Author: Sharon Wood

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, presented a keynote lecture at the first International Symposium of the Earth-Life Science Institute in Tokyo, Japan, and was named to the Board of Advisors. He presented the Qualline Lectures at the University of Texas, Austin, and the Naff Symposium Lecture at the University of Kentucky, Lexington. He also lectured at Rockefeller University and at the Sloan Foundation in New York City. 

Hugh Heclo, Robinson Professor of Public Affairs, wrote a chapter titled “The Varieties of American Exceptionalism,” in the book “American Exceptionalism: The Origins, History and Future of America’s Greatest Strength,” edited by Charles W. Dunn and published by Rowman and Littlefield. At a joint Harvard/Boston College conference honoring the work of the late James Q. Wilson, Heclo presented a luncheon talk titled “Jim Wilson’s Gold Mean.”

Carma Hinton, Robinson Professor of Visual Culture and Chinese Studies, gave a lecture, “From Mao to Mozart to Requiem for the Earth,” at the George Mason University Faculty Arts Council meeting before the performance of the China National Symphony Orchestra. She gave a lecture, “Discipline and Creativity: Aspects of Chinese Aesthetics,” at the Meeting of the National Society of Arts and Letters, Washington, D.C. Chapter, at the Mason Art Gallery in connection with the exhibition Chinese Scrolls from the Collection of Dr. Chi Wang. She gave a presentation, “Wang Yizhi and Education Reform in 1960s China,” at an American Association for the Advancement of Science roundtable in celebration of Chris Gilmartine’s contribution to Chinese Studies. She gave a presentation, “The Environment and Food Safety in China,” as part of a panel titled “Food Security and Well-Being” organized by the George Mason University Chapter of Table for Two. She gave a lecture and film presentation, “Exploring China’s Cultural Dynamism through Documentary Films,” at the 2013 National Chinese Language Conference.

John Paden, Robinson Professor of International Studies, published a report for the U.S. Institute of Peace, “Midterm Challenges in Nigeria: Elections, Parties, and Regional Conflict.” He presented at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies on “The Future of Governance and Security in the Sahalian States,” and he presented at a State Department conference on Nigeria titled “Civil Society: Northern Political, Traditional, and Religious Leaders.” 

Steven Pearlstein, Robinson Professor of Public and International Affairs, moderated a panel on Competitiveness at the annual conference of the U.S. Export-Import Bank. The panel included the chief executives of Xerox, Citigroup and the Center for American Progress. 

Laurie O. Robinson, Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, received the Distinguished Achievement Award in Evidence-Based Crime Policy at the 2013 Joint Symposium of Mason’s Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy held in concert with the Scottish Institute for Policing Research. She spoke at a New York University Law School faculty seminar on the future of federal investments in criminal justice research and anticrime programs in an era of sequestration and budget cuts. 

James Trefil, Robinson Professor of Physics, recorded an interview for “Big Picture Science” in the episode “Time for a Map” that went out to radio stations and podcast sites.

Spencer R. Crew, Robinson Professor of American, African American, and Public History, spoke on “The Underground Railroad in Virginia” at the Prince William County three-day program “Lest We Forget,” a conference on enslavement and emancipation. He also spoke at the Trinity School in New York City on “The Work of a Public Historian” and “The Great Migration of African Americans.”

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, was the keynote speaker at the Deep Carbon Science conference at the U.S. National Academies of Science, at the EarthCube Stakeholders meeting at the Smithsonian Institution, and at the Earth-Life Science Initiative Symposium in Tokyo. He presented lectures at the Harvard University Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, and presented a public lecture on evolution as part of the Harvard Natural History Museum “Evolution matters” series. Hazen was featured on more than 400 international TV, radio, and print media features in conjunction with the release of “Carbon in Earth,” a comprehensive survey of the physical, chemical and biological behavior of carbon in Earth, which he co-authored and edited.

 

Steven Pearlstein, Robinson Professor of Public and International Affairs, moderated a panel discussion in Chicago at a conference hosted by the Aspen Institute and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. The conference was titled “Rethinking Shareholder Value and the Purpose of the Corporation.”

 

James Trefil, Robinson Professor of Physics, presented three talks at the Economics Institute for Judges in Orange, Calif.: “The Scientific Method,” “Elements of Scientific Decision Making” and “The Extinction of the Dinosaurs: The Scientific Method in Action.” He also presented “The Other 98 Percent: Science Education for Everyone – A Story in Three Heresies,” at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Spencer R. Crew, Robinson Professor of American, African American, and Public History, participated in the video segment “Underground Railroad: Network to Freedom,” which aired in the February “County Magazine” program on Channel 16, Fairfax County Government’s cable channel.

 

Paul D’Andrea, Robinson Professor of Theater and English, had his play “The Einstein Project” presented in February at Montana State University as part of MSU President Waded Cruzado’s “Celebrating Einstein” Fine Arts Series, which hosts events centered on the theme “Art of Science — Science of Art.”

 

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, was the Linus Pauling lecturer of the Association for Science, Technology and Public Policy in Portland, Ore. He was also keynote speaker at the Gordon Research Conference on Geobiology in Ventura, Calif., and he lectured at Portland State University, the University of Arizona and Arizona State University.

 

Laurie O. Robinson, Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Vera Institute of Justice, an independent and nonpartisan center for justice research and policy based in New York City.

Spencer R. Crew, Robinson Professor of American, African American, and Public History, presented “Abraham Lincoln’s Dilemma Concerning African American Soldiers Fighting in the Civil War” at a Chicago Teachers Symposium on the Living Constitution. He was a seminar leader on Public History at the Seminar for Historical Administration sponsored by the Association of State and Local History. He presented on a panel titled “Emancipation at 150: The Impact of the Emancipation Proclamation” at the Lincoln Cottage in Washington, D.C. His topic was “The Response of Enslaved African Americans to the Issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation.” He presented “Views of Emancipation through the Eyes of the Enslaved” on a related online article published by the Lincoln Cottage. “Emancipation at 150: The Impact of the Emancipation Proclamation” is an anthology of the latest research on the Emancipation Proclamation from leading Lincoln scholars and government officials, jointly produced by the President Lincoln’s Cottage and the United States Commission on Civil Rights. This publication is available to the public as a free PDF download.

John Paden, Robinson Professor of International Studies, received an honorary doctorate degree from Usmanu Danfodiyo University in Sokoto, Nigeria, for “immense contribution to the advancement of the frontiers of knowledge and scholarship.”

Laurie O. Robinson, Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, attended a ceremony at which Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. presented the first Laurie O. Robinson Award created by the U.S. Department of Justice to recognize outstanding contributions by an individual in the department’s Office of Justice Programs for advancing the use of scientific research in criminal justice policy or practice. She participated in a panel at the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA) Annual Meeting on the National Research Council report, “Using Science as Evidence in Public Policy.”

James Trefil, Robinson Professor of Physics, presented “The Extinction of the Dinosaurs: The Scientific Method in Action” at the Economics Institute for Judges in Coral Gables, Fla., sponsored by Mason’s Law and Economics Center.

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, delivered the Condon Lecture on the origin of life and the Moore Lecture on mineral evolution, both at Oregon State University. He also presented the following: a keynote lecture on deep carbon mineralogy at the Geological Society of America’s Annual Meeting in Charlotte, N.C.; the keynote address on mineral evolution to the Virginia Community College System’s science conference in Virginia Beach, Va.; and a lecture on the co-evolution of the geosphere and biosphere at the Coast Geological Society in Ventura, Calif.

Harold Morowitz, Robinson Professor of Biology and Natural Philosophy, was the co-author of “Framing the Question of Fine-Tuning for Intermediary Metabolism,” a chapter in the new book “Fitness of the Cosmos for Life,” published by Cambridge University Press.

Steven Pearlstein, Robinson Professor of Public and International Affairs, spoke to the Consumer Federation of America at its annual legislative conference in Washington, D.C. He was also named one of the Washington Business Journal’s 100 most influential people in Washington, D.C., for 2012.

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, presented lectures on the origin of life for Montana State University and on mineral evolution at the German Geosciences Institute in Potsdam, Germany.

Laurie O. Robinson, Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, chaired a roundtable on translational criminology at the annual symposium of Mason’s Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy. She was also named to the Board of Trustees of CNA, a research and analysis organization that includes the Center for Naval Analyses.

James Trefil, Robinson Professor of Physics, presented “Science and the Law: An American Perspective” at IX Conference of the Society of Physicists of Macedonia, Orhid, Macedonia.