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As a lecturer in law at Columbia Law School and associate director of the mediation program, Shawn Watts (Law’12) is well-versed in dispute-resolution techniques. He also brings another set of skills and experiences to the negotiating table: Native American peacemaking.

Mechanical Engineering Professor Hod Lipson’s latest book, Driverless: Intelligent Cars and the Road Ahead, coauthored with Melba Kurman, gained attention when it came out last fall for its prediction that these autos would become a reality sooner rather than later.

Dear Religion Researcher,

The award is named for Gershom Mendes Seixas, the first Jewish trustee of Columbia College, who served from 1787 until 1815. A patriot during the Revolutionary War, Seixas helped reestablish the College after the war and was the only Jewish trustee until 1928, when Benjamin Cardozo (CC 1889), who later attended the Law School, joined the board.

When Emily Bell, a British-born professor at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and the founding director of its Tow Center for Digital Journalism, tells her students how she did her job as a young reporter at The Observer, they don’t believe her. No internet, no online databases, no email. Interviews conducted face-to-face or by phone.

The seminar in Fayerweather Hall required a new four-letter code in the directory of classes—HSAM—because it combines disciplines that are rarely taught in tandem, history and applied mathematics. On a recent Tuesday, the discussion was about interpreting and analyzing data in polls, surveys and social media.

Deep in the subbasement of the Jerome L. Greene Science Center, the first building on Columbia’s new Manhattanville campus, there is enough computing power to perform 269 trillion mathematical calculations per second.

The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) has named Alondra Nelson, professor of sociology and dean of social science at Columbia University, as its next president. Nelson, who will begin a five-year term on September 1, 2017, succeeds another Columbia professor, Ira Katznelson, who has led the 93-year-old organization since 2012.

President Lee C. Bollinger joined 47 leaders at colleges and universities across the U.S. in a letter urging President Trump to "rectify or rescind" his executive order on immigration. Following is the text of the letter:

NEW YORK—The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Columbia University has announced the creation of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. The $60 million effort will seek to preserve and expand First Amendment rights in the digital age through research and education, and by supporting litigation in favor of protecting freedom of expression and the press.

Jameel Jaffer, founding director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, has set the institute’s agenda for its first year with a newly assembled launch team. The institute, created with $60 million in funding committed by Columbia University and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in 2016, will use research, education and litigation to preserve and advance First Amendment rights—expanding the freedoms of speech and the press—in the digital age.