A&S scholars sharing their expertise in the media this week

From Canada’s access-to-information system to the development of new alternatives to plastic, 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.

November 10, 2023

• Department of History Assistant Professor and International Relations Program at Trinity College Director Timothy Sayle explains to The Globe and Mail (paywall) how Canada’s access laws keep the country’s history a secret.
• Department of Earth Sciences and School of the Environment Professor Miriam L. Diamond shares her research on toxic PFAS chemicals on TVO: The Water Brothers.
• Aurel Braun, affiliated faculty at the Centre for European, Russian &Eurasian Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, talks to CTV about the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas war.
• Munk School senior fellow Jon Allen and Aurel Braun comment for the Toronto Star (paywall) on pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
• Department of Computer Science University Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton is mentioned in Wired (paywall) in connection with ChatGPT.
• Department of Geography & Planning Professor and Infrastructure Institute at the School of Cities Director Matti Siemiatycki and Department of Sociology Assistant Professor and School of Cities affiliated faculty Prentiss Dantzler talk to the Toronto Star (paywall) about North York Harvest Food Bank’s struggles to secure housing facilities due to higher commercial rents.
• Anna Shternshis, director of the Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies and Al and Malka Green professor of Yiddish and Diaspora Studies in the Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures, comments for CP24 on the rise of antisemitism in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.
• Centre for Indigenous Studies and Department of Linguistics Associate Professor Ryan DeCaire tells CBC News online that universities must do more for language revitalization.

November 11, 2023

• Department of Psychology Associate Professor John Vervaeke shares with South China Morning Post four ways to boost mental resilience.
• Department of Political Science and School of the Environment Associate Professor Jessica Green discusses on CBC Radio: The House carbon tax as a strategy to reduce emissions.
• Political Science and Munk School Asian Institute Associate Professor Lynette Ong tells the Canadian Press that Beijing’s method of retaliation against countries that aren’t cooperating with them is imposing a ban on imports on arbitrary goods.

November 12, 2023

• Rotman Commerce alum Nuha Siddiqui shares with CBC Radio: What On Earth how the company she launched while a student is developing plastic alternatives.

November 13, 2023

• For the New Yorker, Geoffrey Hinton reflects on his life’s work and the evolution of advanced AI, with mention of Department of Computer Science alumni Ilya Sutskever and Alex Krizhevsky.
• Matti Siemiatycki and Data Sciences Institute postdoctoral fellow Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher share with Spacing.com their work to improve urban cycling in the Greater Toronto Area.
• Matti Siemiatycki comments for the Hill Times (paywall) on the proposed 1,000-km high-frequency rail link between Quebec and Toronto, and for CBC about the significance of new federal loans for rental housing in Toronto.

November 14, 2023

• School of Cities Director and Department of Geography & Planning Professor Karen Chapple receives continued coverage in FOX Business online and Newstalk 1010 for her downtown recovery research.
• Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Associate Professor Doug Currie explains to NOW Toronto the difference between a bed bug and a ladybird beetle.

November 15, 2023

• Centre of Criminology & Sociolegal Studies Professor Scot Wortley comments for the Toronto Star (paywall) on rising Toronto police presence at retail stores.
• Victoria College Professor on Public Policy and Society Sunil Johal talks to Newstalk 1010 about cost of living, how the pandemic has affected Canadians and housing affordability.

November 16, 2023

• Matti Siemiatycki comments for CBC News online on the use of boring machines.