Dixie Downing

Event Preview: Pris Regan on Technology in a Changing World

Andrew J Schappert — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 19:09:49 +0000

Event Preview: Pris Regan on Technology in a Changing World Andrew J Schappert Thu, 03/11/2021 - 14:09

Photo of Priscilla Regan

Originally published on March 10, 2021

“We still have not passed effective policy addressing the spread of disinformation or the ethics of gathering online information on people,” said Priscilla Regan. “If we could address information privacy, I believe we could mitigate disinformation and greater ethics issues.”

For the past 40 years, Schar School professor Regan has studied the dynamic world of technological change and the policies that accompany it. She’s lived it first-hand: “I wrote my dissertation on long-hand and lived in the library, because that is where all of the information was,” she said. “We went from writing on these chunky computers to having an incredible amount of knowledge at our fingertips within a very short time. Because of easy access to information and composing ideas, everything is vastly different.”

Regan joins a distinguished panel of technology security experts at noon (EST) on Thursday, March 18, during a discussion called “Health Trackers & Tracers: Big Data and the Challenge of User Privacy in the Age of Covid-19.” The virtual event is hosted by ��AV’s Office of Government and Community Relations.

Other panelists include Washington Post technology columnist Geoffrey Fowler, Paul Jarris of the MITRE Corporation, Virginia Department of Health executive advisor Jeff Stover, and Mason assistant professor of computer science Foteini Baldimtsi. The session will be moderated by Nektaria Tryfona, scientific director for data innovation and strategy at Mason.

The discussion is part of Mason’s Arlington Forward Series, which centers on Mason’s transformational expansion of its Arlington Campus, the development of the Institute for Digital Innovation, and the creation of the Rosslyn-Ballston Innovation Corridor.

The challenges of user privacy are not new to Regan. Before becoming a professor at the Schar School, Regan provided insights to Congress as a senior analyst in the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) between 1984 to 1989. However, her true passion was teaching and research.

“In 1989, [��AV] was a much smaller place,” said Regan. “Yet, there was this undeniable need within the state for a major university in the Northern Virginia area…When I came in, there was an uptick in faculty who were interested in research. There was quickly an increase in the overall profile of the university and the quality of graduate programs.”

Regan has seen issues within the realm of technology change dramatically over the past 40 years. Her work will continue to evolve as technology—and the world—continue to advance.

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Schar School of Policy and Government

Schar News March 2021

The Fate of Water: Teaching Students Climate Change in the Classroom and in the Field

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 19:59:09 +0000

The Fate of Water: Teaching Students Climate Change in the Classroom and in the Field Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 02/15/2021 - 14:59

Todd La Porte: ‘Much like in climate change policy, if we can identify shared values, we can ultimately find common ground.’ Photo by Creative Services

Originally published on February 5, 2021

I chose to study water sources, because I found the idea to be somewhat novel,” said Todd La Porte. “It’s been interesting to see how all of these different aspects of climate change interact with one another and how the various effects reverberate through society.”

Schar School Associate Professor La Porte is addressing climate change through the lens of community. To do that, La Porte is studying climate change adaption policy inside and outside of the classroom—and he’s taking his undergraduate and graduate students with him to discover the effects of climate change from those directly affected by it.

Originally from the San Francisco Bay area, La Porte has a natural affinity for the Chesapeake Bay, not far from the Schar School campuses. “We’re studying how climate change is affecting people around bays, estuaries, and wetlands,” he said. “We want to understand what happens to people who are displaced” by the effects of climate change.

La Porte plans to work with students to create an “atlas” of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. “The idea is to map rising water levels and create a common frame of reference from inside these communities,” he said.

“The climate atlas is a way to reach people,” said La Porte. “We spend too much time looking at data that other people collect. It’s not wrong, but it misses a big part of these issues.”

He hopes to send students into the field to gather firsthand information from community members experiencing these changes.

In the classroom, La Porte is a conversation facilitator and an expert at diffusing the tense situations that sometimes arise. “People sometimes misunderstand the assumptions of their classmates,” he said. “Much like in climate change policy, if we can identify shared values, we can ultimately find common ground.” (La Porte recently recorded a sample class, Staying Alive in the Climate Crisis: Climate Politics and Policy.)

Students seem to enjoy his classroom demeanor.

“Dr. La Porte is extremely approachable,” said Leslie Malher, a Master’s in International Commerce and Policy student from Paris, France. “He emphasizes our ideas in conjunction with the readings, and very few professors are able to facilitate discussion the way he does.”

“Teaching energizes me,” said La Porte. “My job is to get the ball rolling, but it is extremely gratifying when students want to express their own ideas and discuss these issues in my classroom.”

Schar School fact: The school will provide $1 million in scholarship funds to students entering in the academic year 2020-21.

Topics

Schar School of Policy and Government

Schar News February 2021

Schar School Student Duo Win ‘Most Interesting Presentation’ in Student Research Competition

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 09:51:59 +0000

Schar School Student Duo Win ‘Most Interesting Presentation’ in Student Research Competition Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/19/2021 - 04:51

In This Story

Delton T. Daigle

Sally Kishi

Originally published on May 20, 2020

Seven Schar School teams, along with numerous others from colleges at ��AV, signed up to “virtually” display their research posters in an annual campus-wide competition. The “Virtual Celebration of Student Scholarship” is sponsored by the Honors College.

While judges considered many elements in the three-minute presentations of the posters—among other attributes, the judges looked at the information, organization, creativity, and potential impact on its field—only one team could be awarded “Most Interesting Presentation.” This year that award went to Government and International Politics majors Sasha Silva and Sally Kishi for their research poster titled “Chile: Populism, Nativism, and Economic Uncertainty.”

“I think we won because our research provided a new and unique perspective on a topic that has been previously researched by other Mason students and faculty,” said Kishi, a junior from Fairfax, Va. “We supported our statistical findings with an explanation based on real-life events that I believe made our presentation more understandable, accessible, and intriguing to a broader audience.”

Sasha Silva

Overseen by faculty advisor Associate Professor Delton Daigle, their research poster presented a quantitative analysis on the 2017 general election in Chile. They verified that the right-wing vote was related to high levels of nativism and economic uncertainty.

“We stripped our research down to its basics to make it digestible and engaging for the audience, and Dr. Daigle really pushed us to make it our best work possible,” said Silva, a junior from Annandale, Va.

Not to mention rehearsing the presentation “for about four hours,” she added. “It still did not come out perfect but I’m proud of it given our time constraints.”

Topics

Schar School of Policy and Government

��AV

Schar School Professor Justin Gest Wins Teaching Excellence Award

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 09:46:43 +0000

Schar School Professor Justin Gest Wins Teaching Excellence Award Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/19/2021 - 04:46

In This Story

Justin Gest

2020 Mason Excellence in Teaching Award Winner Justin Gest

Originally published on May 19, 2020

Schar School of Policy and Government Associate Professor Justin Gest has received ��AV’s highest teaching honor, the 2020 Teaching Excellence Award. Recipients of the annual award are recognized for their significant work in course planning, innovation, and curriculum development.

“I was particularly impressed by the variety of problem-based learning opportunities, hands-on experience through field trips, connecting with clients, and inviting important speakers to your courses that your students receive,” a representative of the award’s selection committee wrote in the judges’ comments.

Gest is a professor of public policy researching comparative politics, immigration policy, minority politics, and qualitative methods. He has published commentary in a number of major news outlets including the Washington Post, Politico, and Reuters. His well-received books include The New Minority: White Working Class Politics in an Age of Immigration and Inequality (2016) and Crossroads: Comparative Immigration Regimes in a World of Demographic Change (2018).

Before joining the Schar School, Gest was a Harvard College Fellow and lecturer in Harvard University’s Departments of Government and Sociology. In 2014, he received the Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching Prize, Harvard’s highest award for teaching.

“With a broad-minded education and equipped with strong communication skills, students can develop their ideas, share them, and own them,” said Gest. “That is what I hope that they take away from my courses—not my ideas, but their own.

“And in this way, the student becomes my achievement,” he said. “The student becomes my legacy. The student becomes me, and I become the student.”

Topics

Schar School of Policy and Government

��AV

Rampant Illicit Trade, Counterfeit Medical Supplies Seen Amid COVID-19

Anonymous — Mon, 11 May 2020 05:19:20 +0000

Rampant Illicit Trade, Counterfeit Medical Supplies Seen Amid COVID-19 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/11/2020 - 01:19

Topics

coronavirus; covid-19

coronavirus; COVID-19; News; Editorial

Q&A with Frank Shafroth: Can COVID-19 Actually Drive States to Bankruptcy?

Anonymous — Fri, 08 May 2020 13:37:22 +0000

Q&A with Frank Shafroth: Can COVID-19 Actually Drive States to Bankruptcy? Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/08/2020 - 09:37

Originally published on May 8, 2020

As a member of the Supreme Court Bar, Frank Shafroth has worked in the U.S. House for former representatives Gladys Spellman (D-Md.) and Jim Moran (D-Va.), as well as with the U.S. Senate for former U.S. Sen. John Heinz (R-Pa.). His experience and expertise were also shared on the Senate Banking Committee. Shafroth is an expert in state and local government, regional development, municipal bankruptcy, and disruptive economies at the Schar School of Policy and Government.

Can, as U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) recommended, states file for bankruptcy?

Shafroth: Majority Leader McConnell stated: "I would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route. It saves some cities. And there's no good reason for it not to be available."

That is unless you consider the U.S. Constitution to be a good reason. The Constitution provides that "states are sovereign entities, and the federal government has limited authority to compel...," but especially because the Constitution's Contract Clause prohibits states from "impairing the obligations of contracts." Indeed, state defaults on debt are not new. In the 1870s, a number of southern states renounced the Reconstruction era debts. In 1933, Arkansas defaulted on its debt.

If our Senate Majority Leader wishes for states to be able to file for bankruptcy, he would have to lead an effort to amend Article 1, Section 10 of the Constitution, which bars states from declaring bankruptcy.

What steps can cities and municipalities take when filing for bankruptcy?

Shafroth: On the morning Detroit filed for Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy, I went to the governor's downtown Detroit office to meet with his designated emergency manager to ask what steps he had taken. He told me he had emailed every employee of the city to advise them that when the court opened that morning, he would be filing for municipal bankruptcy. He added that, upon arriving on the same flight as I from Washington, D.C., the previous evening, he had emailed every employee of the city to advise them of his actions—directing them all to be at work that morning with a positive attitude—and that the most critical actions were to insure every street and traffic light was working, and that every 9-1-1 call received an expeditious response.

Why is Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy important for the nation's cities and counties?

Shafroth: Our country currently has the greatest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world. Confirmed infections make up nearly a third of the world's cases. When an American dials 9-1-1, the federal government does not reply, it is a city or county which does.

Because of this seemingly unrelenting virus, there has been a surge in such calls, calls which do not go to the federal government. The critical import of municipal bankruptcy was that it created a way to ensure a response to every 9-1-1 call—and that streetlights and traffic lights worked, irrespective of the fiscal conditions of such a municipality.

During the difficult period of years for Detroit to reach a plan of debt resolution which was approved by a federal court, Americans were protected. Terrorist attacks on the World Trade towers in New York and at the Pentagon, visible from the White House and Congress that fateful day, received heroic responses commanded by an Arlington County Fire Department leader.

Q&A with Frank Shafroth: Can COVID-19 Actually Drive States to Bankruptcy?

Q&A with Schar's Frank Shafroth: Can COVID-19 Drive States to Bankruptcy?

Anonymous — Fri, 08 May 2020 06:01:06 +0000

Q&A with Schar's Frank Shafroth: Can COVID-19 Drive States to Bankruptcy? Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/08/2020 - 02:01

Topics

coronavirus; covid-19

coronavirus; COVID-19; News; Editorial

Daniel Gerstein: Understanding the U.S.’s Shortfalls Concerning COVID-19

Anonymous — Thu, 07 May 2020 14:29:37 +0000

Daniel Gerstein: Understanding the U.S.’s Shortfalls Concerning COVID-19 Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 05/07/2020 - 10:29

Originally published on May 7, 2020

The U.S.’s response to COVID-19 included inadequate biosurveillance systems, a disjointed emergency response network, and poor management of supply chain disruptions according to Schar School PhD in Biodefense alum Daniel Gerstein. Gerstein was acting undersecretary and deputy undersecretary in the Science and Technology Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security from 2011-2014.

His most recent article—published in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists—is about why the U.S. was not prepared for the coronavirus pandemic.

“Early on in the outbreak, at a time when better preparations could have been made to forestall the worst impacts of a broad outbreak, the federal response was failing,” he writes. The op-ed includes his thoughts on how understanding the shortfalls of the U.S.’s response will help decision-makers understand how to prevent a future crisis, how to respond to another pandemic, and how to recover.

Gerstein recommends reexamining the nation’s emergency response systems in view of the tepid federal response to the COVID-19.

Currently, “emergency management in the United States is based on the understanding that all initial response is local,” he says. “When local authorities no longer have the capacity to mount an effective response, states provide necessary support. When the state capacity is exhausted, the president can make what’s called a Stafford Act declaration and provide federal support for disaster relief.”

“The COVID-19 crisis has exposed underlying cracks in the national preparedness and response system,” he says. “Going forward, the United States will need to question, and in some cases, relearn the lessons of crisis response and emergency management.”

If the federal government no longer intends to perform this role, then emergency management doctrine going back to the Congressional Act of 1803, which is considered to be the first piece of disaster legislation will need a makeover.

For more, read the essay in Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

Topics

Daniel Gerstein: Understanding the U.S.’s Shortfalls Concerning COVID-19

Understanding U.S. Shortfalls in Response to COVID-19

Anonymous — Thu, 07 May 2020 05:19:20 +0000

Understanding U.S. Shortfalls in Response to COVID-19 Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 05/07/2020 - 01:19

Topics

coronavirus; covid-19

coronavirus; COVID-19; News; Editorial

Past, Present, and Future: The Center for Regional Analysis Is Advising Decisionmakers on the COVID-19 Crisis

Anonymous — Wed, 06 May 2020 13:52:18 +0000

Past, Present, and Future: The Center for Regional Analysis Is Advising Decisionmakers on the COVID-19 Crisis Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/06/2020 - 09:52

Originally published on May 6, 2020

The Center for Regional Analysis (CRA) is hard at work informing local economic development leaders and public officials on the current and potential impacts of COVID-19. Through assessing the impacts of the virus, the Center for Regional Analysis is informing decisionmakers on how to diminish the severity of these impacts and support economic recovery once the crisis is under control.

”We have three primary roles,” said director of the Center for Regional Analysis Terry Clower. “No. 1, collect, organize, and convey available data in a useful, concise format; No. 2, offer our insights and knowledge on the structure of the regional economy that allows government and businesses to better see the breadth and magnitude of the economic impacts of business disruptions; and, No. 3, bring to bear our experience and expertise in promoting business development in the economic recovery phase of this crisis.”

As the virus continues to ravage much of the country, the Center for Regional Analysis is providing real-world assessments for leaders and decisionmakers.

“Our focus has been to provide actionable data and information to decisionmakers without getting caught up in public pronouncements projecting specific impact assessments,” said Clower. “In any crisis, be it financial, natural disaster, or health-related, especially a crisis that emerges with such rapidity that we cannot rely on usual sources of data about local economic performance, our goal is to clearly state to decisionmakers what we know and don't know, and what we can reasonably forecast.”

While we ride out the crisis, it is important to look forward. Clower has some advice on how to respond when the community safely opens back up.

“The impacts of business disruptions will cascade across industry sectors the longer this goes on,” he said. “However, the longer the restrictions on movement last, the more we will see businesses adapt to changing and emerging opportunities.

“So, at this point, the impacts are exacerbated by the shock to the system—this crisis took hold in less than one month. A key to our success in recovering from this crisis will be to support the re-opening of surviving businesses and facilitate the creation of new enterprises who will fill the gaps left by those businesses that fail.”

Topics

Past

Present

and Future: The Center for Regional Analysis Is Advising Decisionmakers on the COVID-19 Crisis