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Getting to the Whole Truth About America’s Torture of Suspected Terrorists

October 9, 2017

Kristie Macrakis, professor in the School of History, Technology and Society at the Georgia Institute of Technology, wrote the Newsweek, October 9, article, “Getting to the Whole Truth About America’s Torture of Suspected Terrorists.” The School of History, Technology and Society is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

It’s too bad the trial of two CIA contract psychologists who created the “torture” interrogation program in the wake of 9/11 was canceled and the case settled out of court.

The trial, scheduled for September 5, might have provided publicity that could help prevent future abuses in the name of national security.

Such publicity could also call attention to the need for creating a stronger institutional memory in order to remember similar cases from the past before making the same mistakes in the present.

For the full article, visit the Newsweek website.

Published in: The Newsweek
Why Sexy Robots in Sci-Fi Will Never Die, Literally and Figuratively

October 6, 2017

Lisa Yaszek, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Institute of Technology, was interviewed in the October 6 Inverse article “Why Sexy Robots in Sci-Fi Will Never Die, Literally and Figuratively.” The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is a unit of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

According to Lisa Yaszek, professor and associate chair in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Tech, the sexy robot can be traced all the way back to the evil robot Maria from “Metropolis” (1929), though since then, it’s taken on many different forms. Before we dive [into] it, it’d probably help to define what typically qualifies as a sexy robot.

“The sexy robot is obviously going to be conventionally sexy, but it can also be cute,” Yaszek tells Inverse. “It can be an aggressive sexuality like we see with Zhora in Blade Runner, or it can [be] a cute sexuality [as] in anime or manga. But even someone like Pris in Blade Runner plays cute as much as she plays sexy.”

The sexy robot is usually skilled with both domestic work and of course, kicking ass. Basically, part of the lure of the sexy robot is that they could screw you or kill you, depending on their mood. Some people think danger — coupled with complete stoicism — is sexy, I guess.

“This is someone who might do your house cleaning, sexual labor, and then back you up in a bar fight,” Yaszek explains.

To read the full article, visit the Inverse website.

Published in: Inverse
Uber to Launch ‘Uber Movement’ in Atlanta

October 6, 2017

Jennifer Clark, associate professor in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Institute of Technology, was quoted in the WABE, October 6, article “Uber to Launch ‘Uber Movement’ in Atlanta.” The School of Public Policy is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

Uber Technologies Inc. wants to help Atlanta tackle one of its biggest headaches — traffic congestion. The ride-hailing service plans to bring a new tool called Uber Movement to the Big A … The data Uber provides is interesting, but not important, noted Jennifer Clark, director of the Center for Urban Innovation at Georgia Tech. Uber trip data is of minimal value to city planners because it’s not representative of overall traffic patterns, Clark added. Urban planners also seek granular data on regular commutes to work, school and grocery stores. “Uber vehicle data may not be the first and best data for that purpose,” Clark said.

For the full article, visit the WABE website.

Published in: WABE
Tech Leaders show off Growth in Atlanta Industry

October 5, 2017

Janet Murray, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at the Georgia Institute of Technology, was quoted in the CBS News, October 5, article “Tech Leaders Show Off Growth in Atlanta Industry.” The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is a unit at the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

Because of advancements in technology like V.R., Atlanta tech jobs have grown by more than 46 percent since 2010. That’s according to a tech study done by commercial real estate company CBRE Atlanta.

Tech leaders like Janet Murray say between the city’s film and tech industry, combined with top universities like Georgia Tech, Atlanta offers Amazon a culture no other city can.

“Here we have much more fluid culture,” says Murray, an associate dean for research at Georgia Tech.

Amazon will pick its new city next spring.

To read the full article, visit the CBS News website.

Published in: CBS News
Disaster Relief and Colonial Politics through the Eyes of Puerto Rican-Georgians

October 3, 2017

Juan Carlos Rodriguez, associate professor in the School of Modern Languages at Georgia Institute of Technology, was interviewed in the GPB NEWS, October 3, article and radio segment, “Disaster Relief and Colonial Politics through the Eyes of Puerto Rican-Georgians.” The School of Modern Languages is a unit in the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

Hurricane Maria slammed the entire U.S. territory of Puerto Rico two weeks ago. Maria came hard on the havoc of other recent storms, leaving the entire island damaged, flooded, without basic necessities, with disrupted supply lines and no electricity. Nearly 90,000 Puerto Ricans live in Georgia, about a fourth of them in Cobb and Gwinnett Counties. We talked with one Atlanta family originally from Puerto Rico, about the relief effort back home, and the politics beneath the crisis. Cynthia Román-Hernández is a Managing Director of Atlanta’s Latin American Association. Juan Carlos Rodriguez is her husband, and a professor at Georgia Tech, and he also joins the discussion.

To listen to the full interview, visit the GPB News website.

Published in: GPB News
Silicon Valley Isn’t Just Disrupting Democracy — It’s Replacing It

October 3, 2017

Ian Bogost, professor in The School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Institute of Technology, was quoted in the Quartz October 3 article “Silicon Valley isn’t just disrupting democracy — it’s replacing it.” The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is a unit of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

If you want to understand the threat that Silicon Valley poses to culture at large, consider Apple’s $5 billion headquarters. The Cupertino, California, building may seem like paradise to some, with striking architecture—a donut-shaped building featuring the world’s largest piece of curved glass—and lavish details like iPhone-inspired elevator buttons and patented pizza boxes that prevent soggy crusts… Ian Bogost (Georgia Tech) at The Atlantic reports: Instead of stores, they would become “town squares, because they are gathering places.” She’s creating “plazas” in Apple’s largest stores, adding “boardrooms” for entrepreneurs, and recasting aisles as “avenues,” which are “like shop windows around a town square.”

For the entire article “Silicon Valley isn’t just disrupting democracy — it’s replacing it” visit the Quartz website.

Published in: Quartz
Uber to Roll Out Service to Help Atlanta Tackle Traffic Congestion

October 2, 2017

Jennifer Clark, associate professor in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Institute of Technology, was quoted in the Atlanta Business Chronicle October 2 article “Uber to Roll Out Service to Help Atlanta Tackle Traffic Congestion.” The School of Public Policy is a unit of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

Uber Technologies Inc. wants to help Atlanta tackle one of its biggest headache - traffic congestion. The ride-hailing service plans to bring a new tool called Uber Movement to the Big A. The web-based dashboard uses Uber trip data in a city to provide insight into traffic chokepoints, traffic flow and mass-transit use. The data is currently available to city planners, academics and private citizens in six cities - Boston, Washington DC, Manila, Philippines; Sydney, Australia; and Bogota, Colombia… The data Uber provides is interesting, but not important, said Jennifer Clark, director of the Center for Urban Innovation at Georgia Tech.

For the entire article “Uber to Roll Out Service to Help Atlanta Tackle Traffic Congestion” visit the Atlanta Business Chronical website.

Published in: The Atlanta Business Chronicle
Things to Do, Oct. 2: History Lecture on African American Homeownership; John le Carre on Screen

October 1, 2017

Todd Michney, assistant professor in the School of History and Sociology at Georgia Institute of Technology, was the subject of the Akron Beacon Journal, October 1, article “Things to Do, Oct. 2: History Lecture on African American Homeownership; John le Carre on Screen.” The School of History and Sociology is a unit of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

Todd Michney will deliver the annual George Knepper lecture on American history, sponsored by the history departments of the University of Akron and Kent State at 5:30 p.m. in Simmons Hall on the UA campus. Michney is an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology who focuses on urban history, digital history, African-American history, and the history of race and ethnicity. He’ll speak about homeownership among African-Americans in Cleveland and Atlanta over the past century. It’s free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served afterward.

For the entire article “Things to Do, Oct. 2: History Lecture on African American Homeownership; John le Carre on Screen” visit the Akron Beacon Journal website.

Published in: Akron Beacon Journal
Vince Lombardi Would Be Proud

September 30, 2017

Johnny Smith, assistant professor in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Institute of Technology, wrote the Slate September 30 article “Vince Lombardi Would Be Proud.” The School of Public Policy is a unit of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

In the days leading up to the Green Bay Packers’ Thursday night victory over the Chicago Bears, the team asked its fans to join the players in a demonstration of unity—locking arms—during the national anthem. The Packers’ call for solidarity came after President Donald Trump urged NFL owners to fire any player who kneeled during the national anthem. In response to the team’s request, one made in part by its star quarterback Aaron Rodgers, many fans expressed anger over what they perceived as the Packers’ disrespect for the flag, the anthem, and the military—even though black players, taking a cue from Colin Kaepernick, have made clear that they are kneeling in protest against police brutality and racism.

For the full article, visit the Slate website.

Published in: Slate
Using Digital Archives to Teach Data Set Creation and Visualization Design

September 29, 2017

Kate Holterhoff, postdoctoral fellow at Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Literature, Media, and Communication, wrote the Chronicle, September 29, article, “Using Digital Archives to Teach Data Set Creation and Visualization Design.” The School of Literature, Media, and Communication, is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

Useful as digital archives have become for academics and historians, integrating these projects into college classrooms still poses significant challenges. Because electronic scholarship often concerns niche areas of study, its usefulness is usually reserved for those possessing a broad and not inconsiderable base of knowledge. Advanced undergraduate and graduate students alone tend to benefit from the growing number of projects archiving primary documents online. But digital archives providing access to rare images, correspondence, reviews, and manuscripts have the capacity to benefit a spectrum of undergraduates, including those majoring in STEM fields.

For the full article, visit the Chronicle’s ProfHacker section.

Published in: The Chronicle of Higher Education
Handshake Hurrah To Hawks

September 28, 2017

John Garver, professor emeritus in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, was quoted in “Handshake Hurrah To Hawks” for Outlook India.

Excerpt:

Seasoned observers of Sino-Indian relations like John Garver is however, not surprised by the turn of events. “China’s leaders are well aware of the heavy political costs of war with India,” says Garver, professor emeritus at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “Yet, Beijing does see utility in convincing India’s leaders—or even more, its public—that another Chinese ‘lesson’ might be forthcoming if India transgresses against Chinese interests too egregiously. Thus, a type of psychological warfare—border confrontations, diplomatic demarches, threatening media messages etc,” he adds. According to Garver, China’s India policy is mainly twofold—invitation to cooperate and partner with China, but with the threat of punishment if Indian policies become “too hostile” to China and its interests.

But, under the circumstances, how significant is the Chinese shift? “It could be significant,” says Garver. He feels Beijing is increasingly becoming concerned with progressive “Islamisation of the Pakistan state” and the possible ill consequences of it for the entire region, including Xinjiang. “I doubt that Beijing will break with Islamabad. But it may seek to nudge the Pakistan army and the state in a more secular direction,” opines the emeritus professor.

John Garver joined the Nunn School in 1985 as a professor in the Nunn School and specializes in China's foreign relations. For many years, he served on the editorial boards of journals and has written several publications, including China’s Quest; History of the Foreign Relations of the People’s Republic of China. Garver retired in 2015 and was awarded emeritus by the Institute.

Continue reading the article here.

Published in: Outlook India
White Hats, Black Hats, and Grey Matter: Tackling Cybersecurity

September 27, 2017

There are seven units and 12 labs across Georgia Tech and the Georgia Tech Reasearch Institute (GTRI) that are engaged in cybersecurity. They include Public Policy and International Affairs, Computing, Business, Professional Education, Engineering, and Protecing Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech’s unique combination of resources and skills is allowing it to create the next wave of cybersecurity solutions and put grey matter to work in solving today’s most vexing challenges.

The article from the Georgia Tech News Center takes an in-depth look at how these units are working to defend against growing cyber threats to our national defense, economic prosperity, and individual freedoms. “Tech’s grey hat hackers study how malicious black hats operate and adapt in order to help the white hats prepare for the next attacks.”

Published in: Georgia Tech News Center
Zero Mile – From Nothing to Something

September 27, 2017

Nick Tippens, a Digital Media master’s student in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, and Ali Yildirim, a History, Technology, and Society major in the School of History and Sociology at the Georgia Institute of Technology, were the subject of the Atlanta Loop September 27 article “Zero Mile – From Nothing to Something.” The School of Literature, Media, and Communication, and the School of History and Sociology are units of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

“Came From Nothing: The Story of Benjamin ‘Big Mouth Ben’ Graham” started as a classroom project, but it turned into something much more.

I sat down with Nick Tippens, a Digital Media master’s student, and Ali Yildirim, a History, Technology, and Society major to discuss their film, Atlanta, music, the unique paths to friendship.

Yildirim grew up just north of Atlanta in a suburban house filled with classical music. He liked rap.

Tippens was from even further out in Winder, Ga. Though perceived as homogenous, rural areas have their own rhythm.

“It’s a weird mix. Chicken farmers, black people, Hispanics, racial tolerance,” he says. The neighborhood was integrated. The kids in his high school lived in the same neighborhoods. Towns like Winder sometimes end up being less segregated than the larger urban areas because there is less self-segregation, especially in blue collar neighborhoods.

To read the full article “Zero Mile – From Nothing to Something” visit the Atlanta Loop website.

Published in: The Atlanta Loop
Deep U.S.-Russia malaise calls for a liaison between Trump and Congress

September 19, 2017

Former Senator Sam Nunn, distinguished professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, and Ernest J. Moniz, CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, wrote an article titled “Deep U.S.- Russia malaise calls for a liaison between Trump and Congress” for the Washington Post.

Excerpt:

With both the White House and Congress having a hand on the steering wheel for Russia policy, perspective at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue is crucial. Congress must organize itself to be a constructive player, and the Trump administration must acknowledge this reality by reaching out.

A liaison group, which could include the chairs and ranking minority-party members of key committees from both houses of Congress, should be appointed by congressional leadership to work closely with the administration to receive briefings and offer constructive feedback.

Continue reading the article here.

Published in: Washington Post
‘Faustian Bargain’: Defense Fears over Australian University’s $100m China Partnership

September 19, 2017

Margaret Kosal, professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Institute of Technology, was quoted in The Guardian September 19 article “‘Faustian Bargain’: Defense Fears over Australian University’s $100m China Partnership.”

Excerpt:

A central concern of many experts is the potential military application of technologies being developed in partnership with foreign companies. They caution that emerging technologies are often so complicated that scientists can’t forecast how their work will be used, including whether it might have so-called “dual use” civilian/military applications. The monitoring of the development and use of cutting-edge technologies is a particularly thorny issue, given the level of specialization required to understand the implications of such research, and the complexities of attempting to control constantly evolving technologies.

“These are highlighting some of the real challenges of the 21st century, when what is military research and what is civilian research don’t really have meaningful distinctions,” says Margaret Kosal, from the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Institute of Technology, who conducts research on potential proliferation threats of nanotechnology.

For the full article on “‘Faustian Bargain’: Defense Fears over Australian University’s $100m China Partnership” visit The Guardian website.

Published in: The Guardian
World Hunger Is on the Rise Again Due to Climate Change and War

September 15, 2017

Peter Brecke was quoted in the New Scientist September 15 article “World Hunger Is on the Rise Again Due to Climate Change and War.” Brecke is a professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech.

Excerpt:

“The emphasis on making communities more resilient in conflict situations, while laudable, avoids the key problem,” says Peter Brecke at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, who has also explored climate change’s historical impacts on conflict. “That problem is the inability of political institutions to resolve competing political demands, leaving groups believing that conflict is the only viable alternative.”

For the full article on “World Hunger Is on the Rise Again due to Climate Change and War,” visit the New Scientist website.

Published in: New Scientist
Retired Admiral: Americans Shouldn’t Panic over North Korea Threat

September 5, 2017

An interview with James A. “Sandy” Winnefeld Jr. on CBS News was quoted in “Retired Admiral: Americans Shouldn’t Panic over North Korea Threat.” Winnefeld is distinguished professor and CISTP senior fellow in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech.

Excerpt:

While the U.S. is pushing for “the strongest possible” sanctions against North Korea after that country’s sixth and largest nuclear test Sunday, North Korea is reportedly moving what appears to be another intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) toward a launch pad. As tensions between U.S. allies and the North [Korea] continue to rise, retired Adm. James “Sandy” Winnefeld (Georgia Tech), who was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2011 to 2015, said “the last thing” Kim wants “is a war right now.” “I don’t think that Americans should be panicking over this at all,” said Winnefeld, a CBS News military and homeland security analyst. “We have a very good nuclear deterrent. Even though Kim Jong Un will probably never give up his nuclear weapons, he will not use them as long as his regime is not perceived to be at risk. So I would encourage everybody take a deep breath and let’s let this play its course.”

For the full article on “Retired Admiral: Americans Shouldn't Panic over North Korea Threat” visit the CBS News website.

Published in: CBS News
Tweets on Academic Papers ‘Mechanical and Devoid of Original Thought’

September 2, 2017

Research by a Georgia Tech team led by Nicolas Robinson-Garcia, a postdoctoral researcher in the Georgia Tech School of Public Policy, was featured in the article “Tweets on Academic Papers ‘Mechanical and Devoid of Original Thought’” in The Times Higher Education, September 2. The team examined the content of 8,200 tweets from 2,200 U.S,-based Twitter accounts on the subject of 4,350 dental research papers.

Excerpt:

But so far little research has looked at whether tweet counts can act as a measure of engagement with scientific literature. So a group of researchers led by Nicolas Robinson-Garcia, a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology, looked at the content of 8,200 tweets from 2,200 U.S.-based Twitter accounts on the subject of 4,350 dental research papers.

They found that the most tweeted paper, about acetaminophen (paracetamol), accumulated 264 tweets, putting it in the top 5 percent of research outputs scored by Altmetric. The researchers found that almost 75 percent of the tweets came from the same account, which linked to the paper 65 times in a repeated tweet that said just “paracetamol research” and a further 33 times in another tweet that offered just repetitions of the same wording referring to the safety of acetaminophen in pregnancy.

The full article on “Tweets on Academic Papers ‘Mechanical and Devoid of Original Thought’” can be found on the Times Higher Education website.”

Published in: Times Higher Education
Opinion: A Case for Completing Plant Vogtle

September 1, 2017

Marilyn A. Brown, professor in the Georgia Tech School of Public Policy, wrote the September 1 article “Opinion: A Case for Completing Plant Vogtle” that appeared in the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The School of Public Policy is a unit in the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

Mega-projects are always risky, and the stakes riding on the new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle couldn’t be higher. With the cancellation of VC Summer’s nuclear construction project in South Carolina on July 31, Georgia’s plant Vogtle is now the only nuclear plant under construction in the U.S. Since about 2007 natural gas prices have plummeted as a result of “fracking.” The cost of wind and solar power has also declined remarkably, and eliminating the wasteful ways we use electricity continues to be a vast and cheap energy resource. So, if the original decision to build two new reactors were made today, Georgians would not be debating two new units at plant Vogtle. But with so much construction already accomplished and with Georgia Power’s $4.5 billion estimated cost-to-complete, the “go” decision now is clear…the project should be finished. It is the least-cost option, and it will add significant reliable baseload generation.

For the full article on “Opinion: A Case for Completing Plant Vogtle,” visit Atlanta Journal Constitution’s website.

Published in: Atlanta Journal Constitution
Deggendorf, and the Long History of Its Destructive Myth

August 31, 2017

Richard Utz, professor and chair in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Institute of Technology, wrote the August 31 article “Deggendorf, and the Long History of Its Destructive Myth” that appeared in The Public Medievalist. The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is a unit in the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

In 1968, the Bishop of Regensburg, Rudolf Graber, made a momentous decision. He found himself in the position to shape the future of the College of Catholic Theology at the newly founded University of Regensburg, in southeastern Germany. As one of his decisions, he changed the plan to create a professorship in Judaic Studies; instead, he created one in Dogmatic Theology. The call to fill this professorship was accepted by a brilliant theologian from the University of Tübingen: Joseph Ratzinger. Ratzinger would then become first Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the successor to the Roman Inquisition, in 1982. And, of course, he would become Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. However, Graber’s decision to change the professorship’s focus from Judaic Studies to Dogmatic Theology may also have had another, less-well-known consequence.

For the full article on “Deggendorf, and the Long History of Its Destructive Myth,” visit The Public Medievalist’s website.

Published in: The Public Medievalist

Recent Press Coverage

Getting to the Whole Truth About America’s Torture of Suspected Terrorists

Why Sexy Robots in Sci-Fi Will Never Die, Literally and Figuratively

Uber to Launch ‘Uber Movement’ in Atlanta

Tech Leaders show off Growth in Atlanta Industry

Disaster Relief and Colonial Politics through the Eyes of Puerto Rican-Georgians

Silicon Valley Isn’t Just Disrupting Democracy — It’s Replacing It

Uber to Roll Out Service to Help Atlanta Tackle Traffic Congestion

Things to Do, Oct. 2: History Lecture on African American Homeownership; John le Carre on Screen

Vince Lombardi Would Be Proud

Using Digital Archives to Teach Data Set Creation and Visualization Design

Handshake Hurrah To Hawks

White Hats, Black Hats, and Grey Matter: Tackling Cybersecurity

Zero Mile – From Nothing to Something

Deep U.S.-Russia malaise calls for a liaison between Trump and Congress

‘Faustian Bargain’: Defense Fears over Australian University’s $100m China Partnership

World Hunger Is on the Rise Again Due to Climate Change and War

Retired Admiral: Americans Shouldn’t Panic over North Korea Threat

Tweets on Academic Papers ‘Mechanical and Devoid of Original Thought’

Opinion: A Case for Completing Plant Vogtle

Deggendorf, and the Long History of Its Destructive Myth

Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts

Georgia Institute of Technology

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