Project AROS Lab

What We Do

PAL grew from an  interdisciplinary, international research project, Project AROS aimed at expanding the former  Digital Archive at the Wilson Center and to improve its visibility and accessibility to a wider public audience, including lawmakers, practitioners, scholars and citizens. With a collection of  over 10,000 historical documents, the goal of expanding the archives is driven by the idea of including new, compelling themes that also include cultural aspects and focus on society during the Cold War, but also in the time period beyond, to better understand the legacy and impact of this era. While diplomatic history and international relations remain topical pillars in the online archive, sociopolitical and human rights related issues during and after the fall of the iron curtain will now also be included.

The term AROS is an acronym for Applied Research On Social Issues. It stands for the transdisciplinary nature of PAL’s scholarly inquiries. It is about Agency, Research, Outreach, and Strategy—four pillars that shape how we think, how we work, and how we engage with the world around us. PAL is a space where students become researchers, faculty become mentors and collaborators, and ideas become action. Moreover, it highlights  the groundedness of the research process in seeking practical solutions to real world problems by better understanding key issues and and crafting effective pathways forward to tackle the challenges.

Significance

The initiative is unique because of the Wilson Center’s initial goal to work closely with  students from Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). Montclair students have the opportunity to engage in holistic experiential learning, including research, data analysis, and digital methods (e.g. mapping, visualization, and storytelling).

Project AROS Lab is a research hub fueling scholarly exchanges among researchers and practitioners from a variety of disciplines and geographic areas, including faculty through Montclair’s network called Research on Interdisciplinary Global Studies (RIGS), thanks to the remote and virtual platform and work environment. PAL also serves as a catalyst for the former Wilson Center’s Digital Archive and engages with external researchers [link to Members page-scholars].

Given the political, historical, and policy-oriented content of the platform, Project AROS Lab embodies a trail-blazing initiative to address pressing contemporary real-world issues against the backdrop of innovative technologies and public dissemination strategies.

PAL builds  on the Junior Researcher and Leadership program (JRL), a Montclair initiative, which was launched in 2023 to expand on a research platform, Project AROS. The latter provides a multi-dimensional, multidisciplinary and multi-purpose virtual space for scholars, practitioners, and students to collaborate, explore, and showcase new technologies and strategies for policy-relevant research with the aim of furthering public knowledge.