Author: Sharon Wood

Paul D’Andrea, Robinson Professor of Theater and English, was recognized recently at a reception given by President Ángel Cabrera for Mason nominees and winners of the Commonwealth of Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award.

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, lectured on “Chance and necessity in Earth’s evolution” at the Philosophical Society of Washington. His recently published article “On the nature and significance of rarity in mineralogy,” which described thousands of mineral species much rarer than diamonds or rubies, became the number one international science story on Google over the Valentine’s Day weekend.

Laurie O. Robinson, Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, briefed top White House officials and members of Congress in February on recommendations from the Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections, a bipartisan body of policymakers and criminal justice experts established by Congress in response to mounting concerns about the scale and cost of the federal prison system.

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, gave a presentation on “Carbon Mineral Ecology” and held a press conference on the carbon mineral challenge at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. He also lectured on “Mineral Surfaces and the Origins of Life” at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J. Hazen and his research on mineral evolution are featured in the NOVA (WGBH-TV, Boston) episode, “Life’s Rocky Start,” which aired on Jan. 13 on PBS.

Laurie O. Robinson, Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law and Society,  has been appointed a member of the Committee on Law and Justice of the National Academies of Science. 

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, was named the 2016 Roebling Medalist of the Mineralogical Society of America—the highest career award in mineralogy. He was inducted as a fellow of the Geological Society of America at their annual meeting in Baltimore. He presented lectures on deep carbon in Providence, R.I., and on mineral-molecule interactions at a conference on origins of life in Washington, D.C. He also performed on trumpet in Bach’s Cantata 110 at Emmanuel Music in Boston, Mass.

Carma Hinton, Robinson Professor of Visual Culture and Chinese Studies, was a keynote speaker at the New England Chinese Language Teachers Association conference at Brown University.

Steven Pearlstein, Robinson Professor of Public Affairs, moderated a roundtable panel at the Brookings Institution on the topic “Short-termism in Corporate America.”

Laurie O. Robinson, Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, spoke on federal and state sentencing reform at the National Association of Former U.S. Attorneys conference in Phoenix. She gave talks on policing reform before the White House Fellows Foundation in Washington, D.C., and at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

James Trefil, Robinson Professor of Physics, presented “Scientific Methodology” and “Expert Testimony” at the Economics Institute for Judges, George Mason University Law and Economics Center.

Spencer R. Crew, Robinson Professor of American, African American, and Public History, gave the Constitution Day program keynote speech at Marymount University on the topic “Demanding the Right to Vote: The Story behind the 1965 Voting Rights Act.” Crew was the featured speaker at a program sponsored by the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution on The Confederate Flag and the Legacy of Slavery, which also aired on C-SPAN. He was a speaker at the 50th reunion program of McKinley High School graduates about the National Museum of African American History and Culture. He also published a new book, “Memories of the Enslaved Voices from the Slave Narratives,” written in collaboration with Lonnie G. Bunch and Clement Price.

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, conducted field studies of volcanic degassing in central Italy, and he presented a lecture on deep carbon research at the Academy of Sciences in Rome.

To watch Dr. Hazen’s presentation, Chance Neccesity and the Origins of Life, at Carnegie: http://library.fora.tv/2015/11/12/Robert_Hazen_-_Chance_Necessity_and_the_Origins_of_Life

Carma Hinton, Robinson Professor of Visual Culture and Chinese Studies, was invited to present a special program at the Southeast Regional AAS regarding Anhui traditional architecture. Hinton was invited by the history department at the University of Virginia for a lecture and film presentation: “Changing Images of China in U.S. Documentary Films (1940–1972),” and the film presentation of “Gate of Heavenly Peace” at New York University law school. Hinton gave a lecture at the China Institute in New York titled “The Posthumous Life of Chairman Mao,” participated in a panel discussion at NYU law school titled “Tiananmen 1989,” gave a lecture at the Norton Museum of Art in Florida titled “Tethered Tiger, Captured Dragon―Expelling Demons from Mountain Woods,” and participated in a panel discussion at the opening of the exhibition of paintings in the collection of Chi Wang at the Mason Art Gallery.

James Trefil, Robinson Professor of Physics, presented “Scientific Methodology and Expert Testimony” at the Economics Institute for Judges, George Mason University Law and Economics Center.

Steven Pearlstein, Robinson Professor of Public and International Affairs, has written another article for the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/four-tough-things-universities-should-do-to-rein-in-costs/2015/11/25/64fed3de-92c0-11e5-a2d6-f57908580b1f_story.html

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, gave a keynote talk at the Keck Workshop on the co-evolving geosphere and biosphere at Carnegie Institution. He presented two lectures at McGill University in Montreal on origins of life and mineral ecology.

Laurie O. Robinson, Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, was appointed to serve as an adviser to the American Law Institute’s Principles of the Law, Police Investigationsproject. In September she spoke on a panel on “Policing and Civil Rights” sponsored by the New York Review of Books at the Brooklyn Book Festival.

Spencer R. Crew, Robinson Professor of American, African American, and Public History, served as the advisor to the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington on interpretive planning for their new core exhibit. He made a presentation on the history of the celebration of Juneteenth at the Civil War Interpretive Center at Historic Blenheim in Fairfax. He also served on a panel at a forum titled Voting Rights Act at 50: Landmark Law that Transformed America, at the National Museum of American History, sponsored by the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, was elected a Fellow of Geological Society of America. He also was a keynote speaker at the Astrobiology Science Conference in Chicago, Ill.; the Deep Carbon Modeling Workshop in Berkeley, Calif.; the COMPRES High-Pressure Conference in Colorado Springs, Colo.; and the Goldschmidt (Geochemical Society) Conference in Prague, Czech Republic.

John Paden, Robinson Professor of International Studies, briefed the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom on “inter-faith relations in Nigeria,” prior to their Nigeria trip. He gave a lecture to 200 mid-career professionals at the National Defense University on “Managing Conflict in Nigeria.” He met with senior officials from the Nigerian government to discuss conflict management in Nigeria, and he met with State Department officials to discuss the status of the opposition party in Nigeria. Paden wrote a report for the World Bank on “Preventing Violent Extremism in Nigeria: Development Interventions in the North.” He met for talks with Nigeria’s new President, Muhammadu Buhari, in Washington, D.C., to discuss areas of future cooperation with Mason’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, and other areas of mutual interest. He facilitated linkage cooperation between Mason and two of Nigeria’s federal universities (Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, and Federal University Birnin Kebbi) and with Nigeria’s National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS.)

Steven Pearlstein, Robinson Professor of Public Affairs, spoke at a panel on income inequality and corporate responsibility hosted by the Conference Board in New York City.

Laurie O. Robinson, Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, spoke at a White House forum in July with mayors and police chiefs from around the country about the President’s Task Force on 21^st-Century Policing. She also gave talks on that subject to other groups, including the FBI National Executives Institute (NEI), the Maryland State Police Training Commission, the D.C. City Council Judiciary Committee, and the National Criminal Justice Association.

Shaul Bakhash, Robinson Professor of History, wrote “Britain and the Abdication of Reza Shah,” based on his current research, which was accepted for publication by the journal Middle Eastern Studies.

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, presented lectures on the future of the Deep Carbon Observatory at the Deutsches Museum in Munich and on mineral ecology in Munich at the University of Agadir in Morocco and the Carnegie Institution’s Geophysical Laboratory. He also conducted mineralogical field studies in Morocco, including at the famed Imiter Silver Mine.

John Paden, Robinson Professor of International Studies, participated in a panel discussion at the U.S. Institute of Peace, along with two U.S. ambassadors, regarding the results of the Nigerian national election, which included call-in questions from Nigeria; briefed the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom on the election results in Nigeria, briefed senior U.S. officials on the election implications in Nigeria; discussed agenda issues with members of Nigeria’s incoming presidential team.

Laurie O. Robinson, Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, presented talks about the report of the President’s Task Force on 21^st Century Policing at the University of Pennsylvania, the Vera Institute of Justice in New York, and the U.S. Department of Justice. She also appeared on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” and C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers,” to discuss police-community relations.

James Trefil, Robinson Professor of Physics, presented “Scientific Methodology and Expert Testimony” at the Economics Institute for Judges, George Mason University Law and Economics Center.

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, presented lectures on the Deep Carbon Observatory at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in New York City. He also presented lectures on mineral ecology at Indiana University in Bloomington, the Simons Foundation in New York and the Deep Carbon International meeting in Munich, Germany.

John Paden, Robinson Professor of International Studies, was keynote speaker in March at the U.S. War College (National Defense University) on “Postelection Conflict Management in Nigeria”; briefed senior officials of USAID on security and development issues in Northern Nigeria; worked with Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Center for Peace Studies, (Nigeria) and Mason’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution on implementing a USIP grant setting up postgraduate courses in conflict resolution in Nigeria; briefed senior officials at the U.S. State Department (including the assistant secretary of state for Africa) on issues of security and the elections in Nigeria; participated in a high-level roundtable at the Stimson Center on China and the United States in Africa: Can security promote practical cooperation; was a co-author of the article “Preventing Violence in Nigeria’s 2015 Election”; briefed senior scholars at the Woodrow Wilson Center on 2015 elections in Nigeria; was a participant in a funding proposal to provide training at the Foreign Service Institute on west Africa; and worked with colleagues at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies on plans for economic development in northern Nigeria.

Laurie O. Robinson, Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law and Society was named to a congressionally created bipartisan body, the Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections, set up to examine challenges facing the overcrowded Federal Bureau of Prisons. The task force will hold a series of hearings, analyze data, review program and policy options and submit a report with findings and recommendations to Congress and the president in early 2016.

James Trefil, Robinson Professor of Physics, had his newest book, Einstein’s Relativity, published by Routledge; gave a human futures talk in the Human Origin Series at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum; and was editor-in-chief of Discoveries in Modern Science (Macmillan/Cengage), a three-volume reference work.