View as Webpage

March 2024

POLICY SCHOOL NEWS

Northeastern Giving Day (April 11) - Dukakis Challenge

The Giving Day site is now live! Please consider joining the Dukakis Challenge on Giving Day, April 11. In the spirit of Governor Dukakis's 29 years of service at Northeastern, the goal is to secure contributions from 29 donors. Achieving this milestone will unlock a donation of $10,000, generously pledged by an alum, Jason Kravitz. This fund is pivotal in advancing the mission of Dukakis Center and the Policy School, fostering the education and research necessary to tackle the pressing challenges of our times. To donate, click on the link below and search "Dukakis."

GAP Seminar 2024

Profs. Silvia Prina and Nishith Prakash hosted a groundbreaking workshop titled "The 'Missing' Link between Evidence-Based Research and Policy Implementation" under the Global Action for Policy (GAP) Initiative. The workshop featured three esteemed keynote speakers: Dean Karlan, Professor of Economics and Finance at Northwestern University and Chief Economist at USAID; Joshua Angrist, Ford Professor of Economics at MIT and recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 2021; and Michael Kremer, University Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago, Director of the Development Innovation Lab at the Becker Friedman Institute for Research in Economics, and recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 2019.

Prof. Joshua Angrist (center)

Over the course of two days, attendees engaged in thought-provoking discussions on a crucial topic often overlooked in most development conferences: bridging the gap between researchers and policymakers to effectively address complex developmental challenges. The workshop provided a unique platform for exploring innovative strategies to foster collaboration and translate evidence-based findings into actionable policies.

C2C Policy Forum Unites 100+ Community Leaders, Public Sector Officials, and Research Partners to Support Boston’s Youth 

This leap year, on February 29, C2C hosted a policy forum alongside the Dukakis Center and the City of Boston’s Workers Empowerment Cabinet. The day began with remarks from Northeastern Provost David Madigan and Tiffany Chu, Chief of Staff to Mayor Michelle Wu, who emphasized Mayor Wu's commitment to connecting every Boston youth to a summer job.

Panel discussions covered careers in the life sciences, creative industries, the green sector, and the role of summer jobs in school year learning and success beyond graduation. Presenters included key researchers, service providers, employers, and a young person who shared their firsthand expertise navigating post high school career paths in related industries. The highlight of the day was the presentation of Fall 2023 C2C’s Policy Innovation Award to Secretary of Labor and Policy School alumna Lauren Jones MPA '17 for her decades-long work supporting youth workforce development efforts. Read more here

Prof. Alicia Modestino and

 Sec. Lauren Jones

New Forum for Online Policy School Students

The newly launched Policy School Virtual Circle provides the first-ever space for virtual students at the Policy School to connect, network, and share professional opportunities at the School and beyond. 

Sadaf Mehdi '24, who has been pursuing an MS in Urban Informatics degree completely online from her home base in New York, helped to lead the Virtual Circle initiative. "The purpose," says Sadaf, "is to foster a sense of community and belonging. I wanted to create a space for online Policy School students like me to feel like they are part of the larger School community. Here, virtual students can seek support and resources while navigating their unique experiences as online learners."

Sadaf Mehdi '24

Prof. Nicholas Bolden

Dr. Ioana Petrescu

Policy School Seminar Series Speakers

February 26: Nicholas Bolden

Nicholas Bolden, an Assoc. Professor of Public Administration at Columbus State University, hosted a seminar focused on the widening skill gap in the American workforce, challenges posed by globalization, and rapid technological advancements. He also discussed innovative solutions to mitigating workforce shortages in education and STEM fields and exploring policy alternatives to address the American workforce crisis.

March 25: Ioana Petrescu

Ioana Petrescu, Director of the Center for Leadership and Innovation at National School of Political and Administrative Studies in Bucharest, hosted a seminar focused on fostering sustainable growth in the space economy, through the utilization of financial incentives to space firms in selected countries. She also discussed the role of international organizations such as the European Space Agency in supporting the burgeoning industry.

Panel attendees included students, faculty, and staff from across the University

Transformation, Climate Justice, and Higher Education: Panel and Inclusive Discussion

The Policy School hosted a panel discussion on how and if higher and education institutions can be leveraged for societal transformation. Members of the panel included Cécile Renouard, President and co-founder of the Campus de la Transition in Forges, France, as well as Prof. Stephen Porder of Brown University, Prof. Sandra Waddock of Boston College, and Prof. Jennie Stephens, Dean's Professor of Sustainability Science & Policy at Northeastern. Senior Fellow in International Public Policy at Brown University's Watson Institute Alice Plane moderated the discussion.

FACULTY IMPACT

Green Infrastructure Development Research



Prof. Moira Zellner and Participatory Complex Systems Modeler Dean Massey have published an article that could help inform green infrastructure development in the Boston region. They have developed publicly available and user-friendly models (see baseline flooding simulation, left) that let users create neighborhood plans of green infrastructure of different kinds (e.g., rain gardens, green roofs, permeable pavers, rain barrels) and simulate how those plans reduce flooding and its socio-economic and environmental impacts (e.g., property damage, burden on sewers). Because the models are user-friendly, flexible and fast, they can be used within participatory planning meetings to support plan design, exploration, and assessment. “We found,” says Prof. Zellner, “that the spatial designs and types of green infrastructure in a plan matter relative to the function they support, flooding control or pollution control." 

"Inundation District" Film Screening

The Climate Justice and Sustainability Hub and Policy School hosted a viewing and panel discussion on David Abel's Boston climate justice film Inundation District. The panel featured Public Policy and Urban Affairs Prof. Joan Fitzgerald, Professor of the Practice Kim Lucas, Asst. Prof. of Race, Social Justice, & the Built Environment Lily Song, and filmmaker David Abel. Leah Bamberger, Director of the Hub, moderated the panel discussion. Topics discussed centered around socially conscious development and the implications of climate change on urban and regional policymaking.

Prof. Maria Ivanova

Prof. Maria Ivanova and Taylor Maddalene

Prof. Maria Ivanova Presents at World Wildlife Fund Plastic Policy Summit in Washington, D.C.

The World Wildlife Fund hosted their second Plastic Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. from March 21st to 22nd. The Summit brought together over 300 attendees from local, state, and federal organizations, NGOs, academia, and the private sector to discuss how best to forward national plastic policy. Consisting of plenary speakers, panels, and breakout sessions, the Summit covered, to name but a few examples, advocacy for federal and congressional action, a push for fenceline communities to be at the forefront of policy negotiations, and implementing extended producer responsibility (EPR). Outside of national policy discussions, attendees relayed their hope to see an aggressive global plastics treaty that addresses the entire life cycle of plastic during conversations regarding the current INC negotiations. Breakout sessions and workshops, led by organizations and individuals outside of WWF focused on topics such as increasing reuse, decreasing the harmful impacts of plastics, and education and outreach.

Northeastern University proposed and led a workshop entitled ‘Mapping Capacity and Knowledge Gaps’ on day two of the Summit. Prof. Maria Ivanova and graduate student in Environmental Science and Policy Alexandra Carlotto of Northeastern collaborated with Ph.D. candidate Taylor Maddalene of the University of Georgia to facilitate the interactive session. Structured as an ‘I need, I have’ discourse, this workshop allowed participants to voice specific areas of knowledge and capacity in which they felt their organizations were lacking. It opened opportunities for other participants to fill those gaps by providing resources they either knew of or could offer. The session not only identified specific knowledge and capacity gaps within organizations but also gave valuable insight into areas that need to be addressed across the board.

Director and Prof. Maria Ivanova

Prof. Maria Ivanova Profiled by Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation recently featured Prof. Maria Ivanova as one of the key alumni highlighted in its "People and Ideas of Bellagio" profiles. Her Bellagio experiences have informed her career path, says Ivanova, and continue to shape her "thinking about how we’ll progress as a Policy School, and how we’ll move the public service sector further along."

Prof. Maria Ivanova on Frontiers Planet Prize Journal

Prof. Maria Ivanova, Director of the Policy School, will serve on the Jury of 100 for the Frontiers Planet Prize Journal. The jury awards significant prizes for breakthrough research with the greatest potential to stabilize the planet's ecosystems.

Prof. Maria Ivanova invited to join Future Earth NGO Board

Prof. Maria Ivanova, Director of the Policy School, was invited to join the Future Earth US Board of Directors. Future Earth is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with a mission to accelerate transformations to global sustainability through research and innovation. Their team has developed three large international programs which it leads - the Sustainability Research and Innovation Congress, the Anthropocene Magazine and the Program for Early-stage Grants Advancing Sustainability Science. These programs convene, train, fund, and communicate co-developed advances for a more sustainable future.

Prof. Serena Alexander to Present at Upcoming Conferences

Prof. Serena Alexander will attend The Urban Affairs Association (UAA) Conference in New York (April 24-27), where she will present her paper “Assessing the Alignment Between Regional and Local Planning Efforts to Meet Transportation Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Targets in California.” In July she will present “Evaluating Emissions and Equity Impacts of Transportation Investments aligned with the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI) in California” at the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) Conference in Paris (July 8-12). 

Prof. Serena Alexander

Prof. Serena Alexander Moderates USDOT Climate Change Center workshop at the Transportation Research Board

Prof. Serena Alexander co-led and moderated a workshop on travel demand elasticity organized by the USDOT Climate Change Center at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting in January 2024. The goal was to advance a dialogue on challenges and opportunities with travel demand modeling in transportation planning aligned with the requirements of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.  

Prof. Serena Alexander leads evaluation team of California's Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI)

Prof. Serena Alexander led the evaluation team of California’s Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI): A plan that details how the state should invest billions of discretionary transportation dollars annually to address climate change and provide safe and equitable mobility for all. The completed report was published by Mineta Transportation Institute and helped guide the CAPTI 2023 Annual Progress Report. 

Prof. Nishith Prakash

Prof. Nishith Prakash Delivers Keynote

Prof. Nishith Prakash gave a keynote lecture titled, "Beyond Boundaries: Unraveling the 'Gender Gap' in Education and Empowerment Through a Decade of Learning" at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur, Department of Economics, India. Prof. Prakash shared how he comes up with research questions and how he has remained excited about the same research agenda for more than ten years. He also discussed the struggles he has encountered in pursuing this research agenda.

Police Utilize Innovative Theatre-Based Training in Effort to Reduce Gender-Based Violence and Bias

Prof. Nishith Prakash and his team of researchers have signed an MOU with the Bihar Police Academy, which trains Policy across the state of Bihar, India, (population of more than 100 million), where their innovative program will be implemented. New officers will take part in theatre-based training aimed at reducing discriminatory policing and gender bias in policing. This represents one of the largest training initiatives in the history of India.

Prof. Cristina Stanica

Prof. Cristina Stanica Serves as Judge for NASPAA Host Nations Simulation



Prof. Cristina Stanica served as a judge for the 2024 NASPAA Host Nations Simulation on Refugee Migration, an innovative event that challenges public administration students to develop crucial skills by role-playing complex refugee and migration scenarios from a governmental and public service perspective. Suffolk University organized the event and five Northeastern students attended. In recognition of her contributions, Cristina was selected as a Super Judge for the final championship round on March 11, where she helped assess the top-performing teams from the regional events.

EVENTS

Dukakis Symposium

On April 11^th, 2024, Northeastern, in co-sponsorship with the Policy School, will convene an event to honor Governor Michael Dukakis and celebrate his enduring impact in public policy and urban affairs. Also, please consider joining the Dukakis Challenge on Giving Day, April 11. In the spirit of Governor Dukakis's 29 years of service at Northeastern, the goal is to secure contributions from 29 donors. Achieving this milestone will unlock a donation of $10,000, generously pledged by an alum, Jason Kravitz. This fund is pivotal in advancing the mission of Dukakis Center and the Policy School, fostering the education and research necessary to tackle the pressing challenges of our times.

The Soiling of Old Glory - April 11 - 6pm

Join the Policy School for an evening of conversation with acclaimed historian and author Louis P. Masur, author of The Soiling of Old Glory, The Story of a Photograph That Shocked America. Prof. Ted Landsmark, Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and Directory of the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy, and Stanley Forman, the Pullitzer-Prize winning photojournalist, will be in attendance as panelists. The evening's moderator is Robert Allison, Professor, History, Language & Global Culture Department, Suffolk University.

Sargent Hall, 120 Tremont St., 5th Floor Commons, Boston, MA, 02108 - 6pm

Bari Conference 2024

The BARI Conference 2024: Greater Boston’s Annual Insight-to-Impact Summit will take place on Friday, April 12th at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge. The BARI Conference is a unique forum for community leaders, practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to share how they advance data-driven research and policy in Greater Boston—and how we could accomplish even more through collective action. 

* Please note that attendees will need to pre-register and bring a government ID to enter the Microsoft NERD AI Center.

Prof. Dan O'Brien, Director of BARI

A Potent Moment for Reform: A Discussion with Prof. Jeffrey Moyer, Lecturer and Cannabis Policy Scholar



Please join the O’Bryant Center for an April 2nd book talk featuring Prof. Jeffrey Moyer to discuss his recently published book A Potent Moment: Building Social Equity into Cannabis Legalization. Prof. Moyer will center his talk on the development of a social equity agenda in the cannabis legalization space, featuring Massachusetts’s unique citizen-led contribution to setting a bold agenda for incorporating racial justice in this conversation. Immediately proceeding this talk, there will be a panel discussion on the development of social equity here in Massachusetts in the years since legalization, and what it means to address the prior impacts of criminalization. 

We welcome you to join us in person at the O’Bryant Center, which will feature appetizers and snacks, or virtually if you are unable to join in person. We encourage you to register in advance, as a drawing for a free signed copy of the book will be conducted among in-person and virtual attendees who have registered in advance. Copies of the book will also be available for purchase and signing at the event through the NU Bookstore.

STUDENT IMPACT

From Left to Right: Prof. Cristina Stanica, Assoc. Dir. of Academic Operations Michele Rosenthal, Policy School students Maina Wachira, Margaret McCroby, Chareese McIntosh, Fatuma Mohamed, Tayte Adderley

NASPAA Student Simulation Competition

The Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) hosted its annual Simulation Competition, in which students from around the world learn through experience in a unique, interactive computer gaming format. The Policy School nominated five master’s degree students to participate in the competition hosted at Suffolk University in Boston. This year’s theme was global migration. The Host Nations Simulation puts students in the roles of government leaders working together to manage policies, balance budgets, and satisfy their citizens as they manage an influx of refugees following the collapse of their home country. It challenges and teaches students to deliver effective and equitable policies, consider the diverse needs of various populations, interpret data to evaluate and reorient policy decisions, practice inclusive decision-making and navigate challenging and asymmetrical intergovernmental relations. 

Global Youth Environmental Assembly

Northeastern University sent a delegation to the sixth session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) from 26 February to 1 March 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya. Northeastern's delegation included Olga Skaredina, a Ph.D. student in Public Policy. Olga (pictured left, photo credit: UNEP/Natalia Mroz) presented a chapter on Reimagining Environmental Multilateralism from The People’s Environment Narrative, a seminal compendium about the UN Environment Programme and the role of stakeholders in global environmental governance. Olga and Prof. Maria Ivanova both participated in the Special Session of the UN Science-Policy-Business Forum, a platform dedicated to enhancing collaboration between science, policy, and business realms in the context of environment and sustainable development. Olga delivered a compelling address during the opening session on behalf of the Children and Youth Major Group to UNEP. Her speech urged participants to envisage a future where intergenerational equity is a foundational principle that guides multilateral processes and empowers young people to be agents of change. 

Yutong Si Dissertation Defense

On March 18, Yutong Si (pictured right) successfully defended her PhD dissertation entitled “Energy Justice, Energy Policy, and Transformative Climate Action.” The thesis explores the dangerous geopolitical and climate impacts of continued fossil fuel reliance and focuses on the complexities and barriers in renewable deployment and fossil fuel phase-out. 

Gloria Schmitz Dissertation Defense

On March 28, Gloria Schmitz (pictured left) successfully defended her PhD dissertation entitled “The Circular Economy Before and During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Global Analysis of the Role of Waste Proliferation and Climate Change Resilience.” The thesis examines the impacts of waste generated from personal protective equipment (PPE), and how changing consumer needs, preferences and behaviors before and during the COVID-19 pandemic have influenced the transition to the circular economy (CE; i.e., reusing and recycling materials instead of linear product life cycles ending in disposal) at three levels of analysis: (1) the micro (neighborhoods in a city), (2) meso (municipalities in a state), and (3) macro (global corporations).

ALUMNI IMPACT

Alumnus Spotlight: Brian Kane, MPA ‘07   

What was your background prior to the Policy School and what motivated you to pursue a career in public service?  

I was born and raised in Norwood, MA and completed an undergraduate degree in history at Boston College with a minor in Irish history. I lived in Ireland for 18 months and that experience really shifted my perspective on policy. I realized that in the U.S. we take much for granted including freedom of speech. When I was in Ireland, divorce was still illegal and the country had just decriminalized discussion of certain paramilitary groups. I had an awakening that the systems we live in are not pre-ordained. We can strategically pull the levers of government to effect the change we want to see in the world. 

What led you to a career focused on transportation?  

I entered the Policy School intending to become a city or town manager but when I met Gov. Dukakis, he inspired me to go down the transportation pathway and helped me get my first job as a policy analyst at the MBTA. I took his health policy class in my first semester at the Policy School and loved that the learning was not theoretical but based on real-life case studies. This made me want to get in the trenches and do the work of day-to-day governing at high state and local levels. 

What role have you played in tackling the ongoing challenges posed by the T in Boston?  

I am currently serving on a 31-person Governor’s Transportation Funding Task Force. Its members include cabinet secretaries, legislators, labor representatives, business leaders, and technocrats like me. Our goal is to produce a report by the end of 2024 that will quantify the financial challenges and propose feasible revenue sources. 

What hurdles will a sustainable future plan for the T have to overcome? 

Part of my work on the task force has centered on analyzing why past strategies—ranging from austerity to massive re-orgs to charismatic leadership--to fix the T didn’t work. But the challenges and solutions extend beyond Boston. The infrastructure system is fundamentally broken across the U.S. We need to pivot from model focused on construction to one that provides adequate resources for operations and maintenance. Federal investment in our roads, bridges, water distribution systems, and electrical power grids is critical to our national security. 

How has your Policy School training helped prepare you to take on these challenges?  

It definitely taught me to apply a pragmatic approach based on real-world knowledge. No one I work with on a day-to-day basis ever says, “What theory should we apply to this issue?” In the end, it’s not about the efforts; it’s the results that count. And I’m confident that we will ultimately transform the T into a world-class system we can be proud of. 

What takeaways would you offer to aspiring public servants enrolled in the Policy School right now?  

There is great value and honor in helping people day to day! Democracy is not a spectator sport. In many ways, our government runs on volunteers so there is a real duty to get involved. As a proud bureaucrat and huge nerd, I would encourage the next generation of Policy School changemakers to roll up their sleeves and fix what needs fixing. It not us, who will do it? 

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

C2C Scholar Strategy Network

C2C has partnered with the Scholars Strategy Network (SSN) to provide the Training Researchers to Inform Policy (TRIP) workshop designed for faculty interested in forming research-practice partnerships with governmental or community organizations. This full-day training equips participants with effective methods for engaging with policymakers and communities to translate research findings into policy actions. We encourage both faculty and graduate student pairs to attend. Our upcoming session will take place on Wednesday, May 1st in a hybrid format to accommodate participants from both Boston and Oakland campuses. The workshop will run from 11 am to 5 pm EST/8 am to 2 pm PST. Space is limited so be sure to register by April 1.