The University of Massachusetts Amherst

Category: Faculty Research

Categories
Creative Economy/Springfield Initiatve Faculty Research Springfield Initiative

CPPA Faculty to Speak During Feb. 7 Springfield Panel

Two CPPA faculty members will participate in a panel called “Social Science Research in Springfield,” next Thursday, Feb. 7 at 11:30 a.m. in the Amherst Room of the Campus Center.

The panel is hosted by the Institute for Social Science Research and aims to highlight the work of three social scientists from the University of Massachusetts Amherst who are conducting research through public engagement projects in Springfield, Mass. Panel members are: Associate Professor Sylvia Brandt (resource economics and public policy); Assistant Professor Frank Sleegers (landscape architecture); and Lecturer Fred Rose (public policy). Together, these panelists will address the needs and strengths of the city and share their visions of how the current partnership between UMass and Springfield might continue to grow.

That partnership was formalized in 2010, when officials from UMass and the City of Springfield agreed to promote collaborations that will lead to the revitalization of the city’s economy. The goals of the partnership include positioning the city in the long term as a center for environmentally beneficial green industries; boosting the city’s arts and creative economy; and expanding relevant university teaching and outreach initiatives.

Each of the panelists has first-hand research experience in Springfield. Brandt has looked at the health costs of pollution in this densely populated urban area. Rose co-directs the Wellspring Collaborative, an economic development project that aims to strengthen the area’s local economy by channeling the purchasing power of the city’s largest employers through new worker-owned businesses in Springfield neighborhoods. Sleegers works to bring public art and green spaces to Springfield neighborhoods.

This event includes lunch. The event is free and open to the public, but to reserve your spot, please RSVP to Karen Mason by February 3.

Categories
Care policy Faculty Research

Misra Co-Authors Article Dispelling Academic Parental Leave Myth

Professor Joya Misra (sociology and public policy) has published a new article dispelling the myth that male faculty members in higher education abuse family leave policies by focusing on research rather than parenting during their time off.

The article, “Parental Leave Usage by Fathers and Mothers at an American University,” is in the January issue of the journal Fathering. Misra co-authored the study with Associate Professor Jennifer Lundquist (sociology) and former School of Education faculty member KerryAnn O’Meara, now of the University of Maryland.

In a 2006-2009 study at a major research university, Misra, Lundquist and O’Meara found that 72 percent of those who took paid parental leave were women. Those men who did take paid leave often had spouses who had to return to work. Still, many men whose partners are not full-time homemakers said they did not take advantage of the university’s paid leave benefit out of fear that doing so would have a negative impact on their professional advancement.

These findings contradict a widespread and long-standing assumption that male professors take advantage of paid leave benefits by taking time off even when their spouses are full-time homemakers or the primary caregivers. The new findings have received substantial attention both inside academia and in the mainstream media, with articles appearing in Inside Higher Ed; phsyorg.com; and News Blaze in Australia.

Categories
Environmental policy Events Faculty Research

Brandt to Discuss Traffic, Pollution and Smart Growth in Faculty Colloquium

On Feb. 4, Sylvia Brandt will discuss her recent work in a talk titled “The Costs of Traffic-Related Pollution in Los Angeles: Implications for Smart Growth.”

Brandt is an associate professor of resource economics and public policy. Her research focuses on two areas where traditional economic theories have failed to solve difficult problems in the allocation of public goods: fisheries management and chronic illness. Brandt also considers how policymakers can increase public welfare by increasing economic efficiency, policy effectiveness, or distributive fairness.

This lecture is part of CPPA’s spring 2013 Faculty Colloquium series, which consists of informal talks, often about works-in-progress, with presenters providing a significant amount of time for audience discussion and feedback. All talks will be in Thompson 620, from noon to 1 p.m. They are open to the public and brown bag lunches are welcome.

Categories
Environmental policy Faculty Honors & Awards Faculty Research Social inequality & justice

Brandt’s Asthma Paper Named Among Top Environmental Health Research of 2012

A paper published last year in the European Respiratory Journal and co-authored by Associate Professor Sylvia Brandt (resource economics and public policy) has been named by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) as one of the top research papers of 2012.

In the paper, “Costs of Childhood Asthma Due to Traffic-Related Pollution in Two California Communities,” Brandt and her fellow researchers estimate that childhood asthma associated with air pollution in Long Beach and Riverside, Calif., costs $18 million each year. This study not only examined direct health care costs related to childhood asthma, as many previous analyses have done, but also calculated the indirect costs of caring for a child with asthma. “The authors found that including this data almost doubled the estimated economic cost for these two communities alone,” according to the NIEHS. The biggest portion of this cost comes from parents and other caregivers missing work — and therefore losing income — when a child is absent from school because of asthma.

Researchers estimate the total annual cost per childhood asthma case is $3,819 in Long Beach and $4,063 in Riverside. “The fact that together these two communities account for only 2 percent of the population of California suggests that the statewide costs are truly substantial,” wrote Brandt in the report. The researchers further noted that nationwide, the total cost of childhood asthma is a serious economic burden on families, falling disproportionately on those living near busy traffic corridors.

Categories
Faculty Honors & Awards Faculty Research Science, technology & society

Fountain Gives Keynote Address on Digital Governance at Turkish National Assembly

Jane Fountain, professor of political science and public policy and director of the National Center for Digital Government, gave the keynote address last month at the Turkish National Assembly as part of the national awards ceremony to honor recipients of the “eTurkey Awards” for outstanding e-government innovations and practices.

Building on the belief that Turkey’s transition to an information society depends on an effective eTurkey transformation, TÜS?AD, the Turkish Industry and Business Association, and the Turkish Informatics Foundation (TBV) have organized the “eTR Awards” since 2003. Fountain discussed her research and engagement on the implications of open government, open data, and the challenges of transformation in democratic societies.

Categories
Faculty Research Science, technology & society

CPPA to Offer Online GIS Course This Summer

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) programs allow you collect, manage, display and analyze geographic data. Understanding GIS is valuable in today’s competitive and tech-dependent job market. This summer, graduate students, undergrads and professionals can all gain a basic knowledge of this important tool through an online introductory GIS course.

GIS is much more than just making geographic maps using a computer! By evaluating the relationship between different spatial information you can identify the best location for new development, locate pollution point sources, find the easiest way to get from point A to point B, and develop a better understanding of the way the world interacts around us.

The goals of this three-credit course are to teach you basic GIS concepts such as spatial data sources and structures, projections and coordinate systems, data editing and creation, and geospatial analysis. This course is designed with environmental applications of GIS in mind, but is relevant for students in almost any field that deals with place-based information and is widely used in public policy and administration settings. It involves the hands-on use of the software product ArcGIS on a Windows PC platform.

This is a great opportunity to learn from a team with both practical and research experience in applied information management as it relates to environmental policy. Associate Professor Charles Schweik (environmental conservation and public policy) has taught classes like this for more than 12 years. He is also the associate director of the National Center for Digital Government and is an affiliated researcher with the Science, Technology and Society Initiative; both of which are housed within CPPA. Co-instructor Walter Jaslanek is an environmental conservation Ph.D. candidate at UMass Amherst who has more than a decade of hands-on professional experience working with GIS and related technologies.

The course runs from July 8 to August 16. Enrollment opens March 18.

Categories
Faculty Research Social inequality & justice

CPPA to Offer Online Course on Social Movements and Public Policy

Long before the Tea Party and Occupy dominated headlines and airwaves, protest was a fixed feature of American political and social life. Although social movements are often conceived as political outsiders, they play an influential role in the policy process and have increasingly become a common vehicle for social change. You can learn about how social movements influence public policy in a new online course offered this summer by the Center for Public Policy and Administration.

The course, “Social Movements and Public Policy,” will examine the dynamics of social movements by analyzing the conditions that shape their development and by exploring the ultimate impact that they have on politics and American society. It will be taught by Steven Boutcher, assistant professor of sociology and public policy.

“Social Movements and Public Policy” offers graduate and undergraduate students alike — plus continuing education students from any walk of life — the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the world in which we live, in a flexible and convenient online format. Boutcher has been researching social movements for almost a decade, giving particular attention to low-wage worker organizing campaigns and the mobilization of gay and lesbian rights advocates.

The course runs from July 8 to August 16. Enrollment opens March 18.

Categories
Faculty Research Science, technology & society

Schweik Addresses Technology, Knowledge and Society Conference

Associate Professor Charles Schweik (environmental conservation and public policy) gave a plenary address during the annual International Technology, Knowledge and Society conference, on Jan. 14 in Vancouver, Canada.

His talk, titled “Internet-based Collaboration in Open Source Software,” described some of the history of open-source software, as well as some selected results from a five-year National Science Foundation-funded study on the topic. Schweik also noted how open-source collaborative principles on the Internet are being deployed in other areas, such as in collaborative writing, hardware design, scientific collaboration, innovation in culture, and educational material production.

This lecture was based in part on the research that was the foundation for Internet Success: A Study of Open Source Software Commons, by Schweik and Robert English (MPPA ’08).

Categories
Faculty Research Social inequality & justice

CPPA to Offer Online LGBT Policy Issues Course This Summer

As more and more states are legalizing gay marriage and the Supreme Court prepares to weigh in on the Defense of Marriage Act, the Center for Public Policy and Administration (CPPA) will offer this summer an innovative and timely online course about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender social science, public policy and law.

The course, “LGBT Social Science and Public Policy Issues,” is designed for those who want to learn about cutting-edge research and how it’s used in the policy world. It will be taught by CPPA Director M.V. Lee Badgett, an internationally recognized expert on the economics of same-sex marriage and other LGBT policy issues.

Badgett’s course will explore research from economics, psychology, political science, public health and sociology that relates to employment discrimination against LGBT people, LGBT parenting, the legal recognition of same-sex couples, and the process of social and policy change. She will also compare countries’ approaches to public policy and to collecting data on sexual orientation and gender identity. Research and policies studied will come from a variety of countries, including Canada, the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom and the U.S.

This distance learning course through the University of Massachusetts Amherst is an exciting and creative option for graduate and undergraduate students, as well as career professionals who are interested in studying laws and regulations having to do with LGBT issues. In particular, the three-credit course could be a great fit for:

  • Public policy students who want a specialized course in LGBT policy.
  • Advocates and activists who want access to the latest research and knowledge about how to use it.
  • Social science scholars and graduate students who want to see how research can affect public policy.
  • Lawyers and law students who want to understand the basics of social science research in this field.
  • Advanced undergraduates with backgrounds in the social sciences who are thinking about graduate studies related to law or public policy.

In addition to directing CPPA, Badgett is a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is the research director of the Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at UCLA. Her most recent book, When Gay People Get Married: What Happens When Societies Legalize Same-Sex Marriage, focuses on the U.S. and European experiences with marriage equality for same-sex couples. Badgett has testified on her work before Congress and many state legislatures, and she was an expert witness in California’s Prop 8 trial.

The course runs from May 20 to June 28. Enrollment opens March 18.

Categories
Faculty Research Social inequality & justice

Badgett Participates in Same-Sex Marriage Talks Hosted by Vietnamese Government

Nations on every continent are considering whether to let same-sex couples marry or to have some other form of legal recognition. Vietnam is the most recent country to take up the issue. Last month, Vietnam’s Ministry of Justice and the United Nations Development Program invited CPPA Director Lee Badgett to Hanoi to give a keynote address at a workshop.

Badgett reports on her visit:
Formally, the ministry of justice is considering proposals for revisions of the country’s family and marriage laws, and they have a long list of topics they are considering. Somewhat to the surprise of many observers, same-sex couples are on the list.

The workshop was designed to bring together members of the local LGBT communities along with experts with knowledge of international human rights law and the international experience of countries that already recognize same sex couples. The Ministry of Justice explicitly wanted an evidence-based approach to thinking about the needs of same-sex couples and the consequences of legal recognition.

I spoke first on the harms of denying recognition to same sex couples, presenting evidence mainly from the United States. But that evidence was corroborated by the Vietnamese same-sex couples who spoke movingly about their relationships and the legal and practical challenges they faced. I also reported on the research that other scholars and I have done that shows that granting legal recognition has many positive effects on same-sex couples, such as greater feelings of social inclusion, health, and relationship commitment. No harm to the institution of marriage has been documented, and heterosexual couples continue to marry and have babies (an explicit concern of some attendees of the workshop).

The Ministry will make a proposal about recognizing same-sex couples to the National Assembly later this year.