The Inka Empire, the largest in the pre-Columbian Americas, is renowned for its impressive engineering feats, including an extensive road network and monumental architecture. Although the Inkas did not have a traditional writing system, they recorded information using a unique method: khipus. These knotted cords were essential tools for communication and record-keeping. Through meticulous structural analysis and documentation, FitzPatrick seeks to uncover the meanings encoded in khipus beyond their numerical knots. FitzPatrick’s project not only aims to advance archaeological knowledge but also seeks to reframe public understanding of the Inka Empire's complex administrative capabilities. By preserving and interpreting khipus, he hopes to reveal a more nuanced history of the Andean civilizations, illuminating the enduring legacy of their cultural innovations for contemporary audiences, as well as a powerful Indigenous perspective on Andean history—one distinct from narratives provided by Europeans.

The figure of the young, tragic male poet has long dominated cultural narratives about artistic brilliance and early death. But what if poetic genius deepens, rather than fades, with age? In this talk given at the 2025 Harvard Horizons Symposium, Slavic languages and literatures PhD candidate and Harvard Horizons Scholar Alex Braslavsky explores the creative power of poets in their advanced age in her project, "Embracing Twilight: Older Women Poets and the Unfurling of Their Voices". Focusing on three radical women writers, Braslavsky examines how aging can become a source of artistic innovation, personal transformation, and visionary insight. Drawing on archival research and a deep connection to Slavic literary traditions, her work challenges dominant cultural myths of decline and illuminates the enduring power of late-life creativity.

Raphaël Raux's 2025 Harvard Horizon project, "Human Learning about AI," conducted in collaboration with fellow PhD student Bnaya Dreyfuss, explores how people often assume AI thinks like a human, which can lead to confusion about what these systems can and can’t do. As a PhD candidate in economics at Harvard, Raux studies the complex relationship between how humans think and how artificial intelligence works. His research challenges common assumptions about AI and encourages a clearer, more realistic understanding of the technology. In his April 2025 talk at the annual Harvard Horizons Symposium, Raux shared insights from his work, which he hopes will support smarter decisions about how we use AI and help guide its development in ways that benefit both the economy and society.

As a PhD candidate in government at Harvard's Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, 2025 Harvard Horizons Scholar Andrew O'Donohue explores the complexities of democratic resilience in his project, "Law versus Democracy: Why Courts Defend or Undermine Democracy in Turkey, Israel, and Beyond." His research delves into the varying roles that courts play in either protecting or eroding democratic systems, drawing insights from compelling case studies in Turkey and Israel.

2025 Harvard Horizons Scholar Katherine Horgan explores the legacy of the ancient Greek poet Sappho in her project, "Living Sappho: Imitation, Imagination, and Revivification in Early Modern England." A PhD student in English at Harvard's Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Horgan delves into the complex interplay between Sappho’s textual and biographical traditions, exploring how artists and writers have continuously reimagined and celebrated Sappho over millennia. Horgan’s research argues for the transformative power of Sappho’s work throughout literary history. By illuminating the rich afterlife of Sappho's poetry and persona, Horgan not only contributes to the recovery of marginalized voices but also invites contemporary readers to engage with Sappho as a site of playful exploration and enduring inspiration.

We hate each other more than we used to, at least where politics is concerned. Measures of effective polarization, the animosity that Democrats have for Republicans and vice versa, have increased dramatically since the 1990s, according to a 2021 study by political scientists James Druckman and Jeremy Levy. Moreover, the most polarized folks are the ones most likely to vote in primaries, resulting in more extreme general election candidates, which further polarize voters, and so on.

Boston University professor Jacob Brown, PhD ’22 says that where we live shapes the political party we join and the candidates we vote for. The places we grow up shape our views and social pressure influences our affiliations. Moreover, when we change neighborhoods or our neighborhoods change around us, our party ID can change too. That fact—that our affiliations are not necessarily set in stone, but can shift as the people and places around us do—may offer some hope for the future of civic life in The United States . . . if we know what to do with it.

2025 Harvard Horizons Scholar Katherine Venturo-Conerly is on a mission to revolutionize access to effective mental health care—particularly for young people. Her research project, "Tackling the Global Youth Mental Health Challenge: Lessons from Psychotherapy Research in Kenya," focuses on creating and implementing effective, accessible mental health interventions for children and adolescents in multiple countries, with a particular focus on Kenya. As co-founder of Kenya’s Shamiri Institute with her Harvard College classmate Tom Osborn, Venturo-Conerly is developing a collaborative and sustainable approach to bridge the mental health care gap around the world. In this talk delivered in April 2025 at the annual Harvard Horizons Symposium, Venturo-Conerly talks about creating, testing, and implementing effective, accessible mental health interventions for children and adolescents across multiple contexts.

The US Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard made it illegal for colleges and universities to use race as a factor in choosing their incoming classes. As a result, schools are working harder than ever to recruit and admit first-generation and lower-income applicants to preserve the diversity of their student bodies. But the Boston University sociologist Anthony Abraham Jack says American higher education wasn’t ready for the diversity they were recruiting before the Court's ruling—and they're still not ready now. His research shows how schools often fail to acknowledge the inequities of class and race that students bring to campus from home. The solution? Pop the campus bubble and begin looking at the ways that place impacts the challenges low-income and first-generation students face.

Anthony Abraham Jack is the Inaugural Faculty Director of the Newbury Center at Boston University, where he is an associate professor of higher education leadership at the Wheelock College of Education and Human Development. He has earned awards from the American Educational Studies Association, the American Sociological Association, and the Association for the Study of Higher Education, among others. His first book, The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students, earned awards from the Association for the Study of Higher Education and the Eastern Sociological Association and was named one of National Public Radio’s Best Books of 2019. His second book, Class Dismissed: When Colleges Ignore Inequality, and Students Pay the Price, won the PROSE Award in Education Theory and Practice from the Association of American Publishers. Anthony Abraham Jack received his PhD in sociology from Harvard Griffin GSAS in 2016.