Pardee RAND News & Events

Pardee RAND Graduate School students, alumni, and faculty are often in the news, writing blogs, publishing research, speaking at events, and more. Other pages (student blog posts, alumni news, faculty blog posts, featured research) provide filtered views of Pardee RAND news and announcements; here we present a complete compilation of ALL the news that's fit to share.

  • Statement from the Dean on Racial Injustice

    The call for social justice that has swept across our nation and the world over this past week demands that we listen, learn, and do more to “shine the light that reveals the dust” and to do the hard work of building a better world not just this week but for years to come. It is my fervent hope that our community will rise to the occasion and live up to our motto, Be the Answer.

  • Coronavirus shown against world map and trend lines, illustration by chakisatelier/Adobe Stock

    Responding to COVID-19 with Research and Analysis

    Members of the Pardee RAND community are actively contributing to the COVID-19 response by sharing their expertise and searching for solutions to coronavirus-related challenges on local, state, national, and global levels.

  • Hackathon Explores Ethics of COVID-19 Dashboards

    Sep 11, 2020

    This summer, working with the COVID Alliance, Pardee RAND's Tech + Narrative Lab (TNL) built on its previous policy hackathon experience and explored the ethics of data dashboards.

  • Glass globe sitting on chalk board with crisis and policy written in chalk, photo by courtneyk/Getty Images

    Had We Planned Better for a Pandemic, We Might Be More Free Today

    Sep 4, 2020

    The COVID-19 pandemic has made Americans less free, confining us to our homes, and separating us from the people we love and things we value doing. Tim McDonald (cohort '16) and professor Robert Lempert say this COVID-19 experience may help people to learn the importance of planning to preserving and expanding freedom in an interconnected and complex world.

  • Shearon Roberts at Pardee RAND's Faculty Leaders Program in July 2018, photo by Diane Baldwin/RAND Corporation

    Pardee RAND's Faculty Leaders Program: Shaping the Future of Public Policy

    Sep 3, 2020

    To be effective, public policy needs to reflect the aspirations, lives, and perspectives of the people it serves. The Pardee RAND Graduate School seeks to build diversity in public policy by engaging faculty leaders from U.S. colleges and universities committed to serving students of color.

  • A Chinese flag with JavaScript code watermarked onto it

    Chinese Views of Big Data Analytics

    Sep 1, 2020

    Chinese primary-source materials indicate that China is aggressively working toward becoming a global leader in big data analytics as part of its plan to achieve great power status. Lindsey Polley (cohort '16) and colleagues find that Beijing is already using big data analytics to survey the country's domestic population and enhance its military capabilities.

  • Elementary classroom of diverse bright children listening attentively to their teacher giving lesson, photo by gorodenkoff/AdobeStock

    How Instructional Materials Are Used and Supported in U.S. K–12 Classrooms

    Aug 31, 2020

    If a curriculum is well-aligned with state standards, it can help teachers deliver instruction that leads to students’ mastery of those standards. Ashley Woo (cohort '18) and colleagues examine what supports teachers are offered to use standards-aligned curricula and how use and support vary among teachers in states and schools with different poverty levels.

  • A missile is seen launched during a military drill in North Korea, May 10, 2019, photo by Korean Central News Agency via Reuters

    Alum: In North Korea, The U.S. Could Take the Lead

    Aug 17, 2020

    North Korea is hurting: its economy is stagnant and it is having trouble feeding even its elites because of the UN/U.S. sanctions designed to pressure North Korean toward denuclearization. Bruce Bennett (cohort '75) says a combined carrot and stick approach may help overcome some of North Korea's reluctance to negotiate the future of its nuclear weapons program.

  • COVID-19 content displayed on a mobile phone, photo by da-kuk/Getty Images

    COVID-19 Mobile Surveillance Tools Raise Privacy Concerns

    Jul 30, 2020

    Mobile phone tools and data sources for COVID-19 tracking are beneficial, but they also have the potential for harm, according to research by students Hardika Dayalani (cohort '18) and Katie Feistel ('19). As public health agencies consider using mobile surveillance tools, they will need to address privacy concerns.

  • Whitney Maddox and DeShaun Bradford stand in line with hundreds of others outside a career center in Frankfort, Kentucky, hoping for assistance with their unemployment claim, June 18, 2020, photo by Bryan Woolston/Reuters

    Prof Examines the Racial Disparity in Unemployment Benefits

    Jul 15, 2020

    Today's unemployed inherited a system of state policies that were set up in the 1930s, writes Prof. Kathryn Edwards. For decades there have been calls to reform unemployment insurance; this is one more reason. Economic racial inequality in America cannot be solved through unemployment insurance, but it certainly shouldn't be exacerbated by it.

  • Detroit police line up next to an armored vehicle following a rally against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Detroit, Michigan, June 1, 2020, photo by Rebecca Cook/Reuters

    Alum: How to Reform Military Gear Transfers to Police

    Jul 13, 2020

    Police officers equipped like soldiers have appeared on the streets of American cities amid recent protests over George Floyd's killing. Alum Jack Riley (cohort '88) asks, how should lawmakers reform a program that makes use of excess equipment and is popular with police departments, but that also raises substantial concerns about the militarization of policing?

  • Jonathan Welburn stands on Santa Monica's nearly deserted Third Street Promenade in May 2020, photo by Diane Baldwin/RAND Corporation

    Balancing Public Health and Economic Effects of Physical Distancing: Q&A with Jonathan Welburn

    Jul 13, 2020

    Prof. Jonathan Welburn, an operations researcher at RAND, has spent years studying how economic shocks ripple outward like a contagion through the economy. He recently worked with fellow professors and several Pardee RAND students to develop an online tool that policymakers can use to manage the public health and economic trade-offs of physical-distancing policies.

  • Street sign with Wall St. and Main St. signs, photo by BobHemphill/Getty Images

    Prof Describes a Tale of Two Americas

    Jul 9, 2020

    While a confluence of crises have spotlighted a dangerous divide, writes Prof. Krishna Kumar, inequality in the United States has been increasing for decades and cannot be undone in a hurry. There is no substitute for firm policy commitment over many years to address disparities in the basic aspects of life—education, health, jobs, financial and business participation, and justice.

  • Harvard University campus after it shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 25, 2020, photo by Keiko Hiromi/Reuters

    College in America Could Be Changed Forever

    Jul 7, 2020

    COVID-19 is threatening to upend the models that both public and private higher education depend on in the United States, write Professors Charles Goldman and Rita Karam. As universities consider whether to postpone in-person classes until next year, many parents and students may be questioning the value of a traditional higher education.

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    Pardee RAND's commitment to our international students

    Jul 7, 2020

    International students are vital to the fabric of the Pardee RAND community. The U.S. government has announced visa restrictions that apply to students attending online-only universities in the U.S., but these do not apply to Pardee RAND, which uses a hybrid academic program of in-person and online instruction.

  • An employee of a pizza restaurant talks to a customer in Austin, Texas, June 28, 2020, photo by Sergio Flores/Reuters

    Prof: COVID-19's Depletion of Entry-Level Summer Jobs Can Have Long-Lasting Effects for Young Workers

    Jul 6, 2020

    Summer is typically a time when employment for young workers is at its highest, but one of the many costs of the COVID-19 pandemic is lower employment rates. For young workers, writes Prof. Matthew Baird, it's not just an issue of lost wages this summer; there is also an effect on their personal job history moving forward.

  • An Airman with the 238th Air Support Operations Squadron prepares for a close air support exercise during Southern Strike 2020 at Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center, MS, February 3, 2020, photo by Staff Sgt. Izabella Workman/U.S. Air Force

    Book Review: 'The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare' by Christian Brose

    Jul 2, 2020

    As the Pentagon and commercial technologists continue to explore the potential of commercial technologies for the military and work towards greater adoption, Alum Jon Wong (cohort '12) says they may wish to focus not only on lowering bureaucratic barriers but also on managing expectations about what technologies will be most beneficial and how they will be used.

  • A radio telescope in front of a field of stars

    Alums Suggest Opportunities for Including Information Environment in USMC Wargames

    Jul 1, 2020

    Research by alumnae Yuna Wong (cohort '00) and Ellie Bartels ('15) finds wargaming is enjoying renewed prominence in the defense community, but the information environment remains underdeveloped and underrepresented in U.S. Marine Corps wargames.

  • A woman blowing into a breath monitor, photo by aijohn784/Getty Images

    Revoking the 'License to Drink': Emerging Evidence on Mandatory Sobriety

    Jun 29, 2020

    After counties in South Dakota implemented a 24/7 sobriety program, repeat arrests for impaired driving decreased in the counties by an average of 12%. North Dakota implemented a similar program and also saw decreases in impaired driving. Alum Greg Midgette and Prof. Beau Kilmer ask, Can the same results be achieved outside of the Dakotas?

  • Classmates preparing for exams in the library, photo by Prostock-Studio/Getty Images

    Understanding Media Use and Literacy in Schools

    Jun 29, 2020

    Schools can play a key role in fighting Truth Decay—the diminishing role of facts in U.S. public life—by teaching media literacy to students. Student Lynn Hu (cohort 19) and colleagues examine how much emphasis teachers and schools put on this subject.

  • The grill is nearly empty at dinner hour at Ben's Chili Bowl during the COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C., April 30, 2020, photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

    A Path to Recovery from COVID-19 for Small Businesses

    Jun 25, 2020

    The COVID-19 pandemic has hammered small businesses around the United States. Student Diana Gehlhaus Carew (cohort '15) and professors Richard New and Howard Shatz spoke with 21 small business owners to learn more about the challenges they are facing and how they might best be helped.

  • Members of the Great Lakes anti-fascist organization (Antifa) fly flags during a protest against the Alt-right outside a hotel in Warren, Michigan, March 4, 2018, photo by Stephanie Keith/Reuters

    Prof: The Dangers of Designating Antifa as a Terrorist Organization Now

    Jun 22, 2020

    In May, President Trump said that the United States would designate Antifa as a terrorist organization. As Prof. Heather Williams writes, designating Antifa may be intended to be a discrete act, but the precedent it would set could bring major strategic changes to how the United States uses counterterrorism laws, with uncertainties about whether those changes better serve national security.