Skip to content

Quick Studies

Learn, Stanford style, without going back to class. Presenting Quick Studies, a monthly collection of articles, videos and podcasts curated exclusively for you.

Read

When Offensive Indian Mascots Hit Too Close to Home
"The scary and most upsetting thing to me is that all of these images [of Stanford Indian mascots] are new. These aren't some kids that dug them out of their parents' basement..." Adrienne Keene, '07, shares her perspective on how far we haven't come on the Stanford Indian debate.
Read the Native Appropriations blog post  »

 

Dear Justice Kennedy...
"I think we [all] benefited from some type of preference in Stanford's decision-making process--all of us, not just our darker-skinned classmates." In light of Fisher vs. the University of Texas, Susan Stellin, '90, shares her perspective on affirmative action by way of a letter to Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, '58.
Read The Atlantic blog post  »

How to Write a Better Mission Statement
When it comes to writing a mission statement that's both inspirational and concrete, many Fortune 500 companies fail. THIS Inc CEO Greg McKeown, MBA '08, reveals the common pitfalls--and the secret to success.
Read McKeown's Harvard Business Review blog post  »

Watch

The Driverless Race Car video
"How many of you have ever gotten behind the wheel of a car when you really shouldn't have been driving?" Chris Gerdes, director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford, reveals how he and his team are developing robotic race cars that can drive at 150 mph while avoiding every possible accident.
Watch the Tedx talk  » (11 min.)







 

Classroom 3.0: Reimagining Learning video
A panel of Stanford scholars, including President Hennessy and Coursera co-founder Daphne Koller, PhD '94, discuss some of Stanford's new approaches to education.
Watch the Stanford Alumni Association's archived livestream  » (2 hrs, 5 min; jump to min. 17).

Gray Matters: Your Brain in the 21st Century video
Stanford neuroscience professors Frank Longo and Carla Shatz discuss the secrets of brain plasticity with two brain trauma survivors, brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor and journalist Bob Woodruff. ABC News correspondent JuJu Chang, '87, moderates the discussion.
Watch the Stanford YouTube video  » (1 hr, 34 min.)

Listen

Higgs Boson, Demystified audio
Get a taste of quantum physics with one of the fathers of string theory, Stanford physics professor Leonard Susskind.
Listen to the Stanford Continuing Studies lecture  » (75 min.)

In Politics, Does Likability Matter? audio
Can a cheery disposition and sense of humor win a presidential election? Morris Fiorina, a political science professor and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Wendt Family Professor of Political Science, and Bruce Cain, a political science professor and director designate of the Bill Lane Center for the American West, debate.
Listen to NPR's Forum report  » (52 min.)

Why We Get Fat audio
Eat less and exercise more. Is that all there is to losing weight? Gary Taubes, author of Why We Get Fat, says carbohydrates are the real problem. EconTalk host Russell Roberts, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, talks with Taubes.
Listen to the EconTalk podcast  » (80 min.)