Associate Professor of Economics Veronika Dolar, PhD, wrote an op-ed in The Conversation on how soaring inflation helped lead to Trump's recent presidential election victory and why his policies might actually drive prices higher again.

After a brief discussion on stagnant real wages and the minimum wage's declining real value, Dolar broke down three of Trump’s economic policies that may have the opposite effect of what his supporters had hoped for. These include tariffs (Americans usually paying the bill); the deportation of millions of migrants (the creation of a labor shortage); and tax cuts (risking fueling too much demand and resulting price hikes).

She said, “Taken together, many of Trump’s proposed policies may inadvertently fuel another ‘inflation nightmare.’”

This piece was also published in The Sun Chronicle, The Houston Chronicle, Seattle PI, Fast Company, and Yahoo Finance.

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The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University's negotiation teams earned major recognition in the Villanova Baseball Filing Day Competition held October 25–26, 2024 at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. One of Haub Law’s teams advanced to the semi-finals, and another was awarded the highly coveted first-place prize.

Under the coaching of Haub Law Alumnus, Dan Masi ‘14, two pairs of students consisting of Marc Bisogno (3L) and Mike Minoli (2L), and Maddie Law (2L) and Andrew Leffler (3L) performed admirably in the negotiation rounds on Day 1, and advanced to Day 2, where they had 12 hours to prepare for the quarter-finals round. After winning the quarter-finals round, Maddie Law and Andrew Leffler narrowly missed out on advancing to the finals; Marc Bisogno and Mike Minoli were declared the winners of the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final competitions. Both teams earned widespread recognition for their performance.

The Villanova Baseball Filing Day Competition is a simulated exercise intended to mimic negotiations between MLB Players Association (MLBPA) player agents and MLB club executives before the salary arbitration Exchange Date between the MLB Labor Relations Department and the MLBPA as governed by Major League Baseball's Basic Agreement. Participants build oral advocacy and negotiation skills while handling baseball statistics and player valuation information in order to come to resolution with opposing counsel.

In January 2024 the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University trial team won the 2023–2024 National Trial League Competition, making them national champions. This season, Haub Law’s new team is poised to repeat their major accomplishment–and is already halfway there, having just been declared regular season champions for the second consecutive year.

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Throughout the fall 2024 semester, a team of Haub Law students have been competing in the National Trial League (NTL) mock trial competition hosted by Todd Berger at Syracuse University. NTL provides a unique and competitive environment where students have multiple opportunities to hone their trial skills in a fast-paced, online setting throughout the academic semester. It also creates an excellent platform for schools to compete outside the traditional weekend tournament structure.

The competition features 14 teams in a season format, resembling a traditional sports league, with two conferences comprising seven teams each. The regular season consists of seven rounds of competition every two weeks from August through November. Based on win-loss records, point differentials, and total points, the top four teams are selected to move on to the playoffs, which are held in January.

This is the fourth season of NTL and the fourth time the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University has been invited to compete. Twelve Haub Law students participated as advocates during this year’s competition, with many competing in multiple rounds. Advocates included Paige Padula (3L), Katerina Balukas (3L), Alexandra Tagliamonti (3L) (two rounds), Eva Juncaj (3L) (two rounds), Tyler Justic (3L), Madison Lane (3L) (two rounds), Steven Caputo (3L) (two rounds), Priscilla Holloway (3L), and Julia Stueber (3L) (two rounds). Witnesses included Madison Lane (two rounds), Skyler Pozo (2L) (two rounds), Jaimee Villas (3L) (two rounds), and Silvana Martinaj (3L).

During rounds, several Haub Law students were recognized as Best Advocates, including Katerina Balukas, Eva Juncaj, Tyler Justic, Julia Stueber, and Madison Lane (2 rounds).

“I could not be more proud of the collective effort and the outstanding coaching by our recent Alums,” said Director Professor Louis V. Fasulo. “In true Pace Spirit, the collaboration, intensive work and passion displayed throughout the regular season resulted in an unprecedented 2nd regular season top ranking. This competition reflects the best in the competition circuit including great schools, great organization and challenging cases. We look forward to playoff in January.”

Three Haub Law alumni (and former advocates themselves) have coached the team this season: Joseph Demonte ’24, Liam Rattigan ’24, and Matthew Mattesi ’24, who generously dedicated their time despite the demands of their new careers as attorneys, having just passed the bar exam in July 2024.

“The NTL tournament is very challenging as there is limited time to prep the case but our advocates worked together, kept getting better, and never gave up. It truly was an honor to coach the next generation of litigators,” added Alumnus Joe Demonte.

Representing Haub Law in the final round taking place in January will be Madison Lane (3L) and Eva Juncaj (3L). The team will be advocating for both sides, plaintiff/prosecution and defense.

Federal Cyber Service Academy Creates Pipeline of Cyber Professionals To Protect Our National Security

When U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand toured Pace University’s Cyber Range, she greeted each student with a handshake and call to action in safeguarding our national security: “You’re learning something very important for our country.”

The senator from New York – joined by lawmakers, students, university leadership, and business leaders – was in Pleasantville on November 15, 2024 to see first-hand Pace’s state-of-the-art computer simulation laboratory that teaches students to be on the front-lines of defending against as cyber-attack.

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The war-roomlike atmosphere provides an immersive learning experience that is much like they would be confronted with if they were defending against hackers at a financial institution, health care facility, or government agency.

They are learning about different scenarios under fire and in real time.

The tour comes as Senator Gillibrand is promoting Cyber Service Academy scholarships, a program created through her work on the Senate Armed Services Committee as a means of developing a pipeline for a highly trained cyber workforce.

There are nearly 30,000 unfilled DoD cyber positions, the senator said, and the scholarships are a way of addressing the need.

“Thousands of unfilled DoD cyber positions leave our country with a severe shortage of personnel needed to protect the United States from adversaries like Russia,” said Senator Gillibrand. “I developed the Cyber Service Academy scholarship program to help meet these needs and give our youth a path to good-paying jobs in government. This program will create a pipeline for a talented, highly trained cyber workforce, granting one year of free college for every year of subsequent public service. Pace University is a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity, and I encourage students to apply, earn free tuition, and serve our great nation.”

As part of the campus visit, Senator Gillibrand – along with New York State Assemblymember MaryJane Shimsky, Pace President Marvin Krislov, Interim Seidenberg Dean Li-Chiou Chen, business leaders, and others – encouraged students to apply to the DoD Cyber Service Academy scholarship program, which provides full college tuition in return for public service in the Department of Defense (DoD) or the Intelligence Community (IC). Successful applicants will serve one year in the DoD or the IC as a civilian employee for each year of their scholarship.

Pace University is one of the New York institutions that qualify to host students through the program because of their designations as National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity.

The visit comes as Pace is now accepting applications for its new BS in cybersecurity starting in Fall 2025.

For Junior information technology student Steven Schiavone, captain of Pace University's Northeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition team, the meeting was both inspiring and affirming.

"Meeting Senator Gillibrand and showcasing the work we do in the Cyber Range was an incredible experience," Schiavone said. "Seidenberg has provided me with amazing opportunities, including the CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (SFS). I’m excited to explore the possibility of a future career in the federal government."

The program and its focus on experiential learning is a reason why Brian O'Hanlon ’26 transferred to Pace: "The Cyber Range provides hands-on experience through real-life scenarios," he said. "It’s incredible to have so many opportunities that prepare you for the real world."

The program, scholarships, and partnerships with the federal government align with the university’s strength and mission of creating opportunities for students, said President Krislov.

“Cyberattacks are growing in size and scope, posing a serious threat to the U.S. economy and critical infrastructure. That’s why recruiting and training the next generation of cybersecurity professionals is vital,” said President Krislov. “Pace is proud to partner with Senator Gillibrand and the federal government on the Cyber Service Academy program, which creates opportunities for our students while strengthening the nation’s cybersecurity workforce.”

The Cyber Service Academy scholarship program includes:

1. A scholarship covering the full cost of tuition, select books and fees, a stipend for room and board, purchase of a laptop, and more;
2. Areas of study including cybersecurity, cyber operations, digital and multimedia forensics, computer crime investigations, and more;
3. A service commitment for a period equivalent to the length of a recipient’s scholarship that starts after graduation;
4. Opportunities to serve throughout the DoD and the Intelligence Community.

The Seidenberg School’s very own professor, Dr. Namchul Shin, recently traveled to two prestigious academic events in Seoul, South Korea, where he presented his research on sustainability reporting in the coal mining industry. The two conferences, held at Seoul National University and Yonsei University respectively, provided platforms for Professor Shin to share insights into how technology can enhance corporate accountability for biodiversity conservation.

At the KrAIS Summer Workshop conference at Seoul National University and a seminar at Yonsei University, Professor Shin presented his work titled "Assessing Biodiversity Reporting in the Coal Mining Industry: Leveraging Large Language Models." The workshop was sponsored by the Korean Management Information Society (KMIS), KrAIS (the Korean Chapter of the Association for Information Systems), and Seoul National University's Business School, and brought together leading experts to discuss advancements in information systems and their application to global challenges.

Highlighting the importance of his research, Professor Shin noted that even though “the UN called on all UN member nations to tackle biodiversity loss, biodiversity continues to decrease. Businesses significantly impact biodiversity, and they are expected to be accountable for their actions. Through this research, we are investigating how transparently coal mining companies address biodiversity issues in their sustainability reports, considering that they are some of the biggest contributors to biodiversity loss.” Professor Shin and his team of collaborators are using cutting-edge tools like large language models (LLMs), and are validating the results with human experts in the field.

The study was inspired by his sabbatical collaboration at Technische Universität Dresden (TUD) in Germany, and it combines natural language processing (NLP) techniques with expert validation to automate the analysis of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) reports. Professor Shin shared that “a PhD student at TUD asked if NLP could help automate content analysis, and that conversation sparked my interest in applying LLMs to make the process more efficient, especially since I was already teaching NLP techniques at Pace.” He further added that “our experiments with GPT-4o are showing promising results in automating comprehension and analysis.”

Professor Shin’s findings are part of a broader initiative to investigate how industries, particularly coal mining, can align with global biodiversity conservation goals. Although still in progress, the research underscores the potential of how artificial intelligence, paired with human experience, can enhance transparency and accountability in corporate sustainability practices. This project also exemplifies Seidenberg and Pace’s emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration, bringing together computing, environmental science, and corporate ethics to leverage technology for global sustainability challenges.

Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Science Michael Finewood, PhD, appeared on Fox Weather to discuss the environmental implications of New York’s drought.

On what we can expect going forward, he said, “We’re not really anticipating a lot of rain, so we’re still going to be dealing with these drought conditions probably at least for the near future. As you pointed out, it’s a historic drought right now. October was the driest month that we have on record I think since we’ve been taking records since the late 1800s. New York has declared a drought watch and New Jersey a drought warning. So, I think we should anticipate that these conditions will be hanging on for a little bit longer.”

When asked about the potential of future weather changes reversing the effects of the drought, he replied:

“Even if we have some rain, we are probably seven to ten inches behind where we should be at this point, so even just a little bit of rain in the coming future is probably not going to be enough to pull us out of this. Some of our reservoirs are at 50% capacity; our ground water levels are really low and they are continuing to drop. I don’t think it’s going be something like we are going to have a [rain] event and then be out of this drought. We should be anticipating, even with some wet weather events, that we will continue to be in this drought.”

He also spoke on the relation of climate change to this event.

“I’d have to be remiss if I didn’t make this connection to climate change. With higher temperatures along with increasingly extreme weather events like this drought, we should expect that, while in the past, they were much more rare, we should expect now that they are going to be much more frequent, happening much more regularly, in a way creating a new normal for us. So, even while we can look at the historic record, to try to make some judgment on what we can expect coming, there’s a lot of uncertainty because of the impacts of climate change.”