All the Best,
Joan Fitzgerald
Interim Dean

New Faculty

We welcome several new faculty members to the Policy School. We hope you will be able to attend the Policy School Welcome Reception on September 4^th to meet them. Their bios follow. Please check your faculty bio on the website. If you want us to update it (particularly photos) please send material to j.sarvey@neu.edu.

Len Albright

Assistant Professor, Sociology & Public Policy

Len Albright is an assistant professor of sociology and public policy with appointments of 25% in the School of Public Policy & Urban Affairs and 75% in Sociology. Albright recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago, and was a recipient of the University’s Phoenix Fellowship from 2004-07. His dissertation, supported by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the MacArthur Foundation, is an ethnographic study of an affordable housing complex in a suburban New Jersey community.

Trained as an environmental sociologist, Albright is also researching issues of community mobilization around hydraulic fracturing and natural gas extraction in Pennsylvania. He has done extensive ethnographic research on class and racial boundaries within suburban communities.

Albright has also written on the implementation of judicial rulings (such as the Mount Laurel decision) in support of fair housing in the United States. A native of Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, Len maintains an interest in the history and impact of the Mt. Laurel Decisions, a series of NJ Supreme Court decisions that advocated for inclusionary zoning and housing equality.

Areas of Research and Teaching:

Urban Sociology, Environmental Sociology, Affordable Housing, Inequality, Qualitative Methods, the Suburbs, Social Theory, Coastal Communities

James Connolly

Assistant Professor, Public Policy & Political Science

James Connolly is an assistant professor of public policy & political science, with appointments of 75% in the School of Public Policy & Urban Affairs and 25% in political science. Connolly previously served as a staff researcher at the Earth Institute’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) and at the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation’s Spatial Information Design Lab (SIDL) where he developed expertise in spatial analytic tools including ArcGIS and spatial statistics. At these labs he analyzed global poverty and mapped data on the movements of recently released prisoners through New York City, among other projects.

He has also co-authored several reports on urban environmental stewardship with the University of Maryland’s Program on Society and the Environment. His current research examines community development and mainstream environmental coalitions in state-level urban environmental policies. His interests also include analyzing how the institutions that shape urban environmental land use policy are structured (spatially and politically) and how they are changed. He has published articles in journals including The Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Landscape and Urban Planning, and Environmental Management.

Connolly earned his PhD in Urban Planning from Columbia University.

Areas of Research and Teaching:

Urban Environmental Planning and Policy, Environmental Stewardship, Spatial Dynamics of Poverty, Geographic Information Services (GIS), Organizational Networks

Brian Helmuth

Professor of Environmental Science and Public Policy

Brian Helmuth will be joining us in January 2013 as professor of environmental science and public policy. He comes to us from the University of South Carolina where he was Professor of Biological Sciences in the Environment and Sustainability Program and Marine Science Program. He also served as Director of the Environment & Sustainability Program.

His research explores the effects of climate and climate change on the physiology and ecology of marine organisms.  Specifically, he uses thermal engineering techniques, including a combination of field work, remote sensing and mathematical modeling, to explore the ways in which the environment determines the body temperatures of coastal marine animals such as mussels and sea stars.  A major goal of this approach (funded by NASA and NOAA) is to predict where and when the effects of climate change are likely to occur so that we can mitigate these effects, a method of “ecological triage.”  To date Helmuth’s work has centered primarily on temperate rocky intertidal systems in the United States and Europe, but recent work funded by the NOAA Ecofore Program has expanded to include salt marsh ecosystems throughout the U.S.

Helmuth also works with local teachers to develop educational materials relevant to national science standards, and to bring the excitement of science to the classroom. He is actively involved in the South Carolina chapter of the National Marine Educators Association. A major goal of his approach is to make our research relevant to policy makers, resource managers, and the general public at large.

Helmut earned his PhD from the University of Washington.

Areas of Research and Teaching:

Environmental Policy; Ecological Forecasting; Sustainability

Matthias Ruth

Professor, Public Policy and Civil and Environmental Engineering

Matthias Ruth is joining the Policy School as a full professor with 75% of his appointment in the Policy School and 25% in Civil and Environmental Engineering. He comes to us from the University of Maryland where he was the Roy F. Weston Chair in Natural Economics, Director of the Center for Integrative Environmental Research at the Division of Research, Director of the Environmental Policy Program at the School of Public Policy, and Co-Director of the Engineering and Public Policy Program. His research focuses on dynamic modeling of natural resource use, industrial and infrastructure systems analysis, and environmental economics and policy. His theoretical work heavily draws on concepts from engineering, economics and ecology, while his applied research utilizes methods of non-linear dynamic modeling as well as adaptive and anticipatory management. Applications of his work cover the full spectrum from local to regional, to national and global environmental challenges, as well as the investment and policy opportunities these challenges present.

Professor Ruth has published 12 books and over 120 papers and book chapters. Recent books include Distributional Impacts of Climate Change: Social and Economic Implications and Dynamic Modeling of Diseases and Pests. He has published articles in journals including Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, International Journal of Environmental Technology and Policy, Journal of Applied Geography. He is a founder of Ecological Economics, serves on the boards of numerous journals and scientific organizations, is a founding Co-editor in Chief of the international science journal Urban Climate, and collaborates extensively with scientists and policy makers worldwide.

Ruth’s research has been supported by government agencies and private sources including: the National Atmospheric and Oceanographic Organization, Natural Resources Defense Council, Research Council of Norway,  German Ministry of Science, Education and Technology  and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Department of the Environment, and Environmental Defense.

Ruth earned his PhD in geography from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Areas of Research and Teaching:

Ecological Economics, Dynamic Modeling, Microeconomics and Policy, Resource and Environmental Economics and Policy

Gavin M. Shatkin

Associate Professor, Public Policy & Architecture

Professor Shatkin has a joint appointment in the School of Public Policy & Urban Affairs (75%) and the School of Architecture (25%). His research focuses primarily on issues of governance, urban redevelopment, and poverty in Asian cities. He is the author of Collective Action and Urban Poverty Alleviation: Community Organizations and the Struggle for Shelter in Manila. He has published articles in a number of journals, including Urban Studies, Environment and Planning, The International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Cities, and the International Development Planning Review. His research has been supported by the Trehan Foundation and Gilbert Whitaker Fund for the Improvement of Teaching.

Prior to coming to Northeastern, Shatkin was an associate professor of urban planning at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. He was also a faculty associate in the Center for South Asian Studies and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies.

Shatkin earned his PhD in Urban Planning and Policy from Rutgers University.

Areas of Research and Teaching:

Public Policy, Urban Planning, Globalization and Poverty

Quick Links

Faculty and Staff News

Please send news of publications, conference presentations, new grants, media citations, etc. to j.sarvey@neu.edu so we can include them in the monthly updates. If we missed something you did over the summer, please let us know so it can appear in the September update.

Barry Bluestone and Jamie Fox continue their blogs on Boston.com:  Economy & Equity and Crime & Punishment. Barry was cited in a number of articles and was interviewed about housing on WBUR.

Alan Clayton-Matthews was cited in several media outlets including the Boston Globe.

Joan Fitzgerald gave an invited lecture, “Répondre au Changement Climatique : Défis et Innovations de la Planification Urbaine” at Sciences Po, Paris as part of the “Cities are Back in Town lecture series. (June 5^th).  Joan was cited in a Chicago Tribune article about rail manufacturing in Illinois.

Stephanie Pollack received $250,000 grant from the Barr Foundation to continue her work on transportation and sustainability.

New Staff Members

Louis DaRos joins us as the new Administrative Assistant for Academic Programs working closely with Laurie Dopkins and Chris Bosso.

Cassie Taylor ’13 is the new marketing & communications co-op working with John Sarvey.

Alumni News

João L. Carapinha, LPP PhD ’12 recently started a new position as Senior Technical Advisor in the Center for Pharmaceutical Management at the Management Sciences for Health in Arlington, Virginia.

Mahfuzul Chowdhury PhD LPP ’92 is professor of political science and director of the Social Science Research Institute at the University of Chittagong in Bangladesh.

Elizabeth Giardino MURP ’12 successfully transitioned from a health care program management position to a new job as a social and economic policy analyst at Abt Associates shortly after graduation.

Richard G. Maloney LPP PhD ’10 recently presented at a symposium on the economic impact of art and culture. The event, held on May 10th, co-hosted by the Brookings Institution and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), examined new growth theory as a tool for assessing the impact of art and culture on the U.S. economy, including the theory that cities play a major role in facilitating economic growth.

Ture Turnbull MURP ’12 has joined the staff of Boston District 6 city councilor Matt O’Malley, working on constituent services and serving as the liason to his home community of Jamaica Plain.

Amy Wyeth MURP ’11 began work in May as a senior policy analyst at the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance.

Three 2012 MURP graduates are continuing in jobs that they started during their academic careers:

Robin Blatt-Eisengart MURP ’12 secured a position as a Financial Analyst/Project Manager in the Office of Real Estate and Asset Development at the Massachusetts Department of Transportation after his summer 2010 internship there.

Jessica Casey MURP ‘12 became Director of Policy Development & Implementation for the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development in the fall of 2011 following her summer 2011 Rappaport Fellowship there.

Heather Hume MURP ‘13  began working as a transportation planner/analyst in the MBTA’s service planning department in January 2011, after beginning the MURP program.  For the past year she has been staffing the Commission for the Reform of Community, Social Service, and Paratransit Transportation created by Governor Deval Patrick under Executive Order 530, which is expected to issue its final report any day now.

Former Dukakis Center Research Associate Mark Melnik PhD Sociology ‘12 continues as deputy director for research at the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

Student News

Adam Katz  MURP ’13  is interning at the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District.

Patrick Kelleher-Calnan MURP ’13 is interning at Mass Global Action.

Angelique Marcus MURP ’13 and Scott Zadakis MURP ’12 are interning at the Dukakis Center. Angelique is working on the inner city business database, a joint project of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City and the Dukakis Center. Scott Zadakis is working on transportation research projects.

Christina McPike MURP ’13 is a research intern at Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships.

Lindsay Morgia MURP ’13 is interning at Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law & Justice.

Zak Patten MURP ’13 is an Economic Development Intern at Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation.

Po-Yu Yuen MURP ’13 is an energy intern at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council.

Job and Internships Postings

Did you know that we maintain a list of job and internship postings on the Policy School website?

If you’re looking for a job or internship, be sure to visit www.northeastern.edu/policyschool/internship-and-job-listings.

If you have an opportunity or are looking to hire, please email the posting to Katie Koski at k.koski@neu.edu.

World Class Cities Partnership

WCCP played a key role in facilitating trade talks that resulted in a formal trade agreement between The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Catalonia. Governor Patrick and Catalonian President Artur Mas signed the agreement on June 20^th.

The second annual WCCP summit was held June 27-29^th in Barcelona. Results of the talent attraction research (last year’s theme) were presented and a new topic, co-creating sustainable cities, was chosen.

WCCP hosted a transportation seminar on campus, “The Catalan Model: Infrastructure and Public Transport” in June.

WCCP now has a faculty advisory committee that comprises Joan Fitzgerald, Gavin Shatkin, Tom Vicino and Liza Weinstein. Their active urban research agendas in cities in Europe, Asia and South America will be essential in solidifying the research and teaching component of WCCP.

New Space and Microsoft Site Visit

We will be moving into our new space (3^rd floor Renaissance Park) during spring break, 2013. We will have an opportunity to talk with the planners about our wishes.  To help us think about ways to organize space to facilitate discussion and collaboration, we are touring Microsoft in Cambridge. Please email k.simmons@neu.edu if you would like to attend.

You might also want to visit the Dean’s Suite on the 4^th floor, as some of the same principles are evident (note glass office walls that allow light into inner corridors and rooms).  A great read on the difference that space makes in promoting innovation is in this New Yorker article: GroupThink: The Brainstorming Myth by Jonah Lehrer.

Mark Your Calendars and Plan to Join Us for the Open Classroom Series Fall Semester 2012 Campaign 2012: Policy Advice to the President     Wednesday evenings 6:00 to 8:00pm September 5th through December 12th West Village F, Room 20 40 Leon Street, Northeastern University RSVP   Host “Faculty” Moderators for the Semester: Michael S. Dukakis, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy Barry Bluestone, Founding Dean, School of Public Policy & Urban Affairs Sonia Chang-Diaz, Massachusetts State Senator Robert DeLeo, Massachusetts Speaker of the House Setti Warren, Mayor, City of Newton Each semester we select one graduate-level seminar and open it up to the public. Each week we feature prominent guest lecturers with real-world expertise and experience. Participation is free and open to the public. After registering for the semester, you may attend whichever sessions you are interested in. Registering helps us manage expectations about attendance. In addition, being on the class roster allows you to receive timely information through class announcements. www.northeastern.edu/policyschool/lectures-and-seminars/open-classroom