The Academic Minute for 2019.03.04-03.08

The Academic Minute from 03.04 – 03.08

Monday, March 4th
Steven Pressman – Colorado State University
Infrastructure Spending
Steven Pressman is Professor of Economics at Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colorado and Emeritus Professor of Economics and Finance at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey. In addition, he serves as North American Editor of the Review of Political Economy, and as Associate Editor of the Eastern Economic Journal. His main research areas are poverty and income distribution, post-Keynesian macroeconomics, and the history of economic thought. Over the past three decades, Pressman has published more than 150 articles in refereed journals and as book chapters, and has authored or edited 17 books, including Understanding Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century (Routledge, 2015). A New Guide to Post Keynesian Economics (Routledge, 2001), Alternative Theories of the State (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), and 50 Major Economists (Routledge, 2013), which has reached its third edition and has been translated into five different languages.He is a frequent contributor to newspapers and regularly appears on TV to discuss economic issues.

Tuesday, March 5th
Wesley Wildman – Boston University
Computer Simulations for Studying Religion
Wesley J. Wildman is a philosopher specializing in the study of religion using both humanities and scientific methods (www.wesleywildman.com). Author or editor of 15 books and 120 articles, he works at the forefront of the bio-cultural study of religion, and co-founded the leading journal in that field, Religion, Brain & Behavior. With neuroscientist Patrick McNamara, he founded the Center for Mind and Culture (CMAC; www.mindandculture.org), a research institute dedicated to generating creative solutions to complex social problems, ranging from immigration policy to the scourge of child sex trafficking.

Wednesday, March 6th
Robert Brown  – United States Air Force Academy
Trans-Neptunian Objects
Dr. Brown graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1986 and served as an AF officer for almost 21 years. During that time, he was a helicopter pilot, a student, and a teacher. He retired from active duty in 2007 and has been an Assistant or Associate Professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy since then, teaching Astronautical Engineering.

Dr. Brown has been married since 1987. He and his wife have nine children.

Thursday, March 7th
Seth Frey – University of California Davis
Poker
I am an Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of California, Davis, in the Computational Communication lab.  Before a fellowship Dartmouth College’s interdisciplinary Neukom Institute for Computational Science, I was a postdoctoral researcher at Disney Research, a part of Walt Disney Imagineering, where I applied my expertise to both theoretical and practical questions about engineered social systems, such as games, sports, online communities, and theme parks. In 2013, I earned a Ph.D. in Cognitive Science and Informatics at Indiana University, after two years at the New England Complex Systems Institute. I earned my B.A. in Cognitive Science from UC Berkeley in 2004.

Friday, March 8th
Kristin Brethel-Haurwitz – University of Pennsylvania
Altruism and Kidney Donation
Kristin completed her Ph.D. in psychology at Georgetown University. She previously received a B.S. in biopsychology from Tufts University and worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator at Massachusetts General Hospital. Her graduate research focused on the neurocognitive bases of extraordinary altruism, and she will be extending research on her interests in the brain bases of empathy and social cognition to excessive selfishness during her postdoctoral training.