Student Union
Neuroscientist Leaves Rich Legacy for Students From Diverse Backgrounds
A Pakistani neuroscientist who came to the U.S. as an international student has died at 43, leaving behind a movement of support for diverse and nontraditional young scientists.
"My campaign will provide awards to young scientists from backgrounds that are diverse, under-resourced, marginalized or traditionally under-represented in psychological and neural sciences," Nadia Chaudhri wrote in May, when she started a GoFundMe page to help students pay to attend the annual conference for the Research Society on Alcoholism.
"I am targeting funds to these groups to provide a specific leg up to young scientists who may face hardship due to systemic issues like racism, sexism and other forms of prejudice," she wrote.
Born in Karachi, Chaudhri came to the U.S. in 1985 to attend Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania as an international student. Her full scholarship covered the yearly $31,000 tuition, room and board, according to a news article from Concordia University, where she was a full professor.
"I became fascinated by the interaction between brain and behaviour, specifically in relation to drug addiction," she wrote on her GoFundMe page.
She went on to earn a doctorate in neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh, focusing on the effect of social cues on cigarette smoking. She moved to California in 2005 for a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California-San Francisco, and joined Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, in 2010 as faculty and to establish a research laboratory.
"Throughout my academic training in the United States I faced funding challenges because I was not a U.S. citizen. Luckily, a handful of scientific organizations supported students regardless of their immigration status," she wrote.
"I benefited from travel awards from scientific societies. These monetary awards allowed me to attend important conferences in my field, where I presented my research and became part of a vast and generous network of researchers who shaped my career," she wrote.
Through Concordia University, Chaudhri also established the Nadia Chaudhri Wingspan Award, "an annual scholarship to support the training of neuroscientists from underrepresented backgrounds," according to a university webpage.
She kept an active Twitter account, @DrNadiaChaudhri, documenting her progress in her fight against advanced ovarian cancer. She promoted Concordia through the Concordia Shuffle, in which she pledged to walk the length of the palliative care ward "every day for as long as I can." Palliative care offers end-of-life care for patients.
"Nadia was a force of nature. She was an incredibly talented researcher with a passion for teaching and student success matched only by her commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion," Concordia President Graham Carr said on the university's website.
"I firmly believe that progress in science needs diversity in the voices and faces that are tackling scientific questions," Chaudhri wrote on her fundraising page. "To achieve this diversity, we must elevate young people who might be overlooked because they don't fit a particular mold."
She said she was one of those students who, because of gender, color or culture, faced challenges outside her scientific capabilities.
"When I gave talks or presentations, people often commented on my accent instead of my science," Chaudhri said in an interview in May. "When I pierced my nose, something I did to celebrate being Pakistani, a senior female faculty member told me that the piercing would prevent me from getting a faculty position."
Chaudhri died on October 5 of ovarian cancer. Her GoFundMe has raised more than $216,000 to date.
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Trump administration opens antisemitism inquiries at 5 colleges, including Columbia and Berkeley
The Trump administration is opening new investigations into allegations of antisemitism at five U.S. universities including Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley, the Education Department announced Monday.
It's part of President Donald Trump's promise to take a tougher stance against campus antisemitism and deal out harsher penalties than the Biden administration, which settled a flurry of cases with universities in its final weeks. It comes the same day the Justice Department announced a new task force to root out antisemitism on college campuses.
In an order signed last week, Trump called for aggressive action to fight anti-Jewish bias on campuses, including the deportation of foreign students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests.
Along with Columbia and Berkeley, the department is now investigating the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and Portland State University. The cases were opened using the department's power to launch its own civil rights reviews, unlike the majority of investigations, which stem from complaints.
Messages seeking comment were left with all five universities.
A statement from the Education Department criticized colleges for tolerating antisemitism after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and a wave of pro-Palestinian protests that followed. It also criticized the Biden administration for negotiating "toothless" resolutions that failed to hold schools accountable.
"Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses," said Craig Trainor, the agency's acting assistant secretary for civil rights.
The department didn't provide details about the inquiries or how it decided which schools are being targeted. Presidents of Columbia and Northwestern were among those called to testify on Capitol Hill last year as Republicans sought accountability for allegations of antisemitism. The hearings contributed to the resignation of multiple university presidents, including Columbia's Minouche Shafik.
An October report from House Republicans accused Columbia of failing to punish pro-Palestinian students who took over a campus building, and it called Northwestern's negotiations with student protesters a "stunning capitulation."
House Republicans applauded the new investigations. Representative Tim Walberg, chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, said he was "glad that we finally have an administration who is taking action to protect Jewish students."
Trump's order also calls for a full review of antisemitism complaints filed with the Education Department since Oct. 7, 2023, including pending and resolved cases from the Biden administration. It encourages the Justice Department to take action to enforce civil rights laws.
Last week's order drew backlash from civil rights groups who said it violated First Amendment rights that protect political speech.
The new task force announced Monday includes the Justice and Education departments along with Health and Human Services.
"The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found," said Leo Terrell, assistant attorney general for civil rights. "The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump's renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools."
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British student talks about her culture shock in Ohio
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