The Tartan

By Emma Rogers

Carnegie Mellon offers a number of lecture series, offering the chance for students to hear from experts across a variety of fields. Many of these lecture series are held by different departments, but Carnegie Mellon also has overarching lecture series for the entire campus — the University Lecture Series and the new extension, the President’s Lecture Series, which started this fall. The goal of the President’s Lecture Series is to connect students with leaders in the public and private sectors, exploring topics across science, technology, politics, and culture.

The series kicked off with a distinguished lecture form General Laura Richardson, the first female Commander of U.S. Southern Command, and included both a lecture and a conversation between Richardson and President Jahanian. President Jahanian introduced Richardson as “barrier breaking,” noting her achievements as the first and only woman to command U.S. SOUTHCOM, as well as her status as the second woman in history to reach the status of 4-star General.

General Richardson started her talk by commending the work that Carnegie Mellon has done in conjunction with the U.S. government, noting the long history of collaboration and important work that has come out of this partnership. “The collaboration between academia and the Department of Defense that happens here is truly amazing,” she states, calling the work that Carnegie Mellon has been doing a “catalyst” for technology advancement in the military. When it comes to the unique challenges and opportunities in the Western Hemisphere, she explains, the talent at Carnegie Mellon can go a long way in leveraging technology to solve these problems.

She then explained the role of the U.S. SOUTHCOM and the work that she and her office conduct. SOUTHCOM is one of six geographic commands in the U.S. military, consisting of 31 countries and 11 dependencies in the Caribbean. Of those, there are 28 like-minded democracies that Richardson and her office work closely with on matters of military and public security across a large number of domains, including rule of law, human rights, the professionalization of forces, and more.

Richardson noted the importance of this region, not just for how close it is to the U.S., but also for elements like the Amazon rainforest, REM mining, agriculture, and other unique characteristics. However, she notes, this region is “hampered by the fragility of the security environment” — threats like climate change and ecological disasters, overfishing, transnational criminal groups, and the lasting impacts of Covid-19 have created problems across the continent, prompting a humanitarian crisis as people leave their homes to find a better life and causing immense pressure on democratic leaders to find rapid solutions for their people in limited terms.

She expanded on the security threats caused by Russia, China, and Iran exploiting the region. China has not only surpassed the U.S. as the largest trading partner for South America, but has also increased its diplomatic visits in the Western Hemisphere to countries like Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Brazil. Additionally, initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative have 22 signatories in the SOUTHCOM region, with the PRC providing investment in projects like deep water ports, telecommunications, energy, city technologies, and space-enabling infrastructure — all of which have dual use with military applications. She noted that the space-enabling infrastructure is in direct competition with U.S. space infrastructure.

With Russia’s relationship to the Caribbean, widespread disinformation has posed a threat in the region. “We are now in conflict in the information space, not just in competition,” Richardson said, adding that Russian news sites with widespread misinformation and minimal verification have at least 31 million followers across Latin American countries.

In response to such threats, Richardson characterized her role as one where she develops relationships with senior leaders and complements the work of ambassadors, specifically emphasizing her “Team Democracy” approach. This comes from a DIME approach: diplomatic, informational, military, and economic support. Within this, she highlighted efforts to counter dis- and misinformation, emphasizing the positive impact of democracies, as well as various initiatives she has led to increase economic investment in Latin America. Such investment would support Latin American growth, with a focus on respecting international rule of law, maintaining Intellectual Property protections, being anti-corrupt, hiring local workers, and promoting diversity and women in the workforce. Military initiatives in the region span from large scale exercises that are multidimensional and multi domain, implementing new technologies, to security conferences like UNITAS. Specifically, Richardson highlighted Continuing Promise, which is a ship that brings free healthcare to struggling communities, and the Women, Peace, and Security initiative, which promotes gender equity and equality in efforts against conflict and in promotion of peace.

She ended her talk by emphasizing the unique role of SOUTHCOM in the technology space, calling it an “innovation testbed” with close proximity to the U.S., willing partners to implement the technologies, and real challenges that technology could make a difference in addressing. However, she said, “technology itself won’t provide solutions, there needs to be policy,” addressing the importance of Carnegie Mellon programs like CMIST, the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Security and Technology.

In her fireside chat with President Jahanian, Richardson ended with advice for young people, noting that you don’t have to immediately fit in and find friends in your workplace, but that if you “keep your head down” and do the job you were hired to do, everything will fall into place.

While additional events are likely to be added as the school year progresses, upcoming University Lecture Series events include:
Monday November 6 at 5:00 p.m.: Nita Farahany, “ChatGPT and Your Brain”
Thursday February 15 at 5:00 p.m.: Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, “The Dickson Prize in Science Award Ceremony and Lecture”
Thursday April 4 at 5:00 p.m.: Teresa M. Bejan, “Civility”