Though the newly elected presidents of Mexico and the United States started their terms mere months apart, both signaled the importance of the border to their agenda. What will the coming months and years bring to these two neighboring nations? We take these historic transitions as a starting point for reflecting on the nature and future of U.S.-Mexico relations, understood not just through policies and dialogues but also with a focus on the ways that bodies, resources, and ideas unite or divide the two nations. The conference features panelists from academia, public service, and the private sector, who share their views on these matters in a series of four panels, a curated luncheon discussion with mayors from border cities, and a keynote from a prominent journalist.

Organized By:

Diane E. Davis, Charles Dyer Norton Professor of Regional Planning and Urbanism at Harvard University, has a distinguished career focusing on urban development and governance. Former Chair of Harvard’s Urban Planning and Design Department, she previously led MIT’s International Development Group. Davis’s expertise spans urban violence, governance, and sovereignty, with notable works including Urban Leviathan: Mexico City in the Twentieth Century and Discipline and Development: Middle Classes and Prosperity in East Asia and Latin America. She has secured fellowships from major foundations and recently led projects funded by Mexico’s INFONAVIT on sustainable social housing and by Volvo on urban transport. Davis is currently a CIFAR Fellow and Co-director of its Humanity’s Urban Future Program, which focuses on Mexico City among several other global cities. Davis is also Co-chair of the David Rockefeller Center’s Faculty Committee for the Mexico Studies Program.

Gabriela Soto Laveaga, Professor of the History of Science and Antonio Madero Professor for the Study of Mexico at Harvard University, specializes in modern Latin American history, in particular histories of science, medicine and technology. Her prize-winning work, Jungle Laboratories: Mexican Peasants, National Projects and the Making of the Pill, won the Robert K. Merton Prize. She is finalizing Sanitizing Rebellion, a work on healthcare providers in Mexico’s state formation, and a project on agricultural development aid in India and Mexico. Soto Laveaga has previously received grants from the Ford, Mellon, Fullbright, DAAD, and Gerda Henkel Foundations and was a member of Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study. She held a Dibner Distinguished Fellowship at the Huntington Library. Soto Laveaga is also Co-chair of the David Rockefeller Center’s Faculty Committee for the Mexico Studies Program.