October 12, 2009. A new simulation called Ground|Work launched this week in Professor Marc Levy's Environment, Conflict, and Resolution Strategies course offered at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Ground|Work is an online simulation in which Professor Levy's 18 graduate students grapple with maintaining peace in a fictional, post-conflict country.

Over the course of the next seven weeks the students will use their knowledge of previous conflicts and conflict resolution strategies to complete both individual and team activities. These activities include drafting a conflict assessment, funding interventions, preventing or responding to humanitarian crises, and working with donors. When the simulation concludes, teams will find that the post-conflict country is in one of three states/conditions: peace, humanitarian crisis, or resurgence of conflict.

The Ground|Work simulation will culminate in a group presentation in which the teams describe their choices and outcomes in the simulation, pitch their strategies for success, and answer questions from Professor Levy and their peers.