Leveraging Twitter to Understand Natural Disasters Gabriela Gongora-Svartzman , assistant teaching professor in Information Systems, a joint program of the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, performed an analysis of more than 6 million Twitter posts spanning three major hurricanes that made landfall in 2017: Harvey (Texas), Irma (Florida) and Maria (Puerto Rico). Communities, participants and types of needs from citizens were then identified from these tweets. Their study developed a new method for measuring social cohesion, an important factor in a community’s resilience. Read more about the method .
Presidents’ Personalities and Democratic Erosion in Latin America, 1945–2012 Ignacio Arana , assistant teaching professor in the Institute for Politics and Strategy, examined overreaching presidential behavior common in Latin America between 1945 and 2012. During this time, 25 presidents from 14 countries tried to change their respective constitutions to increase their powers. Arana’s results demonstrate that presidents’ personalities offer a strong force behind their attempts to consolidate their authority. These findings challenge current approaches in presidential studies and have implications for the study of all types of political elites. Read more about the study .
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