Experts Available

• share
• favorite_border

Two days before the earthquake, Lora Iannotti, Ph.D., nutrition and public health expert from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, traveled to Port-au-Prince and Leogane, Haiti, to continue her research about undernutrition and disease prevention in young children. The massive tremor changed her focus from research for the future to survival, with her team helping children in the aftermath of the quake. Iannotti says that there are some immediate actions that can be taken to prevent more lost lives and protect livelihoods.

• share
• favorite_border

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn campaign spending limits for corporations “strikes a serious blow against efforts to stem the dominance of corporations in our political process,” says Gregory P. Magarian, J.D., constitutional and election law expert at Washington University in St. Louis. “The Court overruled a longstanding decision that had struck a sensible, carefully drawn balance between the self-interest of corporations and interests of integrity and fairness in the political process.“

• share
• favorite_border

A case before the Supreme Court (hearings set for Dec. 7, 2009) could find the Sarbanes-Oxley Act unconstitutional with major implications for auditing oversight and Congress' ability to establish independent agencies in general. Expert available for comment.

• share
• favorite_border

The key issue is not whether the official recession is over, argues economics professor Steve Fazzari, but whether the economy can generate the growth necessary to put many of the unemployed back to work again.

• share
• favorite_border

The health reform debate to date has been characterized by confusion and misinformation. "The conclusion that most of the uninsured either are voluntarily uninsured or do not need assistance is erroneous," says Timothy McBride, Ph.D., health economist at Washington University in St. Louis. The Census Bureau will announce the official health insurance estimates on Thursday, Sept. 10. According to McBride, the number of uninsured may top 50 million.

• share
• favorite_border

The United States has attempted to pass major health reform legislation eight times in the last century, starting in the mid 1910s up through 1993-94 with the failed Clinton health reform effort. "Only once in that period was any legislation passed "” in 1964-65 when Medicare and Medicaid were passed," says Timothy McBride, Ph.D., associate dean of public health at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. "Yet, for many reasons, I feel that it is much more likely that legislation will pass this year."

• share
• favorite_border

As the Iranian government continues to crack down on citizens protesting against the recent disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an expert on Iran at Washington University in St. Louis says the Iranian administration wants the legitimacy of having won an election without actually having allowed a true election to take place.

• share
• favorite_border

An Iranian-American scholar at Washington University in St. Louis has been posting daily updates from friends and academic contacts within Iran on election-related turmoil as part of her long-running electronic newsletter on cultural, political and social issues in Iran. Her Web site, Windows on Iran, posts cell phone videos and firsthand anecdotes.

• share
• favorite_border

A 47-million-year-old primate fossil, a purported "missing link" between primates and humans, was unveiled this week in New York. The fossil, formally called Darwinius masillae but nicknamed Ida, could, due to it being an essentially whole skeleton, shed light on the construction of the primate family tree, says an expert on primate evolution at Washington University in St. Louis.

• share
• favorite_border

Arlen Specter's switch to the Democratic Party will raise questions about the Republican Party's ability to appeal to moderate voters, but Democrats should realize Specter will likely remain fairly independent in his voting, including ongoing opposition to pro-union "card check" provisions, suggests WUSTL congressional expert Steven S. Smith.

• share
• favorite_border

Even as the United States faces the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, businesses are spending more money on innovation, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report. Keith Sawyer, Ph.D., assistant professor of education and psychology at Washington University in St. Louis and one of the country's leading experts on the science of creativity, says that investing in innovation is one of the best ways to beat the recession.

• share
• favorite_border

Patent and copyright law are stifling innovation and threatening the global economy according to two economists at Washington University in St. Louis in a new book, Against Intellectual Monopoly. Professors Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine call for abolishing the current patent and copyright system in order to unleash innovations necessary to reverse the current recession and rescue the economy. The professors discuss their stand against intellectual property protections in a video and news release linked here.

• share
• favorite_border

Losing a job usually comes with the double whammy of losing any employer-sponsored health insurance. Timothy McBride, Ph.D., leading health economist and associate dean for public health at WUSTL's George Warren Brown School of Social Work, is available to discuss current coverage options and the future of health insurance for low-income people.

• share
• favorite_border

Weekly YouTube videos posted by President-elect Obama are missing their mark if change is the goal according to Jackson Nickerson, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Nickerson, a professor of organization and strategy at the Olin Business School, has developed a set of web-based techniques that allow executives to lead and accelerate change within their organizations.

• share
• favorite_border

In November, California citizens passed Proposition 8 upholding the idea that marriage is defined as and limited to the union of one man with one woman. The vote has given encouragement to many in other states who want to pass similar legislation. The United States is about to enter a period of legal upheaval on the question of marriage in the civil law, suggest Frank K. Flinn, Ph.D., adjunct professor of religious studies in Arts & Sciences. His proposal? Give marriage to the churches and let the state define civil unions.

• share
• favorite_border

As President-elect Barack Obama continues to fill key cabinet positions from the ranks of Washington, D.C.-based public policy think tanks, a new book by longtime policy adviser Murray Weidenbaum examines how the nation's top think tanks came to play such critical roles in U.S. politics.

• share
• favorite_border

Interested in keeping the pounds off this holiday season? A nutrition expert at Washington University in St. Louis has some very simple tips for remembering accurate portion sizes, which may be even more important than the food choices you make.

• share
• favorite_border

Want to begin to be more environmentally friendly in 2009 but can't afford a hybrid car? Don't worry "” there are plenty of ways to lessen your impact on the environment that don't come with such a daunting price tag, says Matt Malten, assistant vice chancellor for campus sustainability at Washington University in St. Louis. And they likely will even save you some money without cramping your carbon-creating lifestyle "” much.

• share
• favorite_border

Many parents around the country will purchase toys for their children this coming holiday season. While choosing toys that will further a child's education development is important, it's also a great idea for parents to remember to play with their children and engage with them in their new gifts. R. Keith Sawyer, Ph.D., associate professor of education in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, offers advice to parents worried about making the right toy choice for their children.

• share
• favorite_border

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Biden is telling the Catholics in his audiences that St. Thomas Aquinas had a different teaching on abortion than the current pope and his immediate predecessors. Many Catholics are saying, "He simply cannot be right." Well, the short answer is: Biden is right, says Frank K. Flinn, Ph.D., adjunct professor of religious studies at Washington University in St. Louis.

• share
• favorite_border

"No evidence exists of any serious threat of voter fraud, at present or in any recent election cycle," says Greg Magarian, J.D., election law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. "Filing false registration forms does not constitute voter fraud," he says. "Voter fraud requires voting by a person who is not legally entitled to vote. That is a difficult trick to pull off, and simply turning in a registration form for 'Captain Crunch' does almost nothing to enable it."

• share
• favorite_border

"It is troubling that weighty bailout decisions are being made on an ad hoc basis behind closed doors," says Cheryl Block, leading federal budget expert and professor of law. "These decisions potentially involve not only substantial amounts of taxpayer money, but they also involve employment decisions regarding management of major business enterprises."

• share
• favorite_border

"We are headed into a time when a confluence of changes are going to lead to a perfect storm, making us finally realize that our health care system needs a major overhaul," says Timothy D. McBride, Ph.D., leading health economist and professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis. "As the elderly population doubles between now and about 2030, projections are that we will see at least a doubling of the costs of the federal and state health and retirement programs," he says. "That will likely be when the perfect storm hits."

• share
• favorite_border

"Minor political parties' inability to gain traction in the United States does not reflect natural facets of our national character," says Gregory P. Magarian, J.D., election law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, home of the 2008 vice presidential debate. "The legal entrenchment of the two major parties has solidified a centrist political order." Magarian is available to discuss general election law and electoral system issues.

• share
• favorite_border

As you load up the family vehicle or rental truck to take your child to college later this summer, leave the satellite dish off your packing list. A little common sense goes a long way when determining what to pack for a student's first, or any, year at school, says a residential housing director at Washington University in St. Louis.

• share
• favorite_border

The game of baseball was designed to make a lefty the "Natural," according to David A. Peters, Ph.D., the McDonnell Douglas Professor of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, and uber baseball fan. Peters is a mechanical engineer who specializes in aircraft and helicopter engineering and has a different approach to viewing America's Favorite Pastime.

• share
• favorite_border

President Bush's call for Congress to end its decades-old ban on offshore oil and gas drilling has highlighted key differences in the big-oil platforms of presumptive Republican and Democratic presidential nominees Barak Obama and John McCain.

• share
• favorite_border

China's massive earthquake may have dealt a huge blow to nation's push for more hydro-electric power dams, forcing more reliance on coal, more pollution and more competition for scarce global energy resources, suggests the author of a new book on the politics of China's epic dam-building campaign.

• share
• favorite_border

Even though the benefits of free trade outweigh the harm, the subject has not garnered a lot of attention during this year's election cycle. A professor of business discusses why it is important for Congress to liberalize trade, and the dangers of embracing stricter policies.

• share
• favorite_border

While consumer spending once helped keep the economy healthy, rising consumer debt is the reason it's getting sick. The root cause of the current economic slowdown in the U.S. goes back several decades, according to an economics professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

• share
• favorite_border

Whether or not Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination for president, the question of how much being a woman helped or hurt her campaign will linger for a long time. A WUSTL professor discusses the unique challenges Clinton faces and why people seem to react so strongly to her.

• share
• favorite_border

Former dean of the business school at Washington University in St. Louis comments on the wisdom behind the Congressional stimulus package. Stuart Greenbaum is skeptical that a stimulus package will be effective and proposes several other strategies that could improve the economy.

• share
• favorite_border

The U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing Quanta v. LG, a case that could determine the future direction of patent law. "This case is key to ensuring that patent law develops in a way that best promotes innovation and competition," says F. Scott Kieff, J.D., professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. Kieff and colleagues have filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court in support of LG.

• share
• favorite_border

Today's Iowa Caucuses may be the last in which the largely rural, sparsely populated and predominately white conservative Midwestern state exerts such a huge influence on the presidential nomination process, predicts Steven S. Smith, a political expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

• share
• favorite_border

Today's assassination of Benazir Bhutto is not only a great loss to Pakistan, but also a great loss to the world, says a sociocultural anthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis who lived in Pakistan for six months and whose research focuses on Islamic movements in that country and in Afghanistan.

• share
• favorite_border

The Gap Inc.'s recent discovery that some of its clothing manufactured in India was made by young children demonstrates a lack of understanding the pros and cons of international outsourcing. Through proper risk management, any firm can avoid damaging its reputation and losing market share.