A&S scholars sharing their expertise in the media

From the hiring of three new acclaimed academics to the Blue Jays in the World Series, 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.

October 24

• Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology associate professor Chelsea Rochman and PhD candidate Jacob Harney share new research that shows an alarming amount of plastics in the Don River, as reported by LaRepublica.

October 26

• Department of Art History postdoctoral fellow Stephanie Azzarello talks to CBC Radio: The Current about having to find her own liver donor.

October 27

• Department of Political Science and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy professor Lynette Ong analyzes for Global News the prime minister’s trip to Asia.
• Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy professor Mark Manger explains the U.S. debt and its impact in the Financial Post (paywall).

October 28

• Department of Statistical Sciences professor Jeffrey Rosenthal talks to CP24 about predicting the probability of the Blue Jays winning the World Series.
• Department of Political Science associate professor Seva Gunitsky and PhD student Sahib Jafarov write in Foreign Policy (paywall) about their research on modern leaders who faced prosecution.

October 29

• Citizen Lab director and Department of Political Science professor Ron Diebert shares with the Financial Post (paywall) his concerns about government surveillance using AI.
• Department of Philosophy professor Mark Kingwell argues in The Globe and Mail (paywall) for embracing the heartbreak of baseball.

October 30

• Munk School professor and presidential advisor on the environment, climate change & sustainability John Robinson talks to The Narwhal about the university’s approach to Scope 3 carbon emissions.
• Department of Geography & Planning assistant professor Tyeshia Redden discusses on CBC Radio: Metro Morning a proposal to allow more retail on residential corners.
• Centre for Industrial Relations & Human Resources professor Rafael Gomez explains rotating strikes in the Toronto Star (paywall).

October 31

• Department of Political Science and Munk School professor Lynette Ong explains Canada-China relations in The New York Times (paywall) and The Globe and Mail (paywall).
• Department of Art History assistant professor Mikinaak Migwans curated a new show at the Art Museum, as highlighted in Toronto Life (paywall).
• Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) professor Richard Bond talks to South China Morning Post about the perseverance that earned him the 2025 Shaw Prize in Astronomy.

November 1

• Department of Economics professor emeritus Gustavo Indart writes in the Toronto Star (paywall) about Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new budget.

November 2

• Munk School professor Jason Stanley discusses on MSNBC TV U.S. President Donald Trump’s White House alteration.
• Department of Statistical Sciences professor Jeffrey Rosenthal writes in Maclean’s about his World Series predictions.
• Department of Philosophy professor Mark Kingwell writes in The Globe and Mail (paywall) about World Series memories.

November 3

• School of Cities adjunct professor Carolyn Whitzman talks to CHCH News about affordable housing in Canada and the federal budget.
• Munk School professor Drew Fagan analyzes for The Globe and Mail (paywall) Canada’s relationship with Trump.

November 4

• Munk School professor Timothy Snyder writes in Japan Times about Trump’s Venezuela strikes.
• Department of Political Science professor emeritus Nelson Wiseman writes in the Hill Times (paywall) about desires in Alberta and Quebec to revive old political ideas.

November 5

• Munk School professor Jason Stanley talks to Mother Jones podcast: Reveal about why he came to the University of Toronto.
• Acceleration Consortium director and Department of Chemistry professor Alán Aspuru-Guzik and Department of Computer Science’s Sheila McIlraith are named Schmidt Science AI2050 Fellows for 2025, as noted by Forbes (paywall).
• Munk School senior fellow Tyler Meredith discuss on BNN Bloomberg housing spend in the new fiscal budget.
• Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies professor Sarah Bay-Cheng considers a new cinema initiative, as mentioned to CBC News online.
• Department of Political Science assistant professor Elizabeth McCallion shares with Reuters insights on the new federal budget.

November 6

• Department of Computer Science professor Daniel Wigdor comments for BetaKit on Canada’s place in the AI revolution.

November 7

• Department of Political Science professor Jessica Green provides insights to Foreign Affairs and CTV Your Morning about the COP30 meetings.
• Department of Sociology professor Scott Schieman and graduate student Alexander Wilson write in The Globe and Mail (paywall) about their national survey on employment loyalty.
• Department of History associate professor L.K. Bertram discusses with the Toronto Star (paywall) so-called morality police in Toronto in the late 19th century.

November 8

• Department of Political Science and the Munk School assistant professor Semra Sevi talks to CBC: Power & Politics and CBC Radio: Cross Country Check-up about MPs switching parties.

November 10

• Munk School senior fellow Brian Lewis, on TVO online, compares fiscal updates from Ontario and Ottawa.
• Department of Political Science PhD candidate Gamal Mansour talks on CBC Radio: As It Happens about Syria's president visiting the White House.
• Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History senior fellow Aluf Benn writes in Foreign Affairs about Benjamin Netanyahu’s resiliency.
• Centre for Human Resources & Industrial Relations professor Rafael Gomez comments for the Toronto Star (paywall) on the ongoing Canada Post contract dispute.

November 11

• Department of English professor and provostial advisor on civil discourse Randy Boyagoda write in The Atlantic (paywall) about the Pope’s quiet provocation.
• Department of Political Science professor and Trinity College G7 research group director John Kirton provides insights to Reuters and CTV News about the summit of G7 foreign ministers.

November 12

• The university hires acclaimed academics Sara Seager, who will be North Star distinguished professor at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA), and Mark Duggan, who will be Munk director and professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and Department of Economics, as featured by The Globe and Mail (paywall), CBC TV: The National, CBC Radio: As It Happens, CBC Radio: Metro Morning, CBC Science online (with comments from CITA interim director Shantanu Basu), CBC News online, CTV online, Toronto Life, Radio-Canada online, The Logic and the Toronto Star (paywall).
• Department of Economics PhD student Benjamin Couillard shares his research with The Globe and Mail (paywall), the New York Post (paywall) and Newsweek that connects housing costs to the drop in birth rates.
• David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics PhD student Ethen Sun explains auroras to CHCH TV online.

November 13

• Department of Psychology associate professor Jed A. Meltzer shows CTV News how subtle speech clues indicate brain health.