The ThinkND Podcast

Episode Topic: Ideas, Startups, and Healthcare Tech How will the next wave of AI transform healthcare? Notre Dame graduate and healthcare investor Kevin O’Brien ’88 offers a fascinating look at agentic AI, the autonomous systems designed to tackle complex workflows. Discover how this technology could solve the biggest challenges facing our healthcare system today. Featured Speakers: Kevin O'B...

Episode Topic: AI Powered Enterprise Reinvention How does a major enterprise move AI from isolated projects to the core of its business strategy? Arnab Chakraborty, Co-CEO of the Telstra-Accenture Data & AI Joint Venture and Chief Responsible AI Officer at Accenture, and Dayle Stevens, Co-CEO of the Telstra-Accenture Data & AI Joint Venture and Executive for Data & AI at Telstra, detai...

Episode Topic: Creating Economic Mobility Through Public Transit   For families facing impossible choices between a doctor’s visit and a job interview, transportation costs can be a breaking point. Discover how King County, WA, and University of Notre Dame researchers used rigorous evidence to test a solution: free transit. The results reveal transformative impacts on community well-being, chartin...

Episode Topic: Equity and Resilience Join YoungND for a compelling conversation about "Equity and Resilience," featuring three 2025 Domer Dozen honorees: Kaleigh Yost '15, who is leading research to improve infrastructure and community resilience to natural hazards, Linde Hoffman '20, who is working to safely and sustainably shrink the criminal justice system, and Anna Benedict...

Episode Topic: Hope on the Page In wartime Ukraine, literature is a lifeline. Discover how poetry, fiction, and children’s books fuel national resilience and forge hope amidst tragedy. Hear from leading Ukrainian writers, translators, and scholars on the power of the page in the fight for a nation's future. Featured Speakers: Rory Finnin, University of Cambridge Daryna Gladun, Graduate Fellow...

Episode Topic: Moustafa Bayoumi Listen to author Moustafa Bayoumi as he reads from his landmark work How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America and then joins Prof. Ebrahim Moosa for a wide-ranging conversation on identity, belonging, and the moral challenges of post-9/11 America. Featured Speakers: Ebrahim Moosa, University of Notre Dame Atalia Omer, University of Notre Dam...

Episode Topic: Teaching Chemistry with Art   Science and art are the legacy of any culture, and there is renewed interest in integrating the arts and sciences in higher education. At the University of Notre Dame, faculty have designed a core curriculum course that explores the shared virtues, values, methods, and practices of art and chemistry. The course offers a unique learning experience as we...

Episode Topic: Reflections on Building Notre Dame's Campus   Doug Marsh, vice president emeritus for facilities design and operations and University architect at Notre Dame, has shaped the campus over his 30 years of leadership. With projects like Campus Crossroads, the Arts Gateway, and global academic centers, he has overseen a 55% campus expansion while advancing sustainability and safety...

Episode Topic: A Conversation with Javier Zamora Listen in to an oral history conversation with celebrated poet and child migrant survivor Javier Zamora, about his transformative journey. Interviewed by Francisco Robles, associate professor in the Department of English at Notre Dame, they discuss how Zamora’s keen observational eye, forged in a childhood immersed in nature, became a tool for survi...

Episode Topic: Afterlife Life after death is a central concept in all three Abrahamic religions. What happens to a person after death? How do Judaism, Christianity, and Islam envision heaven and hell? And what can the faithful expect at the resurrection? Featured Speakers:  Gabriel Side Reynolds, University of Notre Dame Francesca Murphy, University of Notre Dame Tzvi Novick, University of Notre D...

Episode Topic: Art, Theology, and Imagination Explore the dynamic imagination of Christian artists who transformed pagan gods into powerful symbols of their new faith. From the early Church’s reinterpretation of Hercules to the Renaissance genius of Michelangelo, discover how classical art was not rejected, but creatively absorbed and given profound new theological meaning. Featured Speakers: Gary...

Episode Topic: Ideas, Startups, and Healthcare Tech   Generative AI offers incredible power, but how does it shape our human character? Tom Stapleford, associate professor in Notre Dame’s Program of Liberal Studies, applies the timeless wisdom of virtue ethics to the generative revolution, exploring the moral consequences of a technology that is not just a tool, but a powerful, habit-forming force...

Episode Topic: Culture War In the fight for Ukraine, the front lines extend far beyond the battlefield. A recent Nanovic Institute panel explored the strategic culture war, where symbols, memory, and art are vital tools of national resilience. Discover how Ukraine leverages soft power to define its identity and secure its independent future. Featured Speakers: Ian Kuijt, Professor of Anthropology,...

Episode Topic: From Evidence to Action Explore how evidence-based solutions are turning the tide on homelessness. This hopeful conversation with researchers, government leaders, and community partners reveals how collaborative prevention models, proven successful in Santa Clara County, are being scaled nationwide to create lasting change. Learn how data and partnership make homelessness solvable....

Episode Topic: Present and Future of Health AI Explore the future of Health AI, an exceptional product of human genius with immense potential for good—and for harm. Navigate the shift from predictive to generative AI, tackling the urgent need for ethical, human-centered governance to ensure technology serves humanity, not the other way around. Featured Speakers: Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P., Pont...

Episode Topic: The Color of North   Taking us beyond the confines of our own experiences, in their book, The Color of North, Shahir Rizk Ph. D., and Maggie Fink '24 Ph. D., traverse the kingdom of life to uncover the myriad ways that proteins shape us and all organisms on the planet. Inside every cell, a tight-knit community of millions of proteins skillfully contorts into unique shapes to gi...

Episode Topic: Embodying Cultures of Life What does it truly mean to build a culture of life? This panel moves from the intimacy of the female body to the challenges of the public square, exploring how authentic freedom, radical accompaniment, spiritual courage, and principled policy are essential. Four leading experts offer a multifaceted vision of human dignity. Featured Speakers: Leah Libresco...

Episode Topic: Technology for Humanity Join YoungND for a compelling episode of Notre Dame Leaders, "Technology for Humanity," featuring two 2025 Domer Dozen Honorees leading change through innovation. Meet Nathaniel Hanson '19, who is developing technologies to significantly improve environmental disaster response and public safety, and April Feng '17 about her work combatting...

Episode Topic: The Cross as an Epiphany of God How can the Crucifixion, an event of profound suffering, be the ultimate revelation of God’s glory? Father Thomas Joseph White, O.P., the Rector Magnificus at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, unveils St. Thomas Aquinas’s vision of the Cross as an epiphany of divine love, wisdom, and the hidden splendor of God’s redemptive work. Featu...

Episode Topic: The Islamic Garden Attilio Petruccioli, Professor Emeritus at the University of Rome, La Sapienza, explores the profound connections between architecture, nature, and landscape in the context of the Islamic garden. Drawing from his extensive research in Islamic architecture and landscape design, he examines the symbolic and structural elements that define these gardens, from their o...

Episode Topic: Moses Moses serves as a model to the prophet Muhammad in the Qur’an, represents the tribe of Israel in the Hebrew Bible and prefigures Jesus in the New Testament. With no external, historical sources to rely on, how do the three Abrahamic religions read Moses, a figure whose meaning is discerned by faith? Featured Speakers: -Gabriel Said Reynolds, professor, University of Notre Dame...

Episode Topic: Hope, Global Stability, and the Role of the U.S. As the United States and the globe face a myriad of complex foreign policy, economic and security challenges, where do we find opportunities to create a more just and peaceful world? Hear General (Ret.) Martin Dempsey and University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., discuss Dempsey's experiences as the senior leader of the U...

Episode Topic: The Algorithmic Lens: AI in the Film, Television, and Theater Industry Artificial intelligence is colliding with the art of filmmaking, presenting a new variable in storytelling. Ted Mandell , associate teaching professor of film production at Notre Dame, sits down with The New AI team to explore AI not just as a tool, but as a creative partner and an ethical challenge, examining ho...

Episode Topic: Freedom's Liberator The roots of modern Ukraine are the rhythms and rhymes of Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861). His innovative poetry has long been Ukraine’s source code, a cultural algorithm in pursuit of personal, national, and universal human freedom. Today it helps fuel widespread grassroots resistance against a Russian war of aggression and conquest that threatens all of Europ...

Episode Topic: Co-Designing for Equity Explore how antiracist principles can lead to stronger research, more meaningful partnerships, and smarter service delivery. Drawing from on-the-ground experience, real policy implementation, and the behavioral science insights in Antiracist by Design, uncover a framework and practical tools for advancing equity through evidence. Featured Speakers: Carrie Cih...