Departments and Research Centers

Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program

The Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) Program is devoted to interdisciplinary research and teaching on the politics and processes of science and technology policymaking. STPP seeks to improve understanding, analysis, and intervention in

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Core faculty

Shobita Parthasarathy

Professor of Public Policy, Director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program.

Parthasarathy's research focuses on the comparative and international politics and policy related to science and technology. She is interested in how to develop innovation, and innovation policy, to better achieve public interest and social justice goals. Much of her previous work has focused on the governance of emerging science and technology, particularly those that have uncertain environmental, social, ethical, political, and health implications.

Staff

Molly Kleinman

STPP Program Manager

Molly Kleinman is the Program Manager of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program. She studies higher education policy, access to information, and faculty experiences with technology. Molly received her Ph.D. in Higher Education Policy from…

Publication

Parthasarathy’s report shows innovation policy ignores marginalized communities

Sep 23, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed policymaking biases that have ignored poor and marginalized communities, argues Ford school professor Shobita Parthasarathy. In a paper, Innovation Policy, Structural Inequality, and COVID-19, published in the...

Professor Shobita Parthasarathy leads a discussion in the Betty Ford Classroom

News

Considering inequities and disparities is essential for innovation in fighting COVID-19

Sep 2, 2020

“Disparities, distrust in health systems and other complexities must be explicitly factored into solutions” to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ford School professor Shobita Parthasarathy writes in the latest issue of Nature. Governments around the world...

Growing civic-minded technologists

May 19, 2020

“This was a game-changer for us,” said Kwaku Osei, the CEO of Farmacy, a food app startup focused on user’s dietary needs. Osei was one of five social entrepreneurs of color in the Detroit metro area matched with Masters students from the Ford...

Ann Arbor may repurpose streets to accommodate pedestrian and cyclist social distancing

Apr 28, 2020

Since the implementation of the governor’s stay at home order, Ann Arbor’s vehicle traffic has declined markedly. Ann Arbor city council members may consider vehicle street closures in an effort to expand space available for pedestrians and cyclists...

Intellectual property research needs to take a broader view of how patents affect the public interest

Apr 17, 2020

Intellectual property, and patents, in particular, affect every level of society. Research interest in the area has expanded beyond just the legal community and now involves social scientists and humanists as well. In an article published on...

Hampshire receives National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator grant, Admitted students

Sep 11, 2019

Robert Hampshire, associate professor of public policy at the Ford School and associate research professor at Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS), has been awarded a $948,182 grant by the National Science Foundation’s Convergence Accelerator...

Parthasarathy talks algorithms place in the criminal justice system

Sep 3, 2019

Algorithms are making their way into public systems. They serve to make data-based, automated decisions when applied to public system models, but those computerized decisions don’t come without bias or ethical implications. In the podcast series...

Bike sharing research by Hampshire wins EURO Award

Jun 26, 2019

Robert Hampshire was part of the author team that won the EURO Award for the Best EJOR Paper announced today during the annual European Conference on Operational Research in Dublin. Conveyed by EURO, the Association of European Operational Research...

Bias in bail: Parthasarathy cautions against new Public Safety Assessment tools

Apr 19, 2019

Tackling criminal justice reform requires a multi-pronged approach, and one of the most recent avenues gaining traction is an attempt to rework how pretrial decisions are made. The Michigan Supreme Court has its hands in this effort, launching a new...

Leaders and Best: U-M joins new collegiate technologist network; Ford School's Joy Rohde to lead the way

Mar 15, 2019

Announced earlier this week, the University of Michigan will join the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT), which is “a new partnership of 21 colleges and universities dedicated to building the nascent field of public interest...

The war against misinformation: Professor Nyhan's technological front

Feb 4, 2019

As misinformation and “Fake News” proliferates via social media, so too do the campaigns aimed to stop them. As the negative consequences of “Fake News” taint the content of public and private debate, the urge to regulate social media companies...

Ford School hosts faculty roundtable with Sen. Peters on issues related to emerging technologies

Nov 2, 2018

Faculty from the Ford School and around the University joined an expert roundtable with Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) on Wednesday. Sen. Peters called on faculty to provide insight into some of the rapidly-moving emerging technologies that intersect...

U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) at a roundtable hosted by the Ford School and shown here with Shobita Parthasarathy and Bob Axelrod.

Shobita Parthasarathy calls for patent regulation in rapidly-advancing gene editing

Oct 26, 2018

Shobita Parthasarathy, professor of public policy at the Ford School, is keeping tabs on the upcoming International Summit on Human Gene Editing in Hong Kong. In her October 23, 2018 piece for Nature titled “Use the patent system to regulate gene...

Times of India publishes Q&A with newly-promoted Shobita Parthasarathy

Jul 3, 2018

The Times of India published a Q&A with Shobita Parthasarathy titled, "Indian-Americans need more role models in public policy, says Indian-origin professor at University of Michigan." The interview, written by Mandira Banerjee from Michigan...

Michigan Alumnus profiles four Fordies in Detroit “Movers and Shakers” feature

Dec 14, 2017

In a recently published piece for Michigan Alumnus, the magazine of the University of Michigan Alumni Association, 20 Michigan graduates are recognized as Detroit “Movers and Shakers,” including four Ford School grads. Lisa Nuszkowski (MPP ’03) was...

State & Hill

Ford School faculty members share seven key strategies for effective collaboration

Apr 28, 2017

Ford School faculty members often engage in collective problem-solving--with other scholars, of course, but also with policymakers and practitioners all around the world. The goal of these collaborations? Finding better solutions, and mutually...

New "teach-outs" pay homage to U-M's game-changing, Vietnam-era "teach-ins"

Apr 21, 2017

On March 24th, 1965 at 8:00PM, about 3,500 faculty and students at the University of Michigan launched the first ever “teach in,” despite bomb threats and condemnation by the Michigan state legislature and Governor George Romney. For twelve hours,...

On Mindpop, Rohde pushes for us to "not lose sight of humans" in the big data revolution

Dec 6, 2016

David Sehat, host of the Mindpop podcast, talks with Joy Rohde about big data for the December 4 episode: “Is big data a force for good?” Rohde recounts the history of projects that use large datasets to try to solve policy problems – from the...

Science, Technology, and Public Policy program announces new director, welcomes applications

Sep 20, 2016

We are pleased to announce a new director of the University of Michigan's Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) graduate certificate program and to welcome applications from interested students. Associate Professor Shobita Parthasarathy,...

Catherine Hausman on methane leak repairs, "low-hanging fruit for climate change abatement"

May 25, 2016

Catherine Hausman’s NBER working paper, “Price regulation and environmental externalities: Evidence from methane leaks,” (with Lucija Muehlenbachs) looks at the unintended consequences of cost-of-service price regulations of privately-owned natural...

Michigan Radio features Parthasarathy on fostering grassroots innovation in Michigan

May 10, 2016

Shobita Parthasarathy’s research on grassroots innovation in India is featured on this week’s “The Next Idea,” a Michigan Radio series dedicated to game-changing innovations and ideas. Listen here.In “Fostering grassroots innovation: Lessons India...