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Gray electric car with smokestacks in the background. Graphic Design: Bumper DeJesus
News December 12, 2024
EV Transition Could Create Air Pollution Hotspots in India, China
While electric vehicles have become a cornerstone of the global energy transition, new research led by Princeton University has demonstrated that refining the critical minerals needed for electric vehicle batteries could create pollution hotspots near manufacturing hubs.Focusing on China and India, the researchers found that national sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions could increase by up to 20% over current levels if the countries were to fully domesticize their supply chains for electric vehicles. The overwhelming majority of those SO­2 emissions would come from refining and manufacturing nickel and cobalt — important minerals for today’s electric…
Anuj Shah
News December 11, 2024
Fill in the Blanks with Anuj Shah
Anuj Shah came to Princeton this fall from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. An associate professor of psychology and public affairs, Shah applies cognitive and social psychology to social issues with a lens on how poverty affects decision-making.Shah is no stranger to Princeton University, where he completed his Ph.D. in psychology and a postdoctoral fellowship. Here’s more about him, in his own words:My research explores… how we can use the psychology of decision-making as a lens into social issues such as poverty, crime, and conflict. For example, in one line of work I explore how resource scarcity (lacking money, lacking time)…
Bipartisan Header
News December 09, 2024
Princeton SPIA Case Study Offers Some Hope for Future Bipartisanship
Political polarization in contemporary U.S. politics appears to be an intractable, permanent problem, threatening a near-constant state of legislative gridlock and vitriolic dialogue.However, a new case study by researchers in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs’ Innovations for Successful Societies program offers a few glimmers of hope.Martha B. Coven, a visiting lecturer in public and international affairs, and Elliot Mamet, a postdoctoral research associate, developed the case study for the first-year MPA course Politics of Public Policy, which Mamet is co-teaching with ISS Director Jennifer Widner, a professor of politics and…
SPIAction Newsletter
News, Newsletters December 06, 2024
SPIAction Newsletter
Dear Princeton SPIA community,As the end of another year approaches, I want to share how grateful I am for all you do for the School. Thanks to your work and support, 2024 has seen Princeton SPIA rise to the occasion in numerous areas. As always, we remained responsive to the needs and interests of our students, especially in the areas of international opportunities and public service. A full telling of all our successes is not possible here, but I am proud to point to several key achievements:Expanding Internationalization Efforts: Students traveled the world on policy trips, from Finland to Saudi Arabia, and faculty members crossed the globe to…
2024 COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan
News December 05, 2024
Princeton SPIA Students See Climate Policy Take Shape at COP29
Seven students from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs attended the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, last month. The students met with delegations from around the world and saw firsthand how international policy is established.Navroz Dubash, a professor of public and international affairs and the High Meadows Environmental Institute at Princeton University, also attended the conference and spoke on a panel hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It released the annual ‘Emissions Gap Report’ and focused on…
SPIA Policy Workshop, Climate Finance Challenges in Dakar - Devanne Béda-Geuder and students
News December 04, 2024
Princeton SPIA Policy Workshop Tackles Climate Finance Challenges in Dakar
Context is key. That’s one of Devanne Béda-Geuder’s guiding principles in “Strengthening Urban Climate Adaptation and Finance in Dakar, Senegal,” a policy workshop she’s leading this semester at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (Princeton SPIA).“It’s really important to think about climate change, climate policy, and climate finance from the perspective of a developing country,” said Béda-Geuder, an urban and development scholar and practitioner with 20 years of experience working at the intersection of development, governance, and urban studies in African cities.A lecturer and associate research scholar at Princeton SPIA, Béda…
A board used for the CISS simulation
News December 02, 2024
Princeton Students Conduct “What If” Simulation of Pivotal WWII Crisis
How would things be different if you got a do-over? The “what-if” game is always an interesting thought exercise — and for the first time, the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs’ Center for International Security Studies (CISS) used this question as the jumping off point for its semi-annual crisis simulation. On November 9, the simulations team at CISS hosted its first event of the 2024-25 academic year. Launched in 2010, the simulations are a full-day exploration of “what if,” in which students from across Princeton — regardless of program or year — along with external participants, respond to a theoretical geopolitical crisis…
ResearchRecord
News, Research & Policy Briefs November 25, 2024
Research Record: Current Engagement with Unreliable Sites from Web Search Driven by Navigational Search
Princeton SPIA’s Research Record series highlights the vast scholarly achievements of our faculty members, whose expertise extends beyond the classroom and into everyday life.If you’d like your work considered for future editions of Research Record, click here and select “research project.”
Varun Gauri
News November 21, 2024
Varun Gauri on Going from Economist to Novelist
On a recent Tuesday evening, Varun Gauri stepped behind a lectern at the Princeton Public Library not to deliver a talk about political or behavioral economics—topics he teaches at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs—but about Meena and Avi, the two characters in his debut novel who embrace Indian tradition by having an arranged marriage in small-town Ohio.For the Blessings of Jupiter and Venus is an exciting new addition to the growing tide of literature by first- and second-generation Americans exploring what it means to hold multiple…
Participating Scholars during Seoul City Tour at Gyeongbokgung Palace
News November 20, 2024
Faculty Brief South Korean Policymakers, Business Leaders, Scholars on Niehaus Trip
Several researchers from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs traveled to South Korea in October to brief the country’s policymakers, business leaders, and scholars on critical political and economic issues in the context of U.S.-South Korea relations and the 2024 U.S. presidential election.The eight-day trip was sponsored by the School’s Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance and hosted by Niehaus Director Helen V. Milner, the B.C. Forbes Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, and Hye Young You, an associate professor of politics and public affairs.The participants visited Seoul and Jeju…
Jesse Jenkins. Photo by Frank Wojciechowski.
News November 19, 2024
Jesse Jenkins Named as Top 100 Climate Leader, Receiving a Second Time Accolade
Energy systems expert Jesse Jenkins was named to the TIME100 Climate list on November 12, following his nomination to the TIME100 NEXT list in October.In both instances, Jenkins, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, was lauded for his influential role in evaluating and shaping the clean energy transition in the United States.Jenkins leads the ZERO Lab at Princeton, which works to guide energy transitions through the evaluation of emerging low-carbon technologies and development of optimization-based models to improve climate policy decision-making.Jenkins and his lab…
Patrick Sharkey
News November 18, 2024
Princeton SPIA Professor Awarded Grant to Combat Gun Violence through New Research Network
Patrick Sharkey of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (Princeton SPIA) has been awarded a $409,000 grant from Public Welfare Foundation that will fund the creation of a research and practice network aimed at bringing together leading researchers and practitioners to break new ground in reducing gun violence in the United States.“It’s a unique project because we’re approaching it without a specific outcome in mind,” said Sharkey, the William S. Tod Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs. “Rather than have a precise research question we’re trying to answer, we’re trying to bring people together to build an agenda that is more…
Research Record header
News, Research & Policy Briefs November 15, 2024
Research Record: Bureaucrat Incentives Reduce Crop Burning and Child Mortality in South Asia
Princeton SPIA’s Research Record series highlights the vast scholarly achievements of our faculty members, whose expertise extends beyond the classroom and into everyday life.If you’d like your work considered for future editions of Research Record, click here and select “research project.”
Robertson Hall
News November 12, 2024
Bipartisan Group to Discuss Criminal Justice Reform at Princeton SPIA
Representatives of organizations from across the political spectrum will participate in a first-of-its-kind panel discussion at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs later this month on bipartisan criminal justice reform.“Bipartisan Movement for Criminal Justice Reform: Past, Present, Future” will take place on Tuesday, November 19, at 5 p.m. in Robertson Hall’s Arthur Lewis Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public; registration is encouraged.The ideologically diverse panel includes:
Nicholas Lotito's Economic Diversification in Saudi Arabia class in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
News November 11, 2024
On the Road Again — Fall Break Trips Result in Real-World Learning
As midterm exams concluded and fall break officially began, Tigers across campus looked forward to the time away to rest, relax, and recharge. However, for a select group of Princeton School of Public and International Affairs MPA students participating in policy workshops, fall break allowed them to travel domestically and internationally to continue their research initiatives.Students went as far as Tokyo and as close as Puerto Rico to conduct field research and meet with the various clients and partner agencies they’re working with.“For MPA students, the policy workshop experience is the pinnacle of their required curriculum,” said Karen McGuinness…