That’s according to a study co-authored by Fordham economics professor Sophie Mitra, Ph.D., and researchers in health-related fields at other universities. It shows that after four decades in which inflation stayed low and didn’t pose a serious problem in America, the mental health impacts of its spike in the past few years are ripe for study, Mitra said.

“That’s an open field in terms of research,” she said. “We know … that unemployment has very detrimental effects on mental health, and that a job loss can lead to depression and other negative mental health outcomes.” Inflation has received less study, but seems to be “a very important potential determinant of well-being, including mental health,” she said.

The study also suggests that positive economic news, like a low unemployment rate, may be “insufficient in terms of telling us about how people feel about the economy,” she said.

The High Price of Milk

The study, based on data about 71,000 working-age adults, was published earlier this year in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The researchers used information from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, begun during the coronavirus pandemic, which collects data about how households are affected by various social and economic issues.

Their study focused on respondents who told the Census Bureau about their stress level caused by price increases. It compared these stress levels in mid-September 2022, when the inflation rate was 8.2%, with levels in June 2023, when inflation had dropped to the closer-to-normal rate of 3%. Despite the decline, the share of respondents who were very or moderately stressed by inflation increased, going from 77% to 79%.

The increase, Mitra said, suggests that a short-term measurement like the inflation rate might not reflect the cumulative stress caused by rising prices. People’s belt-tightening measures can include canceling subscriptions, cutting back on utilities, delaying medical treatments, and working additional jobs, the study notes.

And even if the inflation rate drops, prices are still “a lot higher than what they were a couple of years ago,” she said. “The price of a gallon of milk is not what it used to be in 2020.”

Impact of Job Losses, Long COVID

Mitra also noted that stress due to inflation is worse for those whose income is cut, whether from a job loss or a case of long COVID-19. Among other findings, the study found stress levels increased more among certain groups, including less educated adults and women in general, for instance.

The study calls for policies to address “the complexity of stress responses” stemming from societal challenges like the pandemic and the inflation that followed it—a combination of problems seen “never before in the history of the U.S.,” the study says. The study also points to the need for adding inflation adjustments to government benefits and tax credits—such as the child tax credit—that promote people’s economic security, Mitra said.

She looks forward to future studies with her cross-disciplinary group, which includes researchers from the social work school at Rutgers, the Penn State Cancer Institute, the University of North Texas Health Science Center, West Virginia University’s department of dental public health, and JPS Health Network in Fort Worth. “We share an interest [in]the relation between economic insecurity and health,” she said.

That tech, called generative AI, holds the key to a new system “that not only anticipates potential attacks but also prepares systems to counteract previously unseen cyberthreats,” said Mohamed Rahouti, Ph.D., assistant professor in the computer and information science department and one of Fordham’s IBM research fellows.

He and a crew of graduate students are working on new systems that, he said, are needed to get ahead of sophisticated attacks that are constantly evolving. Their focus is a type of easy-to-launch attack that has proved crippling to companies and government agencies ever since the internet began.

Denial of Service Attacks

Cybercriminals sometimes overwhelm and freeze a company’s or government agency’s computer systems by bombarding them with way more internet traffic than they can handle, using multiple computers or multiple online accounts. This is known as a distributed denial of service attack, or DDOS.

A typical attack could cost a company $22,000 a minute, he said. Nearly 30,000 of them take place every day around the world. Many of them are foiled by programs that use machine learning and artificial intelligence.

But those programs don’t always know what to look for, since they typically rely on snapshots of past traffic, Rahouti said. Another challenge is the growing number of internet-connected devices, from smart watches to autonomous vehicles, that could provide cybercriminals with new avenues for attack.

Generative AI

Hence the research into using generative AI, which could produce a far wider range of possible attack scenarios by working upon computer traffic data to make new connections and predictions, he said. When it’s trained using the scenarios produced by generative AI, “then my machine learning/AI model will be much more capable of detecting the different types of DDOS attacks,” Rahouti said.

To realize this vision, Rahouti and his team of graduate students are working on several projects. They recently used generative AI and other techniques to expand upon a snapshot of network traffic data and create a clearer picture of what is and isn’t normal. This helps machine learning programs see what shouldn’t be there. “We were amazed at the quality of this enhanced picture,” Rahouti said.

This bigger dataset enabled their machine learning model to spot low-profile attacks it had previously missed, he said.

Large Language Models

For their next project, they’re studying a large language model—the kind that powers ChatGPT—for ideas about how generative AI can be applied to cybersecurity. They’re using InstructLab, an open-source tool launched by IBM and Red Hat in May.

With all the companies and university researchers invested in new uses for generative AI, Rahouti is optimistic about its future applications in cybersecurity. The goal is to develop a system that runs on its own in the background, detecting both existing and emerging threats without being explicitly told what to look for.

“At present, we don’t have a fully autonomous system with these capabilities,” Rahouti said, “but advancements in AI and machine learning are moving us closer to achieving this level of real-time, adaptive cybersecurity.”

“Programs like ASPIRES are game changers,” said Maura Mast, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill. “Through this type of support, women—and others who are underrepresented in STEM—see themselves as belonging, see themselves as mathematicians and scientists, and see themselves as successful.”

Through the NSF-funded University program, first-year students receive annual scholarships, which range from $1,000 to $10,000, for their four years at Fordham; guidance in and out of the lab; and funding for their undergraduate research. Scholarships for their first year of study are funded by NSF; the remaining three years, the scholarships are funded by Fordham. In total, the grant will sponsor four student cohorts. The first will serve as mentors to incoming scholars. 

Last fall, the University was awarded $1 million to be granted over five years for ASPIRES, which stands for Achievement in STEM through a Program of Immersive Research Experience and Support. Awarded by the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program, the grant is intended to help increase the number of college students pursuing careers in STEM, especially those who come from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in the field.

“In the analysis that was done for the grant, a disproportionate number of Fordham STEM majors or students intending to pursue a STEM major leave STEM or don’t go on to STEM fields,” said Robert H. Beer, Ph.D., associate dean for STEM and pre-health education at Fordham College at Rose Hill. “The idea behind the grant was that if we put this program in place freshman year, students that might be at the risk of leaving a STEM field or major would stay.” 

To qualify for the program, students must indicate an interest in a STEM major on their college applications, demonstrate strong academic performance in high school, and show financial need. 

“This is really early exposure and access to faculty, research, and the idea of research,” said Christie-Belle Garcia, assistant dean for student support and success. “The way the program is set up is to give them an upper hand in being able to access these [resources].” 

Early Exposure to Lab Life

ASPIRES not only pays for part of students’ tuition, but also funds their future research projects, offers a year-long research seminar that shows students how to create their own research projects, and hosts a six-day Summer Bridge Program that introduces students to the campus before the semester starts. 

From Aug. 18 to 23, this year’s ASPIRES students explored the Rose Hill campus and toured the chemistry, biology, and physics departments. They saw several lab experiments performed by professors and student research assistants, ranging in subject from crystals to cell mitosis to electrons. The students were also treated to meals in Manhattan and the Bronx, as well as activities like zip lining at the Bronx Zoo and navigating an escape room in the city. 

“In the first week of the students being here, they were exposed to faculty in a small group setting,” Garcia said. “Throughout the course of the year, the goal is to provide them with the necessary skills to be able to participate in research by the end of their first year of college.” 

The First Cohort

Twelve undergraduates were selected from approximately 400 candidates, said Beer. 

One student, Sonola Burjja, is originally from Europe. As a high school student in Albania, she said she placed among the top three students in several biology state olympiads. But it wasn’t until she moved to the U.S. in her senior year of high school that she was able to conduct complex science experiments in her classes. 

“In Albania, we didn’t have much research or opportunity,” said Burrja, a biology major on the pre-med track. “[At Fordham] I’ve already scheduled an appointment with one of the deans involved in research to talk about different opportunities. I’d like to do something that is related to people’s lives … to the medical field.” 

Most of the ASPIRES students live on campus. But a few students commute from the Bronx, like Dogunhe Trawally, who rides the Bx15 to the Rose Hill campus several times a week. He said he’s taking five courses this semester: one in English composition, one in Islamic history, one in sociology, and two in computer science. 

“Technology is this evolving theme that’s part of our lives,” said Trawally, a computer science major. “So I thought, what other way to make a change in the world than to do something that people are already into, that has changed so many lives?” 

Another ASPIRES student, Ora Kalaj, said she’s fascinated by the chemical makeup of cosmetic products. Last summer, she interned at a French skincare company called Biologique Recherche, where she not only learned about the marketing side of the business but also the technical side. 

“There was a seminar where the executives of the company came to talk to the estheticians-in-training about the chemical makeup of the products,” said Kalaj, adding that the experience helped narrow her interest in the field of chemistry. 

In the future, she said she envisions herself as a chemist or chemical engineer. But for now, Kalaj—a chemistry major from Eastchester, New York—is concentrating on the next four years. 

“I’m really excited to participate in scientific research because I never did anything like that in high school,” she said. “I’m excited to work with people who are as passionate as I am.”