A whole new world.
On June 16, 1,838 undergraduates, 2,575 master’s students, and 1,003 doctoral students gathered with about 20,000 of their friends and family members in Stanford Stadium for the university’s 133rd Commencement ceremony. During President Richard Saller’s remarks, several hundred graduates participated in a silent walkout to attend an alternative ceremony in support of Palestinians and a proposal for university divestment. “While at Stanford,” Saller said as they departed, “you’ve gained the tools and analytical skills to help you understand the world, analyze its shortcomings, and work on solutions that will make things better. I urge you to continue to be open to other points of view. Don’t let your convictions shut out your ability to listen and learn. I want to urge you to embrace your future with gratitude and with optimism while acknowledging the suffering of others.”
Keynote speaker Melinda French Gates, a philanthropist and business leader, urged graduates to approach change with “radical openheartedness,” to embrace times of uncertainty, and to leave room in their lives for change. “There’s no question you are graduating into a different world than the one you matriculated into,” she said. “But you are also leaving this campus prepared to be the leaders we all need.” Perhaps no graduate’s reality has changed more since matriculation than that of Virginia Hislop, ’40, who needed only to complete her thesis for her master’s in education when the U.S. entered World War II. Hislop left school to marry and to support war efforts. These days, her program no longer requires a thesis—meaning she has met the requirements for graduation. Hislop received her master’s last week, 83 years later, at the age of 105.
The best summer reads come from (alumni) friends.
Stanford asked some all-star alumni for their must-reads, and they filled our shelves with joy . . . and tragedy . . . and aliens. Among those bringing the fiction recs are Christina “Tinx” Najjar, ’13, digital creator, podcaster, and author; Kate Paye, ’95, JD/MBA ’03, the new head coach of Stanford women’s basketball; and Alka Joshi, ’80, bestselling author of the Jaipur trilogy. In the nonfiction camp are the likes of Kris Hayashi, ’97, the director of advocacy and action at the National LGBTQ Task Force; Elliot Kaufman, ’18, letters editor for the Wall Street Journal; and Ellen Ochoa, MS ’81, PhD ’85, veteran astronaut and former director of NASA Johnson Space Center. Now when someone asks what your summer plans are, you can tell them you’re fully booked.
Senior Dinner on the Quad is giving us life.
Photo: H. Taghap
The undergraduate Class of 2024 started at Stanford when remote learning and face masks ruled. This month, they made some final in-person memories with their contributions to the 2024 time capsule (including ticket stubs, a conductor’s baton, and a March Madness Final Four sign) and by playing the night away at a game-filled Senior Dinner on the Quad.
Peer pressure may be driving polarization.
A series of studies from the Graduate School of Business suggests that the substance of political ideas being expressed matters less than the partisan identity of the person expressing them. “It’s not so much a matter of ideology but of group identity,” S. Christian Wheeler, a professor of management and of marketing, told Stanford Report. The resulting publication helps make sense of two contradictory findings in previous research: that people admire individuals who are receptive to opposing political viewpoints, and also that a growing number of Americans find members of the opposite party to be unintelligent, unfriendly, and immoral.
The researchers found that contrary views alone weren’t responsible for polarization. Quite the opposite: People admired individuals in their party who engaged with same-party members expressing contrary views. However, when individuals in their party engaged with opposite-party members who held the same contrary views, people disapproved of their partymate’s willingness to listen. Peer pressure resulting from that disapproval may prevent Democrats and Republicans from engaging with one another, lest their fellow partisans condemn them for doing so. But hope is not lost! The more different a person seemed from a stereotypical member of the opposite party, the more receptive participants were to what they had to say. “If you want people from the other party to listen to what you have to say,” lead author Mohamed Hussein, PhD ’24, said, “you might want to take the time to signal that you’re not a typical group member.”
Reports released on two communities affected by the events on and after October 7, 2023.
University president Richard Saller has accepted two reports from separate committees—the Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian Communities Committee and the Subcommittee on Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias—detailing the impacts on their respective campus communities of the attacks by Hamas on Israel and Israel’s military response. The reports represent hundreds of hours spent listening to community members and convey that individuals in both groups have feared for safety and felt a lack of support. The committees documented a wide range of experiences within their communities and offered recommendations to address biases and improve life on campus for all. “The reports will contribute to the essential ongoing work of building a campus community in which everyone can truly thrive, and in which acts of bias and discrimination have no place,” Saller said in a statement. “We also will continue working to promote the skills and practice of constructive discourse across disagreement, which is vital to our educational mission.”
But wait, there’s more.
Every two years since 1989, a multidisciplinary team of students has built a sun-powered race car from the ground up. The Stanford Solar Car Project’s latest vehicle has a lightweight carbon fiber body, can go about 70 mph, and is ready to race.
When Monica Hicks was 22, she went to prison. This month, she graduated from Stanford with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. “If you follow even a one-degree nudge for long enough, it can change your entire trajectory,” she told Stanford Report.
Stan Wilson, ’74, says in an essay for Stanford magazine that the bond with his brother, Mark Wilson, ’73, is unbreakable—even though Mark no longer recognizes him.
The largest study yet of working-from-home professionals shows virtually no downside to hybrid schedules. Compared with full-time office-based employees, those who worked from home two days a week were just as productive, just as likely to get promotions, and 33 percent less likely to quit.
Our brains are constantly strengthening and weakening neural pathways according to our activities and the skills we practice. A new study in mice shows that a type of neuroplasticity—adaptive myelination—could also reinforce drug-seeking behavior and promote addiction.
Our food and energy systems depend on irrigation and hydropower provided by stored water. But demand is outpacing supply. Worldwide, about 3,700 dams have been identified for potential development. Even if all of them were built, it wouldn’t be enough. A Stanford analysis underscores the need for alternatives, such as other renewable energy sources and nature-based approaches for water storage.
Stanford researchers have solved the 50-year-old mystery of how ribosomes separate from the endoplasmic reticulum after making a protein. Biologists, we assume a party is in the works. DM the rest of us the deets.
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