Featured Post from Villanova University

Villanova Experts Reflect on the 2010s

Dec 11, 2019

4 min

Stephen M. Strader, PhDJerusha Conner, PhD

The iPad. Hurricane Sandy. Affordable Care Act. #MeToo. Brexit. Streaming services.


Since 2010, there have been so many memorable and historic events that have shifted culture and society into unfamiliar territory around the world.


Two Villanova experts have put together thoughts on a few of the decade's top stories that will continue to be relevant for the next ten years—and beyond.


Stephen Strader, assistant professor of geography and the environment

Over the last decade we have seen the issue of anthropogenic or human-induced climate change shift from something discussed between select, interested scientists to the front page of the news on a daily basis. This dramatic change in the importance and coverage of climate change makes complete sense given six of the last ten years globally have been in the top ten warmest on record. Actually, it's very likely, if not certain, that the last five years will be the hottest globally on record. The odds of that happening naturally are very close to zero.


Nowhere have the effects of a changing climate been realized more so than in the western United States, where wildfires have wreaked havoc year after year in the 2010s. States such as California, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Washington all experienced record-breaking wildfires over the last decade. Specifically, the Camp Fire in 2018 became the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history, destroying 18,000-plus homes and killing 85 people in the town of Paradise.  


Additionally:

  • Hurricanes Dorian, Irma, Harvey, Maria, etc. damaged entire countries (Puerto Rico and Bahamas) so much that there is question whether they will ever recover from the effects.
  • The deadliest tornado season on record occurred in 2011, including the devastating April 27, 2011, tornado outbreak and the deadliest U.S. tornado in modern history, which struck Joplin, Missouri (158 fatalities).
  • Between 2011 and 2017, drought and water shortages impacted the western U.S., with California seeing its worst drought in history (or worst in 1,200 years). The drought killed 100-plus million trees and resulted in water shortages that affected crops and caused municipalities to limit water use.
  • Record-setting rainfall and floods occurred in locations such as Colorado, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, etc., resulting in hundreds dead and millions of dollars in crop losses. 


If the last 10 years have taught scientists, climatologists, policy makers and the general public anything, it's that we have our work cut out for us if we are to reverse this trend of increasing disasters around the world. The atmosphere continues to warm, and all model projections point to a progressively warmer future Earth if action is not taken. And this action can't be tomorrow or by 2025, 2050 or some other arbitrary year; it has to happen now if we want to reduce future economic and societal losses.


Yes, it's easy to be afraid and fearful of the future when all we see as scientists and citizens are rising temperatures, deadlier disasters and a lack of drastic climate action. However, we can't let this fear result in crippling inaction; we have to let it motivate us to fight, not for just our futures but our children's, grandchildren's and great-grandchildren's futures. Let's give them a chance to see the world the way we used to: beautiful. 


Jerusha Conner, associate professor of education and counseling

The latter half of this decade witnessed a resurgence of student activism, sparked by Black Lives Matter protests and the dramatic events at the University of Missouri in the fall of 2015. Highlighting 2015 as a pivotal year for student activism, the authors of the American Freshman National Norms survey deemed the 2015 freshman class "the most ambitious" group in 49 years of the survey's administration in terms of their expectations for participating in protests, connecting to their communities and influencing the political structure; and the numbers of freshmen who report having participated in demonstrations as high school seniors has ticked up every year since.


In my own research with college student activists in 2016, I found three striking trends: Nearly half came to college already seeing themselves as activists; only 10% consider themselves single-issue activists (with more than half identifying seven or more issues their activism addressed); and a significant share were not protesting their own institution's policies or practices, but instead concerning themselves with broader social and political issues. They are what I call "outward-facing activists," who use their campuses to stage and mobilize campaigns, rather than as the targets of their change efforts.


In the last couple of years, we have seen activism among high school students take off, as students have staged walkouts and school strikes to protest inaction on climate change and gun violence. Although these movements may appear narrowly focused on a single issue, the students involved have intentionally advanced an intersectional perspective, which draws attention to the racialized, economic and gendered dimensions of the multifaceted problems they are seeking to address. Digital natives, these young people have deployed the affordances of social media not only to mobilize their peers in large-scale collective action, but also to attract and sustain the attention of the media, pressure business leaders and politicians and shape public understanding of the issues.


One interesting shift with this generation of student activists is that, rather than turning their backs on the system or seeking to upend it, they are focused on enhancing voter registration and turnout, especially among young people. And their efforts appear to be working. Youth turnout in the 2018 midterms was double that of 2014, and record numbers of youth are continuing to register to vote. As the decade comes to a close and the 2020 campaign season revs up, the engagement of student activists in electoral politics will be important to continue to track.

Connect with:
Stephen M. Strader, PhD

Stephen M. Strader, PhD

Associate Professor of Geography and the Environment | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Stephen Strader, PhD, is an expert on the interaction of climate change, natural hazards, and society.

Geographic Information SystemsNatural Hazards Hazards and SocietySevere WeatherTornadoes
Jerusha Conner, PhD

Jerusha Conner, PhD

Professor of Education; Program Coordinator, Graduate Education | Department of Education and Counseling

Jerusha Conner, PhD, is an expert on student engagement, student voice, youth activism and education policy.

Student EngagementStudent VoiceYouth ActivismUrban EducationEducation Policy
Powered by

You might also like...

Check out some other posts from Villanova University

Solar Déjà Vu: Eclipses, Like The One in August, Follow Predictable Cycles, Explains Villanova Astronomer featured image

3 min

Solar Déjà Vu: Eclipses, Like The One in August, Follow Predictable Cycles, Explains Villanova Astronomer

As the moon passes in front of the sun on August 12, 2026, viewers along the eclipse’s path of totality in Iceland, Greenland and Northern Spain will be treated to more than two minutes of daytime darkness. For many, it will be their first experience in totality. For the eclipse itself, it’s just another slightly different chapter in a millennium-long rinse and repeat. That’s because every eclipse belongs to what is called a saros series—a “family” of eclipses that follow a predictable schedule. A saros series begins and ends with partial eclipses near opposite poles of the Earth, and in between may feature annular, hybrid or total eclipses—like the kind occurring this August—across the world. “Then the series will end,” said Frank Maloney, PhD, associate professor of Astrophysics and Planetary Science at Villanova University. “New saros series are always coming into being, and old ones fading from existence. While they are here, they usually have between 70-73 eclipses over a span of 1,200-1,300 years.” Within the series is what is known as a saros cycle. It’s a period of roughly 18 years, 11 days and eight hours, when a natural synchronization of the moon’s three lunar phases arises. That synchronization can predict both lunar and solar eclipses, which follow very similar geometrics to the ones that precede and follow in their series. But why, then, aren’t all eclipses in a series over the same viewing area? The answer lies more with the movement of the Earth than with the eclipse. Within each series, the biggest cause of change from eclipse to eclipse comes from that last eight hours. It’s only the length of a workday, but each cycle, the Earth has rotated an additional 120 degrees from the previous. While the eclipse itself remains very similar to its predecessor and successor in the series, the viewing area does not. “Every fourth eclipse, or roughly every 54 years, you are back to where you began,” said Dr. Maloney. “That fourth eclipse in a saros is referred to as an exeligmos. But even that eclipse won’t follow the exact same path for a few reasons, including slight variations in the moon’s orbital node and distance from Earth.” Same region, but different track. The August 2026 eclipse will pass over Greenland, Iceland and Northern Spain, but its exeligmos from July 10, 1972 passed over parts of Russia, Alaska and Northeast Canada. Ed Guinan, PhD, ’64 CLAS, professor of Astrophysics and Planetary Science, witnessed that one with a Villanova contingent on the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Nova Scotia. Fifty-four years from now, this eclipse will be only a partial one, as the saros series begins to wane. The upcoming August event, in fact, is the penultimate of 10 total solar eclipses in Saros 126. The 10th will be in August 2044—the next one visible in the contiguous United States, seen in totality in parts of Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. Saros 126 began with a partial eclipse on March 10, 1179, and will end with another partial on May 3, 2459. Humans understood these patterns long before this one began. In the first millennium BCE, the Chaldeans discovered the saros cycle by “carefully keeping record of observations” of eclipses over time, explained Dr. Maloney. “Our lives are linked with the sun. To the ancients, having the sun disappear was believed to be a really bad thing, like a demon devouring it. That goes for lunar eclipses too, which caused the moon to turn red and really bother people. When they could begin to predict them, total eclipses ceased to be the powerfully bad omens that ancients believed they were. It was still a mystery as to why it happened, but at least it was predictable, which reduced people's anxieties.” Now, the anxiety stemming from eclipse viewing is saved for the fierce competition for hotels along the path of totality and threats of cloudy weather. “But don’t worry,” Dr. Maloney said. "If you miss one, you might be able to see it ‘nearby’ in another 54 years.”

Ahead of America250, Villanova Historian Reveals How Independence Hall Almost Didn't Survive featured image

4 min

Ahead of America250, Villanova Historian Reveals How Independence Hall Almost Didn't Survive

Philadelphia’s Independence Hall has long occupied an outsized place in the American imagination. The space where the Continental Army was established, the Declaration of Independence adopted and the United States Constitution ratified, the site was once described by President Abraham Lincoln as the source “where were collected together the wisdom, the patriotism, the devotion to principle, from which sprang the institutions under which we live.” In July, these hallowed grounds will yet again take center stage, as the country observes its semiquincentennial, or America250, celebration. In due course, House lawmakers will gather at the landmark for a special commemorative event, mayors from across the U.S. will march to the gates in a show of civic pride and solidarity, and thousands of visitors will flock to the site daily in appreciation for its significance to the cause of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” However, while Independence Hall’s role in the national saga will go widely remarked and recognized, the building itself has a story that remains largely unknown. According to Whitney Martinko, PhD, associate professor of History and director of the Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest at Villanova University, the “cradle of American democracy” almost never survived the country’s infancy. “Early on, the challenge was about two things,” says Dr. Martinko, who specializes in public history, historic preservation and the early U.S. “One was about ownership of what was called the ‘Old State House,’ because it was the former statehouse in the colony of Pennsylvania. And the second was about the development of the city around it.” As Dr. Martinko explains, in the early 19th century, Independence Hall—then the Old State House—was under the control of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which had shifted its governmental seat from Philadelphia to Harrisburg by 1812. To fund the construction of a new capitol building in the wake of the move, Pennsylvania legislators seriously contemplated selling the site to private enterprise, with the surrounding area undergoing a development boom. “Today’s Independence Mall was built up entirely,” says Dr. Martinko. “In the 18th century, it was full of buildings, shops and houses, and by the 19th century, it had become a huge furniture district and a heart of commerce in many ways.” As plans were drawn up to deliver the hall to the highest bidder, local resistance quickly emerged. Opposed to the landmark’s loss, citizens of Philadelphia and municipal leaders rushed to the defense of the building and its lawn, arguing that their preservation entailed a necessary public good. “Everyone looked to this site as the heart of the new nation. It’s a historic site. It’s an important building. People thought of it as one of the great pieces of Georgian architecture at the time,” says Dr. Martinko. “It was also seen as a civic space, as people gathered there on Election Day. And its lawn was highly valued, with green, open space considered important even then, for air circulation. So, it was really seen as a political space, a civic space and a green space that was important for the well-being of Philadelphians and the health of Philadelphia.” Deliberations over the fate of Independence Hall would continue for a period of five years, up until 1818. After a spirited public campaign, a settlement was finally reached when the City of Philadelphia purchased the plot from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for $70,000 (roughly $1.85 million in today’s currency). In essence, the deal would forevermore secure Independence Hall’s place within the pantheon of great American shrines, parks and monuments. However, in a terrific irony, it would also eventually lead to the loss of a different piece of history: Between 1950 and 1967, the 19th-century development projects that once threatened Independence Hall became a casualty of the city’s efforts to make the “birthplace of America” an urban focal point, with the creation of Independence Mall. “Those buildings were all torn down in the mid-20th century, when Ed Bacon and the City Planning Commission decided to make Independence Hall a major attraction,” says Dr. Martinko. “There were debates surrounding this issue as well. The Jayne Building was one of the 19th-century buildings that was demolished and that is most well-known. So, there’s this sense of preserving 18th-century history through the demolition of 19th-century architecture.” As the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, the near loss of Independence Hall and the removal of its 19th-century neighbors stand as striking examples of the ways in which what we value, and how much we value it, evolves over time. What’s more, the historic threats to Philadelphia’s most famous site serve as a poignant reminder of the delicate nature of public memory and preservation—and the fact that the places we treasure today may not always be with us tomorrow. “Even though it seems absurd to us now, we’re still seeing debates over the line between redevelopment and connection with the past,” concludes Dr. Martinko. “It’s not that no one saw the value of Independence Hall, or that they didn’t see it as historic. It was just this debate that a lot of very reasonable people continue to have today: Is this what really needs to be preserved? And how should it be preserved?”

100 Years After the "Launch" of Aerospace Industry, Villanova Faculty Continue to Innovate the Sector featured image

4 min

100 Years After the "Launch" of Aerospace Industry, Villanova Faculty Continue to Innovate the Sector

In 1926, Robert H. Goddard launched the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket in Auburn, Mass. Goddard’s 10-foot-tall rocket was airborne for just 2.5 seconds, reaching speeds of 60 miles per hour before landing 184 feet away from the launch site. A century later, the aerospace industry is booming, with new technology and missions making headlines every day—some with incredible success, and others encountering challenges that send scientists back to the drawing board. In February 2026, NASA delayed the launch of Artemis II—its next mission to the moon—citing issues with helium flow in the rocket’s systems. By April, the mission was on track again, and Artemis II completed the first crewed flight to the moon in more than half a century. Crew members for the upcoming Artemis III mission were also recently announced, as well as a timeline and overview for Artemis IV, the first planned crewed mission to the lunar South Pole in 2028. Amid these successes and setbacks, researchers continue to innovate the field and develop new technologies designed to help expand our knowledge of the vast universe. That innovation comes from diverse and unique places, including Villanova University. Research in Flight Student interest in aerospace led to the creation of a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering (MSAE) program at Villanova University, which began in the Fall 2025 semester. Sergey Nersesov, PhD, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering, was instrumental in the inception of the MSAE program and helped develop courses in space flight mechanics, applied aerodynamics, aerospace structures analysis and advanced flight dynamics and control, among others. The idea for the graduate program was inspired by the growing popularity of the College of Engineering’s Minor in Aerospace Engineering. The minor attracts students from across the university, drawing from other majors and colleges at Villanova. For example, Dr. Nersesov recently collaborated on a research project focused on spacecraft and satellite control systems with Aedan Disanto ‘26 CLAS, an astrophysics and planetary sciences major and aerospace engineering minor. “If you look up at the sky, sometimes you see satellites chasing each other,” said Dr. Nersesov. “Dynamics and control researchers develop algorithms to ensure proper spacing between the satellites so they can function correctly.” The spacing between satellites is crucial to avoid collision, which is also a potential issue when a spacecraft approaches a space station to dock. In this situation the velocities, rotation and orientation of both vehicles are carefully controlled so that docking mechanisms align correctly, which requires up to 12 variables to be coordinated simultaneously. Dr. Nersesov and Disanto analyzed the algorithms needed to guarantee perfect satellite function and built upon them, discovering more efficient ways to operate vehicles in space. This summer, Dr. Nersesov and his students will also begin designing a prototype for a new kind of drone. Typical drones use ample amounts of energy to become airborne and capture photos or video content because they rely entirely on thrust to hold themselves up. To improve effectiveness, Dr. Nersesov and his students aim to create a drone in the style of an airplane, with vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability. The drone will take off vertically, like a helicopter, but then transition to flying horizontally like an airplane, allowing lift from the wings to reduce the energy needed to stay airborne. As a result, it could stay in the air up to ten times longer than a hovering drone. While the project focuses on a single aircraft design, it represents the type of forward-thinking research driving the aerospace field today. Aerospace Engineering with Biology Elsewhere, Qianhong Wu, PhD, chair of Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering, is exploring a concept called super-lubrication, inspired by the way red blood cells move through the human body. Blood cells travel through capillaries narrower than their own diameter without damaging themselves or the vessel walls. A soft, porous layer called the endothelial glycocalyx within the vessels allows cells to glide through, reducing friction. In studying this biological process, an idea emerged that could potentially be translated to the aerospace field. Dr. Wu’s team is currently applying their deep understanding of biomechanical processes to applications that might reduce aerodynamic friction on aircraft surfaces by more than 90 percent. This lower friction may also improve fuel efficiency and extend flight endurance for drones or other aircraft. “Our work is an example of how thinking outside your traditional field can lead to innovation,” said Dr. Wu. “Sometimes the solution comes from a completely different subject, like biology.” A Century of Momentum One hundred years after Goddard’s brief but groundbreaking flight, aerospace innovation has expanded far beyond its earliest experiments. Today, progress in the field depends not only on major missions and milestones, but also on the steady work of researchers refining systems and exploring new ideas. At Villanova, that work is taking shape across disciplines—from spacecraft control systems to biologically inspired materials. Together, these efforts reflect how the field continues to evolve through collaboration and creativity.

View all posts
Powered by