The profound price we pay for shutdowns and other dysfunction in government might be the young professionals who opt to go elsewhere.

James Ajello ’76 M.P.A. is the recently retired executive vice president and CFO of Hawaiian Electric Industries. He recently made a $250,000 gift to create a professorship and support interdisciplinary research in energy and environmental policy at the Maxwell School.

"At SparkCharge, our mission is to reduce CO2 emissions coming from gasoline generating vehicles by putting more electric vehicles on the road. We’re doing that by removing barriers to owning electric vehicles and improving ease of use," says Josh Aviv ’15 B.A. (Econ), founder and president of the company.

"The most forward-thinking companies integrate a sustainability approach into their corporate strategy and how they operate. Their employees, customers, supply chains, and even their investors are watching closely and demanding progress," says Kenneth Pontarelli '92 B.S. (Econ), a former Goldman Sachs executive who funds a Maxwell-based professorship in environmental sustainability and finance.

"I have found it easier to approach climate change through the lens of local issues, such as air pollution, traffic congestion, waste management and sanitation, etc. There are near-term, tangible benefits that citizens and governments seek, and in addressing them in smart ways we would also be addressing the longer-term climate change response agenda," says Pradeep Tharakan ’03 M.P.A., a principal energy specialist with the Asian Development Bank.

The Northeast Residential Energy Use Pilot Study is an interdisciplinary project between students and faculty in the Maxwell School, SU College of Law, SU’s iSchool, and the SU College of Engineering and Computer Science. The study will employ high resolution metering for long-term monitoring of electricity usage of individual households.

Business success enables Marvin Lender to support the causes that matter to him most. And few matter more than social justice — the focus of a new Syracuse University center bearing the Lender name.

Maxwell always served undergraduate social science students. But, for this fall’s incoming class, admission to Maxwell is direct and the “Maxwell freshman” is official.

Melanie Hicken and her CNN reporting partner detail a massive, decades-long scam that cost many their life savings. It’s all described in the reporters’ new book.

New courses and a new major meet University-wide student interest in the challenges of energy, environment, and sustainability.

An ambitious project assessing courts across the globe and their approaches to protected speech also provides opportunities for student research.

That will be just one question considered when a new Syracuse University institute, housed at Maxwell, addresses the policy issues and social impacts associated with drones, self-driving cars, and other autonomous systems.

The inaugural Policy Camp introduced undergraduate students of color to career options in policy — and to the impact bolstered racial and cultural diversity can have across the public sector.

This summer, Maxwell convened Minnowbrook at 50, an anniversary conference on the same hallowed ground. For most who attended, the times seemed no less volatile, and deciding how public administrators and scholars meet an era’s challenges proved anything but simple.

“Our life expectancy is increasingly being shaped by where we live in the U.S.,” says Jennifer Karas Montez, Gerald B. Cramer Faculty Scholar of Aging Studies at Maxwell. It’s tempting to blame lifestyle-related behaviors, but “lifestyle behaviors are not root causes. They are symptoms of the environment and the social and economic deprivation that many parts of the country endure, thanks to decades of policy decisions.”

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) program's reputation and Washington location provide Maxwell students and faculty regular access to a range of leaders and practitioners—to an extent not feasible in Syracuse,” says University Professor and Phanstiel Chair Sean O’Keefe ’78 M.P.A., who is charged with developing opportunities to further nurture Maxwell/CSIS collaboration.

Thanks to the generosity of one “citizen of the world,” dozens of budding scholars have chased far-flung intellectual goals.