Student’s Critique of Austerity Policies Creates Firestorm
When Thomas Herndon (economics), a third-year graduate student, began a class assignment last fall, he had no inkling that he would end up in the middle of a furious debate over international economic policies. But the results of Herndon’s work have sparked an academic and political firestorm over one of the most famous economic papers in decades, and over whether austerity or stimulus is the best route to long-term prosperity. Read more...

Majority of Americans Oppose Killer Robots
Results of a new survey by Professor Charli Carpenter (political science) show that a majority of Americans across the political spectrum oppose the outsourcing of lethal military and defense targeting decisions to machines. The opposition to autonomous weaponry is bipartisan, with the strongest opposition on the far left and far right, and among active and former members of the military. Read more...

Anthro Field Class Teaches Students to Excavate and Analyze Bones
It’s another rainy day in a series of rainy days, yet the students are used to the mud and focused on the bones that lie before them. These are not real bones but tools to help them learn about excavation and laboratory analysis of skeletal remains at the Taphonomy Research Laboratory. And mud or no mud, they are deep into it. Read more...

Mednicoff Receives $1 Million for Middle East Research
David Mednicoff (public policy), director of Middle Eastern studies, has been awarded a $1.01 million grant for interdisciplinary research on legal development and practices in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.The three-year project titled “The Rule of Law in Qatar: Comparative Insights and Policy Strategies,” has been funded by the Qatar National Research Fund. Read more...

Senior Celebration Ceremony Features Super Student Speakers
The SBS Senior Celebration Ceremony on May 11 in the Mullins Center featured a student speaker from each major. All met with cheers, and Dean Feldman hailed them all as "super." Congratulations to Sanjay Singh (economics), Ashley Cox (anthropology), Liam Lynch (STPEC), Heather Wood (sociology), Krystal Ford (landscape architecture), Melissa Panter (environmental design), Laurie Roberts (political science), Ashley Berger (legal studies), Amy Chaunt (journalism), and Rachel Levine (communication). Read their presentations....