The beloved What Would You Fight For series celebrates 100 episodes, and Notre Dame continues its fight to improve the lives of others

Father Thomas Streit, C.S.C., Department of Biological Sciences, Haiti Program Since 1997, Notre Dame has been committed to the elimination of lymphatic filariasis. Through the mass treatment of more than 1.3 million people annually, the Haiti Program, led by Notre Dame biologist Father Thomas Streit, is one of the world's premier initiatives against elephantiasis.

In Nepal, millions of girls suffer in extreme poverty, deprived of even the most basic human rights. Many are abandoned, abused, or forced into child labor. University of Notre Dame women's soccer player Lindsay Brown and her 2010 national champion teammates are doing more than just hoping for a better life for Nepali girls; they're helping them to achieve it.Through a series of campus fundraisers, the women's soccer team sponsored the education of several girls at the Nepal's Kopila Valley School. Fighting to make an even bigger impact, Lindsay traveled to Surkhet over the summer to volunteer as a teacher, as well as to establish the school's girls soccer team. Their efforts truly demonstrate the power of athletics to educate, to inspire, and to build community. http://fightingfor.nd.edu/nepal

http://fightingfor.nd.edu/autism/ One out of every 100 children in the United States is diagnosed each year with autism, a disorder that affects the brain's normal development of social and communication skills. An interdisciplinary research team led by Notre Dame psychology professor Joshua Diehl is studying the effectiveness of robots in behavior-based communication therapies for children with autism, in an effort to break through barriers and discover effective treatment plans.

What if, in an instant, one of the world's most renowned, most beloved, most iconic sites was destroyed? Across the globe, many important cultural heritage monuments face the real threat of ruin by human or natural disaster. Scholars at Notre Dame are helping to ensure the preservation of these treasures.Architecture professor Krupali Krusche has launched a Digital Historical Architecture Research and Material Analysis initiative, which is mapping World Heritage Sites like the Taj Mahal and the Roman Forum with unprecedented precision and detail. The digital assessments will be translated into 3-D models which will provide essential information to best preserve and restore these sites in the future.Professor Krusche's comprehensive mapping technology and expertise have led her to be recognized as a leading expert on the construction of Taj Mahal. After earthquakes devastated much of nearby Nepal last spring authorities called on Professor Krusche to assess the condition of the Taj Mahal and identify any deterioration to ensure the future of the Indian landmark.

At Notre Dame, we fight for what we believe in. Through ethical leadership, education, research and outreach, the University seeks to cultivate in its students not only an appreciation for the great achievements of human beings, but also a disciplined sensibility to the poverty, injustice, and oppression that burden the lives of so many. The aim is to create a sense of human solidarity and concern for the common good that will bear fruit as learning becomes service to justice.

POTS, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, is an autonomic nervous system disorder that affects blood flow in between 1 million and 3 million Americans, typically women and young adults. Those numbers are growing as POTS and other forms of dysautonomia have been diagnosed as long-term impacts from COVID-19. The symptoms include fainting spells, seizures, respiratory issues and digestive trouble.Nina Kikel-Coury, a graduate student in Professor Cody Smith's lab, suffers from POTS which placed her at a higher risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. She needed to remain completely isolated during the pandemic and could no longer work alongside others in her research lab. But the team rallied around her.Her lab mates designated hours when Nina could work alone, and they continued her experiments when she couldn’t be present sending results via email or FaceTime. With all this support, Nina made a scientific breakthrough, discovering a new cell in the heart—cardiac nexus glia—which may help explain and treat conditions like hers.“Identifying cardiac nexus glia could have a huge impact, not only with the neuroscience field but also the cardiovascular field,” she says. “Currently no one knows why dysautonomia occurs in a lot of people. And so personally it’s really exciting to know that maybe we’re just one step closer to figuring out the cause of dysautonomia, and in particular, long term down the road maybe even POTS.”Read more: https://go.nd.edu/ResearchThatMattersWWYFF

Professor Jimmy Gurulé, Notre Dame Law School "Notre Dame Law School seeks to train a lawyer that isn't principally concerned with money and prestige, but a lawyer who has a responsibility to build a better society." Learn More: Watch "What Would You Fight For?" Series: http://nd.edu/video/ About Professor Gurulé: http://law.nd.edu/people/faculty-and-administration/teaching-and-research-faculty/jimmy-gurule Notre Dame Law School: http://law.nd.edu/

We read the headlines every day. Cities and towns across America have seen businesses shut down. Citizens have lost their jobs and communities are struggling to adequately fund public services. But by partnering with the entrepreneurial spirit and talent of Notre Dame's student body, the South Bend community is solving some of these problems in a new way. Since 2012, the enFocus fellowship program has partnered with the community to ignite change in local companies, nonprofit organizations, and public entities. South Bend native Andrew Wiand tells the story of how hometown pride inspired him to join the enFocus team, and begin to develop a scalable model for economic and community development.The enFocus fellows are graduates of Notre Dame's ESTEEM program, a one-year master's program in innovation and entrepreneurship that develops a select group of science and engineering students to put their skills to work commercializing technology to serve the common good. These entrepreneurs create, shape, and deliver positive impact across a variety of public and private sectors. In its first year, the enFocus team helped save the South Bend community approximately $3.2 million. These are dollars that will support its schools, emergency services, and healthcare clinics—making life better for the people of South Bend.The University of Notre Dame asks you, "What would you fight for?" Learn more about this work and how to support it at http://fightingfor.nd.edu

In response to a need for skilled teachers and school leaders, the University of Notre Dame founded ACE, the Alliance for Catholic Education. The program trains and places educators into needy Catholic schools all over the United States.ACE Teachers form a select cohort of the nation’s top emerging Catholic school teachers and leaders, and through ACE’s innovative instructional model, they develop the skills and knowledge necessary to serve some of the most under-resourced schools in the United States.Applications for ACE Teaching Fellows are due January 20, 2015. Learn more at http://ace.nd.edu/teachLearn More: http://newsinfo.nd.edu/news/12259 Alliance for Catholic Education: http://ace.nd.edu/ What Would You Fight For? Series: http://nd.edu/video