The Fels Policy Research Initiative in the School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania has announced eight collaborative grant recipients. Each will be awarded as much as $15,000 in support of three new working groups and five conferences, designed to further interdisciplinary partnerships. 

The three working groups will research social issues reflecting Penn’s commitment to local, national and global engagement:

• The Immigration and Immigrant Rights
  Led by Michael Jones-Correa, professor of political science, and Amada Armenta, assistant professor of sociology, both in the School of Arts & Sciences, the group will identify Penn scholars focused on immigration and share their research with policy decision-makers.

• Researching and Informing Policies Relating to LGBTQ Youth and Families
  Amy Hillier, associate professor in Penn’s School of Design who holds a secondary appointment in the School of Social Policy & Practice, will partner with Penn’s Alice Paul Center for Research on Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, bringing together researchers and practitioners to develop policies pertaining to LGBTQ youth and their families, as well as strengthen connections between Penn, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.

• River Research Seminar
  Bethany Wiggin, associate professor of German in Penn Arts & Sciences will connect faculty and students across disciplines from Penn, Drexel University and Temple University, in conjunction with community partners, to explore the Schuylkill River and Philadelphia’s urban waters.

“This latest round of grants demonstrates that faculty not only want to work together across disciplines to research public policy topics,” Mark Alan Hughes, faculty director for the Penn Fels Policy Research Initiative, said, “but are eager to find ways to ensure their research reaches policymakers.”

The five conferences awarded grants will address a variety of issues related to economic policy, infrastructure, housing in the future, diversity and more:

• The Philadelphia Workshop on Macroeconomics and Economic Policy, in which Dirk Krueger, professor of economics in Arts & Sciences, will pool academics and researchers from across Penn and policy institutions to present and discuss macroeconomic research and fiscal policies at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. 

• John MacDonald, professor of criminology and sociology, and the Fels Institute of Government will host the Rebuilding America Summit, addressing the problem of an aging and underfunded infrastructure by assembling Penn faculty, government budget directors and chief financial officers.
   
• Penn Design’s John Landis and Vincent Reina will join economics and sociology faculty to blend academics, think-tank researchers, federal policy and program managers, local implementers and community-based advocates to identify and develop new priorities for the next generation of housing policy in the United States.

• Dawn Teele, assistant professor of political science in Arts & Sciences, will amass Penn scholars, faculty from other institutions, campaign training program leaders and politicians to better understand what incentives encourage women to seek political office in Nudging Women to Run.

• Daniel Hopkins, associate professor of political science, will lead a conference to advance efforts toward integrating the perspectives of social and behavioral science into the City of Philadelphia’s work.