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Alan Blinder
News March 02, 2023
Princeton Economist Alan Blinder to Receive 2023 Moynihan Prize for Scholarship and Public Service
Alan Blinder, the Gordon S. Rentschler Memorial Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University, will receive the 2023 Daniel Patrick Moynihan Prize from the American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPSS), the group announced today. The Moynihan Prize, named for the former U.S. senator from New York, is awarded annually to a leading policymaker, social scientist or public intellectual whose career demonstrates the value of using research and evidence to improve the human condition. Blinder, an author of many books, a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, a former official in the administration of President Bill Clinton…
Michael Froman
News March 01, 2023
Council on Foreign Relations Announces Michael Froman Will Serve as New President
Today, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) announced that Michael Froman—a widely respected leader across government, business, and the nonprofit sector—will become the organization’s fifteenth president. Froman will succeed Richard Haass, CFR’s president since 2003, who has announced that he will be stepping down in June 2023. Froman is an internationally recognized expert at the intersection of foreign policy, national security, and international economics. His expertise is the result of a decades-long career across the highest levels of government and the private sector, as well as nonprofits and academia, including serving as a distinguished…
group of students
News February 21, 2023
Princeton University Seniors Austin Davis and Ella Gantman Receive Pyne Prize
Princeton University seniors Austin Davis and Ella Gantman are the recipients of the 2023 Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize, the highest general distinction conferred on an undergraduate. They will be recognized at Alumni Day on campus Saturday, Feb. 25. The Pyne Honor Prize, established in 1921, is awarded to the senior who has most clearly manifested excellent scholarship, strength of character and effective leadership. Previous recipients include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and the late Princeton President Emeritus Robert F. Goheen. Davis is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is a history major and is pursuing a certificate in urban…
Group of people
News February 10, 2023
Amazonian Indigenous Leader Davi Kopenawa Visits Princeton
Illegal gold mining threatens the environment and human health in the Amazon, said shaman and Yanomami Indigenous leader Davi Kopenawa in a talk at Princeton Jan. 31. And there are consequences for all of us, too, as mining in the Amazon rainforest diminishes one of the planet’s largest natural carbon sinks and a bastion of biocultural diversity. Kopenawa, who has been advocating for his people’s rights since the 1970s, is the author of “The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman” (2013, Belknap Press) and the president of the Hutukara Yanomami Association. Shaman and Yanomami Indigenous leader Davi Kopenawa speaks at a Princeton panel discussion…
group of students
News February 09, 2023
Winter Policy Trips Enrich the SPIA Experience
SPIA students returned to campus for the spring semester with new outlooks on issues such as climate change and adaptation, urbanization, migration, and infrastructure challenges following Winter Policy Trips. These trips allowed participating students to explore key policy issues through firsthand meetings with international and local government officials, non-governmental organizations, social enterprises, and others effecting change in the respective regions. “Climate Change in the Arctic: Adaptation, Infrastructure and Security Responses” visited the Alaska cities of Fairbanks and Anchorage, exploring issues at the nexus of worsening climate…
Robertson Hall
News February 08, 2023
Rick Barton and Kit Lunney Retirement Announcement
Dear SPIA community, It is with mixed emotions that I announce Frederick (Rick) Barton and Kathryn (Kit) Lunney are retiring from their positions as co-directors of the Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative (SINSI) this summer. We are deeply grateful for Rick and Kit’s dedication and profound contributions to both SINSI and SPIA while leading the initiative for nearly half its 16 years. Through their productive partnership as husband and wife, they helped to grow and nurture a community where inclusion and mutual support are exemplars for public service here at Princeton and beyond. SINSI’s success and growth since 2016 directly result from…
Amaney Jamal
News February 02, 2023
National Endowment for Democracy Announces Appointment of New Board Members
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) announced today that Representative Joaquin Castro, Congressman for the 20th District of Texas; Amaney A. Jamal, Dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and scholar of Middle Eastern politics; and, as an honorary member, Senator Todd Young from Indiana, will join its Board of Directors. “These new members joining NED have distinguished careers across multiple sectors and broad expertise on issues related to democracy,” said NED Chairman Kenneth Wollack. “The mission and work of the Endowment will benefit measurably from their leadership.” Elected for three-year terms, the NED Board…
shadow of a person in black and shadow of police officer in red
News February 02, 2023
SPIA Reacts: What Policymakers Can Do Now to Drive Meaningful Change Following the Police Killing of Tyre Nichols
Following the killing of Tyre Nichols, many across the country are again asking themselves ‘why’? Why do these incidents continue to happen? Despite the Black Lives Matter movement and the 2020 protests following the murder of George Floyd — police brutality and its disproportionate impact on Black people remains such an intractable issue in the United States. Udi Ofer, founding director of the Princeton Policy Advocacy Clinic and former Deputy National Political Director of the ACLU, and Laurence Ralph, Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University and the Director of Center on Transnational Policing offers their thoughts on what is the latest in…
CMS.gov website
News January 26, 2023
CMS Updates Its Budget Neutrality Policy
States seeking to innovate in Medicaid may need programmatic flexibility and federal funding that goes beyond what would ordinarily be permitted. Section 1115 of the Social Security Act enables the secretary of the Department of Health and Human services to provide that flexibility and funding to test innovations in the Medicaid program, so long as those innovations meet 1115 criteria, most notably that they further the objectives of the Medicaid program. Demonstrations authorized under section 1115 are a major source of innovation in the Medicaid program for many states and are frequently used to expand eligibility, cover new benefits, or reform…
Credit: Shutterstock / Oil and Gas Photographer
News January 26, 2023
UK Substantially Underestimates Its Methane Emissions From Oil and Gas Production — And Many Other Countries Probably Do Too
A newer, more accurate method for calculating methane emissions from offshore oil and gas production suggests that the United Kingdom severely underestimates its greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers conclude that as much as five times more methane is being leaked from oil and gas production than reported. Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, contributing about 1 degree Fahrenheit of present-day global warming relative to pre-industrial times. One major source of methane to the atmosphere is the extraction and transport of oil and gas. Countries are obligated to report their greenhouse gas emissions to…
People outlining the US
News January 13, 2023
$2.6 Million NIH Grant Awarded to SPIA Professor to Research the Impact of Migration Trends on Life Expectancy
Arun Hendi, an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, was recently awarded a $2.6 million grant over the next five years from the National Institute on Aging at the National Institute of Health. At a time when migration is reconfiguring the makeup of American communities, and that reconfiguration is driving change in local and national life expectancy levels, Prof. Hendi will receive research funding to launch a project on how migration (both internationally and domestically) influences geographic variation in life expectancy across the United States. This new project will be…
Ella Gantman '23
News January 11, 2023
‘Chinese, American, Argentinian, Jewish: I’m Proud To Be All of Them at Once.’ Our Year of the Tiger Series Concludes With Ella Gantman.
The Year of the Tiger that launched with the Lunar New Year on Feb. 1, 2022, has been a moment of pride and reflection for Princeton’s vibrant Asian and Asian American community. Throughout the year, we have elevated the voices of faculty, staff, students and researchers in a series of thoughtful interviews exploring questions of identity, pride, hope, the lived experience of anti-Asian racism, and meaningful steps that allies can take. As the Year of the Tiger concludes this month, we share the last installment of our interview series. Ella Gantman, Class of 2023, plays goalie on the women’s varsity soccer team. She is concentrating in the Princeton…
Janet Currie
News January 11, 2023
Janet Currie Elected President of American Economic Association
Janet Currie, Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University and the Co-director of Princeton's Center for Health and Wellbeing, has recently been elected president of the American Economic Association (AEA). She will serve as president-elect in 2023 and as president in 2024. Established in 1885, the AEA is a non-profit, non-partisan, scholarly association dedicated to the discussion and publication of economics research. Janet joins a long list of distinguished Princeton economists to hold this position—including Ben Bernanke, Angus Deaton, Christopher Sims, Orley Ashenfelter, Avinash Dixit, and Nobel laureate Arthur Lewis, whom…
SPIA students touring United Nations
News January 11, 2023
UN Day Opens New Doors, Career Paths for Many SPIA Students
A record 63 SPIA graduate students met with United Nations staff and SPIA alumni during UN Day, held in December, when they attended moderated panels, engaged in career discussions, and enjoyed networking opportunities. The event opened the eyes of some students. “Prior to UN Day, the idea of working at the United Nations was just a curious thought,” said Tony Solis Cruz MPA ’24. “But there are so many different ways to work within the UN system to advance your country's goals, to advance the world's goals, to become a better place, and also to advance my own individual ideas about what I envision for progress in this world.” The day’s discussions…
Turtles and surfers by the shore in Maui, Hawaii. Photo credit: Bing Lin, Princeton University.
News January 09, 2023
Social Media and Aerial Mapping of Sea Floor Reveal That Tourists Love Hawaiian Coral Reefs Just a Little Too Much
A new analysis combining web-scraped social media data and high-resolution reef mapping in Hawaii shows that live coral cover is both a driver of – and victim to – coastal tourism at a regional scale, underscoring tradeoffs and opportunities between the environment and economy in Hawaii and beyond. Coral reefs are vibrant ecosystems for marine life and provide vital environmental benefits for humanity, such as storm wave mitigation, bountiful fish stocks, and ocean-based livelihoods. They are also a global attraction for tourists, drawing millions of visitors every year and billions of dollars in tourism revenue. However, reef ecosystems are also as…