Graduates Tackle Everything from Chemical Terrorism to Asteroid Collisions

By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer

July 21 -- As catamarans and small sailboats bobbed behind him, the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange told the 20 students graduating from a small local school Saturday that they will dramatically shape the world.

John Reed, who is also co-CEO for Citigroup, directed his comments to the small batch of Pardee Rand Graduate School students completing a Ph.D. in Policy Analysis during ceremonies at the California yacht club in Marina del Rey.

"Do not be content to leave the world twenty-five, thirty and forty years from now professionally the same way you found it," said Reed, who is also an alumni, former board member and trustee of the school.

Reed’s urging of students to "make the world a better place" was not your typical graduation day rhetoric.

From combating chemical terrorism to readying the Earth for an asteroid collision, this newest batch of RAND graduates has already been tackling some of the planet's most important problems in their dissertation work.

Dr. Robert Klitgaard, the school’s dean, told students that during uncertain times their future roles as policy analysts at the highest levels of the government, non-profit and business are even more vital.

"The role of the analyst in today’s world is becoming more and more important, especially with such issues as globalization and terrorism taking a larger presence," said Klitgaard.

"I tell the students the future in these areas is up for grabs, and that they should dig in,” he said.

That message seems ingrained in graduates such as Dr. Arash Naein, who credits the school's emphasis on intellectual and academic diversity for giving him the necessary confidence to make a change.

"As an analyst I feel I have such a broad background, that I can walk into a room full people who affect policy, and wage analytical warfare with a rigor to make an impact on the item at hand," said the 35-year-old M.D., who completed his dissertation last year on the cost-benefit analysis associated with cancer in the elderly.

Now Naein puts the practical applications of his doctoral work into practice everyday at UCLA Medical Center.

"You can only affect so much change by doing research in a lab," added Naein. "I wanted to influence issues more broadly."

Since its inception in 1970 as the collegiate offshoot of the RAND Institute -- the Santa Monica-based think tank -- the school has awarded 174 Ph.D.s in policy analysis, including those awarded Saturday.