News Archive

WKCR programmer Danielle Smith sits down with Professor Deborah Hasin, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Medical Center to discuss two studies: "Epidemiology of DSM-5 Alcohol Use Disorder" and "Medical Marijuana Laws and Adolescent Marijuana Use in the USA from 1991 to 2014." Professor Hasin and Smith discuss the results of the two studies, the concerns of alcohol and marijuana use, and the need for education concerning the two issues.

WKCR programmer Danielle Smith interviews Dr. Stephen Tsang, Lazlo Z. Bito Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Pathology and Cell Biology, concerning his research in his opthalmology lab. Dr. Tsang and his associates were able to identify a mutation in the gene ATF6 that causes achromatopsia – a severe form of color blindness. Dr. Tsang speaks with Danielle about his research, gene therapy, and precision medicine.

Making a sustainable impact in complex peacebuilding environments requires that we stop thinking in terms of success and failure. Complex, adaptive social systems mean that striving for “success” often leads us to make unsustainable or even negative impacts; while avoiding “failure” means we stifle learning and miss opportunities for innovation. Rob Ricigliano will share his work with The Omidyar Group in thinking and acting differently in complex environments in order to implement a new paradigm for making sustainable change in a complex world.

Making gains on environmental, social, and economic sustainable development requires that organizations adapt to a new and increasingly interconnected reality. However, moving into this interconnected space spanning development, environmental management and peacebuilding work is costly and challenging. In his talk, Dr. Fisher offers a perspective on how we can know that efforts to span silos and traditional operational boundaries are worth it.

By 2030, the UN predicts that 80 percent of the world population will live in urban areas, and cities will increasingly be the spaces where conflicts arise and related violence will occur. Dr. Beth Fisher-Yoshida and Dr.

For many years, Dr. Orit Gal has been engaged in solving the Middle East conflict and has explored why accumulated actions to resolve the conflict have failed. Dr. Gal suggests that complexity can help us understand why conflict and other social challenges cannot simply be reduced to a list of individual ‘problems to solve’. Rather, she suggests that the metaphor of Chinese acupuncture can offer insights into understanding how small interventions can disrupt and change the behavior of individuals, the dynamics of entire social systems, and the world in which we live.

Physics models are simple but people are complex. How can mathematical models help us understand human behavior? Dr. Larry Liebovitch will share how simple mathematical models and equations can tell us surprising things about the consequences of human behavior.

Elections, peace talks, protests, and other conflicts are highly visible symbols of countries undergoing political and social change. However, such visible symbols sometimes mask the deeper, hidden patterns that are actually driving the social system. Drawing on examples from Myanmar’s peace and reform process, this talk will illustrate how revealing and acting on hidden patterns can help international assistance avoid inadvertently doing harm, while supporting more sustainable, positive transformation.

In complex adaptive systems, including human social systems, patterns emerge when diverse agents follow the same short list of simple rules. In her talk, Dr. Glenda Eoyang will explore some of these simple rules and the emergent patterns they create in both the natural and human worlds. She’ll then explore the question “How can we use simple rules to see, understand, and influence patterns for sustainable peace?”

Intractable conflicts are those conflicts that persist over time and space. They draw us in and we seem to remain trapped in their grip despite efforts of many to resolve them. Examples are easy to identify – from national and international conflicts to a longstanding family feud. In his 10-minute talk, Dr. Peter Coleman will share a new way of thinking about and engaging in intractable conflict – through the lens of complexity science and dynamical systems theory

Danielle Fox conducted interviews with Barnard students and alumni surrounding the issue of trans-enrollment at Barnard College. Fox also attended a townhall at which Barnard students were invited to discuss this issues and references it throughout the program. The interviews included in this program were all conducted independently of each other.

Peter T. Coleman interviews Larry Liebovitch, Professor of Physics and Psychology at Queens College of the City University of New York.

Columbia and Barnard's anti-sexual assault movement have gotten significant national media attention, but the coverage never strays far beyond profiling the loudest voices. Late City Edition Producer Naomi Cohen interviews Smita Sen, who started organizing around sexual assault last fall, to talk about the activists who have stayed in the shadows. They discuss the work done before No Red Tape, the survivors who aren't showing up to the rallies, and the arguments that aren't painted on the signs.

Peter Coleman interviews José Pascal da Rocha, a professor of conflict resolution at Columbia. Pascal spent the 90s and early 2000s going on peacekeeping missions and serving as a mediator and advisor everywhere from Afghanistan to Somalia. Pascal discusses his experiences in the field and explains how paper-based role-playing games have helped him solve huge and seemingly intractible real-world problems.

Late City Edition Producer Erik Campano sat down with Andrew Cote, urban beekeeper and head of Bees Without Borders, a nonprofit dedicated to alleviating poverty through beekeeping.

In October's collaboration with the Advanced Consortium for Cooperation, Conflict and Complexity, the AC4 team discusses their new book Making Conflict Work: Harnessing the Power of Disagreement.

Late City Edition producer Sarah Kerson interviews Kenan Juska, collage artist and one half of the DJ collective Chances with Wolves. He spent three years collecting trash and cast off items on the street and compiling them into collages, which are on display until Sept 7 at Pioneer Works in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Beth Fisher-Yoshida interviews Alex Fischer, Associate Director of the Haiti Research and Policy Center at Columbia University's Earth Institute.

In June’s collaboration with the Advanced Consortium for Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity, (AC4) features a conversation with Chris Blattman. Dr. Blattman explains how employment opportunities and plain old cash incentives can help high-risk men in Liberia avoid seeking out work as mercenary soldiers.

In June’s collaboration with the Advanced Consortium for Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity, (AC4) features a conversation with Chris Blattman. Dr. Blattman explains how employment opportunities and plain old cash incentives can help high-risk men in Liberia avoid seeking out work as mercenary soldiers.

Peter Coleman interviews John Barkat, Assistant Secretary-General and head of the Ombuds (or conflict mediation) program at the United nations.

Researcher and conflict educator Naira Musallam discusses conflict dynamics in Israel, Palestine, Iraq, and Syria, and explains how chaos theory can help mediators better understand conflict zones.

Tune in for an interview with Nancy Kates, producer and director of the forthcoming HBO documentary Regarding Susan Sontag. The film offers an in-depth study of intellectual, filmmaker, and activist Susan Sontag. We sat down with Kates to discuss the film, which debuted at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.

How does social media change how we talk about death? How might outlets like twitter shape and expand conversations around terminal illness? Writer Meghan O'Rourke draws on personal research and experience of her own mother's death to discuss cancer's place on twitter and the evolution of mourning rituals in a world that is both hyper-connected and hyper-disconnected.

Late City Edition Producer George Joseph sat down with representatives from Columbia University Prison Divest to discuss the private prison industry, divestment, and student activism.

Severine Autesserre, expert in peacebuilding and peacekeeping with years of field research under her belt, talks about her research on how local, national and regional violence interact and feed each other in war-torn areas. Why are international peacekeepers often so ineffective? What happens when foreign aid only exacerbates conflict? Professor Autesserre offers new insight into question of why peace interventions tend to fail, and offers unconventional solutions to help build sustainable peace.

Anna Bahr, former managing editor of the Blue and White Magazine, sat down with Late City Edition Producer Ruby Dutcher to discuss her recent articles illuminating the sometimes questionable administrative response to cases of sexual assault at Columbia.