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Research

Overview

The +Policy Network sponsors two competitive funded research programs, the flagship +Policy Fellow program and the newer Policy Scholar award. Applicants' proposals are reviewed and ranked by a group of stakeholders and affiliates based on their proposals' fit to the call, intellectual merit, interdisciplinary scope, likelihood of success and future potential for external funding. A key component of both research calls is the extent to and the ways in which the Fellow or Scholar extends policy-based thinking to new fields, new research teams, or develops new competencies that extend the applicant's domain of expertise related to policy.

Calls for applications are issued early in the fall semester and funding lasts for one fiscal year.

 +Policy Fellows

Structures and Machines: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Mapping the Policy Implications of Generative AI in Higher Education.

  • Andrew Katz, Assistant Professor of Engineering Education
  • Collaborator: Aditya Johri, Professor, Department of Information Sciences and Technology (George Mason University)

Increased Accessibility and Usability of Flood Hazard Models and Maps for Local Flood Hazard Policies, through Knowledge Co-Production

  • Yang Zhang, Associate Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning
  • Collaborator: Dr. Jennifer Irish, Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering

Pain and Risk Assessment for Aging Rural Populations: Implications for Clinical Practice and Health Policy

  • Huaiyang Zhong, Industrial Systems Engineering

A Policy Analysis Tool for Measuring the Effectiveness of Cycling Infrastructure in Blacksburg Area

  • Md Sami Hasnine,  Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Collaborator: Junghwan Kim (Geography)

Exploring AI Ethics Policy Concerns and Career Pathways of the AI Professionals with Policy Training Experience.

  • Dayoung Kim, Engineering Education. 
  • Collaborators: Qin Zhu (Engineering Education) and Hoda Eldardiry (Computer Science).

Remotely sensed data, climate change and poverty: A Zimbabwean study.

  • Jeffrey Alwang, Agricultural and Applied Economics. 
  • Collaborator:  Brianna Posados (School of Plant and Environmental Sciences) 
  • Stakeholders:  World Bank, Government of Zimbabwe.  

Responsible innovation and governance of climate smart irrigation technologies in the Hindu Kush Himalayas.

  • Maaz Gardezi, Sociology.  
  • Collaborators:  Sumit Vij (University of Geneva, Sz); Ryan Stock (Northern Michigan University); Asif Ishtiaque (University of Michigan); Megan Schaefer.  

Allotment and Individual Bank Accounts: Using Financial Records to Understand Land Dispossession.

  • Melinda Miller, Economics & History.  
  • Collaborators:  Matthew Gregg (Center for Indian Country Development, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis).  

Understanding Incentives to Plant Trees in Urban Settings Using a Framed Field Experiment Approach.

  • Stella Schons, Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation.  
  • Collaborator:  Eric Wiseman (FREC).

Visualizing Policy: Making Chemical Governance Legible Through Deep Mapping.

  • Jennifer Lawrence, Political Science. 
  • Collaborator:  C.L. Bohannon (Landscape Archiecture). 

Regional environmental planning and policy for bioenergy production and infrastructure: A linked water-energy-agricultural systems approach.

  • Theo Lim, Urban Affairs and Planning.  
  • Collaborators:  John Fike, Ryan Stewart (School of Plant and Environmental Sciences); John Little, Sarah Fletcher (Compuer and Electrial Engineering);  Quinn Thomas (Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation); (Morgan Rae Edwards, U Maryland Public Policy); Kyle Landseth (Langseth Engineering), Amanda Cuellar (B&D Engineering and Consulting LLC).

Advancing Invasive Species Science, Policy & Management.

  • Todd Schenk, Urban Affairs and Planning.  
  • Collaborators: Jacob Barney, David Haak (School of Plant and Environmental Sciences);  Scott Salom (Entomology); Bryan Brown (Biological Sciences).  

Redistricting Analytics at Virginia Tech (RAVT).

  • Nicolas Goedert, Political Science.  
  • Collaborators:  Robert Hildebrand (Industrial and Systems Engineering); Laurel Travis, (Business Information Technology); Peter Sforza, Matthew Pierson (Center for Geospatial Information Technology).

Vibrant Virginia: Advancing community and economic development across urban and rural Virginia.

  • Maggie Cowell, Urban Affairs and Planning
  • Collaborators: Dr. John Provo, Dr. Scott Tate, Albert Alwang (Office of Economic Development); Conaway Haskins (Virginia Cooperative Extension); Sarah Lyon Hill. 

Whole-body Exoskeletons for Advanced Vocational Enhancement (WEAVE) (Policy supplement to NSF CONVERGENT grant).

  • Suquin Ge, Economics
  • Collaborators:  Divya Srinivasan, Maury Nussbaum, Nathan Lau (Industrial and Systems Engineering); Alex Leonessa, Alan Asbeck (Mechanical Engineering), & Zhou, Y. 

Redistricting Analytics at Virginia Tech (RAVT).

  • Nicolas Goedert, Political Science.
  • Collaborators:  Robert Hildebrand (Industrial and Systems Engineering); Laurel Travis, (Business Information Technology); Peter Sforza, Matthew Pierson (Center for Geospatial Information Technology).

+Policy Scholars

Framing the Intersections of Policy with Security and Privacy in the Future of XR Technology.

  • Brendan David-John, Computer Science.  
  • Policy Mentor:  Saul Halfon (Science, Technology and Society).