Experts in the News

Saudi Aramco employs 65,000 people and has long had a high degree of independence from Saudi Arabia’s monarchs. But now the connections between the country and the company that funds it are being scrutinized like never before, the Financial Times reports.

"There are wildly different prognostications about how successful an IPO will be. But the Saudis don't have a choice but to get it right. There is an urgent push to diversity their one-trick economy," said energy studies fellow Jim Krane. “Anyone who wants in on this [IPO] knows that being subject to Saudi policymaking is part of the deal.”

The Financial Times (subscription required): http://on.ft.com/1NCnYgT.

Baker Institute Rice faculty scholar Yael Hochberg and fellow researchers recently published the results of their 2016 Seed Accelerator Rankings Project. Hochberg discusses the list in Forbes: http://onforb.es/1Tle7wv.

Researchers work their way backward to understand the mutations that made the disease a pandemic. Peter Hotez, fellow in disease and poverty, comments in The Atlantic: http://theatln.tc/24UQmiJ.

"This week, at Hafen City University, more than 150 scientists are discussing the meaning of changes to border regions at the Border Regions in Change conference. During the keynote, a U.S. professor spoke about the situation at the border between the U.S. and Mexico. The conference also addressed European policy amid the ongoing debate about refugees. This is the 15th version of the conference, which traditionally takes place in a border region. Participants will make a trip to the border area between Germany and Denmark before the conference concludes in the Danish city of Soneburg."

An essay by Marwa Shalaby, director of the Women's Rights in the Middle East Program, is mentioned in this Washington Post blog on women’s political participation in the Middle East since the Arab Spring uprisings: http://wapo.st/1OhOYCl.