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Essay
Tracking Migration Amid War and Disease
Researchers from RAND and RAND Europe have been working on a way to better track migrant numbers, country by country and state by state, in almost real time. They do it by tapping into one of the largest information-gathering operations on the planet, Facebook.
Apr 28, 2022
Report
How China Uses Big Data Analytics
China's quest to become the global center for artificial intelligence starts with mastering big data analytics. Its aggressive strategy encompasses economic, military, police, and intelligence functions. Beijing is already using big data to survey the country's domestic population and enhance its military.
Sep 1, 2020

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Commentary
How Should the U.S. Government Buy AI Tools?
The need for AI-readiness in federal procurement will continue to grow with the capabilities of AI tools. There are concrete steps the government could take to ensure all development and implementation of AI-related laws, regulations, and executive branch policies include appropriate considerations.
Jun 20, 2023
Commentary
The Metaverse: What It Is and Is Not
The metaverse is quickly expanding, but its meaning remains unclear. Until an agreement on a definition of “metaverse” is reached, efforts to manage the technology development and related public policy could be muddled at best.
Jun 20, 2022
Report
America's 5G Era: Balancing Big Data and Privacy
In this report, researchers discuss how the United States should seek to balance the potential gains of the era of fifth-generation wireless networks with the potential loss of privacy and of control of personal data.
Jun 2, 2022
Report
Contractor Risk and Performance Indicators: Prototype Functional Specification and Developer Document
This report presents the technical design and architecture of a RAND-developed software prototype that assesses relative contractor risks in Department of the Air Force acquisition contracts and programs as described in two companion reports.
May 16, 2022
Report
Early Predictive Indicators of Contractor Performance: A Data-Analytic Approach
This report presents initial insights and approaches in exploring and prototyping methods to identify potential contractor performance risks for the Department of the Air Force earlier than would be typically reported via traditional methods.
May 12, 2022
Report
Social Media Can Provide Insights About Chemical Weapons Incidents
Social media can be collected instantly, can tap into a massive pool of observers, and is remotely accessible. Researchers developed a new approach for analyzing social media data to derive insights about chemical incidents. They used chemical weapons employment in Syria as a test case.
Mar 21, 2022
Report
U.S. Air Force Enlisted Classification and Reclassification: Potential Improvements Using Machine Learning and Optimization Models
The authors review options for improving processes for classifying and reclassifying enlisted active-duty, non–prior service airmen for initial skills training in the United States Air Force.
Mar 14, 2022
Blog
Terrorism Research: How RAND Defined and Built a New Field of Knowledge
In the early 1970s, amid a worldwide rash of bombings, hijackings, and hostage-takings, RAND researchers began creating the first international database of terrorist incidents. Maintained until 2009, it chronicles more than 40,000 terrorist attacks since 1968.
Mar 9, 2022
Blog
Refugees, Women's Health Research, Supporting Incarcerated Parents: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the humanitarian fallout from a Russian invasion of Ukraine, investing in women’s health research, supporting incarcerated parents, and more.
Feb 18, 2022
Brochure
Roadmap of Scalable Analytic Methods
Scalable analytic methods refers to a collection of data-intensive methods, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, and data science. This infographic illustrates how these methods relate to traditional analytical approaches.
Feb 9, 2022
Report
Using social media data to 'nowcast' international migration around the globe
The aim of this study was to develop a tool to 'nowcast' migrant stocks by using real-time data from the Facebook Marketing Application Programming Interface (API) and official migration data from EU member states and states in the United States.
Dec 16, 2021
Commentary
Reining in COVID-19 Disinformation from China, Russia, and Elsewhere
During the pandemic, misinformation and conspiracy theories have spread more virulently than ever before. The vast scale of the problem means scalable solutions like machine learning could be needed to rein in the bots, trolls, and conspiracy theories being spread by bad-faith actors.
Nov 19, 2021
Journal Article
Lessons from Harvey: Improving Traditional Damage Estimates with Social Media Sourced Damage Estimates
Social media systems were incredibly active during disasters. Traditional sources such as the initial FEMA damage estimates can miss areas of heavy impact. This study provides a novel use case in crisis informatics.
Nov 16, 2021
Report
Tracking News Manipulation by Malicious State Actors
During the pandemic, both Russia and China used authoritarian power over the media to manipulate the news. What can be done to better detect such propaganda campaigns—and guard against them in the future?
Nov 15, 2021
Brochure
Select RAND Research on the Information Environment: 2014-2020
This volume is an important resource for anyone who is interested in gaining an informed understanding of operations in the information environment.
Oct 7, 2021
Report
Natural Language Processing: Security- and Defense-Related Lessons Learned
This reference document presents a collection of lessons learned by practitioners from RAND Corporation defense and security projects that employed natural language processing tools and methods.
Jul 28, 2021
Journal Article
Data Activism Against Gender Violence in Latin America
Google searches may help researchers find missing data on gender violence.
Jul 23, 2021
Report
5G: Great Expectations and Significant Concerns
The development of 5G markets and technologies is more of an enduring competition than it is a race. How are U.S.-based companies faring? And what are the implications of 5G devices, networks, and services for securing data and protecting individual privacy?
May 24, 2021
Brochure
Spotlight 2020–2021
Spotlight 2020-2021 features examples of our research that helped to improve people's lives during a turbulent year. It also highlights a selection of research initiatives on the horizon for 2021.
Jan 26, 2021

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Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Daniel M. Gerstein

Senior Policy Researcher

Daniel M. Gerstein is a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. Previously, he served at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as under secretary (acting) and deputy under secretary in the Science & Technology Directorate. He has extensive experience in security and defense…
Bradley M. Knopp

Senior International / Defense Researcher

Bradley Knopp is a senior international and defense researcher at the RAND Corporation. Since joining RAND in 2013, he has worked across all four of RAND's federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs). He has worked on projects for the intelligence community, including most…

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