Faculty Experts & Current Events

Cars sit submerged in water from Hurricane Dorian in Freeport, Bahamas, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

The people in your life are the key to surviving a hurricane

Strong community ties and government support for homeowners living in vulnerable areas boost survival rates and aid in recovery in the wake of hurricanes and other large-scale disasters, says Northeastern professor Daniel Aldrich. He should know: He survived Hurricane Katrina.

by Khalida Sarwari September 4, 2019

This satellite image, taken on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019 and provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shows Hurricane Dorian moving off the east coast of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean. NOAA via AP

The first line of defense for Hurricane Dorian is the shoreline

Natural barrier habitats such as marshes, mangroves, and dunes along coastlines can help protect coastal communities from storm surges like the ones expected as Dorian approaches the East Coast, says Steven Scyphers, an assistant professor of marine and environmental sciences at Northeastern.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa September 3, 2019

A new study co-authored by Yakov Bart, an associate professor of marketing at Northeastern, finds that first-time investors are failing to diversify their assets, and thus putting themselves at greater financial risk. These investors may be better off, he says, picking stocks at random instead. Photo by iStock

Here’s the most common mistake many new investors make, and how to avoid it

A new study co-authored by Yakov Bart, an associate professor of marketing at Northeastern, finds that novice investors are failing to diversify their assets, thereby opening themselves up to greater financial risk. These investors may be better off, he says, picking stocks at random instead of going all in on one sector.

by Khalida Sarwari August 30, 2019

India has a plan to deport millions of Muslim immigrants. Here’s why it’s failing.

Too many people in India lack the documentation to prove their citizenship, says Northeastern professor Liza Weinstein, which may force the government to scale back its expectations for its crackdown on illegal immigration.

by Ian Thomsen August 29, 2019

Lights illuminate the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 21, 2018. The budget deficit—the gap between what the government spends and what it takes in through taxes and other sources of revenue—is expected to reach $960 billion for this fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30. The deficit will widen to $1 trillion by fiscal year 2020. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

The federal deficit is expected to reach $1 trillion by 2020. Here’s what that means.

The good news, says Alan Clayton-Matthews, an associate professor of economics and public policy at Northeastern, is that the growing national debt “never has to be paid off.” The bad news? The federal government is running out of tools it can deploy to bolster the economy when it dips into a recession.

by Molly Callahan August 28, 2019

What’s really at stake in the trade war between the US and China?

The tariffs that leaders in the United States and China imposed upon each other’s countries likely won’t have a huge effect on either economy, according to Northeastern economics professor William Dickens. But, he says, the underlying political brinkmanship could.

by Molly Callahan August 26, 2019

Neri dos Santos Silva watches an encroaching fire threat after digging trenches to keep the flames from spreading to the farm he works on, in the Nova Santa Helena municipality, in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019. Under increasing international pressure to contain fires sweeping parts of the Amazon, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro recently authorized use of the military to battle the massive blazes. AP Photo/Leo Correa

The Amazon rainforest has been burning for weeks. Here’s why that matters.

The ongoing wildfires in the Amazon could worsen because of deforestation, says Aron Stubbins, a Northeastern professor of marine and environmental science.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa August 26, 2019

Stock photo of the The New York Times Magazine on Aug. 20, 2019. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

What we can learn from the backlash to the The New York Times history of slavery in the United States

“There has been a sustained campaign to erase the experience of enslaved people and the consequences and legacy of slavery in America,” says Margaret Burnham, director of Northeastern’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project. “But this is American history, and you have to face it to fix it.”

by Molly Callahan August 21, 2019

Why does China have Uighur ‘re-education camps’? And are they really shutting down?

The economic role Xinjiang plays in helping China dominate global trade has led the country to exert control over its Turkic-speaking Muslim population, says Philip Thai, an associate professor at Northeastern who studies modern Chinese history. Chinese officials recently announced that most of the people in the camps have been released, but there’s reason to question that, Thai says.

by Irvin Zhang August 15, 2019

The story behind the data on mass murder in the United States

News coverage after two recent mass shootings relied upon a common source for context: The AP/USATODAY/Northeastern University Mass Killing database. That’s because it’s the most comprehensive, most up-to-date repository of information on U.S. mass killings.

by Molly Callahan August 13, 2019