Meet the 2025-26 +Policy Research Cohort
In its eighth year, the +Policy Fellows program helps faculty with policy expertise connect with colleagues or interdisciplinary teams that may lack policy experience or seek to extend their knowledge into new areas for broader impact. The network’s newest opportunity, the Policy Scholar Research and Professional Development program, supports researchers who are new to the policy sector through customized resources and mentoring.
The 2025–26 policy research cohort includes four Virginia Tech faculty members across four colleges, one school, and three departments who were named fellows or scholars. Each will receive up to $10,000 in funding to support their policy-engaged research and professional development.
Meet the 2025–26 +Policy Fellows and Scholars below, including their research topics, collaborators, and funding partners.
+Policy Fellows
Le Wang, David M. Kohl Chair and professor of agricultural and applied economics and director of the Kohl Centre in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Project: Infrastructure, Rural Health, and Economic Development: A U.S. County Study Using Econometrics and Modern Causal Machine Learning
Collaborator: Huaiyang Zhong, assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering in the College of Engineering
Funding Partner: Pandemic Prediction and Prevention
Le Wang and Huaiyang Zhong are analyzing large-scale, county-level datasets to measure how broadband internet expansion is influencing physical, social, and environmental infrastructure, as well as health outcomes, demographic characteristics, and local economic conditions. The researchers aim to better understand how broadband access shapes public health and local economies so rural policy recommendations can be tailored to individual communities rather than generalized across rural areas. Their findings will help inform federal broadband and health initiatives, including U.S. Department of Agriculture rural health programs and telehealth expansion efforts, by identifying which rural communities should be prioritized for deployment to maximize health improvements.
“One central goal is to provide policymakers with evidence-based guidance on how infrastructure investments can be designed to improve both rural health and economic development,” said Wang, the David M. Kohl Chair and professor of agricultural and applied economics. “Rather than relying on one-size-fits-all solutions, the project seeks to identify where and for whom infrastructure investments are most effective.”
Junghwan Kim, assistant professor of geography in the College of Natural Resources and Environment and director of Smart Cities for Good
Project: Examining AI Use Policy for Transportation Planners in Virginia: Perceived Usefulness and Ethical Concerns for Daily Policy-Making Tasks
Collaborator: Shalini Misra, associate professor of urban and environmental policy and planning in the School of Public and International Affairs
Funding Partner: Center for Future Work Places and Practices
Junghwan Kim and Shalini Misra will examine how transportation and urban planners in Virginia currently use artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in their professional work. The project will explore planners’ perceptions of AI’s usefulness, their level of preparedness, and their overall AI literacy, including socially responsible and ethical use, as well as how effectively they apply AI in planning tasks.
“The findings will help inform early policy guidance and best practices for integrating AI into planning in ethical, practical, and useful ways,” Kim said. “This project represents an initial step within a larger research agenda that I aim to scale to the national level. Lessons learned from this +Policy Fellow project will directly inform the design and improvement of a future nationwide survey.”
+Policy Scholars
Sophie Wenzel, associate director of the Center for Public Health Practice and Research and associate professor of practice in the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine
Project: Cultivating Healthier Futures through Policy: Contraceptive and Substance Use Education and Access for Incarcerated Women
Mentor: Heidi Williams, assistant professor of sociology in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Funding Partner: Pandemic Prediction and Prevention
Wenzel will work alongside policy mentor Heidi Williams, assistant professor of sociology, and graduate students Mikhala Stafford, Emily Gaskill, and Aniya Hawkins. They will build on earlier research and review preexisting policies and current needs to propose new policies that help women lead healthy lives during and after incarceration. This includes access to contraceptives, treatment programs, and other support services.
“Heidi brings the sociology, criminology and policy perspective, and I bring the community health and public health perspective — I think we have a lot to learn from each other,” Wenzel said. “I am looking forward to delving a bit deeper into the policy world and seeing how we can have a meaningful impact on the lives of incarcerated women.”
Lu Zhang, associate professor of building construction in the Myers-Lawson School of Construction in the College of Engineering
Project: Integrating Multisector Stakeholder Values for Collaborative Data Center Planning and Policymaking
Mentor: Todd Schenk, associate professor of urban and environmental policy and planning in the School of Public and International Affairs
Funding Partners: College of Engineering and the Myers-Lawson School of Construction
Zhang, with support from policy mentor Todd Schenk, will examine why data center development has become increasingly contentious and how policy processes can move beyond conflict and delay.
While data centers are critical to AI and the digital economy, their rapid expansion has raised various concerns about energy use, environmental impacts, land use, and community well-being. Rather than treating these disputes as technical problems, the project focuses on the different value systems that shape stakeholder positions. By making these stakeholder values clear and integrating them into collaborative policymaking, the project aims to support more transparent, inclusive, and publicly trusted data center policies.
“Data center development is fundamentally shaped by governance, regulation, and public engagement,” Zhang said. “The project aims to reduce policy gridlock, improve public trust, and support more transparent, inclusive, and publicly trusted data center policies."