Voting rights activist Stacey Abrams will address the challenges to American democracy, her work to guarantee voter access, and other civil rights battles facing the United States in 2024. 

Democracy around the world is both robust -- two billion people will be able to cast a ballot in 2924 -- and fragile, as threats to the voting process, to the structures of democratic society, and to the voters themselves afflict many nations. 

A wide-ranging discussion with technologist Alondra Nelson, reflecting on her time in the White House, her role as a social scientist involved in shaping science and technology (and particularly AI), her insights into the policy process, and specifically her work on the open access and AI Bill of Rights initiatives. 

Cecilia Muñoz will reflect on her long career in social activism and policymaking, and on the challenges the U.S. continues to face regarding immigration and refugee affairs, social inclusion, and the role of public interest technology.   

In this session, five successful academicians from a variety of disciplines will discuss their work and perspectives regarding racial justice and public policy.  

Climate change is often described as a wicked problem, one with many interdependent, changing, and thorny factors to solve. For policymakers, this often means balancing complex and sometimes competing preferences from a range of stakeholders, both responding to those voices and communicating about policies in ways that will resonate with a wide range of audiences. 

Although the China Initiative has officially ended in 2022, the hostile climate has not dissipated and scientists of Chinese backgrounds still feel the pressure especially as a proposed House spending bill wants to bring the initiative back. Put in place in 2018 under the Trump administration the China Initiative led to the arrest, intimidation, and forced resignation of faculty on American University campuses. This panel discussion brings together a group of experts who will discuss their personal experiences, the legal dimensions, the costs of the initiative in the realm of scientific and technological advancements, the effects on prospective and current students, and diversity of campus.  

This policy briefing is the culmination of a project carried out by five Masters of Public Policy students who worked with the American Friends Service Committee’s Michigan Criminal Justice Program in the Strategic Public Policy Consulting course at the Ford School of Public Policy. The students gathered current data on the MDOC prisoner population and modeled the potential cost savings that could be realized under the proposed Second Look legislation in Michigan.