Skip to section navigation
Skip to page content

Toggle Search Toggle Menu

Site-wide navigation

About Pardee RAND
As the original policy Ph.D. program, Pardee RAND Graduate School is unique in American higher education.
Go to About
Admissions
Pardee RAND's mission is to train future leaders. Learn what's involved and how to apply.
Go to Admissions
Academics
Great courses are only part of a Pardee RAND education. Students also conduct project-based policy research for RAND clients, in the Tech Lab, or with our partners in communities.
Go to Academics
Research & Innovation
Pardee RAND benefits from its applied policy research setting and focus on innovative analytic methods.
Go to Research & Innovation
Careers & Alumni
Alumni pursue a wide variety of careers. Our Career Development staff coaches students and alumni on their career paths.
Go to Careers & Alumni
News & Events
Pardee RAND students, alumni, and faculty publish blogs and research, speak at events, and more.
Go to News & Events

Pardee RAND Faculty

The Pardee RAND faculty is composed of a unique body of individuals. At many universities, some faculty members view teaching as a chore and try to "buy out of it" by obtaining research grants to cover their time. Because there are no teaching requirements at RAND, all Pardee RAND faculty members teach for only one reason: they love to.

Drawn principally from the doctoral staff of RAND's research units, Pardee RAND faculty members possess extensive experience both in conducting research and in teaching. A few distinguished scholars from outside RAND are also members of the faculty. Pardee RAND offers a faculty-student ratio that is probably among the best in the country. We have more than 220 faculty members who teach, mentor, and work side by side with a student body of just over 100.

RAND researchers can become Pardee RAND faculty members by teaching courses, mentoring and serving on dissertation committees, and/or supervising on-the-job training (OJT). Through these and other mechanisms, students have ready access to Pardee RAND's extensive faculty as well as RAND's staff of nearly 1,000 full-time researchers, who help with OJT and with dissertations.

Faculty Blog Posts

Student-Prof Commentary: City Diplomacy Has Been on the Rise. Policies Are Finally Catching Up
Nov 22, 2019
Cities are not signing international treaties, nor do they have embassies around the world, write Sohaela Amiri (cohort '16) and Professor Rafiq Dossani. But cities can engage in all kinds of negotiations, reach agreements, and influence world politics. The State Department could tap into this power to further enhance U.S. diplomacy, global image, and influence.
Professor Ponders, Did No One Audit the Apple Card Algorithm?
Nov 21, 2019
Complex, opaque technologies like AI, machine learning and other algorithm systems provide significant benefits to society, writes Professor Osonde Osoba. They help speed up complex decisions, enable wider access to services, and in many cases make better decisions than humans. But those benefits do not obviate the need for accountability and transparency.
Saving Farmworkers from Slavery-Like Conditions, Field by Field
Sep 5, 2019
Those at the bottom of the European agricultural supply chain are vulnerable to horrible abuse. But Dean Susan Marquis explains that the same was true in the tomato fields of Florida in the United States until not too many years ago, and the solution developed there may offer a roadmap for doing right by those who put food on the market shelves.
Augmented Reality on the Playground
Jul 10, 2019
As children's screen time increases, their time spent outdoors decreases. Prof. Deborah Cohen asks, how might new technologies merge with nature to help kids get outside and be more active?
Federal Policy Might Encourage Innovation to Cut the Cost of College
Jun 5, 2019
A big factor in the rise of college costs is the traditional seat-time model requiring undergraduate students to spend a specified amount of time in classrooms, frequently with doctorally qualified faculty. Prof. Charles Goldman argues that alternative models such as online education could enable colleges and universities to offer degrees more efficiently and affordably.