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

From speculation about the accuracy of polls ahead of the U.S. election earlier this month, to the approval ratings of Canadian premiers during the COVID-19 pandemic, scholars 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 13, 2020

• Department of Statistical Sciences professor Jeffrey Rosenthal writes an op-ed in the Globe and Mail on the value of polling in the wake criticisms directed at the practice following the U.S. election that delivered results that differed from what many people expected.
• Alison Chasteen, a professor in the Department of Psychology, comments on ageism and age discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Halifax Chronicle Herald.
• Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy professor Drew Fagan discusses opportunities for Canadian innovation during the pandemic in BetaKit.
• Matti Siemiatycki, a professor in the Department of Geography & Planning and interim director of the School of Cities, comments on the various ways the COVID-19 pandemic may affect cities in Maclean’s.

November 14, 2020

• Department of History assistant professor Funké Aladejebi discusses lessons to be learned from  pioneering Black women teachers in Ontario and the pursuit of racial equity in education on CBC Radio’s Fresh Air.
• A Vancouver Province story reports on Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology assistant professor Chelsea Rochman’s appearance at the annual Zero Waste Conference hosted by Metro Vancouver and the National Zero Waste Council, offering strategies to combat plastic pollution.
• Randall Hansen, a professor in the Department of Political Science and the Centre for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at the Munk School speculates on U.S. foreign relations under incoming president Joe Biden on Newstalk 1010’s Viewpoints (listen at 34:01).
• Matti Siemiatycki discusses how municipal revenue affects Toronto’s ability to operate and grow in the Toronto Star (paywall), and if the city is using the right tools to generate revenue and to their full extent.

November 16, 2020

• Kate Robertson, a research fellow at the Munk School’s Citizen Lab, discusses the RCMP’s use of digital surveillance tools to collect data on Canadians in The Tyee.
• Lynette Ong, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and the Asian Institute at the Munk School, comments on how the extradition case of Huawei Executive Meng Wanzhou detained in Canada and the fate two Canadians detained in China, might be affected by the election of Joe Biden in CBC News.
• A Globe and Mail story about the continued use of solitary confinement in Canadian prisons cites a new report co-authored by Criminology & Sociolegal Studies professor emeritus Anthony Doob.
• Christopher Parsons, a senior research associate in the Citizen Lab at the Munk School, comments in a Globe and Mail story about the minimal use of the contact tracing app developed by the Government of Alberta.
• Department of Political Science professor Ron Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School, concludes his 2020 Massey Lectures for CBC Radio’s Ideas with a call for a reset on the internet and a commitment to construct a communications ecosystem that supports civil society and contributes to the betterment of the human condition.

November 18, 2020

• Department of Anthropology assistant professor Bence Viola discusses the origins of modern humans in a Discover magazine story that examines whether or not their beginnings can be traced back to a single geographic location.
• Matti Siemiatycki comments on the benefits of mixed-use urban developments that combine private sector real estate with public services in the Toronto Star (paywall), an approach he says that Toronto has done better than many other cities around the world.

November 19, 2020

• Department of Political Science professor Nelson Wiseman comments on the approval ratings of various Canadian premiers throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in CityNews.