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The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted higher education in manifold and complex ways, not least in the area of international education. Programs built around the physical mobility of students, faculty, and staff were profoundly disrupted beginning in early 2020, necessitating the repatriation of students abroad, cancellation of future travel plans, and rapid development of new options and modalities for global learning. Recognizing this changing landscape, in late 2020 we issued a call for a special issue of JIEE focused on "contemporary trends in international engineering education, including in response to the COVID pandemic, rapid changes in political and economic dynamics, and other disruptions." We received a strong response to our call, and have worked closely with numerous authors to develop manuscripts on a variety of related topics. This editorial introduces the first of two planned special issues exploring pandemic-related change and innovation in the field of global engineering education.

This article traces the historical development of the boundaries around computer software and hardware. On one hand, the author documents ongoing discussions about the technical equivalence of hardware and software. On the other hand, he accounts for the stubborn persistence of these terms as markers for two distinct spheres of technology, knowledge, and practice. By using theoretical concepts such as "boundary work" and "coproduction," the author argues that ongoing efforts to negotiate the boundaries between hardware and software are significantly "sociotechnical" in that they involve both social and technical considerations. The analysis culminates with a discussion of the more recent rise of the "hardware/software codesign" movement. Particular emphasis is placed on the conditions that led to the emergence of codesign and the ongoing challenges faced by its proponents. The article concludes by describing how codesign points toward a more reflexive and socially responsible culture of computer design and use.

After groundbreaking work by multiple archaeologists in the latter half of the 20th century, caves in the Maya world are currently acknowledged as fundamentally ritual rather than domestic spaces. However, a more nuanced read of the anthropological literature and conversations with Indigenous collaborators in the past and present pushes us to move still farther and see caves not as passive contexts to contain ceremonies directed elsewhere but animate beings with unique identities and personalities in their own right. This article combines archaeological, ethnohistoric, and ethnographic documentation of Maya cave use in central Guatemala to build a foundation for examining caves as living beings, with particular attention played to the role they play as active agents in local politics and quotidian life. Through ritual offerings, neighboring residents and travelers maintain tight reciprocal relationships with specific caves and other geographic idiosyncrasies dotting the landscape to ensure the success of multiple important activities and the continued well-being of families and communities.

Prior research has indicated that the election of a black mayor is accompanied by increased trust in local government on the part of the black electorate. The authors explore contextual effects of the crime and drug epidemic on black trust in local black government. They draw on seven public opinion surveys of citizens of New Orleans, a black empowerment area, conducted between 1985 and 1994. Black confidence in local black government declined during that period, partially as a result of rising crime and the declining quality of urban life. Models of trust in government and the future of black empowerment are discussed.