Americans are more divided than ever – so divided that they no longer believe in the same facts. Assoc. Prof. Morgan Marietta, a political psychologist and constitutional scholar, has been studying the trend and has written a book on “dueling fact perceptions” that’s getting noticed by the media and political commentators.

U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan discussed bipartisan legislation, the importance of research at UMass Lowell and ways to boost the innovation economy in a conversation with Chancellor Jacquie Moloney that was part of the Moses Greeley Parker Lecture series.

The university’s Climate Change Initiative hosted members of the state’s House Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change for a roundtable discussion on climate science and policy at which faculty members shared scientific research and expertise to help inform policy decisions.

As UML students, three young women worked together on U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan’s congressional campaign. Now that they’ve graduated, they’re working for her full time – alongside four other UMass Lowell alumni.

As a young woman in Burma, Ardeth Thawnghmung became a “pig broker,” helping neighbors get their pigs butchered in exchange for money and meat. Now the chairwoman of the Political Science Department, Prof. Thawnghmung studies how people in her native country cope with poverty.

Sixty-two percent of all millennials – Americans ages 18 to 37 – surveyed by the UMass Lowell Center for Public Opinion said they disapprove of Trump’s job performance and only 37 percent said they view the president favorably. The independent, nonpartisan poll of 1,000 adults, which has a margin of error of 3.4 percent, was conducted prior to the government shutdown.

Assistant Prof. Angélica Durán Martínez studies the politics of drug trafficking violence in Colombia and Mexico. She hopes her findings will inform public policy on illegal drugs.

Political science students looking for campaign experience have found plenty of opportunities this year in the open race for the 3rd Congressional District seat and other midterm contests. Many of them cross the border in presidential election years to work in New Hampshire, too.