Nebraska in the national news: September 2025

Husker faculty offered their expertise on knots and grassland preservation for national news stories in September. The stories were among 30-plus featuring University of Nebraska–Lincoln faculty, staff, students, centers and programs during the month.

• Mark Brittenham and Susan Hermiller, both professors of mathematics, recently solved a decades-old problem in knot theory. The researchers found that larger and seemingly more complex knots created by joining two simpler ones together can sometimes be easier to undo than simple ones — the opposite of what was expected. The finding has been featured in New Scientist, Quanta Magazine, Scientific American and Stand-up Maths.
• Dirac Twidwell, professor of agronomy and horticulture, was interviewed for a Sept. 17 Greater Dakota News Service story on eastern red cedar trees taking over grasslands in the central United States. Twidwell said the trees’ seeds can find their way across vast stretches, overwhelming the landscape as they grow. “We’re seeing the equivalent of deforestation, but it’s trees driving the displacement of our grasslands,” he said.

Additional national news coverage in August included:

• Robert Hutkins, professor emeritus of food science and technology, was interviewed for a Sept. 1 Washington Post article on the health benefits of labneh. “It’s not going too far out on a limb to suggest that the benefits of labneh would be similar to those of yogurt,” he said. In addition to labneh’s healthy probiotics, it has protein, fat, calcium, phosphorus and B vitamins, he said.
• “The Nebraska Sandhills,” a richly illustrated collection of essays celebrating the history, geography, ecology and culture of Nebraska’s Sandhills, was recently named the winner of the 2025 Nebraska Book Award in the Nonfiction: Nebraska as Place category. Sandhills Express and Tri-State Livestock News ran articles on the award.
• A no re-entry policy and the introduction of alcohol sales are among the biggest changes at Memorial Stadium this football season. Stories on the changes appeared in at least five Nebraska media outlets, as well as Sports Illustrated.
• The Chronicle of Higher Education published a Sept. 3 article on the Big Ten’s new TV advertisement, “We are Here.” Aaron Nix, director of visual media in the Office of University Communication and Marketing, served as lead editor on the project. John Shrader, associate professor of broadcasting and sports media and communication and Faculty Senate president, was also quoted in the story.
• Seth Polsley, assistant professor of practice in the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management, was quoted in a Sept. 4 Silicon Prairie News article on the inaugural Nebraska Data and AI Summit, held Aug. 19 in Omaha. “We all need to be as proactive as we can be on the research front, in the admittedly constrained and difficult environment, to bring in the money that we can, the products that we can and invest in our students … to really further (AI) skills,” he said.
• The Husker Venture Fund, a student-led fund in the College of Business, was featured in a Sept. 5 Silicon Prairie News article. Since its founding in 2020, the fund has invested more than $500,000 across 19 startups, nearly all of them based in Nebraska. The fund’s founders, Emily Kist and Adam Folsom, and current members Sam Lockhart and Adam Messman were interviewed for the story.
• Elizabeth Niehaus, educational administration, was interviewed for a Sept. 9 Inside Higher Ed article on a recent survey from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression showing that college students — particularly those who identify as conservative — are less likely to tolerate controversial speech than they were last year. She said it is concerning how many students said that violence is “sometimes” or “always” acceptable to stop a speaker — 15%, more than double the 6% who responded that way in 2021.
• Brad Lubben, agricultural economics, was interviewed for a Sept. 9 Brownfield Ag News story on financial assistance for farmers. Lubben said farmers are stuck in a financial gray area but aid could come from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Credit Corporation or revenue generated from tariffs.
• The university’s Center for Grassland Studies launched its 2025 fall seminar series, “The History and Future of Nebraska Ranching,” with an outdoor event Sept. 22 at the new Legacy Plaza Amphitheater, The Fence Post and Tri-State Livestock News reported. Now in its 29th year, the series is a one-credit course for students and a lecture series open to the public that highlights the people, history and future of Nebraska ranching.
• The university has announced a $27.5 million budget reduction proposal to address a structural deficit and prepare for anticipated fiscal challenges in 2026. Stories on the proposal appeared in about a dozen Nebraska media outlets, as well as Higher Ed Dive.
• Nebraska Extension, Communities for Kids, the University of Nebraska at Kearney and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln have partnered to launch the Knowledge Network for Early Childhood Education Workforce, a workforce development program focused on recruiting and retaining early childhood educators across the state — particularly in rural communities, where the shortage is most severe. KMALand published a Sept. 14 story on the program.
• A new makerspace, created in partnership with Omaha’s Scott Data, will give Nebraska Engineering students unrivaled opportunities to explore, build, test and model new techniques using artificial intelligence. Silicon Prairie News published a Sept. 16 article on the makerspace. Dean Lance C. Pérez was featured in the article.
• Dr. Lindsay Waechter-Mead has been named director of the Nebraska Beef Quality Assurance Program. The nationally coordinated, state-implemented program provides beef producers with science-based practices for raising cattle under optimal management and care. Stories on the appointment appeared in the North Platte Post, North Platte Telegraph, Rural Radio Network, Farms.com, The Fence Post and Tri-State Livestock News.
• The Glenn Korff School of Music hosted a festival and symposium Sept. 17-19 in honor of the 100th birthday of composer Robert Owens, who died in 2017. The New York Times highlighted the events in a Sept. 16 article on Owens’ legacy. (This article requires a subscription.)
• Silicon Prairie News published a Sept. 17 article on the Nebraska Entrepreneurship Accelerator, which gives Husker students a chance to grow their businesses while still in college. Lindsay Thomsen, the program director; Alex and Ben Swidler, student entrepreneurs who founded The DFS Dojo with help from the program; and Madison Kreifels, a 2025 graduate who founded InfoFilm with the same, were interviewed for the story.
• Broadway World published a Sept. 23 article on “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” which kicks off its North American tour with performances Oct. 8-11 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts. Technical rehearsals are also taking place at the venue.
• John Fech, Nebraska Extension educator, wrote a September column for Golf Course Management on the benefits of installing groundcovers in challenging locations for turf. “They’re not maintenance free, but considering various options of better-adapted plants can improve the appearance and function of (a) course,” he wrote.
• An international team of scientists, led by Nebraska’s S. Kathleen Lyons, biological sciences, is providing a new framework — Earth system engineering — for examining how organisms, including humans, have fundamentally altered ecosystems on a global scale across hundreds, thousands or millions of years. Stories on the research appeared in Phys.org and Terra Daily.

Faculty, administration, student and staff appearances in the national media are logged at http://newsroom.unl.edu/inthenews. If you have additions to the list, contact Sean Hagewood at shagewood2@unl.edu or 402-472-8514. If you have suggestions for national news stories, contact Leslie Reed at lreed5@unl.edu or 402-472-2059.