The department hosted its first virtual PSRW of 2021 on Friday, February 19th. Dr. Jacob Shapiro of Princeton University and the Empirical Studies of Conflict Project gave a talk titled "Influence Operations and Hate Crimes: Evidence from Russian Troll Activity." Dr. Shapiro and his coauthors' research sheds light on the link between Russian bot activity on Twitter and an uptick in hate crimes against minority groups in the United States. The talk was well-attended by about 40 graduate students and faculty. We look forward to our next PSRW on March 19th, when we'll virtually host Dr. Sarah Fulton from Texas A&M University.