A&S scholars sharing their expertise in the media

From traffic congestion issues in Toronto to Canada-U.S. trade, experts from a range of disciplines across the Faculty of Arts & Science are sharing their expertise on a variety of issues in the media.

Here’s some of what they had to say this week.

January 24, 2025

• Department of Chemistry professor and Acceleration Consortium director Alán Aspuru-Guzik shares with CNN online the science behind the team’s drug discoveries.
• Department of Psychology PhD candidate Elaine Hoan and Professor Geoff MacDonald discuss their new study with the Toronto Star (paywall) and the Daily Mail, where they found that single women are happier than single men.
• John Scott-Railton, senior researcher at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy’s Citizen Lab, shares with NPR online his analysis of cybersecurity attacks on climate activists.
• Jon Penney, research fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy’s Citizen Lab, writes in The Globe and Mail (paywall) about the failed TikTok ban.
• Department of Political Science Assistant Professor Semra Sevi comments for Al Jazeera on the Liberal leadership race.  
• Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy sessional lecturer Rory Johnston comments for CBC News online on Canada’s reliance on U.S. pipelines.
• Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy senior fellow Danielle Goldfarb comments for The Globe and Mail (paywall) on Canada-U.S. trade.
• Department of Political Science Professor Emeritus Nelson Wiseman comments for the Associated Press and London Free Press on Ontario premier Doug Ford’s call for an early election and response to proposed tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump.
• Women & Gender Studies Institute journalism fellow Samira Mohyeddin writes in The Globe and Mail (paywall) about the activism of Narges Mohammadi, the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Iranian prisoner of conscience.
• David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics PhD student Ryan Mckinven comments for CNN online on the discovery of varied origins for fast radio bursts.

January 25, 2025

• Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy University Professor Janice Stein answers questions for the Toronto Star (paywall) about the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.
• Department for the Study of Religion professor and Centre for Diaspora & Transnational Studies director Kevin O’Neill’s book Unforgivable is included in the Minnesota Star Tribune’s list of five books to read in February.

January 26, 2025

• Matti Siemiatycki, professor in the Department of Geography & Planning and director of the Infrastructure Institute at the School of Cities talks to CBC News online and CBC News online about Ontario Place’s redevelopment and Toronto’s infrastructure backlog.
• Department of East Asian Studies assistant professor Michelle Cho talks to CBC News online about reactions in South Korea to Han Kang’s Nobel Prize win.

January 27, 2025

• Department of Political Science and School of the Environment professor Jessica Green discusses on TVO: The Agenda whether Canadian voters care about climate change.
• Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies PhD candidate Bukky Shonibare and Distinguished Professor Kamari Maxine Clarke, who is cross-appointed at the Centre for Diaspora & Transnational Studies, discuss with Radio-Canada their work using AI to support survivors of sexual violence.
• Jack Cunningham, program director of the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History and assistant professor at Trinity College, comments for CBC News online on Sault Ste. Marie re-evaluating its policy requiring department heads to live within city limits.

January 28, 2025

• Data Sciences Institute postdoctoral fellow Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher shares with Toronto Life her research that uses machine learning to generate maps of potential bike lanes in Toronto.
• Citizen Lab senior researcher Jeffrey Knockel comments for CBC News online on the Chinese-made AI chatbot DeepSeek.
• Enid Slack, director of the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance at the School of Cities, and Matti Siemiatycki, professor in the Department of Geography & Planning and director of the Infrastructure Institute at the School of Cities, comment on Mayor Olivia Chow’s decision not to go with plans to impose a parking tax.

January 29, 2025

• Matti Siemiatycki, professor in the Department of Geography & Planning and director of the Infrastructure Institute at the School of Cities, discusses with CBC Radio: Here and Now, CBC News online and the National Observer traffic congestion issues in Toronto.
• John Scott-Railton, senior researcher at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy’s Citizen Lab, tells Mashable and Wired that companies set the terms for how they use private data when users use AI platforms like DeepSeek.
• Department of Economics Associate Professor Joseph Steinberg tells the National Post (paywall) says that 25 per cent tariffs, followed by dollar-for-dollar retaliation, would hurt the Canadian economy five times more than it would hit the Americans.

January 29, 2025

• Department of Political Science Professor Emeritus Nelson Wiseman writes in The Hill Times (paywall) about the next federal election.
• Department of Political Science and School of the Environment Professor Jessica Green argues in the National Observer that axing the carbon tax is smart politics.  
• Department of Psychology Assistant Professor Taryn Grieder discusses with CBC News online traffic congestion issues in Toronto.
• Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy Professor Drew Fagan comments for Global News online on a relief package for workers and businesses along the lines of Canada’s COVID-19 supports.
• Department of Political Science professor and Citizen Lab director Ron Deibert tells NBC News online that DeepSeek users should be cautious if they have reason to fear the Chinese government.

January 30, 2025

• School of Cities urbanist-in-residence Lanrick Bennett Jr. talks to the Toronto Star (paywall) about how e-bikes can be better integrated into the city, with mention of a School of Cities study on Toronto’s Bike Share program.
• Centre For Industrial Relations & Human Resources Professor Emeritus Morley Gunderson comments for The Local on the narrative that immigrants are driving up housing prices.
• School of the Environment instructor Keith Stewart writes in the National Observer about oil executives responding to changes in leadership in the U.S. and potentially Canada.
• Department of Philosophy Assistant Professor William Paris talks to ABC podcast: Future Tense about the potential benefits of utopian thinking.
• Department of Philosophy Professor Mark Kingwell shares advice in the Toronto Star (paywall) on managing parenting dilemmas and feelings of being overwhelmed.
• The School of Cities and the U of T India Foundation co-host an event on AI's role in urban planning, with comments from Department of Geography & Planning professor and School of Cities director Karen Chapple and Department of Computer Science professor Karan Singh, as highlighted by the Times of India.