European energy crisis simulation

This diplomatic policy simulation will assess the economic and political impacts of the evolving energy crisis in Europe with a focus on U.S. foreign policy and the positions of key European nations. It will utilize the Council of Foreign Relations’ “Model Diplomacy” format that presents a “crisis scenario” that prompts a National Security Council (NSC) meeting, discussions and negotiations leading to actionable U.S. policy recommendations to the evolving crisis. Students will assume roles as specific European countries, NSC intelligence resource specialists, or other officials, and will draft recommendations to the European energy crisis and mini-briefs on key country positions. The simulation will focus on two priorities: protecting U.S. national security interests and the economic and political viability of our European partners. Students will have access to background information, roles, settings, and other generic NSC issues, along with issue- and country-specific materials.

Students must attend the introductory session on Monday, January 9 followed by the simulation on Friday, January 13.

The simulation will be led by John Fogarasi, who served as Senior Commercial Officer in U.S. embassies in Berlin, Germany; Seoul, South Korea; Budapest, Hungary; and Sofia, Bulgaria. In addition, Mr. Fogarasi was Regional Coordinator for the promotion of U.S. energy technology and services and expanding the public-private sector dialogue on energy issues in Europe and the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union. He is being assisted by former Ambassador Robert Cekuta, who served in the State Department as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy, Sanctions, and Commodities, and U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Azerbaijan. He established the Economic Policy Analysis and Public Diplomacy Office in the State Department’s Bureau for Economic and Business Affairs, and served on the boards of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the International Energy Agency, where he chaired the Standing Group on Long-term Cooperation charged with anticipating global energy developments.

Registration link

June 9, 2022June 9, 2022

PODCAST: AI and the Gig Economy in the Global South

In this episode of Social Impact Design for Business, Jerry Davis of Michigan Ross’ +Impact Studio interviews Bama Athreya, Deputy Assistant Administrator with the Bureau for Development, Democracy and Innovation at USAID. Ms. Athreya discusses how the Global South has technologically leapfrogged past the expected little steps toward automation and straight to a gig economy where AI tracks employees, for good or for bad.

Afua Bruce: The Tech That Comes Next

Join us for a book chat between author Afua Bruce (Ross MBA ’11) and Michigan Ross Business+Impact Faculty Director Jerry Davis on her vision of a more equitable and just world along with practical steps to creating it, appropriately leveraging technology along the way. This event is co-sponsored by Net Impact @ Ross (grad) and Michigan Ross Tech & Innovation Alumni Association.

AFUA BRUCE is a leading public interest technologist who has spent her career working at the intersection of technology, policy, and society. Her work has spanned the government, non-profit, private, and academic sectors, as she has held senior science and technology positions at DataKind, the White House, the FBI, and IBM. Afua is currently a strategy consultant and advisor to organizations developing and expanding public interest tech projects in both the corporate, government, and nonprofit spaces. She is an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University and a Technology and Public Purpose Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. As an If/Then Ambassador, Afua engages in efforts to excite girls to consider STEM careers; she has partnered with GoldieBlox, appeared on CBS’s Mission Unstoppable TV show, and is featured in a number of museums around the country. Afua has a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

Her newest book, “The Tech That Comes Next: How Changemakers, Technologists, and Philanthropists can Build an Equitable World,” describes how technology can advance equity. Buy the book.