The Graduate Center, CUNY

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The Big Impact of Small-Scale Science: Rein Ulijn on The Thought Project Mar 25, 2021

Show notes

From the transistors in the iPhone 12 to coronavirus vaccines, nanotechnology surrounds us. In this episode of The Thought Project podcast, Graduate Center Professor Rein Ulijn describes the current and potential impact of nanoscience, or the study of structures and materials at the nanometer scale (one millionth of a millimeter, the scale of atoms and molecules), on education and workforce development at CUNY and in life beyond the science lab. He also describes a Center for Advanced Technology that he leads that is spurring the development of new sensor technologies, promoting closer ties between academic research and industry, and helping students prepare for STEM jobs. Ulijn directs the Nanoscience Initiative at the Advanced Science Research Center at The Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) and is the Einstein Professor of Chemistry at The Graduate Center and Hunter College. He also leads CUNY ASRC’s Sensor CAT, which creates partnerships between the university and local businesses to develop new sensor technologies that can improve human and environmental health.

The (Conservative) Politics of Homeschooling: Heath Brown on The Thought Project Mar 18, 2021

Show notes

Heath Brown is an associate professor of public policy and criminal justice at John Jay College and The Graduate Center, CUNY. He studies policy process, interest groups, presidential transitions, and education policy. He is the author of five books, including Homeschooling the Right: How Conservative Education Activism Erodes the State, which was published by Columbia University Press in January and is the subject of this episode of The Thought Project. Brown writes about the families who choose to homeschool and “and who for about 40 years have been closely connected to the conservative movement.” He dives into the origins and development of the homeschool movement, beginning with Ronald Reagan’s presidency. He looks at the resistance to regulation within the homeschool community and what that means for education and political polarization. The book offers a new perspective on the deep divisions in the U.S. in 2021.

How America Can Recover: Paul Krugman on The Thought Project Mar 03, 2021

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Nobel laureate Paul Krugman is a distinguished professor of economics at The Graduate Center, CUNY, a faculty member at the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality, and a New York Times columnist. He writes frequently about U.S. politics, economics, and economic and social policy. Lately, he has been sharing his opinions about Bidenomics(mostly good), the state of the Republican Party and democracy in America (mostly not good), and how the U.S. can emerge from its “coronacoma.” In this episode of The Thought Project podcast, he elaborates on many of his ideas, particularly how the U.S. can pull itself out of its COVID-induced economic slump, burnish its international reputation and standing, and address inequality through policies on health care, child care, and social security. He discusses what could make the post-pandemic U.S. economy come roaring back and shares his biggest fears. Listen in on a frank and wide-ranging discussion with one of today's most well-known public intellectuals.

Crime and Punishment and the Black Community: Michael Fortner on The Thought Project Feb 18, 2021

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Michael Javen Fortner is an assistant professor of political science at The Graduate Center, CUNY and a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center in Washington, D.C. He is the author of Black Silent Majority: The Rockefeller Drug Laws and the Politics of Punishment, and he recently published a policy paper, “Reconstructing Justice: Race, Generational Divides, and the Fight Over ‘Defund the Police’.” In his book, Fortner looks at why Governor Nelson Rockefeller, a liberal Republican, embraced “draconian” drug laws and how they influenced the modern American criminal justice system and the country’s mass incarceration of Black men. Fortner explains in this podcast, “They instituted these mandatory minimum sentences that basically said if you got caught possessing a small amount of marijuana, of any drugs, you could go to prison for years and years. There's really no discretion in the courts that if you got caught, you lost a huge chunk of your life.” In this wide-ranging discussion about race and criminal justice in America, Fortner discusses his research on mass incarceration, his hopes for the Biden administration, and the work that remains.

COVID Versus the 1918 Flu: John Torpey on The Thought Project Feb 11, 2021

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John Torpey is a presidential professor of sociology and history and director of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies at The Graduate Center, CUNY. He hosts the International Horizons podcast. Professor Torpey is also a Forbes.com columnist, and in a recent Forbes column, he compared the current pandemic to the 1918 Spanish flu. He discusses that column and its takeaways in this episode of The Thought Project. In this conversation, he elaborates on the differences in the circumstances, approaches to vaccines and preventive measures, and death rates. He discusses what will be most important as we emerge from this “catastrophe.”

Forging a Multiracial Democracy and Echoes of the 1860s: Gunja SenGupta on The Thought Project Jan 28, 2021

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The January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol “represented the greatest crisis of our democracy” since South Carolina’s secession prior to the Civil War, says historian and author Gunja SenGupta in this wide-ranging discussion of the latest events in Washington, D.C., and their precedent in the 1860s. An expert on the Civil War and slavery, SenGupta is a history professor at The Graduate Center, CUNY and Brooklyn College and the author of two books and a number of book chapters and articles. SenGupta describes the parallels between the events and attitudes that triggered the Civil War and the racism and dissention that came to a head on January 6th. She discusses America’s halting path to forging a multiracial democracy, which, she says, began only after the Civil War ended. William Faulkner famously said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” SenGupta explains why we’re living with it and what we can learn from it.

Alternative Schools Have Much to Teach: Michelle Fine and Mica Baum-Tuccillo on The Thought Project Jan 21, 2021

Show notes

New York City’s 55 transfer schools serve over 13,000 high school–aged students who have dropped out of or stopped attending their traditional high schools. Operating with constrained budgets and under the constant threat of closure, these schools, sometimes referred to as alternative high schools, nonetheless can transform the lives of the students they serve in large and small ways, according to a new study by Graduate Center, CUNY researchers. Two of the study’s authors, Graduate Center Professor Michelle Fine and Ph.D. student Mica Baum-Tuccillo, join The Thought Project to discuss their findings. Fine, a veteran social policy researcher and co-founder of the Public Science Project, which produced the study, admits that even she was surprised to find that “these schools were filled with care, but that wasn’t instead of academic expectations, it was a prerequisite.” Baum-Tucillo is a transfer school success story, having graduated from one and returning to teach at that same school. Fine and Baum-Tucillo elaborate on the report’s top recommendations. Among them is that requiring a 67 percent graduation rate, based on high-stakes tests, is misguided and that more holistic and tailored assessments should be established. The report, “And Still They Rise: Lessons from Students in New York City's Alternative Transfer High Schools,” is publicly available.

‘Sustainaphrenia’ in New York City: Melissa Checker on The Thought Project Jan 14, 2021

Show notes

Melissa Checker is the Hagedorn Professor of Urban Studies at Queens College and associate professor of Anthropology and Psychology at The Graduate Center, CUNY. She joins The Thought Project to discuss her latest book, The Sustainability Myth: Environmental Gentrification and the Politics of Justice. The book unpacks the ways in which the so-called sustainable construction projects that accompany the gentrification of neighborhoods, particularly in Harlem and on Staten Island, harm low-income residents and people of color. She discusses the cases she studied and the environmental racism that she documented in her book, and she explains her coined term, “sustainaphrenia.” Checker also offers an assessment of President-Elect Joe Biden’s sustainability plans, noting the need to learn from past mistakes in order to achieve a truly equitable and sustainable society.

Anti-Racism at The Graduate Center: Martin D. Ruck on The Thought Project Dec 17, 2020

Show notes

Martin D. Ruck, a professor of psychology and urban education and senior advisor to the president for diversity and inclusion at The Graduate Center, CUNY, is leading the GC’s drive to achieve diversity and anti-racism goals laid out last spring in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In this podcast, Ruck discusses the project and his vision for creating an inclusive environment at The Graduate Center and in higher education.

Promoting Anti-Racism in Universities: Tsedale Melaku on The Thought Project Dec 10, 2020

Show notes

Tsedale Melaku, author of You Don’t Look Like a Lawyer: Black Women and Systemic Gendered Racism and alumna of The Graduate Center, CUNY, where she is currently a postdoctoral fellow, joins The Thought Project podcast to discuss race, gender, and racism within American institutions, including universities. Melaku seeks to bring the racial equity and social justice activism from the streets into organizations. She is working on her second book, The Academic Handbook on Workplace Diversity and Stratification (Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, 2022), and, in this conversation, she suggests ways to address racism within higher education, based on her own experiences and her research. Listen to this special 100th episode of The Thought Project podcast.

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