Experts in the News

Two undergraduate research assistants for China Studies fellow Steve Lewis were recently awarded fellowships from prominent policy-related institutions. Rice senior Aaron Huang is one of 10 students selected for the 2017 Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship, which offers talented students the opportunity to pursue a career in the U.S Foreign Service. He also plans to obtain a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.  Rice senior Jackson Neagli is one of 43 students selected for a 2018 Marshall Scholarship, which allows American students to pursue two years of graduate study at any institution in the United Kingdom. Neagli plans to use the scholarship to pursue two master’s degrees in Chinese law and Chinese studies at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. 

Texas Monthly reports on fellow Peter Hotez's fight against a possible measles outbreak in Texas and the state's burgeoning anti-vaccination movement.

Energy fellow Jim Krane comments on Saudi Arabia's stance on extending the OPEC oil production cuts through the end of 2018.

Nathan Jones, nonresident scholar in drug policy and Mexico studies, breaks down the 2017 Drug Threat Assessment report published by the Drug Enforcement Agency. This report — which also identifies opioid use as one of the biggest drug-related problems facing the country — outlines how the legalization of marijuana has led to increased methamphetamine trafficking by Mexican drug cartels, says Jones.

Saad Hariri’s resignation as prime minister of Lebanon not only upsets the country’s fragile balance of interests, said Ambassador Edward Djerejian in a recent interview.  “On top of the internal situation, when we look at the external factors — the Iran-Saudi confrontation, the [so-called] Sunni-Shia split (which is more political than sectarian), the GCC rift (Qatar), the war in Yemen, and now the situation in Lebanon as it exploded in the last week — they all point to external confrontations and a series of proxy conflicts ... You cannot separate what is happening in Lebanon from the geopolitical regional picture.”