical and electrical engineering are key to this part. All these disciplines come together to solve the same problem. One researcher might be figuring out how to confine plasma and make it stable, then another researcher is looking at how plasma can disrupt the containment wall and how to make materials to protect the wall. Within our department, we are making connections between mechanical-focused faculty working on high-temperature ceramics or additive manufacturing techniques and those of us researching nuclear energy systems in order to make joint proposals. We are also collaborating outside VCU. As an example, I am involved with an alliance founded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) comprised of 17 universities, research labs and military centers. Coordinated through DTRA, we work together on many of the same problems.Through this partnership, my Ph.D. students do summer research rotations with national labs like Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. We also bring cadets and midshipman into VCU from other institutions, like the DTRA Nuclear Science and Engineering Research Center, United States Military Academy West Point and the Virginia Military Institute, whose students have been part of research experience for undergraduates programs in the summer. How is artificial intelligence impacting the field of nuclear engineering? So, the United States is sponsoring the Genesis Mission, which seeks to transform science innovation through the power of AI. One area of the Genesis Mission is nuclear fission and fusion energy. I see this playing out with the Department of Energy encouraging national labs, universities and industry to work together on applying these AI advancements to solve the research problems of nuclear energy. It is a great opportunity for students, who we can involve in this work to give them real-world experience with topics they will see after graduation. Last semester I taught a course at VCU on the practical applications of AI on nuclear engineering problems. It is not something like ChatGPT or anything like that. What we did is take Google’s TensorFlow platform that is a library of AI models and machine neural networks. Using Python scripting students learn how to apply these AI resources to about 30 problems in mechanical and nuclear engineering. They create scripts, use data sets and run analytics. We have a nuclear reactor simulator and I have some ideas to create AI-based software we can pair with the simulator, then give the software a data set and let it control the operation of the simulator in a safe way. Tell us about your background. What brought you VCU and the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering? Actually, I am not a mechanical or a nuclear engineer. My background is in physics. I graduated from the Belarusian State University in 1990 and continued to a Ph.D. in physics from the Heat and Mass Transfer Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus working on topics related to fusion plasmas and nuclear weapon effects. In space, nuclear weapons produce shockwaves and radiation. I computationally model these effects in my research to determine how something like a nuclear warhead detonation in orbit will impact the materials a satellite is made of, for example. My research also crosses over into nuclear fusion, specifically thermodynamic and optical plasma properties, fusion plasma disruptions, melt motion and splashing from plasma facing components. Accelerating Next-Generation Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography (ANGEL) is my most recent collaborative project, supported by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science, Fusion Energy Sciences. It involves two national laboratories, three universities and a private-sector company focusing on advancement of future micro-electronic chips, EUV photon sources, mitigation of material degradation and plasma chemistry. Prior to joining the VCU College of Engineering I worked at Purdue University at a DOE-funded center investigating nuclear fusion and the effects of plasma on materials. Around 2019 I wanted to develop my own lab, so I came to VCU with startup funds from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and DTRA. My first priority after joining the VCU College of Engineering was continuing my fusion research, the second was collaborating with an alliance of universities focused on work for DTRA and DOE.

The science behind the blood moon: Understanding this lunar phenomenon ahead of march's event

March's celestial event – a blood moon – is just around the corner. This captivating lunar spectacle isn't just a cool sight to behold; it has some neat science backing it up. The blood moon phenomenon happens during a total lunar eclipse. "During a total lunar eclipse, the only light that reaches the surface of the moon is refracted through the Earth's atmosphere, which essentially acts like a lens. Light is a wave, and every color of the rainbow has a different wavelength – red the longest and violet the shortest," said Bennett Maruca, associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Delaware.  What adds to the excitement is the rare nature of total lunar eclipses. While partial eclipses occur more frequently, a full blood moon isn't an everyday event. Depending on where you live, the blood moon may only grace the night skies a few times a decade. "One of my favorite things about total lunar eclipses is that it's hard to know ahead of time quite what it will look like. The moon can take on a color ranging from burnt orange to red to grayish brown," he said. "The closer the Moon passes to the center of Earth's shadow, the darker the color will be."  Maruca is available to speak about the event, which takes place in the wee hours of March 3. He can discuss when to wake up to see the phenomenon and how to best capture it.  "For photographing the moon, I would recommend a camera with some optical zoom – the moon is only about 0.5 degrees across. Because of the low lighting conditions, a tripod or other support would be helpful since a longer exposure time will be needed," he noted.  He has appeared in a number of outlets including Mashable and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He can be contacted by clicking on his profile.  ABOUT BENNET MARUCA Bennett Maruca serves as an associate professor in the University of Delaware's department of physics and astronomy. His research focuses on the sun, the solar wind and other space plasmas. He is a recipient of the Antarctic Service Medal and NASA's Silver Achievement Medal. He also serves as an associate director of the Delaware Space Grant Consortium and is currently mentoring over twenty undergraduate students developing experiments to fly into space to observe Earth's ionosphere.

Beyond the field: New research highlights how NIL is reshaping college athlete identity

In an era of name, image and likeness, or NIL, many college athletes are thinking differently about who they are — seeing themselves not just as competitors or students, but also as influencers with distinct voices and causes, according to a new study from the University of Florida. Molly Harry, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Sport Management at the UF College of Health and Human Performance, surveyed 200 athletes from 21 Power Four universities to better understand how NIL, which refers to the rights of college athletes to earn money through endorsements, sponsorships, social media promotions and other commercial opportunities, has impacted the way athletes perceive their roles and identities. “Historically, we’ve viewed them (college athletes) through the lens of athletics or academics, but they’re daughters, brothers, role models, and increasingly, they’re now cultivating public personas and marketing skills.” —Molly Harry, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Sport Management The findings, published Friday in the Sociology of Sport Journal, reveal a growing recognition among athletes that they are more than the two-dimensional “student-athlete” model that is traditionally used in research and policy. “With the shift in NIL policies, athletes are starting to develop roles and identities related to that of the influencer,” Harry said. “Historically, we’ve viewed them through the lens of athletics or academics, but they’re daughters, brothers, role models, and increasingly, they’re now cultivating public personas and marketing skills.” Through survey responses across seven major sports — football, baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, gymnastics, volleyball and softball — Harry and UF doctoral student Hannah Kloetzer examined athletes' engagement with NIL opportunities, as well as the personal sacrifices they made to pursue them. They found that many athletes now view NIL as a platform to promote causes they care about, build connections with their communities and explore career pathways after college. One softball player described the value of NIL in a way that highlights the broader impact: “It’s been great to feel seen and have your hard work in a sport help in other parts of life. It’s really nice to use NIL on a resume as marketing experience.” Athletes surveyed said they found deals not just with big-name brands, but more often with local businesses like restaurants, boutiques and community partners. This entrepreneurial approach often required initiative and personal outreach, something many athletes had to learn on their own. “Some athletes told us they felt lost when trying to navigate NIL,” Harry said. “Others shared how they reached out to local businesses or organized their own camps.” One particularly striking finding, Harry said, was that some athletes were making athletic sacrifices — like spending less time training — to pursue NIL work, a shift that underscores the importance of these opportunities. Harry stressed that while no one reported skipping practices, athletes did acknowledge shifting their priorities to make room for NIL-related endeavors. “If you’re willing to give up something in your athletic routine, that speaks volumes about how central NIL — and influencer identities — could become for some athletes,” she said. Another key insight: football players of color from low socioeconomic backgrounds were most likely to self-identify as influencers. This emerging pattern stands in contrast to perceived broader trends in the social media world. “That was one of the most fascinating takeaways,” Harry said. “We have this unique subset of influencers — college football athletes — that are starting to enter this space.” Harry’s research builds on a growing conversation in the academic community about the evolving identity of college athletes. A few conceptual pieces have previously proposed the idea of a “student-athlete-influencer,” but Harry’s team is one of the first to gather empirical data to back it up. This new perspective has broad implications for how universities and organizations like the NCAA support college athletes, both during their playing years and as they prepare for life after sport. “As fans, we often see athletes as commodities on the field,” Harry said. “But they’re humans first, and they’re starting to recognize their own value and tap into their potential beyond the playing field.” In addition to academic and athletic support, Harry believes universities should invest in more targeted resources tailored to influencer pressures, like mentorship opportunities and training that goes beyond basic social media etiquette. “Athletes who take on influencer roles may deal with unique stressors, whether it’s comparing engagement numbers or coping with public scrutiny,” she said. “It would be valuable to provide opportunities where athlete-influencers can support each other, share strategies and protect their mental health.” A football player who participated in the study summed up the broader potential of NIL: “I’m very appreciative of NIL opportunities and the ability to continue to grow my camp and greater brand outside of my football program.” Looking ahead, Harry plans to explore this evolving identity through more qualitative research, with a focus on what it truly means to be an “influencer” in the context of college athletics. “Athletes are more than football players. They are more than swimmers,” she said. “They are people who we walk with on our college campuses, and they are people who bring value to our society in a host of ways.”

Why Nick Cave’s First Public Outdoor Sculpture Found Its Home at Meijer Gardens

The permanent installation of Amalgam (Origin), Nick Cave’s first public outdoor sculpture in the world, marks a major moment for contemporary art in the Midwest and a defining milestone for Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park. As the curator who guided the project from concept to completion, Suzanne Ramljak offers essential insight into why this work matters now, how it fits within Cave’s evolving career, and what it signals about the growing role of public art in shaping cultural identity. The sculpture’s installation in October coincides with a pivotal period in Nick Cave’s career. On Feb. 13, he debuted “Nick Cave: Mammoth,” a monumental new body of work on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum through Jan. 3, 2027. Not only is it Cave's first solo exhibition in Washington, D.C., but it is the museum’s largest ever single-artist commission. And this spring, the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago opens with a major, immersive installation by Cave, placing his work at the center of a national cultural moment. Against this timely backdrop, Meijer Gardens’ installation stands as a quiet but powerful first: the artist’s inaugural permanent outdoor public sculpture. Understanding the Significance of Nick Cave's Work The sculpture reflects the evolution of Nick Cave’s artistic practice, rooted in his groundbreaking Soundsuits series, a body of work first developed in response in the wake of Rodney King’s 1991 assault by police and designed to challenge viewers’ perceptions of identity, race, and community. Over decades, Cave’s work has moved from wearable performance art into public sculpture, allowing his socially engaged visual language to occupy shared civic space. The permanent presence of Amalgam (Origin) at Meijer Gardens highlights the institution’s commitment to showcasing art that resonates with broader cultural dialogues about resilience, protection, and collective identity. “Nick Cave’s art is deeply rooted - in his family, in community, in craft, and in nature. His work is also grounded in concerns of social justice. The power of Amalgam (Origin) stems from this fertile mix; a blend of the personal and communal, exceptional and traditional.” Suzanne Ramljak, Vice President of Collections & Curatorial Affairs, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park Suzanne Ramljak is Vice President of Collections & Curatorial Affairs at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park where she oversees the acquisition, siting and curation of engaging sculptural exhibitions. View her profile The timing also highlights Cave’s deep Midwest ties. He lives and works in Chicago and earned his master's degree at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The Meijer Gardens installation connects those regional roots to a global artistic trajectory, reinforcing the Midwest’s influence on contemporary art at the highest level. Media Attention, Coverage and Cultural Momentum Since the installation was announced and unveiled, the sculpture has drawn significant regional, national and arts-focused media attention, underscoring its cultural weight and public resonance. Coverage has highlighted the work’s monumental scale, its distinction as Nick Cave’s first permanent outdoor public sculpture, and Meijer Gardens’ role as a national destination capable of supporting ambitious and timely contemporary art. Media narratives consistently framed the installation as both a major moment for Grand Rapids’ cultural landscape and a signal of Meijer Gardens’ growing influence within the national arts conversation. The range of coverage points to interest from music, arts, lifestyle, and cultural outlets, suggesting the installation’s appeal to a variety of audiences. That level of attention reflects not only the significance of the work itself, but also the curatorial vision guiding its placement and permanence, a process led by Suzanne Ramljak. Expert Insight: As Curator of Collections and Senior Curator of Sculpture, Ramljak brings expert perspective on: Why Meijer Gardens was the right home for Cave’s first outdoor public sculpture How this work fits within Cave’s broader artistic practice, particularly his engagement with performance, movement, and public space What permanence means in contemporary art, especially for works often associated with temporality and performance How landscape, scale, and audience interaction shape the experience of outdoor sculpture Her expertise situates the installation within both Cave’s career arc and Meijer Gardens’ long-standing commitment to presenting ambitious contemporary sculpture in dialogue with nature.