Jen Nelles
@jen-nelles.bsky.social
Prof Systems and Spatial Analysis
metro regions | infrastructure | skills | productivity | innovation | systems | governance | bacon | proud Canadian | 50,000 unstoppable watts
Innovation & Research Caucus -Oxford Brookes Business School
metro regions | infrastructure | skills | productivity | innovation | systems | governance | bacon | proud Canadian | 50,000 unstoppable watts
Innovation & Research Caucus -Oxford Brookes Business School
Pinned
Jen Nelles
@jen-nelles.bsky.social
· Sep 8
Reposted by Jen Nelles
‘We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery. On a quiz that covered concepts they’d used just a few minutes before, participants in the AI group scored 17% lower than those who coded by hand’
Blog on Anthropic’s site
www.anthropic.com/research/AI-...
Blog on Anthropic’s site
www.anthropic.com/research/AI-...
How AI assistance impacts the formation of coding skills
Anthropic is an AI safety and research company that's working to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems.
www.anthropic.com
February 3, 2026 at 9:06 PM
‘We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery. On a quiz that covered concepts they’d used just a few minutes before, participants in the AI group scored 17% lower than those who coded by hand’
Blog on Anthropic’s site
www.anthropic.com/research/AI-...
Blog on Anthropic’s site
www.anthropic.com/research/AI-...
This tunnel cannot catch a break! www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/n...
Work Will Stop on Critical Tunnel Project Unless Trump Restores Funding
www.nytimes.com
January 27, 2026 at 9:12 PM
This tunnel cannot catch a break! www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/n...
Reposted by Jen Nelles
A reminder to the news media: “conflicting accounts” is what you say BEFORE the incontrovertible video evidence appears. After that, your job is to ask why one side is lying, not to repeat the lie and pretend no one knows the truth.
January 25, 2026 at 12:28 PM
A reminder to the news media: “conflicting accounts” is what you say BEFORE the incontrovertible video evidence appears. After that, your job is to ask why one side is lying, not to repeat the lie and pretend no one knows the truth.
Reposted by Jen Nelles
It’s not quite as cold as MN right now, but NYC just turned out a massive protest in solidarity in plunging temps, heading up 6th ave.
January 23, 2026 at 10:53 PM
It’s not quite as cold as MN right now, but NYC just turned out a massive protest in solidarity in plunging temps, heading up 6th ave.
Great!!! I’ll get registered and spread the word :)
January 22, 2026 at 7:50 PM
Great!!! I’ll get registered and spread the word :)
If this was recorded I’d love to catch it. But a bit early from EST.
January 22, 2026 at 1:33 PM
If this was recorded I’d love to catch it. But a bit early from EST.
Reposted by Jen Nelles
The question on NYC's congestion pricing has quickly moved from "is it working?" to "why isn't my city doing this?"
“Our overall conclusion is that congestion pricing in New York, like many other cities in the world that have implemented it, helped not only improve traffic, but also reduce air pollutant concentration, improve air quality and should be good for public health.”
news.cornell.edu/stories/2025...
news.cornell.edu/stories/2025...
Congestion pricing improved air quality in NYC and suburbs | Cornell Chronicle
Cornell researchers tallied the environmental benefits of New York City’s congestion pricing program and found air pollution dropped by 22% in Manhattan, with additional declines across the city’s fiv...
news.cornell.edu
January 21, 2026 at 12:36 PM
The question on NYC's congestion pricing has quickly moved from "is it working?" to "why isn't my city doing this?"
Reposted by Jen Nelles
Speeches are only speeches unless and until cogent actions follow, but they can point a way for such actions, and inspire others.
This was a remarkable address. There is no joy here — an unstable President, with acolytes and handlers, is a real danger, but clarity about this is a necessity.
This was a remarkable address. There is no joy here — an unstable President, with acolytes and handlers, is a real danger, but clarity about this is a necessity.
‘Nostalgia is not a strategy’: Mark Carney is emerging as the unflinching realist ready to tackle Trump
‘Nostalgia is not a strategy’: Mark Carney is emerging as the unflinching realist ready to tackle Trump
In a speech at Davos, written by Carney himself, the Canadian prime minister laid out his doctrine for a world of fractured international norms
www.theguardian.com
January 21, 2026 at 12:39 PM
Speeches are only speeches unless and until cogent actions follow, but they can point a way for such actions, and inspire others.
This was a remarkable address. There is no joy here — an unstable President, with acolytes and handlers, is a real danger, but clarity about this is a necessity.
This was a remarkable address. There is no joy here — an unstable President, with acolytes and handlers, is a real danger, but clarity about this is a necessity.
Reposted by Jen Nelles
"Middle powers must act together, because if we're not at the table, we're on the menu."
This is a remarkable speech and I really do encourage people to listen to this.
This is a remarkable speech and I really do encourage people to listen to this.
I don't think I've ever listened to/read a full Davos WEF speech before but this speech by PMMC is something else. The discussion afterwards is good too. You should find some time to read/listen.
Text: paulwells.substack.com/p/the-carney...
YT: www.youtube.com/live/dE981Z_...
Text: paulwells.substack.com/p/the-carney...
YT: www.youtube.com/live/dE981Z_...
Davos LIVE: Canadian PM Mark Carney speaks at World Economic Forum
YouTube video by Associated Press
www.youtube.com
January 20, 2026 at 7:26 PM
"Middle powers must act together, because if we're not at the table, we're on the menu."
This is a remarkable speech and I really do encourage people to listen to this.
This is a remarkable speech and I really do encourage people to listen to this.
Reposted by Jen Nelles
#Innovation doesn’t just thrive in #urban centres. It also emerges on the margins. In Industrial & Corporate Change, @glueckler.bsky.social & @yaneck.bsky.social show how "institutional slack" and distance from the core create pockets where controversial #ideas can take root.
doi.org/10.1093/icc/...
doi.org/10.1093/icc/...
Controversial innovation and spatial pockets of peripheral opportunity
Abstract. Innovation is often paradoxical: it is both demanded and resisted. This article theorizes the process of controversial innovation (CI) as coevolv
doi.org
January 15, 2026 at 11:46 AM
#Innovation doesn’t just thrive in #urban centres. It also emerges on the margins. In Industrial & Corporate Change, @glueckler.bsky.social & @yaneck.bsky.social show how "institutional slack" and distance from the core create pockets where controversial #ideas can take root.
doi.org/10.1093/icc/...
doi.org/10.1093/icc/...
Reposted by Jen Nelles
While there is so much that is disturbing about this case study in the destruction of academic freedom, one high point is the refusal of the targeted professor to submit
![Dear Dr. Sweet,
I hereby submit my S 2026 syllabus for PHIL 111, Contemporary Moral Issues, for mandatory censorship review.
The syllabus has not changed much since I last taught the course. I have made some minor adjustments to the module on Race and Gender Ideology and to the lecture on Sexual Morality. These topics are commonly covered in this type of course nationwide, and the material is discussed in depth in the assigned textbook (Fiala and MacKinnon, 10th edition). I also ask my students to read a few passages from Plato (Aristophanes' myth of the split humans and Diotima's Ladder of Love).
Please note that my course does not "advocate" any ideology; I teach students how to structure and evaluate arguments commonly raised in discussions of contemporary moral issues.
If you interpret System Rule 08.01 §2.1(b) as prohibiting these topics, I would like to remind you that the U.S. Constitution protects my course content. Texas A&M is a public institution bound by the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has noted that academic freedom is "a special concern of the First Amendment, which does not tolerate laws that cast a pall of orthodoxy over the classroom" (Keyishian v. Board of Regents, 385 U.S. 589, 603 [1967]).
Another relevant precedent is Sweezy v. New Hampshire. Here is Chief Justice Earl Warren for the majority in 1957:
"The essentiality of freedom in the community of American universities is almost self-evident. No one should underestimate the vital role in a democracy that is played by those who guide and train our youth. To impose any straitjacket upon the intellectual leaders in our colleges and universities would imperil the future of our Nation. No field of education is so thoroughly comprehended by man that new discoveries cannot yet be made. Particularly is that true in the social sciences, where few, if any, principles are accepted as absolutes. Scholarship cannot flourish in an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust. Teachers and stu](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5pjg2eunftajrebw6bxtq44g/bafkreias47524bi4ukbmlqalsyb47xjavdti7dk2khrtcpgrfedietsnee@jpeg)
January 7, 2026 at 11:32 AM
While there is so much that is disturbing about this case study in the destruction of academic freedom, one high point is the refusal of the targeted professor to submit
Trick question. That is obviously the best. Second is Gimme Some Money though.
January 2, 2026 at 12:58 AM
Trick question. That is obviously the best. Second is Gimme Some Money though.
Reposted by Jen Nelles
I cannot stress this enough: going and doing something like this is a far better use of your time than arguing online about a primary campaign in a state/district where you don't even live. I'll be doing it again myself soon!
I went and volunteered at a food bank just a few days ago. it was good! there are more effective ways to feed people, sure, but it's still good! we fed lots of people. the org overall fed more. we'd all be better off if even more orgs and more people spent time and money doing stuff like that.
December 27, 2025 at 2:05 PM
I cannot stress this enough: going and doing something like this is a far better use of your time than arguing online about a primary campaign in a state/district where you don't even live. I'll be doing it again myself soon!
I second this! Am in the middle of it now and loving it.
December 14, 2025 at 12:39 PM
I second this! Am in the middle of it now and loving it.
Reposted by Jen Nelles
On the merits it's really hard to argue that there's a better city policy than congestion pricing
Particulate pollution in the air down a whopping 22% in NYC’s congestion pricing zone.
Not only are the streets less congested, but so are our lungs.
e360.yale.edu/digest/new-y...
Not only are the streets less congested, but so are our lungs.
e360.yale.edu/digest/new-y...
In New York City, Congestion Pricing Leads to Marked Drop in Pollution
e360.yale.edu
December 12, 2025 at 3:52 PM
On the merits it's really hard to argue that there's a better city policy than congestion pricing
Reposted by Jen Nelles
Loved teaching @thebartlettucl.bsky.social students this term, and have blogged about my seminar series, Planetary Infrastructures, here samgrinsell.hcommons.org/2025/12/10/p... #history #ArchitecturalHistory #infrastructure #geography #anthropology #EnvHums #teaching #environment
Planetary Infrastructures – Sam Grinsell
samgrinsell.hcommons.org
December 12, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Loved teaching @thebartlettucl.bsky.social students this term, and have blogged about my seminar series, Planetary Infrastructures, here samgrinsell.hcommons.org/2025/12/10/p... #history #ArchitecturalHistory #infrastructure #geography #anthropology #EnvHums #teaching #environment
New report from the IRC: "Lessons from the History of Technology Adoption and Diffusion" where we dive into the diffusion stories of three technology families and propose a framework to help shape policy strategy around the adoption of technologies of the future.
ircaucus.ac.uk/publications...
ircaucus.ac.uk/publications...
Lessons from the History of Technology Adoption and Diffusion - Innovation Research Caucus
ircaucus.ac.uk
December 10, 2025 at 3:27 PM
New report from the IRC: "Lessons from the History of Technology Adoption and Diffusion" where we dive into the diffusion stories of three technology families and propose a framework to help shape policy strategy around the adoption of technologies of the future.
ircaucus.ac.uk/publications...
ircaucus.ac.uk/publications...
Reposted by Jen Nelles
States can abide by original recs. New York has that policy in place and Illinois just passed legislation to allow that. See about getting similar plans in place in your state. #MedSky 🩺 www.nprillinois.org/health-harve...
December 5, 2025 at 9:23 PM
States can abide by original recs. New York has that policy in place and Illinois just passed legislation to allow that. See about getting similar plans in place in your state. #MedSky 🩺 www.nprillinois.org/health-harve...
Reposted by Jen Nelles
1/Quick thoughts of implications of US National Security Strategy for Europe -- weaponized interdependence meets nationalist international. The US will use its tools (economic, technology, and financial dominance) to press for far right agenda.
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
www.whitehouse.gov
December 5, 2025 at 1:34 PM
1/Quick thoughts of implications of US National Security Strategy for Europe -- weaponized interdependence meets nationalist international. The US will use its tools (economic, technology, and financial dominance) to press for far right agenda.
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Jen Nelles
@philiprocco.bsky.social (Marquette University), Jay Rickabaugh (North Carolina State), and @jen-nelles.bsky.social (Oxford Brookes School) discuss state and national partnerships during an atypical federal office in this @washingtonmonthly.com op-ed.
Read the piece. ⤵️
Read the piece. ⤵️
Trump’s Washington Is Ghosting States and Cities
States and cities are being abandoned by DC. Here’s how local leaders are building new alliances to survive Trump’s unpredictable federalism.
washingtonmonthly.com
December 3, 2025 at 8:33 PM
@philiprocco.bsky.social (Marquette University), Jay Rickabaugh (North Carolina State), and @jen-nelles.bsky.social (Oxford Brookes School) discuss state and national partnerships during an atypical federal office in this @washingtonmonthly.com op-ed.
Read the piece. ⤵️
Read the piece. ⤵️
Reposted by Jen Nelles
Iran's president is reviving plans to move the capital amid a severe water crisis. But Iranian water policy experts say relocating government offices won't solve the core problem: decades of treating finite water resources as unlimited. buff.ly/p7loved
Iran’s president calls for moving its drought-stricken capital amid a worsening water crisis – how Tehran got into water bankruptcy
Iran’s sprawling cities and irrigated agriculture, along with tight market controls, have left the country vulnerable to drought. There are steps that would help.
theconversation.com
December 2, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Iran's president is reviving plans to move the capital amid a severe water crisis. But Iranian water policy experts say relocating government offices won't solve the core problem: decades of treating finite water resources as unlimited. buff.ly/p7loved
Reposted by Jen Nelles
"A city's priorities become as clear as the spaces they choose to maintain in the winter."
Creative done with @thebikinglawyer.bsky.social
Creative done with @thebikinglawyer.bsky.social
November 12, 2025 at 1:20 PM
"A city's priorities become as clear as the spaces they choose to maintain in the winter."
Creative done with @thebikinglawyer.bsky.social
Creative done with @thebikinglawyer.bsky.social
Op ed published today on shifting mindsets about what #states and #cities can do to mitigate their increasingly uncertain relationship with the US federal government. In @washingtonmonthly.com with @philiprocco.bsky.social and Jay Rickabaugh washingtonmonthly.com/2025/11/27/t...
Trump’s Washington Is Ghosting States and Cities
States and cities are being abandoned by DC. Here’s how local leaders are building new alliances to survive Trump’s unpredictable federalism.
washingtonmonthly.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Op ed published today on shifting mindsets about what #states and #cities can do to mitigate their increasingly uncertain relationship with the US federal government. In @washingtonmonthly.com with @philiprocco.bsky.social and Jay Rickabaugh washingtonmonthly.com/2025/11/27/t...