July 12, 2023

Prof. Colin Robins was quoted in a story about Rolling Hills Estates’ landslide. “Our lives are relatively short. We don’t understand that something in a hazard area can very easily sit there for years and appear fine by all outward appearances, until suddenly the stresses that have been active all along suddenly reach their breaking point.”

July 5, 2023

Prof. Jack Pitney was quoted in a n article about how control of the U.S. House in 2024 could be determined by congressional districts in California. He shared, “A lot will depend on the economy. The problem for Democrats is wages did not keep up with inflation. That may be changing, but if people have less money to spend next year, that will be a big problem up and down the Democratic ticket.”

July 2, 2023

Prof. Jack Pitney was quoted in a story about an executive order by Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs on the first anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. “If this was a Republican governor taking authority away from local Democratic officials, I think the ideological lines would be very different, so there is a legitimate question about state government overreach and lack of deference to local officials,” Pitney said.

Prof. Sharda Umanath

Prof. Sharda Umanath is a recipient of the Psychonomic Society 2023 Early Career Award. The Psychonomic Society, the preeminent society for the experimental study of cognition, confers scientific awards each year upon young scientists who have made excellent research contributions to the field of cognitive psychology early in their careers. She is the first awardee from a small liberal arts college in the history of the award.

June 18, 2023

Prof. Jack Pitney was quoted in a story about how crime has reached historic lows, as compared to the 1960s. “It takes time for perception to catch up to the data. People are in the suburbs because they are afraid of the cities. I say that as a suburbanite. Orange County and surrounding areas tend to be pretty conservative on these issues despite their votes in recent presidential elections,” he said.