News

Linda Tropp, PEP Co-Director, interviewed on the Science of Happiness podcast on impact of shared goals in building group trust and cohesion

Linda Tropp, PEP Co-Director, was interviewed on the Science of Happiness podcast about the impact of shared goals in building group trust and cohesion. She says, " At a really basic level, we kind of think about why having common goals matters: In part, it’s that the groups have a reason to like, be together."

Jonathan Wynn, 2017 PEP Fellow, is quoted in Mic article about the evolution of music festivals.

Jonathan Wynn, 2017 PEP Fellow, is quoted in Mic article about the evolution of music festivals. He says festivals now want to shy away from taking any kind of overt political stance because they want to attract advertisers.

Donald T. Tomaskovic-Devey, 2018 PEP Fellow, and colleagues write piece in Conversation about their research on access to executive level jobs

Donald T. Tomaskovic-Devey, 2018 PEP Fellow, and colleagues write in the Conversation about their research showing that while many organizations have prioritized access to executive level jobs for minority groups, white men still hold the majority of these positions. Their analysis specifically tracked representation among Hispanic executives in different U.S. cities and found Hispanics make up 71% of the workforce, but only 4% of company executives. Reprinted in The Telegraph.

Paul M. Collins, 2015 PEP Fellow, comments in The Washington Post on the dilemma facing Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in the presidential impeachment trial

Paul M. Collins, 2015 PEP Fellow, comments in The Washington Post on the dilemma facing Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in presiding over the presidential impeachment trial. “Any decision he makes in the president’s favor will be interpreted as partisan since Roberts is a Republican. Yet any decision he makes against the president will be interpreted as biased, too,” says Collins.

Thomas Zoeller, 2016 PEP Fellow, comments in Consumer Reports about study on lead exposure in children and pregnant women.

Thomas Zoeller, 2016 PEP Fellow, comments in Consumer Reports on a study suggesting that children and pregnant women are exposed to less lead and mercury than they were two decades ago as a result of restrictions on use of these substances. Zoeller, who was not involved in the research, says this type of observational study is “never going to give us a perfect picture of what’s going on in the real world, but [it] serves as an incredibly important scientific tool in identifying potential areas of concern.”

Michael Rawlins, 2015 PEP Fellow, findings on thawing permafrost in northern Alaska featured in Technology.org

Michael Rawlins, 2015 PEP Fellow and associate director of the Climate Systems Research Center at UMass Amherst, led a multi-institution team that found evidence of thawing permafrost in northern Alaska. These findings, featured in Technology.org, reveal that thawing is altering the Arctic hydrological system, disrupting inhabitants and changing the environment into a source of carbon emission. Research also featured in ScienceBlog and NSF.gov.

M.V. Lee Badgett, PEP Steering Committee Member, quoted in New York Times article covering annual meeting of the American Economic Association

Coverage in The New York Times of the annual meeting of the American Economic Association quotes M.V. Lee Badgett, PEP Steering Committee member, and co-chair of the association’s new Committee on the Status of LGBTQ+ Individuals in the Economics Profession, formed in response to revelations of sexism, racism and harassment in the profession. Badgett says, “What I’ve heard, over and over again, is — this is the moment, we need to take advantage of it.”

Julie Brigham-Grette, 2017 PEP Fellow, interviewed about her research on climate evolution

Julie Brigham-Grette, 2017 PEP Fellow, is interviewed for a Glacjoblogia blog post about her research on climate evolution in the Arctic. In the article, she explains, "What we’re doing now is we are burning fossil fuels and driving the planet past its safety thresholds. We’re causing a radical change in snow cover, glaciers, sea ice, the migration of boreal forest and commercial fisheries to the north, all kinds of things down the line. And its not in the future, its happening now."

Paul M. Collins Jr., 2015 PEP Fellow, discusses Chief Justice John Roberts's potential rulings in the upcoming impeachment trial in WHDH-TV 7 news story

Paul M. Collins Jr., 2015 PEP Fellow, says in WHDH-TV 7 news story that Chief Justice John Roberts isn’t likely to make controversial or partisan rulings in the upcoming impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump because that would undermine the view of the court as above politics and even handed. Also featured in ABC 4, PBS NewsHour, MetroWest Daily News, MassLive, and OregonLive.

M.V. Lee Badgett, PEP Steering Committee member, comments in a WABE story about why a new question on the national census about same sex couples is important

M.V. Lee Badgett, PEP Steering, comments in a WABE story about why a new question on the national census about same sex couples is important. She says the data generated by the question will help guide decisions on how to battle discrimination against same-sex couples and may serve as the basis for new programs to assist them.

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