Public Sector, Education & Research

Jackson, Miss. – October 15, 2026 -- The American Correctional Association (ACA) will convene a national summit in Mississippi in early 2027 to examine how the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) cut suicide deaths by 82%, from 11 in 2021 to 2 so far in 2026.

The event, titled Insights for Impact, will bring together correctional and healthcare leaders, behavioral health experts and community partners. It will feature new findings and outcome data from Mississippi, according to the ACA.

ACA Executive Director Robert Green attributes the decline to sustained system-level strategies

Green said the figures reflect sustained attention, system-level strategies, stronger behavioral health efforts and a commitment to addressing the factors behind suicide in correctional environments. He said the summit will let leaders examine the data and consider how the lessons apply to systems nationwide.

College Park – October 15, 2026 -- The University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business will launch a 30-credit, one-year Master of Science in Marketing (MSM) in fall 2027, built around generative and agentic AI.

Curriculum pairs marketing fundamentals with AI tools

The program targets early-career professionals. Coursework covers marketing and brand strategy, consumer insights, and account and client management, with an emphasis on AI applications. Students will also work with emerging customer engagement and campaign management platforms.

Two semesters of experiential work anchor the degree

Over two semesters, students will apply classroom learning through consulting projects, executive presentations and cross-functional team assignments.

Washington – October 15, 2026 -- The National Park Foundation (NPF) has awarded more than $1 million in grants to support over 20 projects that bring immersive science learning to middle and high school students in national parks across the U.S.

The grants fund NPF's Field Science program for the 2026-27 school year. Projects combine classroom-aligned engagements, extended in-park experiences, out-of-school-time programs and community involvement. NPF developed them with parks, local schools, community centers and science education programs.

Lebanon – October 15, 2026 -- Medical and physical therapy students at Western University of Health Sciences (WesternU) in Oregon are mentoring rural high schoolers twice a month through the MIKE Program, a workforce-pipeline pilot that began in Sweet Home in 2020.

Sweet Home request in 2018 led to the 2020 rural pilot

MIKE is a non-profit that educates and mentors youth on healthy living and health care careers. It started in the Portland area and now serves urban and rural communities across Oregon and Southwest Washington. Sweet Home asked in 2018 for a peer-to-peer program linking its high school with the medical school. The partnership launched two years later as a pilot for rural communities.

Students from the Heatherington College of Osteopathic Medicine (HCOM) and the College of Health Sciences-Northwest (CHS-Northwest) volunteer as mentors. Physical therapy students have since joined the original medical student cohort.

Arlington, Va. – October 15, 2026 -- The American Institutes for Research (AIR) has hired neuroscientist Gayathri "Gaya" Dowling, who for more than a decade directed the $500 million Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, to lead its 100-year AI Century Study on how artificial intelligence shapes human development, education and opportunity.

Dowling brings a decade of large-scale longitudinal study management to AIR

Dowling has led the ABCD Study since its inception in 2015. The project is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and led by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). It follows nearly 12,000 students from late childhood through adolescence into young adulthood, tracking biological and behavioral development.

Astana – October 15, 2026 -- World Tennis has awarded Gold-level recognition to the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation's coach education system, valid until 31 December 2030.

The decision followed a review of the documentation submitted by the Federation. According to the announcement, the system met all criteria set by World Tennis and its Coaches Commission for Gold status.

Gold status lets Kazakhstan certify coaches up to High Performance level on its own

The Federation can now independently provide coach education and certification up to High Performance level. This equips coaches to work with high-level athletes. The recognition also grants the Federation the right to use the World Tennis logo on its coach education materials and resources, including coach licence cards.

San Francisco -- ClassDojo for Districts will host a free live webinar on Thursday, October 15, 2026, at 2:00 PM ET. It will demonstrate new communication tools for the 2026–27 school year, including expanded capabilities for middle and high schools.

Louisiana district details unified messaging across 42 Title I schools

Mary Helen Downey, Community Engagement Coordinator at Rapides Parish Public Schools in Louisiana, will explain how her district moved to a single communication system across 42 Title I schools. The schools serve students from Pre-K through high school. Downey will also cover how district leaders use engagement data to check whether families read and respond to messages.

St. Paul – October 15, 2026 -- 3M and Discovery Education named 8th grader Raji Doshi of Farmington, Connecticut, the winner of the 2026 3M Young Scientist Challenge, awarding her a $25,000 cash prize and the title of "America's Top Young Scientist." Doshi, who attends Stanford Online High School, won with a natural algae-and-aragonite system designed to counter ocean acidification.

Doshi beat nine other finalists in final events at 3M headquarters

Doshi competed through the summer against nine other finalists, ages 11 to 14. She secured the win during final Challenge events at 3M global headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Oct. 12 and 13, 2026.

New York – – October 15, 2026 -- The Mackinder Forum will start a free, twice-monthly digital lecture series on October 15, 2026, to analyze the wars and tensions shaping the global strategic landscape.

The series, titled Taking Stock, targets national security professionals, entrepreneurs and academics. It links current events to questions for business, policy, history and the global balance of power.

Gordon Chang opens the series with a lecture on China and Taiwan

The first session, Taking Stock I: China's Project to Annex Taiwan and the Pacific Ocean, will be presented by Gordon Chang. Later lectures will cover the war in Ukraine, the Middle East and security on NATO's eastern flank.

Lisle – October 14, 2026 -- ArbNet, the accreditation program run by The Morton Arboretum, has reached 1,000 accredited arboreta after adding Kórnik Arboretum in Kórnik, Poland, and the network has doubled in the last five years alone.

Kórnik is the first ArbNet-accredited arboretum in Poland. ArbNet recognized it at level IV, the highest tier, at the Oct. 12 "Trees and Forests in a Changing Environment" conference. The Institute of Dendrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, which oversees the arboretum, hosted the event. The program is now in its 15th year and describes itself as the only international accreditation scheme specific to arboreta.

Poland becomes one of 44 countries with an ArbNet-accredited arboretum

Newly welcomed countries this year include Bermuda, Denmark, Ecuador, Indonesia and Madagascar. Cayo Levantado Arboretum in Samaná Bay, Dominican Republic, was also recently accredited.