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A palpable shift in academic culture
A group of faculty and deans

A palpable shift in academic culture

The Classroom Social Compact report provided detailed blueprints for creating “a transformative educational experience.”

From uncertain freshman to future electrical engineering Ph.D. (external link)
Harvard electrical engineering student Ike Ogbu holidng a circuit board

From uncertain freshman to future electrical engineering Ph.D. 

Ike Ogbu didn’t arrive at Harvard with a clear academic plan. He’d taken an engineering design class at Foxborough Regional Charter School in southeastern Massachusetts, but wasn’t sure if he wanted to study engineering, computer science, or another topic entirely.

Bioengineering a career in cancer therapeutics (external link)
Danika Rodrigues, Ph.D. ’26

Bioengineering a career in cancer therapeutics 

Danika Rodrigues has been researching cancer therapies since she was a biomedical engineering undergraduate and master’s student at the University of Michigan. But it was working at Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a division of Johnson & Johnson, that convinced her that not only was cancer research interesting — it was what she wanted for her career.

How to restore trust in higher ed? (external link)
Harvard College student Ari Kohn ’26

How to restore trust in higher ed? 

Throughout her Harvard College experience, Social Studies and Philosophy concentrator Ari Kohn ‘26 has explored how the mission of Harvard College, to educate citizen and citizen-leaders through a liberal arts education, is enacted and preserved. The motivation behind her senior thesis, “Citizen or Citizen-Leader: Civic Thought Programs and the Trust Crisis in American Higher Education”, began as a first-year student in the aftermath of the pandemic, when Kohn witnessed difficulties in defining what an undergraduate institution should be.

Presidential dreams can wait. For now, she can’t stop painting. (external link)
Daniela Solis

Presidential dreams can wait. For now, she can’t stop painting. 

Inspired by the trailblazing female politicians of her native Costa Rica, which elected its second woman president earlier this year, Daniela Solis ’26 arrived at Harvard with a dream to run for office. Then an arts class in her junior year opened her eyes to an entirely new calling she never would have predicted.

From rugby pitch to lab bench (external link)
Tiahna Padilla in the lab

From rugby pitch to lab bench 

Tiahna Padilla ’26 has never been afraid of a challenge. While working on her senior thesis, the two worlds she inhabited at Harvard converged through the development of a mobile artificial limb that gives unique insight into the capabilities of athletes’ muscles.

Re-examining the history of Black fathers (external link)
Thomas Blakeslee, Ph.D. ’25

Re-examining the history of Black fathers 

Thousands filled the pews of one of Chicago’s largest Black churches on June 15, 2008, to hear then-Senator Barack Obama deliver a much-anticipated Father’s Day speech. Given the occasion and setting, few would have been surprised if the candidate for president had taken the opportunity to lift up the role of Black men in family life. And at first, he did, briefly praising the work and virtues of the congregation's leader, Bishop Arthur Brazier, and his son, Rev. Byron Brazier. Then Obama pivoted sharply, delivering a withering indictment of absentee fathers in the Black community.