Latest news with #NU
Time of India
15-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Over 550 apply for 110 part-time NU teaching positions
Nagpur: Nagpur University has received over five times the number of applications compared to the total posts advertised for the recruitment of part-time teachers for the current academic year. According to NU records, 566 candidates applied for the post of assistant professor in different NU departments and affiliated colleges. Around 490 were found eligible for interviews. A list of 76 rejected candidates has been uploaded on the university website. The rejected candidates did not possess the required qualifications and were weeded out during screening. The dates of interviews will be communicated to the candidates through the website. The university has decided to appoint 110 assistant professors on a contract basis for the new academic year 2025-26. NU has increased the monthly payout to Rs40,000 to attract qualified and experienced teaching professionals. The minimum qualification has also been scaled to NET/SET or a PhD degree. Several postgraduate departments have been without a full-time teacher for a long period, while other departments are working with deficient staff. NU has been unable to fill its vacancies due to several reasons. The previous recruitment drive for regular teaching positions, initiated a couple of years ago, met with technical hurdles and remains stalled to date. In the current drive, postgraduate teaching departments in the science and technology faculty have the highest vacancy. A total of 40 posts have been advertised in science subjects. This is followed by 24 positions in social sciences and 11 in languages, both under the faculty of humanities. The interdisciplinary studies faculty will recruit nine teachers, commerce and management six, and three in the centre for specialised studies. Another 17 will be recruited in the university college of education and law college. The appointment of teachers has become necessary as the university does not grant continuation of affiliation to colleges with deficiencies in teaching staff. Senate members have been raising concerns over the deficiency of teachers in the university.
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
After Northwestern scientist questioned for China ties died by suicide, family sues and speaks out
Their mother was Jane Wu, a Chinese American neuroscientist at Northwestern University whose lab was abruptly shut down in May 2024 following a government investigation into her research activities and ties to China. Wu was never charged, and she died by suicide at 60 years old just months later. Her family recently filed a lawsuit against the school alleging that Northwestern discriminated against Wu even though she was cleared by shutting down her lab, forcing her into a psychiatric facility against her will and ultimately leading her to take her own life. Wu's court records do not show any related charges. Her daughter, Elizabeth Rao, is now speaking to the media for the first time amid the one-year anniversary of Wu's death. Rao talked about her mother's legacy and addressed the lawsuit that she hopes will result in the fair treatment of scholars like her mother. 'As painful as it is for us as her family to recount how Northwestern treated her, we are seeking justice to prevent this from happening again to others in the future,' Rao said. Wu, a neuroscientist, had a nearly 40-year career including nearly two decades at Northwestern, according to the complaint, which said her lab researched tumor development and metastasis, in addition to efforts to fight neurodegenerative diseases. A naturalized citizen, Wu lived in Chicago, enjoyed a wide variety of music ranging from Tanya Tucker to Taiwanese pop musician Teresa Teng and loved spending time with her two children. In 2019, the National Institutes of Health, a federal medical research agency that operates under the Department of Health and Human services, investigated Wu for any contacts related to China as part of a larger agency effort to investigate foreign influence at U.S. grantee institutions. Her work included 'occasional international contacts' in China in addition to Argentina, Britain, Canada and more, the lawsuit said. While there were never any charges, Northwestern made efforts to limit her from working during the probe, the suit said. And when the investigation failed to turn up any revelations, the school still continued to punish her, the suit said. 'NU did nothing to support her nor help lift the racial stigma placed over Dr. Wu despite her obvious innocence and the enormous funding her work had brought to NU,' the lawsuit said. The Wu family suit, filed on June 23, says that the school's treatment of Wu, including its alleged efforts to oust her, her physical eviction from her office and forced hospitalization, was a 'substantial and decisive factor in her decision to end her life.' The estate is seeking an unspecified amount in compensatory and punitive damages. Northwestern told NBC News in an email that its heart goes out to the family, but it 'vehemently denies' the allegations in the suit. The school 'plans to file a motion to dismiss it before our next pleading is due in early September,' the university said. The school declined to provide further details on specific allegations. The suit says that even though there was no evidence of wrongdoing, the school still took action against Wu following the NIH investigation. Northwestern did not address its interactions with NIH. NIH faced backlash for alleged racial profiling after it began sending letters to universities in 2018 asking them to investigate hundreds of grant recipients, mostly those with collaborators in China. The letters were part of an effort by NIH to thwart the theft of biomedical research and intellectual property by other countries. Lawmakers in 2020 launched a probe into the agency as well as the FBI for their investigations of scientists of Asian descent. While NIH has said that most but not all scientists who were being investigated were of Chinese descent, the agency denied racial profiling. 'This is not xenophobic racism, this is not targeting and this is not stigma. This is real theft,' Dr. Michael Lauer, NIH deputy director for extramural research, said of the agency's investigations into Asian scientists that showed instances of withholding information about funding sources. At the time, under the Department of Justice's China Initiative, a number of scholars of Chinese descent across the country had been accused of espionage, including MIT's Gang Chen in 2021, University of Tennessee, Knoxville's Anming Hu in 2020 and Qing Wang formerly of the Cleveland Clinic that same year. All three were later acquitted. While the NIH investigations were not formally part of the China Initiative, they drew similar criticisms of discrimination. The Wu estate suit alleges Northwestern discriminated against her during the investigation by limiting her work, partly closing her lab space, breaking up her research team and reassigning her grants to white, male faculty colleagues and isolating her. During a meeting with university leadership in which Wu was being told about the investigation, she was asked to write a 'narrative related to activities in China,' the lawsuit said. The family accused the school of racial discrimination because the university had already approved of her interactions in China and her work was public domain, the lawsuit the school sought to limit Wu's work even after the investigation had concluded and continued efforts to isolate her, the lawsuit said. When the investigation ended in 2023, the university placed 'even stronger restrictions to block Dr. Wu's return to her funded scientific work,' the lawsuit said. Among them, the dean of the university's Feinberg School of Medicine, where Wu taught, cut her salary and raised new requirements she had to meet to restore her funded status, the suit said. Months later, the school continued efforts to block Wu's work, and by May, administrators shut down her lab entirely 'without explanation,' the complaint said. The ordeal had contributed to signs of depression and obsessive behavior in Wu as she attempted to protect her life's work, the complaint said. She also suffered from a loss of vision as a result of a stroke she had under the stress of the investigation, the lawsuit said. But she was still able to work. The school used her emotional disability as a 'pretext' to evict her, and in late May, Northwestern sent law enforcement to remove her and place her in handcuffs, the lawsuit said. The school then forcibly admitted her to the psychiatric unit of the Northwestern Memorial Hospital without notifying loved ones or consulting outside doctors, the lawsuit said. Northwestern declined to comment about specific allegations, including those around salary, law enforcement and psychiatric treatment. 'The physical assault directed by NU and the forced hospitalization sent Dr. Wu into a severe state of shock,' the complaint said. Two weeks after her release from the hospital, Wu took her own life, the lawsuit said. In December 2024, NIH released a statement acknowledging that its efforts to protect against concerning activities from China 'have had the consequence of creating a difficult climate for our valued Asian American, Asian immigrant and Asian research colleagues who may feel targeted and alienated.' Wu's story has drawn support from a number of members of the scientific community in addition to groups like the Asian American Scholar Forum, which condemned the school's treatment of the late scientist. 'Universities must be places of community, support, and fairness, not fear and coercion,' said Gisela Perez Kusakawa, executive director of the Asian American Scholar Forum, in a statement on Wu's death. For Rao, many of her best memories are of Wu as a parent. She described her mother as the opposite of the strict and demanding 'tiger mom' stereotype. Throughout Rao's childhood, the family lived in St. Louis, Nashville and then Chicago, she said. And in each of those cities, Wu 'turned simple houses into warm homes.' Rao said she and her mother would hold hands and watch movies or immerse themselves in the quiz show 'Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me!' The two would also sing along to tunes during long drives, she said. 'She made sure that my brother and I had got not only a great education but also got to do all the stuff of a quintessential American childhood. Sports, road trips, dance classes, choir, you name it,' Rao said. Rao said that her mother also left her family with a lesson. 'We carry this with us: her upstanding morals and conviction to fight against injustice,' she said. This article was originally published on
NBC News
12-07-2025
- Health
- NBC News
After Northwestern scientist questioned for China ties died by suicide, family sues and speaks out
Their mother was Jane Wu, a Chinese American neuroscientist at Northwestern University whose lab was abruptly shut down in May 2024 following a government investigation into her research activities and ties to China. Wu was never charged, and she died by suicide at 60 years old just months later. Her family recently filed a lawsuit against the school alleging that Northwestern discriminated against Wu even though she was cleared by shutting down her lab, forcing her into a psychiatric facility against her will and ultimately leading her to take her own life. Wu's court records do not show any related charges. Her daughter, Elizabeth Rao, is now speaking to the media for the first time amid the one-year anniversary of Wu's death. Rao talked about her mother's legacy and addressed the lawsuit that she hopes will result in the fair treatment of scholars like her mother. 'As painful as it is for us as her family to recount how Northwestern treated her, we are seeking justice to prevent this from happening again to others in the future,' Rao said. Wu, a neuroscientist, had a nearly 40-year career including nearly two decades at Northwestern, according to the complaint, which said her lab researched tumor development and metastasis, in addition to efforts to fight neurodegenerative diseases. A naturalized citizen, Wu lived in Chicago, enjoyed a wide variety of music ranging from Tanya Tucker to Taiwanese pop musician Teresa Teng and loved spending time with her two children. In 2019, the National Institutes of Health, a federal medical research agency that operates under the Department of Health and Human services, investigated Wu for any contacts related to China as part of a larger agency effort to investigate foreign influence at U.S. grantee institutions. Her work included 'occasional international contacts' in China in addition to Argentina, Britain, Canada and more, the lawsuit said. While there were never any charges, Northwestern made efforts to limit her from working during the probe, the suit said. And when the investigation failed to turn up any revelations, the school still continued to punish her, the suit said. 'NU did nothing to support her nor help lift the racial stigma placed over Dr. Wu despite her obvious innocence and the enormous funding her work had brought to NU,' the lawsuit said. The Wu family suit, filed on June 23, says that the school's treatment of Wu, including its alleged efforts to oust her, her physical eviction from her office and forced hospitalization, was a 'substantial and decisive factor in her decision to end her life.' The estate is seeking an unspecified amount in compensatory and punitive damages. Northwestern told NBC News in an email that its heart goes out to the family, but it 'vehemently denies' the allegations in the suit. The school 'plans to file a motion to dismiss it before our next pleading is due in early September,' the university said. The school declined to provide further details on specific allegations. The suit says that even though there was no evidence of wrongdoing, the school still took action against Wu following the NIH investigation. Northwestern did not address its interactions with NIH. NIH faced backlash for alleged racial profiling after it began sending letters to universities in 2018 asking them to investigate hundreds of grant recipients, mostly those with collaborators in China. The letters were part of an effort by NIH to thwart the theft of biomedical research and intellectual property by other countries. Lawmakers in 2020 launched a probe into the agency as well as the FBI for their investigations of scientists of Asian descent. While NIH has said that most but not all scientists who were being investigated were of Chinese descent, the agency denied racial profiling. 'This is not xenophobic racism, this is not targeting and this is not stigma. This is real theft,' Dr. Michael Lauer, NIH deputy director for extramural research, said of the agency's investigations into Asian scientists that showed instances of withholding information about funding sources. At the time, under the Department of Justice's China Initiative, a number of scholars of Chinese descent across the country had been accused of espionage, including MIT's Gang Chen in 2021, University of Tennessee, Knoxville's Anming Hu in 2020 and Qing Wang formerly of the Cleveland Clinic that same year. All three were later acquitted. While the NIH investigations were not formally part of the China Initiative, they drew similar criticisms of discrimination. The Wu estate suit alleges Northwestern discriminated against her during the investigation by limiting her work, partly closing her lab space, breaking up her research team and reassigning her grants to white, male faculty colleagues and isolating her. During a meeting with university leadership in which Wu was being told about the investigation, she was asked to write a 'narrative related to activities in China,' the lawsuit said. The family accused the school of racial discrimination because the university had already approved of her interactions in China and her work was public domain, the lawsuit the school sought to limit Wu's work even after the investigation had concluded and continued efforts to isolate her, the lawsuit said. When the investigation ended in 2023, the university placed 'even stronger restrictions to block Dr. Wu's return to her funded scientific work,' the lawsuit said. Among them, the dean of the university's Feinberg School of Medicine, where Wu taught, cut her salary and raised new requirements she had to meet to restore her funded status, the suit said. Months later, the school continued efforts to block Wu's work, and by May, administrators shut down her lab entirely 'without explanation,' the complaint said. The ordeal had contributed to signs of depression and obsessive behavior in Wu as she attempted to protect her life's work, the complaint said. She also suffered from a loss of vision as a result of a stroke she had under the stress of the investigation, the lawsuit said. But she was still able to work. The school used her emotional disability as a 'pretext' to evict her, and in late May, Northwestern sent law enforcement to remove her and place her in handcuffs, the lawsuit said. The school then forcibly admitted her to the psychiatric unit of the Northwestern Memorial Hospital without notifying loved ones or consulting outside doctors, the lawsuit said. Northwestern declined to comment about specific allegations, including those around salary, law enforcement and psychiatric treatment. 'The physical assault directed by NU and the forced hospitalization sent Dr. Wu into a severe state of shock,' the complaint said. Two weeks after her release from the hospital, Wu took her own life, the lawsuit said. In December 2024, NIH released a statement acknowledging that its efforts to protect against concerning activities from China 'have had the consequence of creating a difficult climate for our valued Asian American, Asian immigrant and Asian research colleagues who may feel targeted and alienated.' Wu's story has drawn support from a number of members of the scientific community in addition to groups like the Asian American Scholar Forum, which condemned the school's treatment of the late scientist. 'Universities must be places of community, support, and fairness, not fear and coercion,' said Gisela Perez Kusakawa, executive director of the Asian American Scholar Forum, in a statement on Wu's death. For Rao, many of her best memories are of Wu as a parent. She described her mother as the opposite of the strict and demanding 'tiger mom' stereotype. Throughout Rao's childhood, the family lived in St. Louis, Nashville and then Chicago, she said. And in each of those cities, Wu 'turned simple houses into warm homes.' Rao said she and her mother would hold hands and watch movies or immerse themselves in the quiz show 'Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me!' The two would also sing along to tunes during long drives, she said. 'She made sure that my brother and I had got not only a great education but also got to do all the stuff of a quintessential American childhood. Sports, road trips, dance classes, choir, you name it,' Rao said. Rao said that her mother also left her family with a lesson. 'We carry this with us: her upstanding morals and conviction to fight against injustice,' she said.
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
BSAC or NU: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?
Investors with an interest in Banks - Foreign stocks have likely encountered both Banco Santander-Chile (BSAC) and Nu Holdings Ltd. (NU). But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to take a closer look. We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits. Banco Santander-Chile has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Nu Holdings Ltd. has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that BSAC is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. However, value investors will care about much more than just this. Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels. Our Value category highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years. BSAC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.33, while NU has a forward P/E of 22.62. We also note that BSAC has a PEG ratio of 0.69. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. NU currently has a PEG ratio of 0.70. Another notable valuation metric for BSAC is its P/B ratio of 2.49. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, NU has a P/B of 6.8. Based on these metrics and many more, BSAC holds a Value grade of B, while NU has a Value grade of D. BSAC is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that BSAC is likely the superior value option right now. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Banco Santander Chile (BSAC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Nu Holdings Ltd. (NU) : Free Stock Analysis Report Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (LOPE) : Free Stock Analysis Report HealthEquity, Inc. (HQY) : Free Stock Analysis Report Compagnie Financiere Richemont AG (CFRUY) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Can Nubank Repeat Its Brazilian Success in Mexico and Beyond?
The rapid expansion of Nu Holdings Ltd. NU in Brazil has set a high bar, but replicating that momentum in Mexico may prove more complex. Although Nubank Mexico launched with a more aggressive rollout than its Brazilian counterpart, growth metrics suggest a slower trajectory. When Nubank reached 10 million users in Brazil, it was growing at a robust 20% quarter over quarter. In contrast, Nubank Mexico is currently expanding at a more modest 10% quarterly pace, implying a timeline of nearly two years to double its customer base, compared to just one year in Brazil. However, regulatory tailwinds might change the equation. New banking licenses in Mexico could unlock access to payroll loans, currently dominated by a few legacy banks, and enable Nubank to offer deposit insurance. These advancements would not only diversify Nubank's revenue streams but also strengthen consumer trust, a crucial factor in financial services adoption. Yet the road ahead is still rocky. Mexican incumbents have had a front-row seat to Nubank's disruptive rise in Brazil. This has given them ample time to fortify their defenses, upgrade digital offerings and safeguard their customer base. Unlike in Brazil, where traditional banks were caught off guard, Mexican institutions are preemptively countering Nubank's market entry, likely slowing its path to dominance. In summary, while Mexico presents promising regulatory and market potential, Nubank may struggle to recreate the explosive growth it experienced in Brazil. Future success will depend on both strategic execution and the ability to navigate entrenched competition in newer markets. While NU continues to surge ahead in Latin America, U.S.-based peers like SoFi Technologies SOFI and Block XYZ are taking different routes to growth. SoFi is focusing on deepening customer relationships through bundled financial services like lending, investing and banking. Its strategy seems to emphasize lifetime value over rapid user expansion. Meanwhile, Block is sharpening its dual ecosystem approach, serving both individual users through Cash App and small businesses via Square. While both SoFi and Block are evolving steadily, NU's pace and scale of customer acquisition in emerging markets underscore a distinct momentum that sets it apart in the global fintech landscape. The stock has rallied 18% year to date, underperforming the industry's 22% growth. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research From a valuation standpoint, NU trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 18.88, well above the industry's 9.2. It carries a Value Score of D. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NU's second-quarter 2025 earnings has been on the decline over the past 60 days. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research NU stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Nu Holdings Ltd. (NU) : Free Stock Analysis Report SoFi Technologies, Inc. (SOFI) : Free Stock Analysis Report Block, Inc. (XYZ) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
