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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Faculty News Mathematics

SMU researchers say Texas lawmakers’ redistricting maps show clear bias toward Republicans

WFAA: Math for Unbiased Maps created 1.5 million random redistricting maps and none were as biased as the one lawmakers approved Researchers at Southern Methodist University say new congressional maps passed by Texas lawmakers are significantly biased and engineered to create a Republican advantage. Andrea Barreiro is an associate professor of mathematics at SMU and part of […]

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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Mathematics Philosophy

SMU team generated 1.5M district maps, but none were as gerrymandered as Texas’ pick

Dallas Morning News: A group of SMU mathematicians and one philosopher are using math to measure how biased voting district maps are in Texas. The group, called Math for Unbiased Maps in Texas, uses software that generates millions of maps to compare with proposed district maps, creating an opportunity for greater accountability in redistricting. Every […]

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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research English Faculty News

Jonathan Malesic writes follow-up New York Times essay, “Don’t lose hope”

After English department faculty member  Jonathan Malesic received more than 1,000 responses to his essay, “My College Students Are Not OK,” the New York Times published a follow-up essay with his response to some of the questions he received. “Don’t lose hope,” he urged a college student. “We’re going to need to all the brainpower […]

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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Earth Sciences Faculty News

New dinosaur species distinguished by its fearsome claws

A new dinosaur species identified by paleontologist Tony Fiorillo and SMU Ph.D. graduate Yoshitsugu Kobayashi was covered by the Mirror,  Earth.com and LiveScience.  

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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Faculty News History

History as it happens: Choosing war

In a Washington Times podcast, “History as it Happens,” presidential historian Jeffrey Engel discussed the long-ranging effects of President Biden’s commitment to Ukraine against a longstanding enemy.

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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Faculty News History

We need a global government of land, air and water

Foreign Policy News Jo Guldi, data scientist, historian, and SMU Associate Professor, for a piece advocating for world-wide equity in land ownership as one means to combat global warming. Published in Foreign Policy News under the heading We need a global government of land, air and water: https://bit.ly/3MyYlxv  Polls show that two-thirds of Americans believe that the government should do more […]

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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Earth Sciences Faculty News

The Big Data Revolution Unlocks New Opportunities for Seismology

EOS The field of seismology is entering a new era where our understanding of earthquakes and the solid earth is increasingly driven by new Big Data experiments and algorithms. By: Stephen J. Arrowsmith, Daniel T. Trugman, Karianne Bergen and Beatrice Magnani Scientists have been measuring earthquakes for hundreds of years. As instruments have advanced, so […]

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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Faculty News Political Science

Make no mistake, this is the ‘McConnell Court’

The Hill Joseph Kobylka, Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor and chair of the SMU Department of Political Science, for a commentary summing up the work of the 2021 Supreme Court term and how influencer Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., shaped the membership and caused an abrupt turn in rulings toward the right. Published in The Hill under […]

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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Earth Sciences Faculty News

New dinosaur species used fearsome claws to graze along the coast

SMU News Therizinosaurs were a large group of primarily herbivorous theropod dinosaurs (dinosaurs with hollow bones and three-toed limbs). Therizinosaurs were first discovered in Asia; the fossil records in Asian countries such as China and Mongolia are rich in therizinosaurus fossils, and fossil fragments have also been reported from Japan. Scientists from Japan and the […]

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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Faculty News Religious Studies

Liquid Light, Ayahuasca Spirituality and the Santo Daime Tradition

Congrats to Dr. Barnard on his new book, Liquid Light. Read the full press release below. William Barnard is a professor of religious studies at Southern Methodist University. He is the author of Exploring Unseen Worlds: William James and the Philosophy of Mysticism(1997) and Living Consciousness: The Metaphysical Vision of Henri Bergson(2011), as well as coeditor of Crossing […]