Coinciding with the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the UMass INFORMS Student Chapter had the honor of hosting Dr. Ina Ganguli, an esteemed Professor of Economics in the departments of Economics and Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, as a guest speaker on February 23rd. Dr. Ganguli delivered a compelling presentation titled “Scientists in the Crosshairs: Impacts of War, Crisis, and Conflict on Ukrainian Science.”
Our president, Dana Hassani, introduced Dr. Ganguli and enumerated a few of her many achievements and prestigious positions, such as Director of the UMass Computational Social Science Institute (CSSI), Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Research Fellow at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Affiliated Researcher at the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE), Faculty Associate at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and the Laboratory for Innovation Science (LISH) at Harvard University, Fulbright scholar in Ukraine in 2004, and U.S. Embassy Policy Specialist Fellow in Russia, Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan.
Our faculty advisor, Professor Anna Nagurney, also took a minute to remind everyone of the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, compliment Professor Ganguli on her many academic contributions, and appreciate her for accepting our invitation as a guest speaker.
During her presentation, Professor Ganguli emphasized specific channels, such as the loss of human and physical capital due to the ongoing war, as well as disruptions to international collaborations, through which Ukrainian science and scholars have been adversely affected. Furthermore, she underscored the contrasting impacts observed in war-affected regions such as Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine compared to Crimea, which was forcefully annexed by Russia in 2014. She noted that the disruptions to Ukrainian science did not solely emerge in 2022 but rather originated during the post-Soviet era, with further exacerbation occurring during the 2014 conflict in the Donbas region and the annexation of Crimea. Moreover, she highlighted that amidst these challenging circumstances, international collaborations have had a positive effect on scientific contributions from Ukrainian scholars and academic institutions by mitigating the decline in publications.
After the presentation, we, along with our advisor, Professor Anna Nagurney, hosted Dr. Ganguli for lunch at the Commonwealth Restaurant at UMass Amherst. The food was delightful, and the desserts were enticing; however, what made it most memorable was the excellent company. After lunch, we had the pleasure of recording an interview with Dr. Ganguli for UMass INFORMS’ YouTube Channel, which will soon be available.
Once again, we would like to express our gratitude to Dr. Ganguli for graciously accepting our invitation and delivering an insightful talk. We also extend our thanks to all faculty and members who attended this event, to our officers for all their facilitating efforts, and to Professor Nagurney for her ever-present support.
As always, please stay updated on our social media and blog posts as we continue to organize many more exciting events here at UMass Amherst throughout the Spring 2024 semester.