College of Social Sciences and Public Policy
at Florida State University
Florida State University students launched a redesigned Florida Open Gov website to help the public track government spending and school performance. The DeVoe L. Moore Institute launched a redesigned Florida Open Gov website, built and refined over time by multiple classes of student researchers
Some of America's largest counties are experiencing population decline, as migration patterns nationwide shift—potentially with long-term implications, experts warned. Data released by the U.S. Census Bureau on March 26 showed that some of the nation's busiest counties have seen a population decline between 2024 and 2025, with many metro areas also experiencing a drop in their population growth.
Featured: Pëllumb Reshidi
When an applicant participates in a job interview, it is no longer guaranteed that the first step will be the standard introductory handshake. As the hiring landscape shifts to accommodate the rapid development and deployment of AI, some job-seekers now face a choice between a human interviewer or an AI agent. Which intermediary—human vs. AI agent—an applicant chooses becomes valuable information in itself, a form of previously unobservable self-selection as applicants strategically choose the evaluation method under which they expect to appear stronger.
Featured: Samuel R. Staley, Ph.D.
State capitals vary greatly in size, function, quality of life, economic diversity, and demographic diversity. Columbus, Ohio, for example, is a vibrant, growing city covering 11 counties and a regional population of 2.3 million people. Those living in Columbus will have access to all the amenities of a large metropolitan area, including one of the largest and most prestigious and diverse public universities (The Ohio State University), as well as access to numerous smaller ones. Residents can take advantage of professional sports, most notably hockey and professional soccer. The drawbacks, however, include traffic congestion, higher crime rates in the urban area, and higher housing costs.
Featured: Matthew M. Brooks, Ph.D., Karin Brewster, Ph.D.
"In 2024, the most recent year for which we have data, an estimated 1 million immigrants from Venezuela lived in the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, these Venezuelans constitute about 2% of the total immigrant population. We are demographers – social scientists who specialize in understanding the changing U.S. population, including changes due to immigration. With all the coverage of Venezuela in the U.S. news right now, we were interested in looking at the data to learn about this group of immigrants and where they live."
Featured: William Butler, Ph.D.
"Florida's coastal landscape would dramatically change if sea levels rise over a certain level, a projection map by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows. The map reveals how many cities and beaches in the state would be submerged in water if there was a 10-foot sea level rise - something that experts have said is a future possibility."
Featured: Pëllumb Reshidi
He detailed the results in his paper, co-authored with Pëllumb Reshidi, Choice as Signal: Designing AI Adoption in Labor Market Screening. The research, which has not been peer reviewed, finds giving candidates a choice between a human and AI interview could also create a new hurdle for low-ability candidates—applicants whose skills are below the firm’s hiring threshold.
Featured: Samuel R. Staley, Ph.D.
"Leon County Commissioners are studying the idea of having just one local government instead of one for the city limits and one for more rural areas. County staff generated a memo outlining the potential positives and negatives of consolidation. If both were fully consolidated, the City of Tallahassee and Leon County governments would become one, similar to Jacksonville and Duval County. That would mean one police force, for example, and might save taxpayers some money by not having two separate departments for legal, HR, etc."
Featured: Amanda Driscoll, Ph.D.
"The 2024–25 judicial reform in Mexico represents one of the most sweeping overhauls of a national judiciary in recent history. The reform replaced nearly all federal and state judges through direct popular elections, restructured the country’s highest court, and created new administrative and disciplinary bodies that expanded political influence over judicial decision-making."
Featured: Matthew M. Brooks, Ph.D.
"A woman named 'E' was at a clothing store in Tampa, Florida with her daughter when she realized it was time to leave. It was her daughter's 15th birthday, and she wanted to buy her an outfit. She says she felt the salespeople giving them looks. 'Real ugly looks,' she says. 'They could call immigration,' she recalls telling her daughter. 'You're an American citizen, but you're also Hispanic. We need to get out of here.' They left the store, she says, with the feeling that it was also time to leave the state. The question this family is grappling with is: where to?"
