Source: War on the Rocks
The Schoolhouse series of the War on the Rocks podcast is concerned with the intersection between policy and the academy. Is scholarship relevant to the policymaker? Is the academy preparing people to go into the policy world? Guests grappled with these questions and more, telling their own stories of how they came be involved as scholars in the policy world, in the field in Afghanistan, and the private sector. This episode had Frank Gavin of MIT, Erin Simpson of Caerus Associates, and Stephen Tankel of American University. Gavin noted that the incentives for graduate students work against getting involved in policy early in their careers. Simpson discussed the role that her experience working in Afghanistan had in her intellectual and career development, and Tankel explained how a policy fellowship in the Pentagon made him a better researcher.