The Low Down

Interested in learning more about the programming for Columbia Alumni Leaders Weekend 2022? Hear Columbia Alumni Leaders Experience Chair Shaun Hoyte ’16SPS and Co-chair Courtney Cesari ’04CC on what to expect during the weekend.

Technology leaders today are faced with the intersection of urgent legal, trade, and privacy issues that the tech sector must address. In this podcast, former FTC Commissioner and industry veteran Mozelle Thompson '76CC, '79SIPA, '81LAW discusses this increasingly critical topic.

Join Lex Kiefhaber '17BUS, of the Who's Saving the Planet Podcast, and Jason Bordoff, Professor of Professional Practice in International and Public Affairs, for a timely conversation on the intersection of economics, energy, environment, and national security. These need to be addressed holistically and coherently rather than as separate issues if we are to save our planet.

In this new podcast, Rendel Solomon '05BUS shares his story and his mission. His great-grandparents were sharecroppers, picking cotton for meager wages. Nearly 70 years later, Rendel bought his 8-year-old niece shares in public companies, creating a new family legacy. Now, through his non-profit One Stock One Future, Rendel is on a mission to instill hope and turn 1 million underserved youth into empowered shareholders.

Leadership Innovator Podcast | Becoming a Trusted Leader Caroline Ceniza-Levine ’93BC - Speaker Co-Founder and Career Coach SixFigureStart Inspiration is important, but truly effective leadership requires the ability to engender trust— both within your organization and among your audience. In this segment, Caroline Ceniza-Levine '93BC analyzes this key leadership trait and offers tips on how to cultivate it yourself. Caroline Ceniza-Levine '93BC is a longtime recruiter, media personality on career issues and a career coach who helps people make a great living doing work they love. A Senior Contributor to Forbes, Caroline also formerly wrote career columns in Money, CNBC and Portfolio. She has appeared as a guest expert on CNN, CNBC, CBS, FOX Business and other outlets. As a coach, Caroline has worked with professionals from Amazon, Conde Nast, Goldman Sachs, Google, McKinsey, Tesla, and other leading firms. Caroline teaches at Columbia University, wrote “Jump Ship: 10 Steps To Starting A New Career“ and created the online courses, “Behind The Scenes In The Hiring Process” and “Making FIRE Possible”. Caroline specializes in career change and is a multiple-time career changer (classical pianist, banker, consultant, executive recruiter, actor, HR, entrepreneur…). Her latest career adventures include running SixFigureStart® career coaching, and CostaRicaFIRE, a personal finance and real estate site.

To kick off the the Columbia Alumni Association's (CAA) Columbia Alumni Leaders Experience (CALE) 2020, tune in to a timely episode of What in the World?, a podcast by Bunmi Akinnusotu '14SIPA, which has been specially prepared for alumni leaders. What in the World (https://soundcloud.com/what-in-the-world-podcast) normally explains policy issues such as elections in other countries and trade wars. But behind every policy, is a person. A person or group of people researching ideas and writing arguments. And then there is the person or group of people affected by the policy. This episode gets personal and presents three women who embody the different perspectives of policymaking and whose experiences are connected. These women are leading from where they are despite the world being a mess: Dr. Tener Veenema, a disaster nurse who leads other disaster nurses; Grelia Steele, a vibrant emergency manager and Phebean Akinwande, a Nigerian immigrant who for 30 years has cared for the elderly. This episode was produced in partnership with the Diversity in National Security Network, Ink Stick Media, and Columbia University. Production Assistant is Mandy Kwan.

In 1963, a man named Don Buchla made history. Under commission by a pair of avant-garde composers, Buchla designed one of the world’s first modular synthesizers, helping to change the course of pop music. Today Buchla’s earliest creations are prized commodities—the Library of Congress currently owns one, and the Smithsonian reportedly tried to acquire the one belonging to Mills College. Columbia’s Computer Music Center is home to not one but three of his seminal instruments, much of which were most likely soldered together by the inventor himself. Now, this rare gem is receiving a first-ever scrupulous restoration. The Low Down's Acacia O’Connor '18JRN checks in with the student group that has spent the past two years patiently coaxing a priceless artifact back to life.

The Low Down's Acacia O'Connor '18JRN brings you the story of Denise Murrell '04, '10, '14GSAS, curator of the groundbreaking "Posing Modernity: The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today," at the Wallach Art Gallery on Columbia's new Manhattanville campus, who discusses the story behind the hugely popular exhibit.

The Cagliari Opera House, one of Italy’s most renowned opera companies, presented the first modern rendering of the opera in the Rotunda of Columbia's Low Library. In this episode of The Low Down, we take you on a trip to the opera with the works of Lorenzo Da Ponte, the author of Mozart’s most important opera librettos, and the first Professor of Italian at Columbia.

Nuclear war. Jimmy Kimmel. Lionel Richie. What do these things have in common? Dr. Irwin Redlener. We take you inside the doctor's office on this episode of The Low Down.

On the latest edition of The Low Down podcast, Columbia University's Acacia O'Connor spoke with everyone's favorite chef, Michael DeMartino of Columbia Dining, about his cooking beginnings, what he loves about his job, what his last meal would be, and the special thing he does for students during his impressive commute.

Society of Women Engineers: The Future of Science by Columbia Alumni Association

Julia Bacha ‘03GS: Behind the Scenes of Non-violent Resistance by Columbia Alumni Association

Ayushi Roy ‘14CC: We Need Human Rights at Home in the U.S. by Columbia Alumni Association

Nicole Crescimanno ‘11GSAS: The Art of Climate Activism by Columbia Alumni Association

A’Lelia Bundles ‘76JRN: Writing History Herself by Columbia Alumni Association

The Low Down is launching a special mini-series this summer.

You may have noticed that we’ve been digging into our archives a lot. To be fair, there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on at Columbia and we want to revisit some talks that haven’t gotten a lot of attention lately. One of those talks was with Columbia physicist Brian Greene. In 2014 he sat down with the writer, and award-winning TV correspondent, Gideon Yago '00CC to talk about World Science U, Columbia's Science Initiative, and some of his out-of-this-world ideas. This episode includes excerpts from the conversation. If you’re interested in hearing the full discussion, you can watch that here: https://youtu.be/h94Rd9AIfwE?t=9m25s

Odds are good you’ve heard of Jack Dorsey. He’s the co-founder of Twitter and the co-founder of the mobile payment company, Square. In 2013, Dorsey gave a talk at Columbia and, at the time, it was the largest entrepreneurship event in Columbia history, attracting over 1,000 Columbia students, alumni, and friends. Since we’ve been digging into the archives lately, we thought we’d play you some highlights from that keynote address where he talks about how he turned his obsession with urban maps, punk music, art, and coding into a micro blog that has changed the way we communicate. This episode includes excerpts from his talk. If you’re interested in hearing his full presentation, you can watch that here: https://youtu.be/byBmeC9E5Os

Last year, Kristin Myers gave a lecture to Columbia alumni returning to campus for reunion. Myers is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and her talk offered an engineering perspective on why women give birth preterm. Specifically, she explored the biomechanics of pregnancy and how engineers work with clinicians to try to understand why some women give birth before term and how we can stop it. You’re about to hear some excerpts from her talk. Now, if you’re still thinking, what is preterm birth and what does biomechanics have to do with it? Don’t worry – you’re about to find out. If you want to find out more about the work that Kristin is doing, check out The Myers Soft Tissue Lab website: https://kristinmyerscolumbia.com/

If you haven’t heard of the Columbia Center for Jazz Studies, that’s a shame, but we can’t be too disappointed in you. After all, the center is still relatively new. It was founded in 1999 and, since then, it has been integrated into the Core Curriculum at Columbia College. That means a lot of College students are getting exposed to music that isn’t exactly topping the charts nowadays. But the Center for Jazz Studies takes a more broad view of the genre than one might initially think. Courses at the center look at jazz as it relates to technology, community, innovation, and even neurology. It’s that last approach that you’re going to hear about in this episode. You’re going to hear vibraphonist Stefon Harris demonstrate jazz improvisation as it relates to issues of mind-brain coordination and creativity. You’re also going to periodically hear questions posed by Columbia professor of neuroscience, Michael Shadlen. To find out about upcoming events from The Columbia Center for Jazz Studies, visit jazz.columbia.edu.

THIS IS A REBROADCAST OF AN EPISODE ABOUT THE 2016 COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY. Columbia's Commencement week ended two weeks ago. New graduates moved out of University housing to start their lives off-campus and the streets of Morningside Heights have emptied out for the summer. In September, new and returning students will move in and the streets will vibrate with excitement and energy again. But, in this episode, we're not going to look ahead. Instead, we're going to look back at the height of Columbia excitement and energy: Commencement. If you've never experienced Columbia’s Commencement, that's ok. We interviewed alumni, faculty, staff, and students to give you a glimpse at the day.

For this episode, we’re diving into the archives to play you excerpts from a discussion that took place in 2012. The discussion was called “Understanding Our Brains, Understanding Ourselves” and it brought together an expert panel of Columbia alumni and professors to talk about the brain. So, if you’ve ever wondered what smell New Yorkers like the most and what smell they hate, that is an odd thing to wonder but you’ve definitely come to the right place. --- To watch the full talk, check out the video: https://youtu.be/xG9rp6vbi3o

Earlier this year, Columbia hosted a conversation between two iconic public figures — billionaire investor Warren Buffett '51BUS and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. For that conversation, Buffet and Gates sat down with PBS and Bloomberg TV host Charlie Rose to discuss their friendship, philanthropy, and business, innovation, and leadership. In this episode, you will hear some highlights from that talk. If you’re interested in hearing the entire conversation, you can find the full recording here: http://cualu.ms/GatesAndBuffet

We enjoyed talking to the Design Studio so much last week that we wanted to share more of the candid conversations we had about Design Thinking (and much more). We wanted to get a better idea of who Adam and Alice are, not just as Design Studio representatives, but as design thinkers in general. What we got was a look into how they look at the world around them and what they see in the future of design thinking. Spoiler alert: there’s a blooper reel at the end!

For this episode, we visited one of the forward-thinking initiatives taking place at Columbia. Tucked away on a side street near the Morningside campus, we found a place where thinkers, doers and general challengers of the status quo come together to design a better future. It’s called the Columbia Entrepreneurship Design Studio and it’s a project that developed through the Columbia Entrepreneurship program. The Studio brings innovators and entrepreneurs from across campus to pitch human-centered design ideas, identifying problems and dreaming up solutions for everything from micro-gardening to a dream team of surgeons in East Africa. Find out more about the Design Studio: http://entrepreneurship.columbia.edu/design-studio

Last week, we heard from Professor Robert Young, an eminent humanities scholar, who gave a lecture last year at the Columbia Global Center in Amman. Professor Young recounted the story of Walter Benjamin, a German Jew who fled Nazi Germany but was caught at the border of France and Spain, where he resorted suicide rather than be sent back. During the lecture, Professor Young played a clip from Casablanca, drawing parallels between the Hollywood story and the truth behind it. We did not have room to include his analysis in last week's episode, so we created a bonus mini-episode just for it. So, take a listen and follow the intertwining stories of Walter Benjamin, Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, as they flee south out of Europe.

We went into the vault for today’s episode, all the way back to a lecture that Professor Robert Young gave last year at the Columbia Global Center in Amman. We chose this particular lecture because Professor Young offers a historical perspective on an issue facing today’s society: migration. Young is the Dean of Arts and Humanities at New York University. As a distinguished humanities scholar and prolific author, he specializes in the history and literature of post-colonialism. In the lecture excerpts you’re about to hear, he applies that knowledge to the tragic case of German philosopher Walter Benjamin, drawing parallels between his quest for asylum and the refugee and immigration issues facing today’s society.

In sub-Saharan Africa, 650 million people lack access to electricity. In Sierra Leone in particular, only 5% of the population is on the grid. That means that six and a half million people can’t study, cook, eat or work after the sun goes down except by dim candlelight or expensive kerosene lamps. To charge their mobile phones, most Sierra Leoneans have to go to public charging kiosks. Three Columbia alumni from the School of International and Public Affairs found a solar solution to this challenge. Their startup, Easy Solar, hopes to introduce solar-powered products into Sierra Leone households, replacing the kerosene lamps that have negative environmental and health impacts. Each of the three business partners, Nthabi Mosia '16SIPA from Ghana and South Africa, Alexandre Tourre '16SIPA from France, and Eric Silverman '16SIPA from the United States, had lived or worked in West Africa prior to studying at Columbia. When they realized their mutual passion for the country and clean energy initiatives, they formed Easy Solar and took a pilot trip to Sierra Leone to test out their plan. It was a success, and they have since all moved to Sierra Leone to expand their work. We had the opportunity to sit down with them before they left to chat about their plans, the current status of electricity in Sierra Leone, and their vision of improving access to sustainable energy for thousands of people. Learn More: http://www.easysolar.sl/

We often like to talk about how our alumni reach grand heights in their successes and go far in their contributions to society. And not many have gone quite as far as Business School alum Timothy Kopra. That is...as far as outer space. Timothy Kopra is a NASA astronaut with not one but two space trips on his resume. Kopra has lived on the International Space Station for a total of 244 days, doing three spacewalks and instagramming with captions like #citiesfromspace and good night from @ISS. Once he got back to Earth, he visited Columbia University to speak with students about engineering, team work and what he looks for in an aspiring astronaut.

This week is the third and final installment of StorySpace @ Columbia from the Office of University Life. If you haven’t heard Part I or II, go listen to them! Today, we wrap up the theme of identity with stories about perseverance, confronting challenges to keep moving forward, and finding inspiration in unusual places.

This week is the second installment of StorySpace@Columbia from the Office of University Life. If you haven’t heard Part I, go back to last week’s episode and listen to it. But here’s a quick refresher: StorySpace@Columbia is a new storytelling project that presents personal and inspiring stories from students across Columbia. So, today, we continue with our theme of “identity” with three stories about learning. Not the academic kind of learning that we find in the classrooms across campus - this is learning that comes from overcoming our fears and discovering our strengths.

Today, we’re tuning in close by -- on campus, in fact. For this episode, we’re partnering with the Columbia Office of University Life. The Office was created in 2015 and it convenes students, faculty and administrators to work together on pressing issues within the University and our broader society -- from inclusion and belonging to mental health and wellness to sexual respect and gender-based misconduct prevention, and much more. It also produces University-wide events and opportunities for the Columbia community. And for this episode, we’re shining a light on one of those events. It’s called StorySpace@Columbia and it’s a new storytelling project that presents personal and inspiring stories from students across Columbia. In the first event, students were invited to tell their stories around a common theme: identity. MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

This episode is a little different. In honor of a marquee event that the CAA has coming up in October, we decided to gather some thoughts from prominent Columbia alumni about leadership. What it means to them, what makes a good leader, and how Columbia has contributed to ability to lead. These are some of the many questions that alumni will consider when they attend the annual Columbia Leaders Weekend on October 7-9. The weekend is a time for Columbia’s top alumni volunteers and leaders to convene and brainstorm exciting forms of alumni engagement and new ways of developing the next generation of volunteer leaders. Jam-packed with panel discussions and breakout sessions, it is the ultimate opportunity to meet and interact with Columbians from across the University and around the globe. One of the highlights of the weekend is the CAA Alumni Medalists Gala, where select alumni are recognized for distinguished service of 10 years or more to the University. Though the Medals are formally awarded at Columbia’s commencement, their contribution is also recognized at the gala. The Medal was first awarded in 1933 and is the highest honor bestowed to alumni by the University. Learn more about Columbia Leaders Weekend and the Alumni Medalists: http://calw.alumni.columbia.edu http://alumni.columbia.edu/alumnimedal MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

Every once in a while, we like to shake things up a bit at The Low Down and give you a peek at some other Columbia-related podcasts out there. Today, we’re featuring an episode from the Columbia Energy Exchange podcast. The Columbia Energy Exchange is a weekly podcast series by the Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy at the School of International and Public Affairs. Each episode explores the most pressing energy issues with top leaders in government, business, academia and civil society to enhance the global energy policy dialogue. The episode you’re about to hear, host Bill Loveless sits down with a Columbia expert to discuss the effects of the Iran nuclear deal, since its implementation in January 2016. The landmark deal between Iran, the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany was developed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and lift the nuclear-related economic sanctions on Iran. Learn more about the Columbia Energy Exchange at energypolicy.columbia.edu.

Trent Dimas graduated from the Columbia school of general studies in 2002. He later graduated from law school, worked for an ad agency in NY, coaching gymnastics at Yale, and now works as a fundraiser for the University of Colorado School of Medicine. But before doing all that, Trent won a gold medal in gymnastics at the 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona, Spain. For today’s episode, as it’s now Olympic season, we wanted to give you a glimpse into the world of an olympic athlete. How one gets to that level of competition, what it’s like to qualify, what it’s like to actually win, and what comes after. Trent seemed like the perfect tour guide through all of this. So, we were lucky enough to speak with him via phone in his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico about his road to the Olympics. Turns out, it wasn’t a very easy one. Discover more Olympic/Columbia coverage: http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu/olympics MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

One of the most pressing and universal issues of our day is how to address climate change. Although most do agree that the environment has evolved tremendously over time, many are not aware of how rapidly the recent changes are occurring and what the consequences can mean for us in the years to come. That’s where researchers like Hugh Ducklow come in. Ducklow is a Columbia professor in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department and a researcher at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. In many ways, Ducklow, is the definition of an explorer. He has participated in over 30 major oceanographic expeditions in nearly all the world’s oceans. As a researcher at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, he leads expeditions in Antarctica nearly every year to study and collect research on climate change in the fastest warming place in the world. Recently, he gave a lecture to lucky group of aspiring explorers at NYC’s Explorer’s Club as part of a series of Spring science programs and events hosted by the CAA. Since it’s founding in 1904, The Explorer’s Club has served as a meeting place for explorers and scientists worldwide. Its wood-paneled halls have host many members who are responsible for some famous firsts. First to the north pole, first to the south pole, first to summit mount Everest, and first to the surface of the moon. So, what better place to hear from a man who regularly walks with penguins and was once trapped on a boat in the arctic ice for a month? In the lecture you’re about to hear, Ducklow tells us about his research and recounts one of his recent trips to Antarctica. Through it all, he conveys the important role that keeping knowledgeable and taking meaningful action will play in preserving the health of the ecosystem that we depend on. To find out about more events and programs like this, visit alumni.columbia.edu/events. And to learn more about research at Lamont, visit ldeo.columbia.edu

For most Columbia students and alumni, when you hear the words “jazz at Columbia” it's almost impossible not to think of Christopher Washburne '92GSAS, '94GSAS, '99GSAS. Washburne is an Associate Professor of Music and the Director of the Louis Armstrong Jazz Performance program at Columbia. In addition to being a jazz scholar, he’s a jazz musician in his own right. He has performed with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Tito Puente, Justin Timberlake, Marc Anthony, Celine Dion, and the list goes on. His most common instrument of choice is the trombone, though he also plays the tube, the didjeridu, and percussion. In this episode, we play you a mashup of two talks that Washburne gave at Columbia. One he gave as part of the School of Professional Studies (SPS) T@lks Columbia series. The other was delivered to Columbia staff members. In both talks, Washburne explores the creative process of jazz, paying particular attention to the role that collaboration and improvisation plays. And in this exploration, he delves into how this process can inform your everyday decisions in the workplace, from leadership and adaptability to innovation and risk management. Who knew jazz was so useful? Well...Washburne did. --- To watch Washburn’s full presentation on Why Jazz Matters and to hear more great talks from Columbia’s diverse faculty, visit https://talks.sps.columbia.edu. MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

When it comes to Broadway musicals, Columbia alumni have contributed a startling amount to the canon of musical theater. Rodgers and Hammerstein '16CC set the musical standard during the golden age of broadway in the 40s and 50s; the music of John Kander '54GSAS probed the darker recesses of humanity, giving legendary choreographer, Bob Fosse, innovation-inspiring scores. Most recently, Tom Kitt '96CC and Brian Yorkey '93CC were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for their musical, Next to Normal, in 2008, and Jeanine Tesori '83BC made history in 2015 with Fun Home, when she was part of the first all-female writing team to win the Tony Award. But in today's podcast episode, we’re turning our attention to Columbia alumni who work in a different capacity on Broadway. Today, we’re talking about directors. Thanks to recent events, hosted by Columbia College Women and CAA Arts Access, we were able to record discussions with two alumni who are currently working on Broadway: Diane Paulus '97SOA and Tyne Rafaeli '14SOA. MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

Columbia’s Commencement week ended two weeks ago. New graduates moved out of university housing to start their lives off campus and the streets of Morningside emptied out for the summer. In September, new and returning students will move in and the streets will vibrate with excitement and energy again. But in this episode, we're not going to look ahead. Instead, we're going to look back at that height of Columbia excitement and energy: commencement. If you’ve never experienced Columbia’s commencement, that’s ok. We interviewed alumni, faculty, staff and students to give you a glimpse at the day. Get even closer to the action with our 360° videos of commencement: http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu/commencement MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

Fifty years ago, a graduate student named Walter Pitman made a discovery that would change the way we see our planet. It was late at night, and Pitman was reviewing charts of ship data that had just come off the computer at what was then Columbia University’s Lamont Geological Observatory. The ship, the Eltanin, had crossed a mid-ocean ridge – part of a 40,000-mile undersea volcanic mountain chain that encircles the Earth – while recording the magnetic alignment of the rocks in the seafloor below. Pitman suddenly saw symmetry in those recorded lines, with the mid-ocean ridge as the center point. “It was like being struck by lightning,” he said. That symmetry was the smoking gun that confirmed the theory of seafloor spreading and set the stage for our understanding today of plate tectonics. On May 23-34, join the symposium marking the 50th anniversary of this discovery: http://cualu.ms/1R6xCD4 MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

Nicholas Lemann served as the Dean of the Columbia School of Journalism for two terms. After deciding not to serve a third, Columbia President Lee C. Bollinger challenged Lemann to start a project that was entirely new. What resulted was Columbia Global Reports. Global Reports are in-depth studies of globalization. Each report covers a different aspect of our expanding global economy and is released in an incredibly readable, attractively bound form. In this episode, you'll get a special look at two of those reports. MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

When it comes to writing, Columbia boasts some pretty impressive alumni. Notable Columbia authors include Paul Auster, Allen Ginsberg, Joseph Heller, Zora Neale Hurston, and Jhumpa Lahiri - just to name a few. To celebrate this contribution to the written word and to introduce you to some Columbia writers, we’ve recorded readings of excerpts from three alumni-authored books with a little help from some Columbia staff members. MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

If you've been following the 2016 presidential election, it should come as no surprise that income inequality has become a (if not the) leading issue in the race. The increased attention to this disparity and the threat it poses to the middle class, is due - at least in part - to the media. An example of the kind of light that journalists have shone on the issue is the 2014 New York Times opinion series, The Great Divide, which was entirely devoted to discussing income inequality. The series was moderated by Columbia professor and Nobel Laureate, Joseph Stiglitz, and eventually became the basis for his book of the same name in 2015. In the midst of this growing national conversation, the Columbia School of International and Public Relations (SIPA) held a panel discussion about the discourse around income inequality during the 2016 presidential election season, with a special focus on the media. In addition to Joseph Stiglitz, the panel also included New York Times economics reporter Patricia Cohen and New York Review of Books contributor Michael Massing. Anya Schiffrin, director of the International Media, Advocacy and Communications Specialization at Columbia SIPA, served as the evening's moderator. MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

For this episode, The Low Down spoke to some of Columbia’s great entrepreneurs, all of whom were finalists in the 2015 Columbia Venture Competition. These entrepreneurs competed for a top prize of $250,000 at the #StartupColumbia Festival. The objective? To give the judges compelling evidence of market acceptance for their value propositions. Nearly a year later, we asked each of these companies what they’re doing, how placing in the competition has affected their business, and what it means to them to be Columbia entrepreneurs. Learn more about the #StartupColumbia Festival: http://www.startupcolumbia.org/ MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

Alex Finley joined the CIA in 2003, where she spent close to 6 years as an officer of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, serving in West Africa and Europe. Before she joined the agency, she was a political reporter in Washington. After leaving the CIA in 2009, she returned to writing and soon found that her voice lent itself well to humor. In addition to her work for Slate, Reductress, and Funny or Die, she wrote a book: Victor in the Rubble: A Satire of the CIA and the War on Terror. The book was inspired by her time at the CIA and some of the bureaucratic frustrations that she had, comes out next week. In a recent interview, Alex spoke about the book, her work with the agency, and what the future of the CIA might look like. MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

This June, Columbia Business School and Barnard College are teaming up to create an Executive Education program aimed at women: “Women in Leadership: Expanding Influence and Leading Change.” According to its website, the program is designed to “help elevate the impact of women leaders – enabling them to navigate the business landscape, develop and leverage their talents, and step into roles of greater influence.” This program builds on a conversation that was already prevalent, but has reached a new level of exposure over the past 6 years or so. It could (and has been) argued that this increase in attention is due, in large part, to Sheryl Sandberg. As the COO of Facebook, Sandberg was well positioned to publicly pose a question that no one seemed to be asking: “why do we have so few women leaders?” This question became the basis for her TED talk in 2010, her Barnard commencement speech in 2011, and her bestselling book, Lean In, in 2013. The question sparked a national conversation about women and their roles in the workplace. To discuss this question (and many others) we sat down with the women running this new executive education program. Learn more: http://gsb.columbia.edu/execed MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

Food impacts us on so many levels: from the personal to the global. Individuals, communities, and national governments have to constantly make choices about which food reaches our tables. And, for a variety of reasons - climate change, energy costs, global economic inequality - these choices are becoming more and more complicated. For this reason, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists around the world are turning their attention to this area. To shine a light on this development, Columbia Engineering and Columbia Entrepreneurship brought together a panel of Columbia experts, who are contributing to the global dialogue on food, to discuss available solutions to feed a hungry planet. Learn more about the #StartupColumbia Festival: http://www.startupcolumbia.org/ MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

In many parts of the world, corals are getting sick in the warm water accompanying El Niño, and they’re turning bone white. It’s called coral bleaching, and in severe cases it can kill them over time. But while scientists know that coral bleaching has been connected to changes in water temperature, many questions remain about the causes and the recovery process. Learn more: http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/bleachpatrol/ MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

We’re mixing things up a little bit here at The Low Down. We decided to feature a discussion from Past Present, a podcast that’s produced by three Columbia alumni: Nicole Hemmer '05GSAS, '06GSAS, '10GSAS (a research associate at the Miller Center for Public Affairs in Charlottesville, Virginia), Natalia Mehlman Petrzela '00CC (an assistant professor of history at The New School), and Neil Young '04GSAS, '05GSAS, '08GSAS (a historian and author of We Gather Together: The Religious Right and the Problem of Interfaith Politics). Each week, these three historians take an hour to debate and rehash the latest political and cultural developments in the US and beyond. And we wanted to give you a little taste of it. This episode grabbed us, not only because the conversations were fascinating and insightful, but also because the discussions focused heavily on alumni from Columbia and Barnard: Ruth Bader Ginsberg '59LAW, in a segment about the passing of Antonin Scalia, and Joan Rivers '54BC, in a segment about women in comedy. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Check out Past Present: http://www.pastpresentpodcast.com MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

As climate continues to dominate the national conversation, Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) is a powerful player in the fight to conserve our planet. LDEO scientists are at the forefront in understanding the risks to human life and property from extreme weather events, both in the present and future climates, and on developing solutions to mitigate those risks. Hear directly from Dr. Arthur Lerner-Lam, deputy director of LDEO, as he discusses why climate research is more pressing now than ever before, and how Columbia, like no other university, is tackling the big challenges of today's climate landscape. Learn about Lamont at ldeo.columbia.edu MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

On July 30, 2015 the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution that targets the global problem of wildlife trafficking, calling on all 193 UN member states to take on a series of actions to quote “prevent, combat, and eradicate the illegal trade in wildlife.” Adopted by consensus, the resolution recognizes growing global concern over widespread poaching and trafficking – particularly of elephants and rhinos. In this episode, three ambassadors to the UN from Botswana, Germany and Vietnam address the problem facing wildlife today. MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

Richard Bulliet, Professor of History and Middle East Studies at Columbia, and Dr. Nina Ansary, the author of the book, Jewels of Allah: The Untold Story of Women in Iran, discuss the women’s movement in Iran and how Ansary’s book breaks down stereotypical assumptions and the often misunderstood story of women in Iran today. MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

If you tried to define television today, odds are that your definition would be very different from what it might have been just 10 years ago. Thanks to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, more and more people are using their computers as their TVs. And it’s not just serial programming that’s moved online. Television news outlets have also made the move, producing content specifically for the web. In this episode, CNN’s Meredith Artley addresses this digital shift head-on, discussing how the old barriers between “digital” and “traditional” journalism are crumbling faster than ever. MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

Injuries in youth sports have become all too common. And the injuries aren't minor. Torn ACLs and concussions make regular appearances on high school fields and courts. So, what exactly is the problem that we’re facing? And when did it become apparent to coaches that there was this huge problem with sports injury on a youth level in this country? An expert panel offers answers. MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

Each year, global leaders convene at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, to address topics at the forefront of the world agenda. Among those in attendance are prominent Columbia alumni and faculty. This year's conference will take place January 20-23. Ahead of the forum, hear directly from some of these Columbians, who provide insight on its significance and why you should pay attention. MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: http://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

Columbia Professor James Shapiro is no stranger to Shakespeare. He has lead lectures and seminars at Columbia about the bard since 1985 and has written several books on the subject. The talk we recorded specifically references his newest book, "The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606." In this talk, Shapiro discusses the significance of that year, the events that influenced Shakespeare’s writing, why he chose to focus so intensely on Lear in this new book, and when his fascination with Shakespeare first began. So, curl up in a cozy armchair with a nice cup of tea and enjoy. MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

A major career change can happen by either being "pushed" by problems with a current situation or "pulled" by the promise of greater opportunities. Either way, this choice is never an easy decision and is often accompanied by fear and stress. To better understand how decision making can impact a career, hear a psychological explanation from Professor Elke Weber (Columbia Business School), expert on behavioral and neural models of judgment and choice under uncertainty and time delays. Understand how to differentiate between different decision modes to help resolve your own internal conflicts as you continue on down your own career path. MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: https://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

A change can only happen when you decide to take a chance. Career coach Eric Horwitz '90 CC will share stories about his several career shifts and provide ten takeaway tips on the necessary steps you need to really embrace a career transition. Transitioning to a new career requires a mixture of faith, courage, inspiration and support. The end results are exciting and unpredictable. And like the quote from the The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, "Everything will be alright in the end if it isn't alright it's not the end." MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: http://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu

The opportunity to switch a career path might happen when you least expect it. If you are on the cusp of making a transition, get inspired by hearing a personal story about an alumnus who shifted from being a Wall Street finance professional to an emerging entrepreneur in the automotive industry. Bill Haney '81 SEAS (Chief Risk Officer of FlexPath Capital Inc) will share what it was like to make a change out of necessity and shed light on the reality of being a self-starter. MORE COLUMBIA NEWS: http://alumni.columbia.edu http://thelowdown.alumni.columbia.edu