News & Stories

All News Research Newsmakers SPIA Reacts Community Profiles
group of people
News November 17, 2023
Despite Progress, Researchers Find More Potential Discrimination in Facebook Ads
In 2019, following several lawsuits, Facebook no longer allowed employers to target specific ages, genders, or zip codes when advertising for open positions. The move was part of a series of actions the platform has taken in recent years to reduce discrimination in advertising that appears there. Despite the changes, new research from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs has found a new source of potential discrimination in employment advertising on Facebook. Aleksandra Korolova, an assistant professor of computer science and public affairs, and Varun Nagaraj Rao, a graduate student in the Department of Computer Science, examined a…
three missile rockets
News November 14, 2023
SPIA Science and Global Security Program Reveals Devastation Linked to U.S. Policy on Nuclear Missiles in Silos in Mid-West
With the threat of nuclear war at a level not seen since the Cold War, researchers from the Science and Global Security(SGS) program at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs have estimated there would be 300 million casualties across North America if the United States’ nuclear silos were ever attacked.The findings come after a two-year examination and are presented in a multimedia package, “The Missiles on our Land,” which features state-of-the-art computer simulations, a podcast series, a documentary film, photography, and articles in Scientific American.“We’re looking at the human and environmental risks with U.S. nuclear weapon…
Eric Lepowsky has combined expertise in robotics and nuclear arms control to create a robotic system that strategically does not record sensitive information, making it more likely that skeptical state actors would participate in an inspections process. Photo by Michael Franken.
News November 02, 2023
SGS Ph.D. Student Exploring Robotics as a Noninvasive Arms-Control Measure
In the high-stakes world of nuclear arms control, a Princeton doctoral student is exploring how robots can make nuclear inspections more accurate and more acceptable to host nations that may be wary of invasive conventional methods.Eric Lepowsky, a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, applies concepts from robotics to nuclear safeguards to develop novel inspection and verification techniques.His latest research has led to a robot that can perform inspections without saving sensitive information, making inspections less invasive.“In a real-life scenario, the host nation likely won't want a human…
Fusion Voting event poster
News November 02, 2023
Strange Bedfellows: SPIA in NJ Event to Explore Ways to Revive Faith in New Jersey’s Democratic Institutions
Experts from across the political spectrum will convene at Princeton University on November 15 to discuss restoring New Jersey voters’ faith in their democratic institutions.“Fusion Voting: Restoring Real Choice at the Ballot” will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Hobart Betts Auditorium. The event is being hosted by the School of Public and International Affairs’ SPIA in New Jersey Initiative, with the Bridging Divides Initiative as a co-sponsor. Pre-registration is encouraged.Studies show most Garden State voters do not believe that their government is rising to the serious challenges of today, that elected officials represent their interests or are…
Mickey Edwards
News November 01, 2023
Book Prize Named in Honor of SPIA Visiting Professor
After 16 years as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives serving Oklahoma’s 5th congressional district, Mickey Edwards entered academia. He has spent more than 20 years teaching and writing, and has published four books about democracy and government. This second career has earned him a book prize that bears his name. The Rodel Institute created the Edwards Book Award to recognize literature that makes an outstanding contribution to the understanding and practice of democracy in American politics.The Rodel Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that helps America’s leaders reach their full potential as public servants, deepen their…
Filiz Garip
News November 01, 2023
Garip to Receive A.SK Bright Mind Award
Filiz Garip, a professor of sociology and public affairs, will receive the A.SK Bright Mind Award on November 14 in Berlin, Germany. The award, presented by the WZB Berlin Social Science Center, honors research on public policy with a focus on economic and governmental reforms and is endowed with a 20,000 Euro prize.Garip studies migration and the mechanisms that enable or constrain mobility and lead to greater or lesser degrees of social and economic inequality. Her 2016 book On the Move: Changing Mechanisms of Mexico-US Migration was published by Princeton University Press.“This award is as much a responsibility as it is a recognition,” Garip said. …
Monitoring nuclear weapons stockpiles with radio waves
News October 30, 2023
Monitoring Nuclear Weapons Stockpiles With Radio Waves
Monitoring whether states are complying with nuclear disarmament treaties is not an easy task. An international team that includes a pair SPIA researchers has been exploring remote monitoring with the help of two antennas and a couple of mirrors.The team, comprising IT security experts, developed a mechanism that uses radio waves to remotely monitor whether any changes are being made in a specific room – such as one used to store warheads. In a paper published online in Nature Communications two weeks ago, the researchers, from the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy in Bochum, Ruhr University Bochum, the University of Connecticut, Harvard…
Life Expectancy Drops for Native Americans Due to COVID-19 article graphic
News October 26, 2023
SPIA Faculty Study Pandemic’s Impact on Asian American Health, Long Covid
As COVID-19 remains a threat to public health, faculty members from the School of Public and International Affairs have continued research efforts to determine how the virus has left a lasting impact on individuals and populations worldwide.Noreen Goldman, the Hughes-Rogers Professor of Demography and Public Affairs, examined the impact of COVID-19 on life expectancy among four Asian American subgroups — Asian Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, and Vietnamese — from 2019-2021. The research findings were published in SSM – Population Health. Goldman worked alongside Sung Park, of the University of Massachusetts, Boston; Hiram Beltrán-Sánchez, of the…
Fall 2023 Policy Workshop participants
News October 25, 2023
Policy Workshops Send MPA2 Students Around the World for Fall Break Immersions
The School’s second-year MPA students traveled around the world during last week’s fall break as part of their Policy Workshops.The MPA2s, as they are known, ventured to the American Southwest, Puerto Rico, New York, Asia, and Africa for six of this semester’s seven Policy Workshops. A trip to Guatemala had to be canceled due to ongoing political turmoil there.“We are glad to be able to provide our students with opportunities to work closely with local, national, and international organizations on the immediate and timely needs of communities here in the United States and around the world,” said Paul Lipton, SPIA’s senior associate dean of academic…
Offshore wind farm (stock.adobe.com)
News October 25, 2023
SPIA Doctoral Student Among Four Chosen for N.J. Wind Institute Fellowship
The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment has selected four graduate students from across Princeton to participate in the 2023-2024 New Jersey Wind Institute Fellowship.The selected fellows will carry out research projects to tackle timely challenges facing the growing offshore wind industry, from characterizing winds in coastal boundary layers to understanding the resilience of offshore wind technologies to extreme weather events along the Atlantic coast.Now in its second year, the Wind Institute Fellowship Program, established by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA), supports students at select New Jersey institutions of…
Yellow-breasted Bunting bird. Photo by Zhikai Liao.
News October 25, 2023
New Study Identifies Illegal Hunting as a Threat to China’s Wildlife and Global Public Health
Illegal hunting and trading of wildlife in China is becoming a significant threat to biodiversity and public health, according to a new paper by a team of researchers that includes two scholars from the School of Public and International Affairs. It is the first comprehensive assessment of this issue for China. Yellow-breasted bunting. Photo by Zhikai Liao. The paper, "Assessing the illegal hunting of native wildlife in China," is published in Nature and was co-authored by Dan Liang, Xingli Giam, Sifan Hu, Liang Ma, and David S. Wilcove. Liang is an…
Cindy Huang
News October 24, 2023
SPIA Advisory Council Co-Chair Cindy Huang MPA ’02 Named USAID Policy Director
Throughout a career that has seen her serve in the State Department during the Obama administration, manage billions to advance inclusive development around the world, and, most recently, direct the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the Department of Health and Human Services, Cindy Huang MPA ’02 is ready for a new challenge. On October 5, she was sworn in as the policy director for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).USAID’s mission is to promote and demonstrate democratic values abroad, and advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world. Through a series of partnerships and investments, USAID aims to reduce poverty, strengthen…
Students in front of the United Nations in Geneva
News October 20, 2023
Policy Advocacy Clinic Team Formally Submits Report to U.N. Human Rights Committee
Two months after traveling to Geneva, Switzerland, to present before the United Nations Human Rights Committee (CCPR) regarding U.S. compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a Princeton Policy Advocacy Clinic team joined the American Civil Liberties Union in formally submitting their report on the matter to the Committee.SPIA’s Policy Advocacy Clinic immerses students in the policymaking process by teaching them how to find public policy solutions for social problems and then engaging them in advocacy campaigns to advance those policies. It is the first program of its kind in higher education, and the report to…
Israel Gaza war graphic
News, Press Releases October 09, 2023
SPIA Reacts: Crisis in the Middle East
Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, the founding director of SPIA’s Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, has been teaching on issues of state, self-determination, diplomacy, and crisis diplomacy at Princeton since 1988.The violent death and destruction wrought through the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel – including kidnappings of Israelis on their territory and deliberate civilian killings such as those at the Tribe of Nova Music Festival – represent a potential inflection point in the Middle East and beyond.These heinous Hamas attacks, on a Shabbat and the Jewish Holiday of Sukkot, are unprecedented in innovation, scope, intensity, and coordination…
Naima Green-Riley
News October 06, 2023
Research Reveals Persistent Racial Gap in Americans’ Support of War
When asked in surveys, Black Americans consistently expressed less support for the Iraq War than their white counterparts, even when controlling for demographic variables, according to new research co-authored by Naima Green-Riley, an assistant professor of politics and international affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. The racial gap in support for war persisted over time, from 2001 to 2014, during both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama presidencies. The findings offer an opportunity to gain a more comprehensive understanding of American public opinion about American military actions abroad, based on data from the…