Heinz College Policy Impact
From Washington, D.C., to Silicon Valley, Heinz College experts create and inform policies that will shape the future of our nation, society, and world.
Whether it's driving groundbreaking research, speaking on expert panels, testifying before Congress and other government bodies, elevating the use of technology in the public policy sphere, testing new ideas and programs, or sharing perspectives in the media, Heinz College's cross-disciplinary thought leaders are out in front on the most pressing issues of our time.
From health care and trade to criminal justice and national security, there is no shortage of consequential policy debates in the United States and abroad. Heinz College confronts such complex problems with novel approaches and innovative methodologies guided by evidence.
Heinz College doesn't just participate in these conversations. We lead them, shift them, and shape them.
Jump to a Policy Area:
AI & the SOCIETAL IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGY
Policy and technology have historically been separate domains, but more and more the lines between the two—and the demands they place on each other—are blurring. From the future of work to algorithmic bias, technology has the potential to reshape our society, and our experts are visionaries who advise policymakers and craft solutions that will ensure technology has broad and inclusive social benefits. Learn how Heinz College is leading the way in AI policy.
Key Experts: Ramayya Krishnan, Leman Akoglu, Lee Branstetter, Alexandra Chouldechova, Rayid Ghani, Gabriela Gongora-Svartzman, Christopher Goranson, Kristen Kurland, Rahul Telang
Recent Activity:
- AI healthtech startup Abridge calls reported $2.5B valuation ‘speculation’ [Technical.ly]
- Election 2024: Where Harris, Trump stand on AI regulation [CIO Dive]
- Why AI Is So Bad at Generating Images of Kamala Harris [WIRED]
- How AI makes biometric payments riskier [American Banker]
- The AI trade is losing its luster [Yahoo Finance]
- Elon Musk blasts Apple's OpenAI deal over alleged privacy issues. Does he have a point? [The Los Angeles Times]
- Even OpenAI says its new voice cloning tool has major potential for misuse [NPR]
- Who Profits the Most From Generative AI? [MIT Sloan Management Review]
- Examining the growing movement against the algorithms that control our lives [NPR]
- Is It Safe to Share Personal Information With a Chatbot? [The Wall Street Journal]
Recent Publications:
- Generative AI's Impact on Graduate Student Writing Productivity and Quality, Working Paper
- The Need for Transparency in Artificial Intelligence, Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security; U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
- Governing AI Through Acquisition and Procurement, Testimony Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
- Generative Medical AI, AI for Good Global Summit
- National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee (NAIAC) Year 1 Report, Report to the President of the United States
- Distributionally Robust Weighted k-Nearest Neighbors, Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems
- Bias in Bios: A Case Study of Semantic Representation Bias in a High-Stakes Setting, Proceedings
- What's in a Name? Reducing Bias in Bios without Access to Protected Attributes, ARXIV
CRIME & DRUG POLICY
Heinz College is at the forefront of research in criminal justice including recidivism, policing, sentencing and incarceration, gun violence, the impacts of algorithmic bias in criminal justice, and evidence-based recommendations for criminal justice reform; key areas of drug policy research include studies of new cannabis markets, substance abuse, and the reduction/prevention of opioid deaths.
Key Experts: Al Blumstein, Jonathan Caulkins, Daniel Nagin
Recent Activity:
- High potency and pesticides: Marijuana is being sold over the counter in Florida as hemp [The Miami Herald]
- The American Drug Mules Smuggling Fentanyl Into the U.S. [The New York Times]
- The Truth About Fentanyl Is Scary Enough. Myths About It Don’t Help [TIME]
- How to stop mass shootings before they start [Vox]
- Critics wary as China promises tighter fentanyl controls [NPR]
- The radical challenge synthetic opioids pose for drug policy [The Brookings Institution]
- Professor Jonathan Caulkins was cited across major outlets for his work on cannabis use in the U.S., including The Associated Press, CNBC, The Economist, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Newsweek, The Telegraph, The Hill, USA Today, and Fox News.
Recent Publications:
- Reactive Guardianship: Who Intervenes? How? And Why? Criminology
- New Study Highlights Significant Increases in Cannabis Use in United States, Addiction
- Dark Web Fentanyl-Selling Operations Have Grown Rapidly, Offer Steep Discounts, Global Crime
- Study Draws Lessons About Drug Policy By Examining History Of Fireworks Regulation, Prohibitions, International Journal of Drug Policy
- Cohort Bias in Predictive Risk Assessments of Future Criminal Justice Involvement, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Incarceration Results In Drops In Short-Term Economic Activity, But Has Limited Long Run Impacts, BFI Working Paper
- Incarceration and Public Safety, Arnold Ventures
CYBERSECURITY & DATA PRIVACY
As the world becomes more connected and data is both generated and collected at unprecedented rates, the need for policy solutions in cybersecurity and privacy have grown tremendously. Key areas of research and influence include risk management, election security, and privacy economics.
Key Experts: Alessandro Acquisti, Rahul Telang, Gregory Touhill, Randall Trzeciak
Recent Activity:
- How federal IT officials are navigating the post-AI executive order ‘hype cycle’ [FedScoop]
- Google searches are becoming a bigger target of cybercriminals with the rise of ‘malvertising’ [CNBC]
- These Internet Browsers Promise Privacy. What Does That Actually Mean? [The Wall Street Journal]
- How is your location data really tracked? You'd be surprised [National Geographic]
- Taking Plunge With Synthetic Data [InformationWeek]
- Virtual credit cards: What are they and should you use them? [The Wall Street Journal]
- If It’s Advertised to You Online, You Probably Shouldn’t Buy It. Here’s Why. [The New York Times]
- The dark web's criminal minds see Internet of Things as next big hacking prize [CNBC]
- Former Federal CISO Touhill Offers Questions for Agencies to Consider When Moving to Zero Trust [Inside Cybersecurity]
Recent Publications:
- Personalized Privacy Preservation in Consumer Mobile Trajectories, Information Systems Research
- Policy Impacts of Statistical Uncertainty and Privacy, Science
- Could Ransomware Attacks Ultimately Benefit Consumers?, Harvard Business Review
- Secrets and Likes: The Drive for Privacy and the Difficulty of Achieving It in the Digital Age, Journal of Consumer Psychology
- Should Credit Card Issuers Reissue Cards in Response to a Data Breach?, ACM
- Choice architecture, framing, and cascaded privacy choices, Management Science
- Internet, Big Data & Algorithms: Gateway to a new future or a threat to privacy and freedom?, Aspen Institute Program
DIGITAL CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Many industries have been turned upside down by technology and big data, which has caused the rise of new business models as well as complex consumer behaviors and legal concerns. Our experts inform policymakers and industry leaders alike on how 21st century innovations like social media and digital streaming impact economics, politics, and culture.
Key Experts: Pedro Ferreira, Beibei Li, Michael D. Smith, Rahul Telang
Recent Activity:
- Businesses used to welcome politician campaign visits, but now fear blowback in the social media age [WESA]
- YouTube rolling out ads that appear when videos are paused [USA TODAY]
- AT&T just had another outage. Why does this keep happening to them? [CNN]
- Small businesses grapple with global tech outages created by CrowdStrike [The Associated Press]
- Apple seeks to balance privacy, innovation with ChatGPT deal [The Hill]
- Why You Should Be Tracking Customer Surplus Value [Harvard Business Review]
- Verizon to offer bundled Netflix, Max discount. Are more streaming bundles on the horizon? [USA TODAY]
- Can an AI chatbot be convicted of an illegal wiretap? A case against Gap’s Old Navy may answer that [CNBC]
Recent Publications:
- Social Media and Well-Being: Impact of TikTok on Screentime and Sleep Patterns, Working Paper
- Privacy Choice During Crisis, Management Science
- One Size Fits All? Informational Accessibility and Inclusivity in Online Platforms, Working Paper
- The Consumer Welfare Effects of Online Ads: Evidence from a 9-Year Experiment, NBER Working Paper
- Firms' Desire for Ad Revenue Tied to Inadvertently Financing Online Misinformation Outlets, Nature
- New Model Allows Firms to Predict Consumers’ Privacy Preferences Through Users’ Public Social Media Posts, Information Systems Research
- Study Highlights Benefits to Software Vendors of Bug Bounty Programs, Working Paper
Energy, Environment & SUSTAINABILITY
Rapid social and political changes have placed increasing demands on institutions to be agents of equity. Our energy experts, environmental economists, and sustainability leaders dig deep into the effects of climate change, regulations, and adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals on crucial areas like health; clean air, water and soil; child development; equality and justice; and the global economy.
Key Experts: Karen Clay, Akshaya Jha, Sarah Mendelson, Edson Severnini
Recent Activity:
- What you need to know if you have lead pipes [WHYY]
- What are the health risks of coal piles like the ones in Green Bay? [Wisconsin Watch]
- Will Massachusetts ditch its competitive energy market? [CNET]
- How is the White House shaping clean energy supply and demand? [Marketplace]
- Joe Biden's Dilemma on Natural Gas Exports [The Wall Street Journal]
- Steel Can Lead the Green Revolution [Washington Monthly]
- US neighborhoods with more people of color suffer worse air pollution [The Guardian]
- Banning energy exports is a terrible idea [The Hill]
- Real-Time Air Quality Data in Developing Countries Can Protect Public Health [Forbes]
- Growing concerns over U.S. power grid stability in the face of climate change [CBS News]
Recent Publications:
- The impact of air pollution on petcare utilization, Working Paper
- Heinz College Researchers Provide a Historical Perspective on Air Pollution and Health, NBER
- Health Shocks Under Hospital Capacity Constraint: Evidence from Air Pollution in Sao Paulo, Brazil, NBER
- A Unifying Approach to Measuring Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management
- Incidental Adaptation: The Role of Non-Climate Regulations, Environmental and Resource Economics
- Energy and the Environment in Economic History, The Handbook of Cliometrics (3rd ed.)
- Bridging the Gap: Mismatch Effects and Catch-Up Dynamics in a Brazilian College Affirmative Action, NBER
- Energy and the Environment in Economic History, The Handbook of Cliometrics (3rd ed.)
Health care
Our faculty push the boundaries of what's possible in health care, whether its groundbreaking analysis of existing and emerging health care markets and models, or opening new frontiers in health care powered by technology.
Key Experts: George Chen, Martin Gaynor, Amelia Haviland, Rema Padman
Recent Activity:
- How to apply responsible artificial intelligence in healthcare [Healthcare IT News]
- India-led team gets award for work on digital vaccines [The Hindu]
- Why many nonprofit (wink, wink) hospitals are rolling in money [The Washington Post]
- We're Living in a Land of Monopolies [Newsweek]
- How Virtual Reality Is Expanding Health Care [TIME]
- How to Keep Track of Your Health Information [U.S. News and World Report]
- When Hospitals Buy Doctor Practices, Do Prices Always Rise? [Bloomberg]
- Digital Vaccine Project: Exploring Technology to Combat Diseases
Recent Publications:
- Pediatric Subspecialty Outreach Clinics: Reach and Impact on Access to Care, BMC Pediatrics
- Cognitive Versatility and Adaptation to Fluid Participation in Hospital Emergency Department Teams, Frontiers in Psychology
- Supporting Robust Teamwork—Bridging Technology and Organizational Science, New England Journal of Medicine
- A Machine Learning Approach to Support Urgent Stroke Triage Using Administrative Data and Social Determinants of Health at Hospital Presentation: Retrospective Study, Journal of Medical Internet Research
- Unsupervised Machine Learning for Explainable Health Care Fraud Detection, NBER
LABOR Economics, Trade & Immigration
Photo: Peterson Institute/Jeremey Tripp
At the intersection of technology and society, the areas of economics, trade, and immigration face complex and evolving questions. Topics of research include the future of work—including economic disruption and labor displacement fueled by automation and AI—the effects of immigration on local economies, the rise of China as an economic power, and the impact of trade wars, past and current.
Key Experts: Lee Branstetter, Brian Kovak, Lowell Taylor
Recent Activity:
- Gen Z Are Burnt Out and Ready to Quit Their Jobs [Newsweek]
- EY and Meta Fired Workers for Stretching the Rules: What Would You Do? [Inc.]
- A personal finance TikToker claims unlimited PTO is the 'biggest scam.' Career experts say she has a point. [Business Insider]
- Jim Crow-Era School Funding Hurt Black Families for Generations, Research Shows [Education Week]
- 'Little luxuries': The affordable treats driving consumer spending [BBC]
- More Employees Are Taking Legal Action Against Unfair Labor Practices [The Wall Street Journal]
- How to renew American leadership on the SDGs [The Brookings Institution]
- Does China Really Pick Winners? [The Wall Street Journal]
- The World Is Upside Down [National Review]
- How flexibility made managers miserable [BBC]
Recent Publications:
- Coordination in Dynamic Teams: Investigating a Learning–Productivity Tradeoff, Organization Science
- Evidence-based decision-making is a social endeavor, Behavioral Science & Policy
- Wage Insurance—A Promising Policy for Displaced Workers, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
- Study: Increase in Taxpayers Reporting Self-Employment Earnings Cannot Be Attributed to Increase in Gig Work, NBER Working Paper
- Study: Removing Previously Obtained Criminal Records Does Not Boost Job Outcomes, NBER Working Paper
- World War II Plant Construction Expanded High-Wage Manufacturing Jobs, Benefiting Residents And Their Children, NBER
- Chinese Government’s Corporate Subsidies Have Had Little Effect On Firms’ Productivity, Journal of Comparative Economics
URBAN POLICY & SMART CITIES
Photo: Brookings Institution/Paul Morigi
One of the most profound changes in the Fourth Industrial Revolution will be the coming online of smart cities and communities across the globe, which will create new possibilities for citizen engagement, public safety, economic growth, and quality of life. Heinz College is a global leader in advancing smart cities research and policy.
Key Experts: Stan Caldwell, Mark Kamlet, Karen Lightman, Sean Qian, Raj Rajkumar, Richard Stafford
Recent Activity:
- Tesla pullback puts onus on others to build electric vehicle chargers [The New York Times]
- Self-driving trucks claim climate benefits [Scientific American]
- Wall Street is looking to Tesla's earnings for clues to Musk's plan to restore company's wild growth [The Associated Press]
- Tesla Pullback Puts Onus on Others to Build Electric Vehicle Chargers [The New York Times]
- Fed’s Direction on ‘Buy America’ Could Help Broadband Builds [GovTech]
- Self-Driving Cars Enter the Next Frontier: Freeways [The Wall Street Journal]
Recent Publications:
- Ridesharing and Digital Resilience for Urban Anomalies: Evidence from NYC Taxi Market, Information Systems Research
- Fractional GPUs: Software-Based Compute and Memory Bandwidth Reservation for GPUs, IEEE
- Thin-Plate Spline-based Adaptive 3D Surround View, IEEE
- The Impact of Ride-hailing Services on Congestion: Evidence from Indian Cities, SSN
- Truck traffic monitoring with satellite images, ACM
- CSIP: A Synchronous Protocol for Automated Vehicles at Road Intersections, ACM
COVID-19 RESPONSE & RECOVERY
Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Heinz College has advised government and public health leaders at all levels with evidence-based strategies and policy recommendations. Our faculty's interdisciplinary expertise and innovative approaches have proved critical in responding to the economic, health, and political crises posed by COVID-19.
Key Experts: Ramayya Krishnan, Scott Andes, Lee Branstetter, Jonathan Caulkins, Karen Clay, Martin Gaynor, Rayid Ghani, Beibei Li, Daniel Nagin, Rema Padman, Richard Stafford, Hai Wang, Peter Zhang
Recent Activity:
- Advancing Best Practices for Just COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Efforts [The Brookings Institution]
- CMU Dashboard Will Help Inform State Decision-Makers During the Pandemic
- Americans are still waiting for stimulus checks — let states and localities distribute them [The Hill]
- Using Machine Learning to Feed Families in Need During the Pandemic
- COVIDCast Now Monitoring Daily Mask Use, COVID-19 Testing
- Creativity Would Allow More Americans to Return to Work, Soon [Politico]
- Data-Driven Response and Recovery Strategies for COVID-19
Recent Publications:
- The Hammer and the Jab: Are COVID-19 Lockdowns and Vaccinations Complements or Substitutes?, European Journal of Operational Research
- Non-Stationary Spatio-Temporal Point Process Modeling for High-Resolution COVID-19 Data, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society
- Critical Technologies for a Post-COVID-19 World
- Voter Protection Corps Unveils National Action Plan to Protect In-Person Voting
- Mobility Data Used to Respond to COVID-19 Can Leave Out Older and Non-White People, Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency
POLICY PROPOSALS, WHITE PAPERS, and Reports FROM STUDENTS
Our students work alongside leading faculty researchers to explore critical policy questions and devise evidence-based, implementable solutions. Research projects are completed via independent study or in courses designed to promote policy analysis and research. Students are also encouraged to participate in student-run policy publications and initiatives, including the Heinz Journal and Heinz Radio.
Recent ACtivity, Policy Proposals, PAPERs, and REPORTS:
- Mindset Matters: Employing Economic Research and Practical Interventions to Fight Poverty
- Finding The Needle In The Haystack: CMU Students Develop AI Tool To Improve The Usability Of Government Reports
- Collaboration On AI-Powered Patient Safety Research Flags Drug Side Effects
- Dark Web Fentanyl-Selling Operations Have Grown Rapidly, Offer Steep Discounts
- Policy Impacts of Statistical Uncertainty and Privacy
- Flipping the Script on Criminal Justice Risk Assessment: An Actuarial Model for Assessing the Risk the Federal Sentencing System Poses to Defendents
- Commonwealth of PA and CMU Present Findings of Report on Pennsylvania's Innovation Economy
- Analyze the Police: Reimagining Public Safety through Data Collection in Pennsylvania
- Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Source of Income Law
- Study Draws Lessons About Drug Policy By Examining History Of Fireworks Regulation, Prohibitions
- Industrial Redevelopment of PA’s Mill Towns
- Outlawing Snatch-And-Stash
- Addressing Barriers to Homeownership for Households of Color
- The Case for Raising the Minimum Wage in Pennsylvania
- A Dime on the Dollar: Linking Economic Markets with Racial Oppression of Black Americans
- COVID-19’s Ever-Growing Impact on Our Health
- Racial and Economic Disparities in Social Security Retirement Benefits
ENGAGING WITH LEADERS AT EVERY LEVEL
Our students and faculty regularly have meaningful engagements with leaders from the City of Pittsburgh, local and county agencies, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, national politicians including U.S. Representatives Mike Doyle (PA-18) and Conor Lamb (PA-17), and distinguished guest speakers and lecturers.
LEADING PUBLIC DISCOURSE
Heinz College has hosted several high-profile primary debates, as well as speaker series events with elected leaders.
Addressing Important Issues
Dean Krishnan recently participated in Senator Bob Casey's Congressional Round Table on how technology impacts workplace safety outcomes and hosted U.S. Department of Labor CIO Chike Aguh.
EXEMPLIFYING RESILIENCE AND RESOLVE
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz (HNZ '86) came to campus for conversations about energy resilience and leadership.
REPRESENTING INTELLIGENT ACTION
U.S. Rep Susie Lee (HNZ '90) recently won election to Congress from Nevada's 3rd district. She met with our policy students in DC to discuss how CMU shaped her approach to leadership.
A NATIONAL PLATFORM FOR BIG IDEAS
President Obama held the White House Frontiers Conference at CMU to discuss building America's capacity in science, technology, and innovation
A PRESENCE ON CAPITOL HILL
Our faculty and alumni are frequently called to testify before Congress. Recent appearances include:
AI Transparency
Dean Ramayya Krishnan explained the need for transparency in artificial intelligence, testifying to a sub-committee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Governing AI Acquisitions
Prof. Rayid Ghani puts forward recommendations to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee for procuring and using AI systems in way that will result in a more equitable society.
Equitable Algorithms
Prof. Rayid Ghani speaks to the House Financial Services Committee as part of the Task Force on Artificial Intelligence.
Decoding Health Care Markets
Prof. Martin Gaynor testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on the Effects of Consolidation and Anticompetitive Conduct in Health Care Markets
China and Technology
Prof. Lee Branstetter testifies before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission on how to address China’s alleged misappropriation of foreign technology without stirring up a...
