Making an Impression at APPAM

Posted November 23, 2022

School of Public Policy faculty, students, and alumni made their presence felt at the recent Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM) meeting in Washington.

Assistant Professor Omar Asensio and Regents’ Professor Marilyn Brown co-chaired the Energy and Environmental Policy section, while Ph.D. student Becky Rafter chaired the Student Activities Committee.

Additionally, at least 16 Public Policy faculty members, students, and alumni presented papers and posters, participated in discussions, or helped coordinate community events.

“The School’s influence on APPAM was evident by the many sessions that involved our faculty and our current students as well as our alumni and their students,” said Brown, who is also Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems. “It’s a bit like Thanksgiving dinner with lots of grandparents and grandchildren. The session I chaired involved two of my Georgia Tech Ph.D.s and two of their students.”

Other faculty highlights included:

• Brian An presented two papers on Covid-19 and a third on the impact on home purchasing by institutional investors. He also participated in a panel on urban housing affordability.
• Jason Borenstein had a paper with recent Ph.D. graduate Jason Schiff on “Understanding Undergraduate Social Responsibility Development in STEM.”
• Brown served on a panel discussion on “Clean Energy Technology Adoption”
• Lindsey Bullinger presented three papers, served on panels discussing four others, and hosted a community event during the conference.
• Nadiya Kostyuk and Ph.D. student Jen Sidorova presented a paper on “Network Event-History Analysis of Cybersecurity Policy Diffusion.”
• D. Cale Reeves and Daniel Matisoff had a poster with student Mathias Zacarias on “Policy Levers to Traverse the ‘Valley of Death’; Matisoff also presented a paper on “Sustainability Transitions: Leveraging Public and Private Initiatives to Meet Climate Challenges.”
• Travis Whetsell chaired the panel on Innovations in Science and Technology.

Some student highlights included:

• Aline Banboukian presented a poster on “Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Policies.”
• Jennifer Kang was selected for the APPAM Entrepreneurship Policy Student Fellowship and presented a paper on “Interstate Mobility of Human Capital in the United States.”
• Yifan Liu presented a paper co-authored with Asensio on “Machine Learning and the Reliability of EV Charging Infrastructure.”

Rafter, who also coordinated the “Live From APPAM” podcast, called the event a resounding success.

“The next generation of researchers is taking on the trickiest and wickedest problems by centering directly affected communities,” Rafter said. “They are unapologetic about righting wrongs, even if it means interrupting and interrogating how they have benefitted from it.”

Next year, APPAM’s fall conference will be held in Atlanta.

“We look forward to welcoming the national community to Atlanta, where we will be able to showcase the incredible research of our students and faculty and how we connect our policy work to this vibrant city,” said Cassidy Sugimoto, Tom and Marie Patton Chair.