The ThinkND Podcast

In the December 2024 edition of Expl(ai)ned, a monthly newsletter by The New AI Project, explore the cutting-edge advancements shaping industries and society, from revolutionary tools like Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet to the seismic shifts in search engines challenging Google’s reign. Unpack the implications of AI in advertising, education, and even policy as the technology redefines creativity and decision-making. Meanwhile, their latest podcast takes the conversation further, featuring a dynamic discussion between Prof. John Behrens ’83 and several student experts on AI’s disruptive trajectory and its ripple effects across culture and commerce. Whether you’re intrigued by the ethical dilemmas of AI-generated art or the potential of ChatGPT’s third year, there’s something for everyone.

The New AI is sponsored on ThinkND by the Technology and Digital Studies Program in the College of Arts & Letters. This program collaborates with the Computer Science and Engineering Department and other departments around the University to offer the Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science, the Minor in Data Science, and the Idzik Computing & Digital Technologies Minor.

Featured Speaker:

• John Behrens ‘83 is a Professor of the Practice of Technology & Digital Studies and Concurrent Professor of the Practice in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. He serves as Director of the Office of Digital Strategy in the College of Arts & Letters and Director of the Technologies & Digital Studies Program.

Thanks for listening! The ThinkND Podcast is brought to you by ThinkND, the University of Notre Dame's online learning community. We connect you with videos, podcasts, articles, courses, and other resources to inspire minds and spark conversations on topics that matter to you — everything from faith and politics, to science, technology, and your career.

• Learn more about ThinkND and register for upcoming live events at think.nd.edu.
• Join our LinkedIn community for updates, episode clips, and more.

Episode Topic: Wastewater Testing

Some are purporting that sewage surveillance is the secret weapon to keeping college campuses open. This session will unpack what wastewater water testing is, what it detects, how it works, and what it can tell us. Plus, what is happening regarding sewage surveillance on the Notre Dame campus will be highlighted.

Featured Speakers:

• Heidi Beidinger-Burnett, Director, Eck Institute for Global Health Masters Program; Associate Professor of the Practice, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame; President of the St. Joseph County Board of Health
• Mary Ann McDowell, PhD, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences and Member of the Eck Institute for Global Health, University of Notre Dame
• Kyle Bibby, Associate Professor and Wanzek Collegiate Chair, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering & Earth Sciences, University of Notre Dame

Read this episode's recap over on the University of Notre Dame's open online learning community platform, ThinkND: go.nd.edu/a8757b.

This podcast is a part of the Consider This! ThinkND Series titled “Consider This! Simplifying the COVID-19 Conversation”.

Thanks for listening! The ThinkND Podcast is brought to you by ThinkND, the University of Notre Dame's online learning community. We connect you with videos, podcasts, articles, courses, and other resources to inspire minds and spark conversations on topics that matter to you — everything from faith and politics, to science, technology, and your career.

• Learn more about ThinkND and register for upcoming live events at think.nd.edu.
• Join our LinkedIn community for updates, episode clips, and more.

Episode Topic: Ardent Spirits - The Essential Science

Have you ever wondered about all the science, engineering, technology, business and craftsmanship that goes into each sip of your favorite spirit? Ken Kuno, professor in the department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame, and Ron Runnebaum ‘96, associate professor in the department of viticulture and enology in the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science at UC Davis, invite you to a conversation about what defines a spirit or a distilled beverage and what distinguishes the different products we are familiar with like whiskey, vodka, gin, or tequila. They will also discuss the science and engineering behind how spirits are produced and how the chemistry of different spirits affects how we taste and experience them.

Featured Speakers:

• Ken Kuno, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Concurrent Professor of Physics, University of Notre Dame
• Ron C. Runnebaum '96, Assistant Professor, Department of Viticulture & Enology, Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science, UC Davis

Read this episode's recap over on the University of Notre Dame's open online learning community platform, ThinkND: go.nd.edu/db3f9a.

This podcast is a part of the ThinkND Series titled “The Secret Life of Spirits”.

Thanks for listening! The ThinkND Podcast is brought to you by ThinkND, the University of Notre Dame's online learning community. We connect you with videos, podcasts, articles, courses, and other resources to inspire minds and spark conversations on topics that matter to you — everything from faith and politics, to science, technology, and your career.

• Learn more about ThinkND and register for upcoming live events at think.nd.edu.
• Join our LinkedIn community for updates, episode clips, and more.

Episode Topic: Storytelling Through SongLed by Grammy® Award winner and Director of the Notre Dame Folk Choir Dr. J.J. Wright, this series will introduce The Passion, a new artistic production combining Scripture with original poetry and set to original music. Through Christ’s Passion, we learn to encounter suffering and incarnate love, to behold one another in our “not-enoughness.” As we enter the upcoming Lenten and Easter seasons, we invite you to journey with the Folk Choir and some of our closest collaborators through the development, rehearsal, and performance process of The Passion. Along the way, we will explore the Passion and Resurrection in light of the most pressing issues on the minds of our students, including the clergy sexual abuse crisis, the role of women in the Church, and climate change. The Passion offers a framework for encountering ugliness, teaching us how to respond with compassion, empathy, kindness, forgiveness, and humility. However, encountering ugliness takes work. Music allows us to unite our pursuit of the Passion, not as a distraction from the ugliness, but as an unexpectedly deeper way in. As artists and musicians, we practice over and over and form our bodies and voices to be able to perform freely. In The Passion, the joy and sorrow of performance is completely commingled with God’s story of salvation. The Passion enables us to contemplate the difficult questions that we’re longing to ask and talk about. It enables us to “sing through them or into them” and share the load in community. Through our continued conversations in this course and through The Passion, we hope that you’ll continue sharing the load with us as we explore storytelling through song. In May, the choir will make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where they’ll walk in Jesus’s steps through the Passion and record this new work at the Jerusalem Music Center.

Featured Speakers:

• J.J. Wright, Director, Notre Dame Folk Choir, University of Notre Dame

Read this episode's recap over on the University of Notre Dame's open online learning community platform, ThinkND: go.nd.edu/479e19.

This podcast is a part of the Choirs of Notre Dame ThinkND Series titled “The Way of the Cross: A Passion Pilgrimage Through Song”.

Thanks for listening! The ThinkND Podcast is brought to you by ThinkND, the University of Notre Dame's online learning community. We connect you with videos, podcasts, articles, courses, and other resources to inspire minds and spark conversations on topics that matter to you — everything from faith and politics, to science, technology, and your career.

• Learn more about ThinkND and register for upcoming live events at think.nd.edu.
• Join our LinkedIn community for updates, episode clips, and more.

Episode Topic: The Future of Social Justice
Join filmmaker Christine Swanson ‘94 and Academy Award nominated actress Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor for a screening and discussion of Swanson’s 2022 short film Fannie, moderated by Scott Barton, assistant professor of race, food, environmental & cultural studies in the department of Africana Studies and inaugural Fellow in Notre Dame’s Initiative for Race and Resilience.
Considered the midwife of the modern American Democratic Party, Mississippi civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer gives her impassioned testimony and a prophetic warning to the country. Fannie is a riveting portrait of the human rights, voting rights, and civil rights icon and her ground-breaking speech in front of the Democratic National Convention’s credentials committee on August 22, 1964.
Featured Speakers:

• Scott Barton
• Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor
• Christine Swanson ’94

Read this episode's recap over on the University of Notre Dame's open online learning community platform, ThinkND: go.nd.edu/cc8fae.
This podcast is a part of the ThinkND Series titled Black Domers Season 2.

Thanks for listening! The ThinkND Podcast is brought to you by ThinkND, the University of Notre Dame's online learning community. We connect you with videos, podcasts, articles, courses, and other resources to inspire minds and spark conversations on topics that matter to you — everything from faith and politics, to science, technology, and your career.

• Learn more about ThinkND and register for upcoming live events at think.nd.edu.
• Join our LinkedIn community for updates, episode clips, and more.