Media Coverage

As the race to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus that causes covid-19 continues, a crucial question is on the horizon: Should a successful vaccine be made mandatory for children entering school? In a new paper out Monday, a group of experts argue that it’s still too early to answer the question definitively, but they outline several important criteria needed for a childhood covid-19 vaccine to be deemed required.

We are just under two months before Election Day. As voters weigh the choices, mathematics offers a clue in how you should cast your vote in November. Every decision we make is weighed amongst several criteria. When we opt for the fries over the salad, the satisfying taste of greasy potatoes outweighs the health benefits of greens and fiber. Other days, we pick the apple over the apple pie, for the exact opposite reason. These choices are made with limited thought, often more by impulse rather than with sound reason. 

It’s common knowledge that chief executive officers (CEOs) of companies are highly paid, but new research shows a certain phenomenon can bump that yearly salary up even higher—about 10% higher. New research in the INFORMS journal Management Science finds CEO compensation climbs if they appoint a chief financial officer (CFO) after them. The increased compensation is mostly concentrated in the early years of the newly hired CFO’s tenure and in components of compensation that vary with hitting analyst-based earnings targets. The work suggests that some finance chiefs might be pressured to tweak earnings to boost the stock price, and as a result, CEO compensation.

A normal return to college this fall is anything but normal. The variety of COVID-19 impacted education plans range from fully online to fully in-person, and everything in between. Many colleges have cancelled or delayed football and other sports this fall. Colleges have welcomed students back to campus, and students are glad to be back; some have reciprocated with new infections, mostly asymptomatic. College life has been upended, with no end in sight.

Currently, dozens of experimental COVID-19 vaccines are being developed in the United States and throughout the world, including seven vaccine candidates funded by the U.S. government, according to a report by the Statesman Journal. Two of the seven vaccines are in Phase 3 clinical trials, which now begs the question: how will the vaccine be distributed, and who will be first to receive it when it’s available?