NUXW creates community for crossword lovers

By JESSICA MA daily senior staffer @jessicama2025

For the Northwestern Crossword Team, solving crosswords is a team sport.

Two years ago, SESP junior Abby Nudell and her friends began gathering in a Schapiro Hall lounge to collectively solve crosswords, inspiring the start of NUXW.

“We’d hook up the computer to the TV and project the crosswords,” Nudell said. “Some people would come in and watch us do it … Slowly, we began to realize that a lot of people like to do crosswords at Northwestern.”

Today, NUXW aims to provide a community for crossword lovers.

Nudell, the team’s treasurer, said the idea for the group began as a joke but eventually became more concrete.

Weinberg junior Asher Martin-Rosenthal filled out paperwork to officially register NUXW on the grid as a University-recognized club. He may be the team’s president on paper, but he said he’s more of a figurehead.

Martin-Rosenthal said NUXW was branded as a “team” — instead of a club — for amusement. But, calling the group a “team” also makes its community feel more legitimate, he said.

“It was kind of a satire on the competitiveness of other clubs,” Martin-Rosenthal said. “Also, we thought it sounded cooler … ‘Team’ makes it feel like you’re (a) part of something together.”

Every Monday, NUXW solves The New York Times Sunday crossword. Martin-Rosenthal said figuring out the overarching clue for each week’s puzzle is exciting.

He said solving the weekly puzzle has its highs and lows, like when no one knows the word. But, the entire experience is engaging, Martin-Rosenthal said.

The team began with five members in 2021 but has grown to about 50 members, Nudell said. With the influx of members, she said the team’s approach changed.

“Now that we’ve gotten pretty big, we’ll split into two groups and race to do the Sunday (puzzle),” Nudell said. “Whoever’s quicker gets bragging rights.”

Nudell enjoys the social aspect of solving the crossword with a group — it’s “teamwork,” she said.

Martin-Rosenthal said he had never worked on a crossword with other people prior to NUXW’s inception. Everyone uses their own knowledge to solve the puzzle, he added.

“We do Sunday puzzles in 20 minutes sometimes,” Martin-Rosenthal said. “I’m like, ‘This would take me days!’ It’s just as fun to hear someone else come up with an answer as it is to come up with your own.”

Every Fall and Spring Quarter, the team runs recruitment cycles to attract new members, aiming for 20 to 30 students each time, Nudell said.

McCormick sophomore Breck Dunbar, a member of NUXW, found the application process entertaining. She was asked to write fanfiction for her application.

“I was like — even if (I didn’t) want to be on the team, I want to respond to these application questions,” Dunbar said. “It was just a funny application.”

Through NUXW, Dunbar met people she wouldn’t have otherwise known, she said. NUXW is a community, which she said drew her in.

Martin-Rosenthal said NUXW deviates from the campus culture of “AND is in our DNA.”

“Northwestern does not have a lot of places where you can find a community focused on something that’s just an interest,” Martin-Rosenthal said. “(NUXW) gets to that part that’s often missed in peoples’ college experiences.”

Monday.

McCormick sophomore Cate Mathews joined NUXW last spring. She considers herself a “4.5 out of 10” in terms of crossword-solving ability.

Like Martin-Rosenthal, she said NUXW

University President Michael Schill will be inaugurated June 2, Northwestern announced

According to a University press release, the ceremony — which will occur on the Evanston campus — will be open to faculty, staff and students. It will be followed by an in-person “community celebration,” also at the Evanston campus.

Schill, who is the University’s 17th president, took office about a month after NU announced in August 2022 that he would assume the role. He previously served as president of the University of Oregon from 2015 to 2022.

Schill is also a professor at the Pritzker School of Law and Kellogg School of Management.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to share brings students from different backgrounds together.

“At its core, (NUXW is) a group of people who get together and do the crossword,” Mathews said. “It’s such a fun mix of different types of Northwestern students who all have a shared interest.” jessicama2025@u.northwestern.edu in this community’s passion and vision for Northwestern,” Schill said in the release. “We are beginning a new adventure together. And if we do it right, Northwestern has an opportunity to reach truly rare heights in the coming years.”

Pavan Acharya

From page 1 rules of nanotech is that everything when miniaturized is different,” Mirkin said. “The second part of nanotech is in figuring out what you do with these differences to create new technologies.”

But, Mirkin said he was lucky enough to join NU’s faculty around the time former President Bill Clinton announced the National Nanotechnology Initiative, which initially invested about $450 million in the nanotechnology field in 2001.

Since the initiative, NU has become an international center for nanotechnology research, due in large part to Mirkin’s work as group leader of the Mirkin Research Group.

Mirkin is considered to be the founder of spherical nucleic acids, a gene regulation method that has potential health benefits, such as causing cancer cells to selectively die.

“Everybody in the world who works in nanotechnology follows (Mirkin’s) work,” said chemistry and biomedical engineering

Prof. Milan Mrksich, NU’s vice president for research. “As Northwestern has risen from a really good university to one of the world’s top

988

From page 1 the state prevent mental health crises from escalating into emergencies,” Illinois Department of Human Services Secretary Grace B. Hou said in July.

Trilogy Behavioral Healthcare, a Chicago-based mental health care organization, launched its own crisis line in January 2022.

In addition to fielding calls, its First-response Alternative Crisis Team sends trained responders to people in crisis as an alternative to police.

Chris Mayer, Trilogy’s clinical director, said FACT has recieved relatively few referral calls research institutions, (Mirkin) has very much led our way on that trajectory. He’s world class.”

Mirkin has received more than 230 awards for his work and discoveries, including the Friendship Award from China in 2018 and the King Faisal Prize in January. According to Mirkin, the accolades are a source of pride for everyone involved in his research group.

Before achieving “world class” status, Mirkin frequently moved across the globe. As the son of Peace Corps volunteers, Mirkin lived in places like Korea and Malaysia before settling down in Western Pennsylvania for middle and high school.

“(Moving) was an important part of growing up in the sense that it does make you adapt very rapidly,” Mirkin said. “You don’t have time for the world to adapt to you.” from 988 since last summer.

Mirkin said the liberal arts education he received at Dickinson College, where he studied chemistry, allowed him to cultivate close relationships with his professors.

After attending Dickinson, Mirkin earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Penn State University and then conducted postdoctoral research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then took on a teaching and research position at NU in 1991.

Mayer said the 988 line refers about five calls a month to Trilogy — compared to the about five referrals a week FACT receives from the Evanston Police Department. The hotline receives about 400 calls monthly, with most people directly calling Trilogy, according to Mayer.

“It seems like one challenge for (988) has been that the different mobile crisis teams are in different stages of being up and running in different places,” Mayer said. “So we get a lot of requests to go to further away places that aren’t in the area we cover.”

In the long term, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which

Orrington Avenue will be closed through Friday due to a sewer line collapse.

Evanston Public Library’s main location on

The building closed during business hours Wednesday, according to an EPL news release. Cleaning is now underway as the necessary repairs are assessed. Residents should expect some Church Street sidewalk and single-lane

Leslie Harris won the Provost Awards for Exemplary Faculty Service, the University announced.

History Prof. Laura Hein and Organization of Women Faculty co-Chairs Karen Alter and

The award, presented each year by the Office of the Provost, recognizes faculty members who exemplify “good academic citizenship” and provide “outstanding service to the University,” according to a NU press release.

Alter and Harris, professors of political science

Mirkin said he views NU as the perfect combination of a research “powerhouse” and a smaller-sized school that fosters community between students and professors.

“To this day, I have undergrads that write to me from 25 or 30 years ago, telling me what they’re doing now and how their experiences helped form who they are today,” Mirkin said.

Mirkin said he taught chemistry to mostly freshmen prior to this academic year, which he said he enjoyed because new students are typically enthusiastic and curious. He said he learned something alongside the students each time he taught a class, which encouraged him to change and incorporate new teaching techniques into his curriculum.

Today, Mirkin is focusing on writing a college chemistry textbook that will incorporate modern knowledge on nanotechnology.

“There aren’t a lot of good textbooks that introduce young people to nanotechnology,” Mirkin said. “We’re trying to use a lot of the discoveries that we’ve made at Northwestern and a lot of the lessons we’ve learned to create a way of teaching that hasn’t been done before.”

Both Mrksich and electrical and computer engineering Prof. Ted Sargent have conducted operates 988, aims to develop a mental health care system that provides every person “someone to talk to, someone to respond, and somewhere to go,” according to its website.

Mayer said while 988 acts as the primary response and resources like FACT as the secondary, localities like Evanston and Illinois still have to work on creating the “somewhere to go”: robust facilities for people seeking mental health care.

Jen McGowan-Tomke, chief operating officer at the National Alliance on Mental Illness Chicago, said SAMHSA plans to develop its own mobile response teams in the long term.

Before 988’s launch, 81% of Illinois calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline were transferred street closures through Friday, the release said.

In an email to The Daily, EPL Marketing & Communications Manager Jenette Sturges said she anticipates the library will reopen Saturday, assuming no delays. The cause of the collapse is currently unknown, Sturges said.

While the main location is closed, in-person and history, respectively, are being recognized for their efforts to support women faculty as co-chairs of OWF, the release said. They incorporated survey results of the pandemic’s impact on women faculty into an OWF report.

Hein has advocated for non-Western history within her department, according to the release. She also spearheaded the effort to

DAILY PUZZLES & CLASSIFIEDS • HELP WANTED •

Classified Ads

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN is not responsible for more than one incorrect insertion of an ad. Corrections must be received by 10am on the day before ad runs again, call 847-4917206. All Classifieds must be paid in advance and are not accepted over the phone. To run online, ad must run in print on same day. The Daily does not knowingly accept misleading or false ads and does not guarantee any ad or claim, or endorse any advertised product or service. Please use caution when answering ads, especially when sending money.

It is the policy of The Daily Northwestern to accept housing advertising only from those whose housing is available without discrimination with respect to sexual orientation, race, creed or national origin. The presumption is therefore, that any housing listing appearing here is non-discriminatory.

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN is not responsible for more than one incorrect insertion of an ad. Corrections must be received by 10am on the day before ad runs again, call 847-4917206. All Classifieds must be paid in advance and are not accepted over the phone. To run online, ad must run in print on same day. The Daily does not knowingly accept misleading or false ads and does not guarantee any ad or claim, or endorse any advertised product or service. Please use caution when answering ads, especially when sending money.

HELP WANTED ADS are accepted only from advertisers who are equal opportunity employers. The presumption, therefore, is that all positions offered here are available to qualified persons without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, age, handicap, or veteran status.

Daily Sudoku

research with Mirkin and described him as a positive presence who is always seeking new perspectives.

Sargent said his group of researchers often work with Mirkin and appreciate his insight as they explore the intersection of nanotechnology and sustainability.

“He’s very energetic and active, full of ideas, full of knowledge based on his experience,” Sargent said. “He’s a very inspiring person.”

Sargent also said Mirkin is an internationally celebrated expert and a pioneer in the fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Despite many achievements, Mirkin said he is most proud of the people he has worked with and trained who have made discoveries and become leaders in the chemistry field.

“No matter what we do, what discovery we make, that ultimately gets dated,” Mirkin said. “The people you train are kind of like your DNA — it’s what’s passed on. If you train them well, which I think we’ve done, they go off and have great careers in their own right, and end up winning big awards and making big discoveries and just keep giving and giving and giving.” fionaroach2025@u.northwestern.edu to out-of-state call centers. In August 2022 — a month after its launch — the in-state answer rate jumped to 85%, according to state reports.

Still, McGowan-Tomke said 988 is not meant to be “the full system.” States and localities still need to make concerted investments to expand mobile crisis teams, mental health urgent care systems and long-term facilities, she added.

“I really do see this as a multi-year effort to build the mental health crisis system that we should have and that people deserve,” McGowan-Tomke said. “And there’s still a lot of work towards that vision.” maiapandey@u.northwestern.edu programming will be canceled and materials on hold are unavailable, according to the release. However, the Robert Crown Branch at Robert Crown Community Center will be unaffected by the sewer line collapse.

— Aviva Bechky

establish the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures.

“(Hein) worked tirelessly to make Asia — and the non-Western world beyond Asia — a presence on our campus,” a nominee said in the release.

— Pavan Acharya

Daily Crossword

FIRE PROTECTION INSPECTOR Entry Level or Lateral Navy Region Mid-Atlantic Fire & Emergency Services Naval Support Activity Crane $62,176 to $100,102/year. Minimum of accredited Fire Inspector II, HazMat Awareness required for lateral. Excellent Federal benefits, plus Tuition Assistance, career path & promotion potential. AFGE union shop.

Email DirectHireFire@navy.mil and put “Crane Fire Inspector” in subject line for benefits information and assistance in creating a resume for Federal employment. Equal Opportunity Employer.

Complete

FIREFIGHTER-EMT (Lateral) $55,565 to $89,422

FIREFIGHTER-PARAMEDIC (Lateral) $55,565 to $109,388

Navy Region Mid-Atlantic Fire & Emergency Services Naval Support Activity Crane Minimum of accredited Firefighter II, HazMat Operations, and EMT or Paramedic. Salary dependent on credentials and qualifications. Excellent Federal benefits, plus Tuition Assistance. AFGE union shop. Recruitment and Relocation Incentives available for well-qualified candidates.

Email DirectHireFire@navy.mil and put “Crane Firefighter” in subject line for benefits information and assistance in creating a resume for Federal employment. Equal Opportunity Employer.

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis SOLUTION