In today's episode, Casey, Maria, and Naomi talk to conservative climate activists about why they support carbon pricing policy. We'll hear from former Congressman Bob Inglis (RepublicEN.org), Kiera O'Brien (Young Conservatives for Carbon Dividends), former Congressman Carlos Curbelo, and Jerry Taylor (Niskanen Center). Read more at pricingnature.substack.com

5. The Conservative Case for Carbon Pricing

The transfer and non-traditional students programs make up a small but important part of the admissions office’s work to create a diverse undergraduate community. Hannah and Mark cover the basics of applying through either program and share the office’s approach to reviewing these applications. Director of transfer admissions Marisa shares advice for transfer applicants – especially those enrolled in community colleges – and director of Eli Whitney admissions Patricia shares insights for non-traditional students – especially US military veterans.

Transfer and Non-Traditional Students

As part of the whole-person review process, the Yale Admissions Committee consider each applicant’s engagement with “extracurricular activities” – pursuits and commitments outside of typical academic work. Admissions officer Reed joins Hannah and Mark to discuss how application readers evaluate extracurricular activities and how applicants can stand out in this part of the application. The trio expand on some simple advice for selecting and engaging with activities: Be Active. At the right level for you. Doing what you like.

The Activities Section

For Yale Law School’s bicentennial in 2024, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law Guido Calabresi ’58 reflects on his tenure as Dean from 1985 to 1994. He discusses his work to restore the law school building to its former glory and start the law school’s first loan forgiveness program.

Season Two, Episode Five: Guido Calabresi

In this episode, YDS alum Dr. Julie Faith Parker interprets the Bible through a feminist lens - reclaiming the biblical figure of Eve as a hero, questioning the common idea that only men authored scripture, and arguing that some of the women in Jesus’ circle are more important than some of the twelve disciples.

Eve Isn't Evil: A Feminist Perspective on Women in the Bible from Dr. Julie Faith Parker

To mark Yale Law School’s bicentennial, Dean Heather K. Gerken joins President Peter Salovey for a conversation about the impact the school has had on legal education over two centuries and what comes next. Dean Gerken discusses the Yale Law School’s focus on bolstering needs-based aid, increasing the number of veterans on campus, and preparing the next generation of lawyers and leaders to engage across divides in polarized times.
 
Links:
https://law.yale.edu/yale-law-school-200
https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/yale-law-school-videos/yale-law-school-200-pioneering-force-legal-education

Leading the Way in Legal Education for 200 years

YDS Professor Joel Baden discusses launching and leading the Center for Continuing Education at YDS, defends his critical scholarship of the Bible, and critiques what he calls scholarly evangelicalism.

‘Beyond the Ivy’: Professor Joel Baden on taking theological education to wider public

Part 1 in a 3-part series on Yale’s test-flexible policy. Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeremiah Quinlan shares his thoughts on the role and value of tests generally, and how students should consider their scores during the college search process. Hannah and Mark discuss how admissions officers incorporate test scores in Yale’s whole-person review process, and they bust some persistent myths about testing.

Standardized Tests: The Big Picture

Part 2 in a 3-part series on Yale’s test-flexible policy. Hannah and Mark reveal the details of Yale’s newly announced test-flexible policy, which goes into effect for first year and transfer applicants for fall 2025 admission. They explain how applicants will fulfill Yale’s requirement and describe the questions that will appear on Yale’s application. They address concerns and questions about the new policy and share advice for how applicants can put their best foot forward with their available scores.

Standardized Tests: The Details

Part 3 in a 3-part series on Yale’s test-flexible policy. Over four years, Yale’s admissions office went from requiring the ACT or SAT, to being fully test-optional, to adopting a new test-flexible policy. Hannah and Mark give a quick history of the factors that led to those changes and an overview of what happened to Yale’s applicant pool in the wake of the pandemic. Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeremiah Quinlan joins to discuss the data and analyses that persuaded the admissions office to update its testing policy in early 2024.

Standardized Tests: How We Got Here

To help listeners better understand what test scores can and can’t say about a student’s relative strengths, Mark outlines an analogy he devised that connects standardized tests to his favorite sport. Dean Quinlan joins to discuss how applicants often overemphasize testing, the many ways applicants can show academic preparedness, and famous New York Mets knuckleballer R.A. Dickey.

Bonus Episode: Standardized Tests and the Baseball Analogy

Professor John Tsang and President Peter Salovey discuss the vast possibilities of the Yale-backed Chan Zuckerberg Biohub New York and its ambition to engineer immune cells for early disease prevention, detection, and treatment.

Harnessing the Immune System to Detect and Eradicate Disease

In this episode of the Yale University Press podcast, we talk with award-winning classicist Edith Hall about her new book, Facing Down the Furies: Suicide, the Ancient Greeks, and Me.

The Therapeutic Benefits of Reading Greek Tragedy

In this episode, Dr. Vishal Uppal, whose primary research interests are improving the safety and efficacy of regional anesthesia techniques in high-risk patient populations, discussed his article Consensus Practice Guidelines on Postdural Puncture Headache From a Multisociety, International Working Group: A Summary Report.
 
Consensus guidelines
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37581893/
Atypical headache following dural puncture in obstetric
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24934311/
A prospective controlled study of continuous spinal analgesia versus repeat epidural analgesia after accidental dural puncture in labour
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22153280/
One patch or more? Defining success in treatment of post-dural puncture headache
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28089183/
Sphenopalatine ganglion block for postdural puncture headache
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19413836/
Major Neurologic Complications Associated With Postdural Puncture Headache in Obstetrics: A Retrospective Cohort Study
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31335402/
The volume of blood for epidural blood patch in obstetrics: a randomized, blinded clinical trial
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21596867/

Anesthesiology PDPH2ndVersion Mixdown

Professor Luciano Floridi and President Peter Salovey discuss Yale’s new Digital Ethics Center to research the governance, ethical, legal, and social implications of digital innovation and technologies like artificial intelligence.

Navigating the AI Revolution Responsibly

In this episode of the ISM Fellows Podcast, Dr. Samantha Slaubaugh offers insights into her work on Douceline of Digne as a rare paradigm of liturgical practice among the Beguines of Marseilles. Dr. Slaubaugh also discusses the way in which Douceline of Digne, through her unique practice of liturgy, is situated in her medieval community that reveals the unexpected fragility of her sociopolitical circumstances.

Giving Voice to Douceline of Digne

Welcome to this week’s episode of YJBM Science News, where we discuss the recent news in healthcare and science across the Yale community. Today, our hosts Mara and Samantha will share some of the most intriguing topics of the past week.
 
Links:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-024-02216-7
https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(24)00079-2
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07255-w
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2024.01.031

YJBM Science News Podcast: Episode 16

Climate change is not only measured in catastrophic events – it has a gradual impact on the individual health of people all around the world. In this episode of the YJBM podcast, Shivani interviews Dr. Kai Chen, an environmental epidemiologist, researcher, and Professor at the Yale School of Public Health. In this interview, Dr. Chen discusses his work, the links between heat exposure and cardiovascular health, air quality and students’ academic scores, and wildfire smoke and mental health outcomes. 
Links: 
Disparities in US Heat Vulnerability: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/887792e05ea744d3b085856ca061ef53
Dr. Chen's CHEN Lab at the Yale Center on Climate Change and Health: https://medicine.yale.edu/lab/kaichen/
February 2024 Article from Dr. Chen: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-45901-z

How Climate Change and Pollution Affect Human Health: An Interview with Dr. Kai Chen

Welcome to this week’s episode of YJBM Science News, where we discuss the recent news in healthcare and science across the Yale community. Today, our hosts Mara and Samantha will share some of the most intriguing topics of the past week.
 
Links:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccell.2024.03.002
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10826-024-02809-y

YJBM Science News Podcast: Episode 17

Join in for a deeply honest and candid conversation with recording artist, speaker, professor, and writer, Sho Baraka. We waste no time, diving quickly into personal discussions about emotional wellness and mental health. We consider ways to normalize mental health conversations to positively impact our lives and society. Intertwined with these topics, we consider the imprint of hip-hop culture, the impact of social media, and the powerful role of faith. On a practical level, Sho shares four key ways each of us can effectively pursue our calling. Refreshingly, he provides this guidance, even while acknowledging his own successes and challenges pursuing his vocational calling. As a man of many talents and interests, he goes even further to describe the ways he feels like a “vocational nomad” at times. We also reflect on what it means to engage and care for our local and global community. In the scope of community, we discuss neurodiversity and inclusivity, as Sho shares his perspective as the father of two sons living on the autism spectrum. A wide ranging, timely and important conversation!
 
For more helpful information on neurodiversity, accessibility, and inclusivity, please visit www.kulturecity.org

Culture, Vocation & Calling with Sho Baraka

In this episode, Dr. Cory Hunter speaks with Sindy Yang (MAR ‘25) about his research on gospel music. They also discuss how his background training in music performance, religion, and theology brings innovation to his methodologies as a scholar. What results is a freshness brought to the discipline of musicology at large, and new ways in which these methodologies and approaches impact the broader scope of interdisciplinary studies of music, religion, and theology.

On Gospel Music and New Approaches to Musicology

Our guest is Prof. Stephen Gilbert (https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-gilbert-31ba2587/) who is a Professor of Medical Device Regulatory Science at the Else Kröner Fresenius Center for Digital Health, Technische Universität Dresden where he teaches and conducts research on regulatory science with a team of colleagues. He is also News and Views Editor, Nature Portfolio - Digital Health. He worked in senior MedTech and Digital Heath roles in industry for 5 years, before returning to academia in 2022.

His research goals are to advance the regulatory science of software as a medical device and AI-enabled medical devices. Innovative digital approaches to healthcare must be accompanied by innovative approaches in regulation to ensure speed to market, to maximum access of patients to life saving treatments whilst ensuring safety on market. His main research interests are in: (i) data sharing and the European Health Data Space; (ii) approaches to market approval of adaptive AI enabled medical devices; (iii) drug<->digital/AI-enabled medical device product realisation; (iv) digital/virtual twins: as an organising concept of the future of healthcare."

Further Reading

Derraz B, Breda G, Kaempf C, Baenke F, Cotte F, Reiche K, Köhl U, Kather JN, Eskenazy D, Gilbert S. New regulatory thinking is needed for AI-based personalised drug and cell therapies in precision oncology. NPJ Precis Oncol [Internet]. Nature Publishing Group; 2024 Jan 30 [cited 2024 Jan 30];8(1):1–11. Available from: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41698-024-00517-w

Gilbert S, Harvey H, Melvin T, Vollebregt E, Wicks P. Large language model AI chatbots require approval as medical devices. Nat Med [Internet]. Nature Publishing Group; 2023 Jun 30 [cited 2023 Jun 30];1–3. Available from: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02412-6

Gilbert S and Kather JN. Guardrails for the use of generalist AI in cancer care. Nature Reviews Cancer [Internet]. Nature Publishing Group; 2024 Apr 16 [cited 2024 Apr 16]. Available from: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41568-024-00685-8

Large Language Model-based Chatbots and Medical Regulation

Research has shown that a meditation practice is associated with a host of positive benefits. A body scan meditation is less about relaxation and more about awareness and taking inventory of how your body feels in the moment.

Body Scan Guided Meditation - Female Voice

Research has shown that both gratitude and meditation practices are associated with higher levels of happiness. Use this guided meditation to bring awareness to the people and things in your life that you are grateful for.

Gratitude Guided Meditation - Female Voice

Research has shown that Loving Kindness meditations can boost social closeness and implicit liking of strangers (Hutcherson et al. (2008). While this is a laboratory study, the results suggest this simple technique may help increase positive social emotions and decrease social isolation.

Loving Kindness Guided Meditation - Female Voice

Loving Kindess Guided Meditation - Male Voice

Gratitude Guided Meditation - Male Voice

Body Scan Guided Meditation - Male Voice

A quick practice to support your awareness of self and surroundings. Use this meditation whenever you need a short break in the day to restore attention and focus.

Short Meditation Break (5 mins)

Hannah and Mark discuss how officers read applications, make notes, confer with colleagues, and prepare to present applicants to the Admissions Committee. Every year officers read more than 35,000 applications cover to cover and collectively make admissions decisions on each one. Admissions Officers Julian and John join as guests to discuss their strategies for reading and ratings files.

Reading

Every admissions decision is made by a committee composed of five members of the Yale community. Hannah and Mark take listeners inside a real admissions committee discussion and describe how the members reach consensus and make decisions. Admissions Officers Jill and Alfie join as guests to discuss their roles as a committee presenter and a committee chair.

Committee

Part 1 of 3. The most effective application essays help admissions officers understand who students are and the contributions they would make to a community. There’s no formula or perfect essay topic, but Hannah and Mark discuss what makes an essay work for an applicant. Admissions officer Keith joins to share insights on the choices that can be most effective when writing an essay.

Essays: What Works

Part 2 of 3. Application essays are an opportunity to speak directly to admissions officers and share meaningful insights and reflections. Unsuccessful essays miss that opportunity. Hannah and Mark share some of the ineffective choices that regularly appear in essays and discuss why each choice doesn’t work to the student’s benefit.

Essays: What Doesn’t Work

Part 3 of 3. Most colleges ask applicants to respond to several shorter questions that are unique to their school. Hannah and Mark discuss what officers look for when reviewing responses to Yale-specific questions. Admissions officer Reed joins to share the admissions office’s process of writing and reviewing those questions at the end of each admissions cycle.

Essays: The Little Stuff

Miriam Ingber (Yale Law School) and Kristi Jobson (Harvard Law School) discuss what they’re looking for in law school applicants, covering hot topics like grade inflation, graduate degrees, extracurriculars and work experience, and the GRE vs. LSAT.

We’ll Tell You What We Want

Many applicants have an evaluative interview with a Yale student or alum as part of the application process. Hannah and Mark talk with Dara, the director Yale’s interviewing program, about how interviews work and what applicants can expect. They share do’s and don’ts for the interview and discuss how interview reports are considered Yale’s holistic review process.

Interviews

Every application to Yale includes three letters of recommendation – two from classroom teachers and one from a counselor. Admissions Officer Moira joins Hannah and Mark to share advice on selecting recommenders and tips for educators when writing on behalf of applicants. The officers share how effective letters can bolster and enhance an application, and they express their gratitude to the educators who write for their students.

Recommendation Letters

Most applicants to Yale are strong along many dimensions, but only a small group truly stand out. Hannah and Mark discuss how admissions officers try to gauge what an applicant would add to and take from the Yale experience. Admissions officer Keith adds insights about what makes applicants stand out in Yale’s large and diverse pool of prospective students.

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