Departments and Research Centers

Science, Technology, and Public Policy program

The Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) program is a unique research, education, and policy engagement center concerned with cutting-edge questions that arise at the intersection of science, technology, policy, and society.

Showing 1 - 30 of 302 results
Adjunct faculty

Daniel Raimi

Lecturer in Public Policy
Daniel Raimi is a fellow at Resources for the Future and a lecturer at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. He works on a range of energy policy issues with a focus on tools to enable an equitable energy…
Core faculty

Ben Green

Assistant Professor/Postdoctoral Scholar
Green studies the social and political impacts of government algorithms. His book, The Smart Enough City: Putting Technology in Its Place to Reclaim Our Urban Future, was published in 2019 by MIT Press.
Core faculty

Robert C. Hampshire

Associate Professor of Public Policy
Hampshire—currently on leave from the Ford School and serving as Chief Science Officer for the U.S. Department of Transportation—develops and applies operations research, data science, and systems approaches to public and private service industries. His research focuses on the management and policy analysis of emerging networked industries and innovative mobility services such as smart parking, connected vehicles, autonomous vehicles, ride-hailing, bike sharing, and car sharing. He has worked extensively with both public and private sector partners worldwide.
Core faculty

Paula Lantz

James B. Hudak Professor of Health Policy; Director, BA Programs
A social demographer, Lantz studies the role of public policy in improving population health and reducing social disparities in health. She is currently engaged in research regarding innovative financing approaches for supportive housing among Medicaid beneficiaries, and also on how COVID-19 is exacerbating existing social and health inequalities in the U.S.
Core faculty

Shobita Parthasarathy

Professor of Public Policy; Director, Science, Technology, and Public Policy program
Parthasarathy studies the governance of emerging science and technology and the politics of evidence and expertise in policy in comparative and international perspective. Her current research focuses on equity in innovation and innovation policy. She co-hosts The Received Wisdom podcast.
Core faculty

Barry Rabe

J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Professor of Public Policy
Rabe examines the political feasibility and durability of environmental and energy policy, with a particular emphasis on efforts to address climate change in the U.S. and other federal systems. His most recent books examine the politics of carbon pricing and the limitations of unilateral executive branch policy actions. Current research explores the politics of intensive but short-lived greenhouse gases, such as methane and HFCs. Recent policy engagement includes work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Interior, the Department of Commerce, and the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.
Core faculty

Kaitlin T. Raimi

Associate Professor of Public Policy
Raimi is a social psychologist focused on climate change beliefs and policy support. She studies how people compare themselves to others, how adopting one pro-environmental behavior affects later action, and how communication affects understanding and support for climate policy and technology.
Core faculty

Joy Rohde

Associate Professor of Public Policy
Rohde is historian who specializes in the relationship between policy knowledge, technology, and American democracy. At Michigan, she is also affiliated with the Department of History, the Science, Technology, and Society Program, and the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program.
Staff

Kristin Burgard

Partnerships Coordinator, Science, Technology, and Public Policy program
Kristin Burgard is the partnerships coordinator for the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public…
Staff

Molly Kleinman

Managing Director, STPP
Molly Kleinman serves as the managing director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program. In this role, Molly oversees the day-to-day management and provides strategic direction for STPP. Molly brings over a 15 years of experience across…
News

Pretrial risk assessment tools found to be subjective and biased

May 4, 2023 Read the full brief
In their attempts to reform the cash bail system, jurisdictions across the country are turning to automated pretrial risk assessment tools that ‘predict’ if a defendant will be arrested for a new crime while waiting for trial or will fail to appear...
News

STPP receives grant to study STEM-in-Society training

Apr 21, 2023
As science becomes more central to our daily lives—whether for predicting the impacts of climate change, transforming our physical and cognitive capabilities, or developing life-saving pharmaceuticals—socially responsible research and innovation are...
News

STPP gift to expand educational opportunities for undergraduates

Mar 22, 2023
The Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) program has received a $250,000 gift to expand educational opportunities for undergraduates across campus. The gift comes from Phil (LSA ’87) and Julie (LSA ’88) Hollyer, parents of Keegan (Ford BA...
Publication

Ethical implications of defense funding in social science

Mar 22, 2023
Since World War I, defense funding has been a driver of social science’s growth. The dense ties between social science and defense agencies benefitted social research but also attracted decades of heavy criticism. This long and entangled history has...
In the Media

AI will 'turbocharge' inequalities in health care - Parthasarathy

Mar 16, 2023 Bridge Michigan
Shobita Parthasarathy, Bridge Michigan: "Health care systems don't even know what data they're missing. That (AI) gets integrated into medical care as a mechanism for achieving efficiency. But they do that without realizing that it's going to...
In the Media

Parthasarathy on AI technology perils

Feb 28, 2023 Business Insider
Business Insider: Run-ins with users show some of the potentially troubling outcomes to expect when companies experiment with the public on new AI technologies, said Shobita Parthasarathy, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan, who...
Publication

Automated License Plate Readers widely used, subject to abuse

Feb 22, 2023
Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) are being used by a growing number of public and private entities to track drivers’ movements and location. The use of the technology is almost entirely unregulated and can be subject to abuse, so some...
In the Media

Parthasarathy weighs in on implications of ChatGPT

Feb 6, 2023 Nature
Shobita Parthasarathy, Nature: "Besides directly producing toxic content, there are concerns that AI chatbots will embed historical biases or ideas about the world from their training data, such as the superiority of particular cultures, says...
News

Announcing winter 2023 Ford School events

Jan 11, 2023
 The Ford School is pleased to announce an exciting lineup for the winter 2023 Policy Talks @ the Ford School series and other special public events hosted with partners from across campus. Events are free and open to the public unless otherwise...
News

Green discusses the fairness of algorithms at Harvard University

Jan 10, 2023
Postdoctoral scholar Ben Green recently joined Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society for a webinar focused on what fairness means in the context of algorithms and how fairness can be measured. Joined by other scholars...
News

Ford School STPP scholars receive inaugural Quad Fellowships

Jan 3, 2023
Two graduate certificate students in the Ford School’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) program have been selected for the inaugural cohort of the Quad Fellowship, a program designed to spur interdisciplinary scientific and...
State & Hill

Diversity, equity, and inclusion highlights

Dec 19, 2022
The University of Michigan is currently in an interim period between its strategic plans for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), with the next plan set to launch in early fall 2023. The Ford School community did not pause, however, and is hard...
News

Ford School faculty launch open online courses

Dec 19, 2022
Three Ford School faculty have developed exciting new online courses to equip learners and professionals around the globe with interdisciplinary skills that help them engage in and inform complex public policy decision-making processes. Elisabeth...