Premier Public Policy Conference to Feature a Strong Ivan Allen College Presence

Posted November 7, 2023

The Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM) is bringing its fall research conference to Atlanta, and Ivan Allen College faculty and students plan to make the most of the home-field advantage. 

More than two dozen Ivan Allen faculty members and Ph.D. students from three Schools will present papers, serve as panelists or panel chairs, or organize discussions.  Twenty-three School of Public Policy faculty members and students will take part in the three-day conference, which opens Nov. 9. Five faculty and students from the School of Economics are involved, as is one faculty member from the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. 

“APPAM’s fall research conference is widely regarded as the premier event for public policy scholars, so it’s exciting to see how much of our research will be showcased, from clean-energy policy to child and maternal welfare and housing issues,” said Cassidy R. Sugimoto, Tom and Marie Patton Chair in the School of Public Policy. 

Assistant Professor Lindsey Rose Bullinger will be among the busiest, participating in four panels and chairing a fifth on, “Uncovering the Impact of Paid Family Leave on Gender Wage Gap, Parents and Firms.” 

Associate Professor Omar I. Asensio, will present three papers, chair one panel, serve as a panelist on another, and organize a session on “Innovation for Low-Carbon Transformations: Patents, Power and Leveraging Networks.” 

Additionally, Professor Daniel Matisoff will receive APPAM’s World Citizen Prize in Environmental Performance at the conference. The group recognized Matisoff for his research that “assesses pathways to achieve measurable but as-yet-unrealized gains in overall environmental performance.” It is the second time in three years that a Georgia Tech School of Public Policy faculty member has won the award. 

Outside the School of Public Policy, Dylan Brewer of the School of Economics will organize the “Electrification, Energy Efficiency, and the Energy Transition: Residential Energy Policies and Behavioral Responses” panel and present two papers. At the same time, his colleague, Daniel Dench, will co-present on one paper with Brewer and organize and chair a panel on “E-Cig and Tobacco Policy Implications.” 

Laura Taylor, chair of the School of Economics, will serve as a panelist on a “First-Gen Researchers” session. 

“I’m excited to see our faculty and students highlighting the intersections of economics and public policy at APPAM,” Taylor said. 

Anjali Thomas, an associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, is also chairing a panel on “Politics and Policymaking in India.” 

They will be joined by several other faculty members from other Georgia Tech units, including the Georgia Tech Research Institute, the Institute for Data Engineering and Science, the Scheller College of Business, and the School of City and Regional Planning. 

Last year, 16 School of Public Policy faculty members and students attended APPAM’s meeting in Washington.