Elisabeth Gerber

Core faculty

Elisabeth R. Gerber

Jack L. Walker, Jr. Collegiate Professor of Public Policy

Gerber’s research focuses on regionalism and intergovernmental cooperation, sustainable development, urban climate adaptation, transportation policy, community and economic development, local fiscal capacity, and local political accountability.

State & Hill

It’s all about equity

Apr 24, 2024

The Biden administration wants electric vehicles (EVs) to comprise fifty percent of new vehicle sales in just six years. This has required massive investment in our charging infrastructure. And charging is not the only issue raised by the...

Liz Gerber interviewing Dr. Missy Stults

News

Electric, autonomous vehicles offer promise, but broad-based benefits elusive without public role - Gerber

Dec 7, 2023

Autonomous and electric vehicles can be a positive force for people and the planet, but widespread gains require government incentives and investment to ensure access for users across the economic spectrum. That's a key finding of research by...

News

Gerber saluted at Innovation Partnerships Bell Ringing Ceremony

Dec 3, 2023

ViewPoint founder Elisabeth Gerber was saluted for the company's launch as part of Summit Venture Studio with a bell ringing held at U-M Innovation Partnerships. Other key team members, including U-M Center for Academic Innovation Executive Director...

News

Simulation software ViewPoint ready for next chapter after licensing agreement with ed tech firm Summit Venture Studio

Sep 13, 2023

In partnership with CAI, Ford School professor Liz Gerber was able to take an idea scribbled on a napkin and turn it into a powerful simulation tool for teachers and students. Following more than 100 simulations involving more than 4,000 users...

News

Engaged Learning Student Projects Catalog: Preparing Ford School students for leadership

Jun 29, 2023

During the Winter Term 2023, Ford School students were involved in projects with federal, state, county, city, and township governments, school districts, non-profit organizations, and commissions. They worked with the school’s numerous research...

Weill Hall entrance with "Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy" etched into the glass

News

DMACS to study impact of Strategic Neighborhood Fund in Detroit

Jun 12, 2023

The University of Michigan’s Detroit Metro Area Communities Study (DMACS) was recently contracted by Invest Detroit, a nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution, to look at the relationship between community investment and overall trends...

Photo of homes in Detroit's Chaldean Town neighborhood

State & Hill

Spotlights, spring 2023

May 3, 2023

Deans on the Hill The Ford School joined U.S. Representative Joyce Beatty, then-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, to bring together policy deans Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Trevor Brown (Ohio State), and Maria Cancian (Georgetown) to talk to...

Dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes at Public Policy Panel with other deans

News

Gerber creates XR-enhanced online course on Future of Mobility

Feb 9, 2023

The University of Michigan's Center for Academic Innovation and Coursera have launched the first three in a set of 10 planned online learning opportunities that integrate extended reality technologies into the learning experience. This launch is...

Elisabeth Gerber and the Future of Mobility

News

Research centers give U-M students hands-on, practical policy experiences

Jan 27, 2023

With the guidance and support of the Ford School’s research centers, graduate and undergraduate students are creating a real-life impact in a range of areas by working with external partners. The Ford School is deeply integrated with a wide range of...

News

Michigan maritime: Ports set to grow economy throughout the state

Dec 22, 2022

A new law that gives the state's 32 ports tools to expand and grow the maritime economy started out as a community project for a handful of University of Michigan students. U-M students first worked with the Port of Monroe in 2012 and over the...

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...

Headshots of Liz Gerber, Paula Lantz, and Shobita Parthasarathy

State & Hill

Faculty News, fall 2022

Dec 19, 2022

Jenna Bednar published “The Fractured Superpower: Federalism is Remaking U.S. Democracy and Foreign Policy,” in Foreign Affairs. The Coalition for Networked Information, the Association of Research Libraries, and EDUCAUSE awarded Paul Courant the...

Headshots of Brian Jacob, Paula Lantz, Katherine Michelmore, Jeffrey Morenoff, Susan D. Page, Shobita Parthasarathy, Natasha Pilkauskas, Joy Rohde, Joe Schwarz, and Fabiana Silva

News

Unique integrated policy exercise to examine the State of the Union

Dec 14, 2022

How does a president decide what to put into the annual State of the Union (SOTU) address? Which priorities should be first? How partisan or bipartisan can it be? How many applause lines could they seek? And would they ever admit that the state of...

Photo of President Ford delivering the State of the Union to a joint session of Congress in 1976

News

U-M online course explores the future of mobility

Oct 4, 2022

How can rapidly evolving technology and public policy help make transportation safer, cleaner, and more equitable? In a new, six-week Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) titled People, Technology & Future of Mobility, participants will learn about...

Illustration of a cityscape with varied modes of transportation and infrastructure

State & Hill

Faculty findings, spring 2022

May 31, 2022

Economic and social impact of religious festivals In Mexico, “patron saint day” festivals are often local public holidays and involve substantial financial expenditures by households and governments. Festival dates vary greatly across localities:...

Photo, from above, of a patron saint festival in Mexico. A dense parade of people and brightly colored parade floats make their way down a local street.

News

Ford School to expand anti-racism faculty, address environment and health disparities

May 26, 2022

The Ford School will participate in a cross-campus University of Michigan initiative to address environmental racism and promote health equity. Three tenure track faculty positions will be hired, one each in the Ford School, the School for...

News

Majority of Detroiters report stable, improved financial situation compared to year ago

May 16, 2022

Two years into the pandemic, 72% of Detroit residents say their financial situation has stabilized or improved compared to a year ago, and there's evidence that stimulus checks and the expanded Child Tax Credit played a role in reducing Detroiters'...

News

How a bill becomes law: BIG 10 students dive into process in policy simulation

Feb 4, 2022

After a few hours of spirited discussion, the U.S. Senate passed the Vote at Home Act of 2021. Now, all eligible American voters will be able to cast a ballot by mail without having to provide a reason. At least that's what happened in three of...

B1G Democracy in the 20th Century simulation

News

Detroit unemployment rate sits at 20%

Feb 3, 2022

Detroit’s unemployment rate—the proportion of adults who are in the labor force but not currently employed—remains at 20%, virtually unchanged over the course of 2021, according to a new University of Michigan survey. This is less than half the...

News

Achieving comprehensive immigration reform in 48 hours!

Jan 23, 2022

Excitement was in the air as some 150 senators, ambassadors and representatives of national and international interest groups eyed each other at an eventing meeting, anxious, suspicious, hopeful that a comprehensive immigration reform package, so...

News

Greetings from the Dean - The Briefing, January 2022

Jan 20, 2022

Dear friends, Best wishes to you as we start 2022 with great hopes for the coming year, but also with significant uncertainty—a global pandemic, a growing awareness of the urgent need to defend our democracy, and our imperative struggle for...

State & Hill

Of mutual benefit: Academic-community partnerships for better public policy

Dec 13, 2021

By Rebecca Cohen (MPP '09) An essential ingredient to developing good policy is understanding what people want and need, and how they experience their lives," says Elisabeth Gerber, Jack L. Walker, Jr. Collegiate Professor of Public Policy and...

Photo of Poverty Solutions team members and Detroit community members for a land contracts session at a local park

State & Hill

Faculty News, fall 2021

Dec 13, 2021

The U-M Institute for Clinical & Health Research recognized John Ayanian with a 2020 Distinguished Clinical and Translational Research Mentor Award. Joshua Basseches received a grant from the Climate Social Science Network to continue working on...

Headshots of Ren Farley, Liz Gerber, Edie Goldenberg, Jon Hanson, Catie Hausman, John Leahy, Yusuf Neggers, Mara Ostfeld, Christina Weiland, and Dean Yang

Publication

Gerber and Agrawal examine effects of human and social capital in disaster recovery

Dec 8, 2021

Human capital refers to individual-specific skills, knowledge and expertise to undertake and accomplish tasks. Social capital is the social connections and relationships of individuals and communities. How do these forms of capital affect people in...

Photo of the aftermath of an earthquake in Nepal and the rebuilding of a large retaining wall

News

P3E mentors play a crucial role in student consulting course

Dec 7, 2021

Expert mentors are a distinguishing aspect of Professor Elisabeth Gerber’s Strategic Public Policy Consulting course. The consulting course gives graduate students the opportunity to help clients such as the Government Accountability Office (GAO),...

Photo of Professor Liz Gerber and a group of Ford School MPP students seated around a table, having a conversation

News

Big Ten policy schools collaborate on civic involvement

Nov 1, 2021

The University of Michigan is joining with other policy schools across the Big Ten to launch Democracy in the 21st Century, a conferencewide collaboration to develop educational programming that promotes active civic education and...

Publication

Detroiters living in 'substandard conditions,' DMACS study finds

Oct 27, 2021

Almost 40,000 Detroiters live in housing with ongoing and often hazardous maintenance issues, according to a new Detroit Metropolitan Area Community Study issue brief. "Unsurprisingly, the rate of residents living in inadequate or poor-quality...

News

Gerber named Center for Academic Innovation Faculty Innovator in Residence

Sep 9, 2021

Ford School professor Elisabeth Gerber and director of the Michigan Center for Interprofessional Education Rajesh Mangrulkar are joining the Center for Academic Innovation as CAI Faculty Innovators in Residence, working with CAI experts and with...

News

Detroit unemployment sits at 25%—lower than pandemic peak, twice pre-pandemic rate

Aug 30, 2021

Detroit’s unemployment rate—the proportion of working-age adults in the labor force but not currently employed—has held steady around 25% since fall 2020, according to data just released from a University of Michigan survey. While the current...