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.

  • Jonathan Wong's tattoo of a bar code with USMC, photo by Diane Baldwin/RAND Corporation

    Ink Tank: Research Gets Under the Skin of Some Pardee RANDites

    Jan 10, 2020

    Pardee RAND alum Jon Wong (cohort '12), student Hardika Dayalani ('18) and Prof. Robert Bozick explain how their tattoos reflect their research on the problems Marines face, migration-related issues, and the changing needs of the labor force.

  • Alum: Using an Integrated Systems-Based Approach to Address the U.S. Opioid Crisis

    Dec 17, 2019

    Alum Bradley Stein (cohort '97) presented testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on December 17, 2019. In this video he summarizes his expert recommendations.

  • Computer simulation of military aircraft and missiles, photo by Devrimb/Getty Images

    Student Research: How Well Is DoD Positioned for AI?

    Dec 17, 2019

    The U.S. Department of Defense has articulated an ambitious vision and strategy for artificial intelligence. But if it wants to get the maximum benefit from AI-enhanced systems, writes Diana Gelhaus Carew (cohort '15) and colleagues, it will need to improve its posture along multiple dimensions.

  • p201907_03, flp, workshop, erualdo gonzalez, david ouma, tyra gross, richard mizelle, elizabeth rule, mark massoud, laura enriquez, tommy parker, rigoberto rodriguez-villalpando, nyron crawford, michael hames garcia, jorja leap, gloria martinez, terrell brown, natasha christie

    The Next Generation Initiative: Faculty Leaders Program in Policy Research and Analysis

    Dec 10, 2019

    The Faculty Leaders Program, a professional development program for faculty who work with students or in disciplines underrepresented in public policy, is now accepting applications. Part of the Pardee RAND Graduate School's Next Generation Initiative, the program awards fellowships to 12–15 selected faculty to participate in a week-long policy analysis summer program.

  • Students Alex Mendoza-Graf, Ashley Woo, and Sohaela Amiri hold photos of their relatives at Commencement, photo by Diane Baldwin/RAND Corporation

    Three Students Create Pardee RAND Legacies

    Dec 10, 2019

    Students Alexandra Mendoza-Graf (Cohort '16), Ashley Woo ('18), and Sohaela Amiri ('16) didn't have far to look when they decided to pursue a Ph.D. in policy analysis. While forging their own paths, they are also following in the footsteps of relatives who also happen to be Pardee RAND alumni: Marlon Graf ('12), Jonathan Wong ('12), and Sara Amiri Cohort ('05).

  • CGSR director Brad Roberts talks with a postdoctoral research fellow and Pardee RAND student Pau Alonso Garcia-Bode (cohort '18), photo courtesy Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

    LLNL Externships, Events Provide Experiential Learning

    Dec 9, 2019

    Through a partnership with the Center for Global Security Research (CGSR) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, four students have had the chance to hold externships, conduct research, and participate in global security conferences and events.

  • Noah Johnson presents some of his team's findings from the Dark Web Hackathon, photo by Todd Richmond/RAND Corporation

    Hackathon Lets Students Explore Dark Web

    Dec 4, 2019

    Ten students worked on teams for three weeks this fall to use machine learning and analyze data from cryptomarkets — what one team called a "craigslist for illegal things" — stored on RAND's Dark Web Observatory.

  • Mark Schuster talks with Sandy Buchan, photo by Terresa Cooper/Pardee RAND

    Career Services Talks Feature Six Alumni

    Nov 25, 2019

    A record number of alumni presented career talks this quarter, but the Career Services team is working hard to break that record in the near future.

  • People shaking hands over an image of a city with a globe superimposed over the top, photo by chombosan/Getty Images

    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.

  • Jennifer Bailey, VP of Apple Pay at Apple, speaks about the Apple Card during an Apple special event in Cupertino, California, March 25, 2019, photo by Stephen Lam/Reuters

    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.

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    Alumni Help Plan 50th Anniversary

    Nov 18, 2019

    Eighteen terrific alumni are joining Jeffrey Wasserman (Cohort '85) on a task force to help plan activities and events to celebrate Pardee RAND's 50th anniversary throughout 2020.

  • Pregnant woman standing in hospital corridor, photo by WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobe Stock

    Student-Alumni Research Finds Unintended Consequences of Policies that Punish Pregnant Women for Substance Use

    Nov 13, 2019

    Joshua Russell-Fritch (cohort '16), alum Bradley Stein ('97), and RAND colleagues found that state policies that punish pregnant women for illicit substance use are associated with higher rates of infants being born with opioid withdrawal.

  • Woman reading the newspaper on a tablet

    Student Helps Create Database of Web Tools to Fight Disinformation Online

    Nov 12, 2019

    Hilary Reininger (cohort '16) and RAND researchers created a database of web tools that aim to fight the spread of disinformation. These include fact-checking tools, bot detectors, media literacy applications, and more.

  • A senior man playing with a puzzle, photo by LightFieldStudios/Getty Images

    Student-Alum Research Finds Australia Is Not Prepared to Deliver an Alzheimer's Treatment

    Nov 11, 2019

    As in other countries, the Australian health care system has limited capacity to rapidly move a future treatment for Alzheimer's disease from approval into wide clinical use. Sangita Baxi (cohort '17) and Jodi Liu ('12) find that could leave thousands of older people without access to transformative care if such a breakthrough occurs.

  • Hands holding up a globe, photo by RapidEye/Getty Images

    Economic Experiments for Global Impact

    Oct 23, 2019

    Implementing effective solutions for global socioeconomic development and poverty alleviation is a daunting challenge. However, RAND has seen over its decades of work in this area that data-based decisions can improve the welfare of the world's most vulnerable populations.

  • TNL director Todd Richmond describes the lab to the Pardee RAND Board of Governors in 2018, photo by Diane Baldwin/RAND Corporation

    Tech Leaders Join Advisory Group

    Oct 23, 2019

    To help guide the development of Pardee RAND's Tech & Narrative Lab, director Todd Richmond and Pardee RAND dean Susan Marquis have assembled a veritable who's who of tech policy leaders to serve on the lab's new Advisory Group.

  • uturistic soldiers wearing virtual reality goggles, photo by Donald Iain Smith/Getty Images

    Alumni, Students Explore Next-Generation Wargaming for the U.S. Marine Corps

    Oct 16, 2019

    The U.S. Marine Corps has an opportunity to adopt wargaming best practices, tools, and approaches from other sources and adapt them to suit its needs. Yuna Wong (cohort '00), Ellie Bartels ('15), and Benjamin Smith ('15) explore what courses of action the Marine Corps should take toward building its next-generation wargaming concept.

  • World map in red pixels on a dark background, photo by Lidiia Moor/Getty Images

    Are States Using Cyber Operations to Coerce Others?

    Sep 17, 2019

    Cyber operations have become another tool of statecraft. Have any cyber operations sponsored by Russia, China, Iran, or North Korea met the definition of cyber coercion? Krystyna Marcinek (cohort '17) and colleagues explore this question and consider what the United States should do to respond.

  • Lauren Buitta, founder of Girl Security, and RAND's Jenny Oberholtzer, Stacie Pettyjohn, Becca Wasser, and Ellie Bartels host a wargame for girls, July 2019, photo by Dori Gordon Walker/RAND Corporation

    Findings Features Students' Summer Activities

    Sep 10, 2019

    In addition to highlighting Soledad O'Brien's generous gift in support of inclusion, diversity, and equity, our quarterly newsletter shines a spotlight on what our students did this past summer to Be the Answer at home and around the world.

  • Farm workers pick tomatoes in the countryside near the town of Foggia, southern Italy, September 24, 2009, photo by Tony Gentile/Reuters

    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.

  • APPAM Conferences Feature Students, Alumni

    Aug 29, 2019

    Dozens of students, alumni, faculty, and RAND colleagues are participating in the 2019 APPAM Fall Conference in Denver, and six students and alumni attended the 2019 APPAM International Conference in Barcelona this July.

  • Making a move during a unique wargame hosted by RAND with a group called Girl Security, photo by Dori Gordon Walker/RAND Corporation

    A Wargame at RAND Puts Teen Girls in Command

    Aug 20, 2019

    Student Ellie Bartels (cohort '15) worked with her fellow RAND "Dames of War Games" to develop and host an event for young women to learn firsthand about national security. The day offered a lesson in strategy, in the hard realities behind news headlines, and also in agility and resilience.

  • Cocaine, cannabis leaf, and syringe, photos by Bits and Splits, underworld, and Leonid/Adobe Stock

    How Big Is the U.S. Market for Cannabis, Cocaine, Heroin, and Meth?

    Aug 20, 2019

    Americans spent about $150 billion on cannabis, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine in 2016, according to research by alum Greg Midgette (cohort '09), student Steve Davenport ('15), and professor Beau Kilmer. The cannabis market was roughly the size of the cocaine and meth markets combined.

  • A typical communist style statue in the capital city of North Korea, photo by alexkuehni/Getty Images

    Searching for Signs of Doi Moi in North Korea

    Aug 12, 2019

    President Trump's second summit with Kim Jong Un prompted voluminous commentary about whether Pyongyang might adopt the “Vietnam model” of economic reform and opening up, known as doi moi. Dung Huynh (cohort '16) and colleagues suggest that although some version of doi moi may be possible in North Korea, it will likely be more difficult than it was in Vietnam, especially because of Kim's reluctance to risk losing absolute control.

  • Students, Faculty Participate in IPCC Working Conference in Nepal

    Jul 31, 2019

    With Cazier Initiative support, students David Catt (cohort '16) and Karishma Patel ('17) traveled to Kathmandu, Nepal, this summer with professors Robert Lempert and Ben Preston to attend the Second Lead Author Meeting for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II.