Featured Post from University of Rochester

The Great Recession: The downturn that wouldn’t end

Nov 8, 2019

3 min

The Great Recession ended 10 years ago, but University of Rochester economist Narayana Kocherlakota says it is still very much with us.

David Primo, associate professor of political science and business administration, agrees that the country continues to feel the effects of the recession, though his take differs from Kocherlakota’s.

And Lisa Kahn, a professor of economics at the University of Rochester, sees another lasting effect from the Great Recession.

“Unemployment is very low right now, leading people to think that we’ve recovered,” says Kocherlakota. “Income levels, however, are now as much as 15 percent below where they might have been, if not for the recession.”

Many economists blame the income slowdown on a natural decrease in the rate at which new ideas are discovered. But Kocherlakota, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, attributes it to something else. “Businesses don’t want to lock up money in physical investments because they’re nervous about another Great Recession,” he says. “That’s why there’s less innovation, and that’s why we have an income slowdown.”

The Great Recession began in December 2007 after the bottom fell out of the US housing market. That was followed by a shortage of assets in the financial markets and the collapse of the financial sector, including banks, credit card companies, and insurance companies. The recession, the worst in the US since the Great Depression of the 1930s, officially lasted through June 2009, though unemployment levels didn’t peak until October of that year.

According to Primo, the losers were homeowners, among others. The banks, which many observers say bear some responsibility for the recession, were bailed out by the government, while homeowners were not. That perceived double standard has led to the Occupy Movement, support for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, and the election of Donald Trump, according to Primo.

“Economists may be 100 percent correct in saying it was necessary to bail out the banks,” says Primo. “But that’s a difficult political argument to hear if you lost your house, while banks were bailed out.”

Says Kahn: “Many firms take the opportunity provided by a recession to introduce technologies that reduce their reliance on workers. In the old days, we had bank tellers giving out money; now machines can do that,” she says. “In manufacturing, we’re shifting more and more to machines instead of workers. And a lot of that shift takes place during recessions.”

Kahn points out that wages and employment have been falling for the last 30 years in exactly the types of jobs that are increasingly performed by machines.

Kahn identifies an additional recession-related phenomenon, one that specifically targets college graduates. “It has always been bad to graduate during a recession,” says Kahn. “But the lost earnings from the Great Recession are much larger than they were in previous downturns, and it’s something that will stay with them long term.”

Not only are fewer jobs available, the graduates find themselves competing against experienced workers who had recently been laid off. The net result is persistently lower wages.

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Narayana Kocherlakota

Louis and Henry Epstein Professor of Business Administration at the Simon School of Business

Kocherlakota's economics expertise includes the Federal Reserve Bank and monetary policy

Federal Reserve BankFederal Reserve Monetary PoliciesThe FedCentral BanksU.S. Federal Reserve

Lisa Kahn

Helen F. and Fred H. Gowen Professor in the Social Sciences

Kahn's research focuses on labor economics with interests in organizations and education

Job MarketLabor EconomicsJob Market for GraduatesEconomic DownturnsContract Theory

David Primo

Ani and Mark Gabrellian Professor, Professor of Political Science and Business Administration, Department Chair

An expert in American politics; campaign finance; corporate political strategy, social responsibility & fiscal policy; & airline industry.

US National DebtCorporate PoliticsCorporate & Business StrategyCorporate ValuesCorporate Boycotts

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Jul 8, 2026

2 min

Can Music Legends Rewrite Their Legacy?

The Stones didn’t need another hit. With six decades of chart-topping albums, sold-out tours, and songs woven into popular culture, their place in rock history has long been secure. Yet the band’s scheduled release of another studio album, “Foreign Tongues,” on July 10, raises questions about how late-stage work can impact the legacy of the Stones and other enduring musical acts. For John Covach, director of the Institute of Popular Music at the Univeristy of Rochester and a leading scholar of rock music, that’s where the real story is. “Every late-career album asks us two questions,” Covach says. “What does it say about where the artist is now? And does it change how we hear everything that came before?” It’s a question that could be applied to artists from Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney to Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young. Sometimes late work reflects an unexpected creative renaissance. Sometimes it simply reinforces an artist’s legacy. Sometimes it challenges audiences to rethink musicians they thought they already understood. Sometimes it becomes a footnote to their career. “An artist's latest act can in many ways be as revealing as their first,” Covach says. Covach, who co-edited The Cambridge Companion to the Rolling Stones (Cambridge University Press 2019) and whose online course on the music of the Rolling Stones has enrolled thousands of students worldwide, says reporters covering the Stones’ new album have an opportunity to explore broader issues that resonate across popular culture: • Can new work meaningfully change an artist’s historical legacy? • Why do some musicians continue creating well into their seventies and eighties while others stop? • Can a new release introduce younger listeners to artists whose biggest hits predate them by decades? • How do critics — and fans — judge new music from legendary performers differently than music by younger artists? • What determines whether late-career work becomes an essential part of an artist's catalog — or a historical footnote? Covach has spent decades studying the evolution of popular music, and his books and scholarship have helped shape how the genre is taught. He is also a frequent media commentator on the cultural significance of major artists and musical milestones. Click on his profile to connect with him.

Jun 15, 2026

2 min

Research Matters: Water, Water Everywhere — and Lots to Drink

Researchers at the University of Rochester have discovered a better way to turn seawater into drinking water as climate change, population growth, and drought intensify pressure on freshwater supplies. Desalination, as the process of converting saltwater to freshwater is known, has been used for some time. But desalination methods commonly used today have significant drawbacks: they require large amounts of energy and generate brine waste that can damage marine ecosystems. Enter University of Rochester optics and physics professor Chunlei Guo and his research team, who have developed a solar-thermal desalination technology that converts seawater into drinking water without chemical additives and without producing the harmful brine. Their system uses a specially engineered solar panel made of “superwicking” black metal etched with ultrafast lasers that allow it to absorb light and attract water. The panels have a laser-treated “active” region that pulls a think layer of water across the surface, absorbs sunlight, distills the water, and deposits leftover salts and minerals onto the untreated “passive” region. The technology also transforms waste into a resource. Instead of generating brine, the process captures salts in solid form, creating opportunities to recover valuable minerals. Guo's team has already demonstrated the ability to extract lithium, a critical component in rechargeable batteries, from salt-rich water sources. For reporters covering sustainability innovation, Guo is available to discuss: • Why desalination is becoming increasingly important worldwide • The environmental challenges associated with current desalination technologies • How solar-powered desalination works • The role of advanced materials and laser engineering in water purification • Recovering valuable minerals such as lithium from seawater • The future of sustainable water and resource management With an estimated 2.2 billion people worldwide lacking access to safely managed drinking water, Guo's research offers a glimpse of how next-generation technologies could help address both global water shortages and growing demand for critical minerals. Researchers recently explained their method in a paper published in Light: Science & Applications. Journalists can connect with Guo by contacting Luke Auburn, director of communications at the University of Rochester’s Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, at luke.auburn@rochester.edu.

Jun 8, 2026

2 min

Spielberg's "Disclosure Day" Revives the UFO Debate. But What Would Real 'Disclosure' Mean?

What if the government finally revealed the truth about UFOs and extraterrestrial visitors? That’s the premise of the new Steven Spielberg film “Disclosure Day,” which the director has said was inspired by the U.S. government’s release of previously classified records related to unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) that sparked congressional hearings and renewed interest in so-called “disclosure.” But to University of Rochester astrophysicist Adam Frank the real question isn't whether the government is hiding secrets. It's what would count as actual evidence of extraterrestrial interaction. “Over the last several years, we’ve had hearings, testimony, and lots of extraordinary claims,” Frank says. “What we haven’t had is the one thing science requires: hard physical evidence.” Frank, an award-winning science communicator, astrophysicist, and leading expert on the search for extraterrestrial life, says the distinction matters. Stories, rumors, and secondhand accounts may generate headlines, but they don't constitute proof. "What true disclosure would mean is simple," Frank says. "It wouldn’t be stories about alien spaceships, but the actual spaceships. Not stories about alien bodies, but actual physical evidence that independent scientists around the world could examine and verify." As media coverage surrounding UFOs, government transparency, and extraterrestrial life intensifies, Frank offers a grounded scientific perspective on what we know, what we don't know, and how science separates possibility from proof. Frank is available to discuss: • The science behind UFO and UAP investigations • What constitutes evidence of extraterrestrial life • Why government disclosures have so far failed to provide proof • The search for life elsewhere in the universe • How Hollywood portrays alien contact versus scientific reality • Why scientists remain open to — but skeptical of — extraordinary claims "The universe is vast, and the possibility of life elsewhere is real," Frank says. "But if we're going to claim aliens have visited Earth, then we need evidence that meets the same standards we would demand for any other scientific discovery." Frank is a frequent on-air commentator for live interviews and segments in national media outlets and the author of The Little Book of Aliens (Harper Collins, 2023). He also regularly contributes to written publications, including Forbes, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Scientific American. He is a recipient of the Carl Sagan Medal, which recognizes and honors outstanding communication by an active planetary scientist to the general public. Click on Frank's profile to connect with him.