Economics Professor Dennis Coates participated in a panel at Heinz College Washington, D.C., Carnegie Mellon University, on the complex business of bidding for large scale events such as the Olympics. Coates has done extensive research on public choice, public finance, and sports economics.

Other panelists included Ngiste Abebe, Co-author, Bidding for Development, Trina Bolton, Co-author, Bidding for Development, and Chris Watts, Managing Director, 4POINT4. The event took place on Thursday, November 13 in Washington, D.C. and the description can be found below:

“This panel will explore the complex business of bidding for mega-events. The panelists will weigh a city’s potential for long-term strategic development against the extreme price tag of bidding to host. The dialogue will focus on the largest global mega-event, the Olympic Games, and span dynamic policy areas from transportation and urban development to sports economics and diplomacy. Panelists will also share insights from the recent Springer publication Bidding for Development: How the Olympic Bid Process Can Accelerate Transportation Development.”

For more information, click here.

While on sabbatical this semester, Asian Studies Program Director and History Professor Constantine Vaporis recently presented a lecture at Leiden University in the Netherlands on the Samurai in Japanese and world history. A description of the event can be found below:

“It would be difficult to find any aspect of Japanese culture that has had as long and strong a hold on the popular imagination, both in Japan and abroad, than the samurai and the code of ethics and conventions associated with them, known asbushidô. Using literary works, print images, museum exhibitions, film and other elements of popular culture as sources, this lecture will focus on the theme of the samurai as metaphor or trope for Japan, as a symbol of national identity, and explore the uses to which the symbol has been put, in Japan and abroad.”

Vaporis has received numerous fellowships for research in Japanese history including a Fulbright Scholar’s Award and an NEH Fellowship for College Teachers. Earlier this year, Vaporis was named a Smithsonian Journeys expert for tours of Japan. As a director, the Smithsonian Journeys program will periodically ask Vaporis to lead tours in Japan, with the first one set for 2015.

For more information on the lecture at Leiden University, click here.

This interdisciplinary course will investigate the interwoven social, cultural, scientific, and technological aspects of the Anthropocene, the geologic age defined by the influence of humans on the planet. Students in the class can expect to develop an understanding of how the Anthropocene is defined, to examine scientific evidence for that definition, and to discuss the scientific and social implications of that definition. The course will also consider technological and social strategies for managing complexity in this new era.