CAMPAIGN PRIORITY
An educational institution like no other, Pardee RAND Graduate School has a crucial role to play in fulfilling our campaign mission: It will be an engine of new ideas and talent as well as a vital platform for new tools and strategies. It will also be a lab for exploring, experimenting with, and piloting new solutions for communities and for a fundamentally transformed world. We will share what we develop with our higher education peers as well as with the RAND project teams working to counter Truth Decay, redesign institutions, and revitalize communities.
New technologies such as machines that can learn, the Internet of Things, personalized medicine, cryptocurrency, and more are shaping a dramatically changed world. In such a world, existing frameworks of understanding no longer necessarily apply, and new ones are needed.
Pardee RAND has set out to redefine public policy. Today the school is pioneering a new policy paradigm that more closely considers who is affected by policy and does not constrain where solutions come from.
An integral part of RAND, the graduate school enjoys the intellectual freedom of a university without the structural constraints. The talent, tools, and ideas that stem from Pardee RAND expand RAND’s ability to benefit communities throughout the world.
As part of the graduate program, students participate on RAND research projects, gaining real-world work experience, while faculty have the ability to apply the latest tools and technologies to their client work. All are committed to improving lives through research, analysis, and innovation.
Linking policy solutions to real and sustainable positive change
Pardee RAND, along with the wider RAND research community, is establishing a series of long-term relationships with specific communities in both urban and rural regions. The school will embed teams of students and RAND researchers to work in partnership with organizations in these communities, including nonprofits, academic institutions, local governments, and the private sector.
For students, a new, on-the-ground approach to public policy education. For communities, better, safer, and more prosperous lives.
Ensuring a range of voices and perspectives in the policymaking process
As visiting residents in the Tech and Narrative Lab, technology fellows will work closely with Pardee RAND lab directors, graduate students, RAND researchers, and other fellows. They will design and run experiments, addressing complex policy problems and uncovering the implications of new technologies on communities and society. RAND will extend fellowship invitations to colleges and universities with students and faculty from underrepresented minority groups as well as to first-generation college students. We will also attract fellows from community organizations, local government, and the business sector.
A more diverse, widely disseminated understanding of the policy implications of new technologies and tools for change
A place to prototype the future of policy analysis and action
The lab is a physical space as well as a philosophical approach to policy work. Students, RAND researchers, and outside collaborators will not only build applications but also explore ways to apply emerging technologies such as virtual reality and Artificial Intelligence for policy in the public interest rather than for commercial gain.
New policy solutions based on a deep understanding of the implications of
new technologies
Establishing the school’s community-partnered policy and action academic program and long-term community partnerships
The faculty lead for Pardee RAND’s innovative combination of rigorous research and analytic skills will work with community leaders to effect real and positive change.
New capabilities and capacities for positive change in our students and in partner communities
Making advanced public policy education more accessible
Pardee RAND provides all students with full scholarships for the first year of their studies and
partial tuition scholarships for their second year. Each general scholarship is individually funded by a generous donor who has given to the school to support an exceptional student.
A more diverse pool of top policy talent
Creating time, space, and resources for students to write their dissertations
Dissertation fellowships help cover the cost of everything from tuition and data acquisition and analysis to travel and participation at conferences.
Support for students as new intellectual and policy leaders through dissertations that contribute new knowledge, novel insights, and tractable solutions to critical policy problems