Commentary by Shankar Chandramowli, PhD Candidate In recent times, the credibility of social science has been put into question by the so-called ‘science wars’ debates (Sokal, 1996; Ashman and Barringer, 2000; Flyvbjerg, 2001). One of the major criticisms levied against social science is that its interpretations lack credibility due to the inherent nature of uncertainties…

by Kevin Burkman “Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over.”          —Mark Twain The region west of the 100th meridian of longitude is home to some of the most diverse landscapes in North America. At around two thousand feet above sea level, the mixed grass prairies of the Great…

By Jordan Kocak Brownfields are an enduring legacy of America’s industrial past. Real or perceived contamination of these formerly industrial sites impedes redevelopment and presents a significant obstacle to putting vacant properties back to use. As post-industrial cities search to reinvent themselves, these blighted sites can become catalysts for positive economic and social change. In…

by MaryDena Apodaca-Cahalane, Candidate, MCRP ’16 “I needed to examine everything that had been written on architecture from Vitruvius to Leonce Renaud; everything on law from Solomon to Bentham; everything on the study of society from Plato to Prouhon; everything on sanitation from Hippocrates to the present day; everything on statistics from Moses to the…

 by Victoria Porterfield, PhD candidate The concept of the separation between Church and State in governmental matters has played an essential role in United States’ history.  In the words of Thomas Jefferson (1802): “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting…

by Anjali Srivastava, PhD candidate Introduction/Problem Statement Women’s labor force participation rates have grown in the United States over recent decades with peak rates reached in 1999.  The U.S. Bureau of Labor Force predicts that rates will either remain at current levels or decline only slightly.  Additional data show that the segment of the labor…

by Annelisa Steeber, Candidate, MPP ‘15 Introduction Obesity is a problem in the United States. Many even characterize it as an epidemic. Rates have climbed since the 1970s (Wilde 2013, 134–7),and while measurements vary, today about one-third of U.S. adults are obese (DeBono, Ross, and Berrang-Ford 2012, 747). Obesity is linked to very serious social…