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:
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 [Brookings]
- 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
- Pandemics and the Labor Market, Then and Now, IZA
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:
- An Enemy in Mexico [The New York Times]
- US states consider harsh ‘war on drug’-era laws to combat fentanyl crisis [The Guardian]
- U.S. drug overdose deaths hit a record in 2022 as some states see a big surge [NPR]
- U.S. officials say they're poised to deal a 'crushing blow' to fentanyl traffickers [NPR]
- More Guns Increase Risk, Even When No One Is Pointing a Firearm at Police [NPR]
- Predictive policing is still racist—whatever data it uses [MIT Technology Review]
- Congressional Briefing on Countering Mass Shootings in the U.S. (see video)
- Prisoners, Police, and the Pandemic: Professor Nagin on COVID-19 and the Justice System
- The Trouble With Crime Statistics [New Yorker]
- With Opioids, Death is a Symptom, and Unity is the Cure [The Hill]
Recent Publications:
- Cohort Bias in Predictive Risk Assessments of Future Criminal Justice Involvement, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Incarceration and Public Safety, Arnold Ventures
- Radical Technological Breakthroughs in Drugs and Drug Markets: The Cases of Cannabis and Fentanyl, International Journal of Drug Policy
- Outcomes associated with scheduling or up-scheduling controlled substances, International Journal of Drug Policy
- Firearm Availability and Fatal Police Shootings, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
- Evaluation of Machine-Learning Algorithms for Predicting Opioid Overdose Risk Among Medicare Beneficiaries With Opioid Prescriptions, JAMA Network
- New Studies on Mass Shootings Assess Trends, Gauge Effectiveness, and Offer Policy Recommendations, Criminology & Public Policy
- Trajectories of prescription opioids filled over time, PLOS One
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:
- If It’s Advertised to You Online, You Probably Shouldn’t Buy It. Here’s Why. [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]
- Fighting the Fraudsters [RSA]
- NSA and Carnegie Mellon University: Partnering on Cybersecurity Research for 20+ Years
- Job Seekers Face More Discrimination in Republican Areas, Finds a New Study [Forbes]
- Why Don't We Just Ban Targeted Advertising? [WIRED]
- Facial Recognition’s Many Controversies, From Stadium Surveillance to Racist Software [New York Times]
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:
- Michael Smith's 'The Abundant University' Calls For A Revolution In Higher Education [Forbes]
- Hollywood plunges into all-out war on the heels of pandemic and a streaming revolution [Associated Press]
- Paparazzi Photos Were the Scourge of Celebrities. Now, It’s AI. [Wall Street Journal]
- How unbelievably realistic fake images could take over the internet [Vox]
- The AI arms race is on. Are regulators ready? [The Hill]
- How to delete yourself from the internet [CNBC]
- Is Silicon Valley's Unique Aura Fading Away? [Information Week]
- The benefits and risks of using a password manager to protect your online identity [CNBC]
- Building a Chatbot That Humans Will Actually Like [Information Week]
- Big Cable Networks Like HLN Are Failing, and Media Companies Can’t Stop Their Decline [Variety]
Recent Publications:
- Countering State-Controlled Media Propaganda Through Labeling: Evidence from Facebook, Information Systems Research
- Incentive Misalignments in Programmatic Advertising: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment, Management Science
- The Consequences of Rating Inflation on Platforms: Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment, Information Systems Research
- Lessons from Hollywood's Digital Transformation, Harvard Business Review
- Virus Shook the Streaming Star: Estimating the COVID-19 Impact on Music Consumption, Marketing Science
- The Effect of Piracy Website Blocking on Consumer Behavior, MIS Quarterly
- The Impact of Time Shifting on TV Consumption and Ad Viewership, Management Science
- Target the Ego or Target the Group: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Proactive Churn Management, Marketing Science
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:
- 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]
- New Thinking On Democracy At Home and Abroad [American Amassadors Live]
- If You Build It, They Will Come: Summit for Democracy [American Purpose]
- Professor Karen Clay was cited across major outlets for her recent work on rising levels of air pollution, including NPR, NBC, ABC, CBS, New York Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Vox
- The #1 Thing Preventing Nuclear Development Is Still Public Fear [Popular Mechanics]
- As The Costs Of Germany’s Nuclear Phase Out Mount, Little Appetite For A Rethink [Forbes]
- Building Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies Amid a World on Fire, United States Institute of Peace (see video)
Recent Publications:
- 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.)
- The Impact of Lead Exposure on Fertility, Infant Mortality, and Infant Birth Outcomes, Review of Environmental and Economic Policy
- The Historical Impact of Coal on Cities, NBER
- Can Forward Commodity Markets Improve Spot Market Performance? Evidence from Wholesale Electricity, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
- The Power of Hydroelectric Dams: Historical Evidence From the United States Over the Twentieth Century,The Economic Journal
- U.S. Embassy Air-Quality Tweets Led to Global Health Benefits, PNAS
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 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
- Small Changes Can Have Drastic Impacts in Health Care [ScienceBlog]
- What to do about health-care markets? Policies to make health-care markets work [Brookings]
- This is What Doctor Visits Would Look Like Under 'Medicare for All' [Salon]
Recent Publications:
- 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
- Do Your Friends Stress You Out? A Field Study of the Spread of Stress Through a Community Network, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Empowering Patients Using Smart Mobile Health Platforms, MIS Quarterly
- Go to YouTube and Call Me in the Morning: Use of Social Media for Chronic Conditions, MIS Quarterly
- Trajectories of Repeated Readmissions of Chronic Disease Patients: Risk Stratification, Profiling, and Prediction, MIS Quarterly
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:
- More Employees Are Taking Legal Action Against Unfair Labor Practices [Wall Street Journal]
- How to renew American leadership on the SDGs [Brookings]
- Does China Really Pick Winners? [Wall Street Journal]
- The World Is Upside Down [National Review]
- How flexibility made managers miserable [BBC]
- Saying ‘no’ in science isn’t enough [Nature]
- How best to bring back manufacturing [The Economist]
- 3 Ways Women Can And Should Say 'No' To Dead-End Work [Forbes]
- Why More Bosses Should Say ‘Yes’ When Employees Ask for Special Deals [Wall Street Journal]
- Climate Fears on Back Burner as Fuel Costs Soar and Russia Crisis Deepens [New York Times]
Recent Publications:
- The Impact of Incarceration on Employment, Earnings, and Tax Filing, BFI
- Globalisation and Inequality in Latin America, Latin America and Caribbean Inequality Review
- Does "Made in China 2025" Work for China? Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms, NBER
- Is There a VA Advantage? Evidence from Dually Eligible Veterans, NBER
- The No Club, Simon and Schuster
- How Do. U.S. Visa Policies Affect Unauthorized Immigration?, NBER
- The Labor Market Effects of Offshoring by U.S. Multinational Firms, The Review of Economics and Statistics
- Association Between Childhood Behaviors and Adult Employment Earnings in Canada, JAMA Psychiatry
- Why Has China Overinvested in Coal Power?, NBER
- Margins of labor market adjustment to trade, Journal of International Economics
- The Rise of Global Innovation by US Multinationals Poses Risks and Opportunities, Peterson Institute for International Economics
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.
Key Experts: Ramayya Krishnan, Leman Akoglu, Lee Branstetter, Alexandra Chouldechova, Rayid Ghani, Gabriela Gongora-Svartzman, Christopher Goranson, Kristen Kurland, Rahul Telang
Recent Activity:
- AI is just another technological step; it won’t exterminate humanity or create a dystopia [The Hill]
- Back to the future: Look to the 1980s for guidance on AI management [The Hill]
- How Hackers Can Up Their Game by Using ChatGPT [Wall Street Journal]
- A simple guide to the expansive world of artificial intelligence [Popular Science]
- How Will the AI Bill of Rights Affect AI Development? [Information Week]
- Carnegie Mellon's Ramayya Krishnan named to Biden administration's new AI advisory panel [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
- AI for Good? Why CMU's Block Center Funds Research Into Responsible Use of the Tech [Technical.ly]
- Four CMU Faculty Named AAAS Fellows
- Consequential, a podcast from Heinz College and the Block Center for Technology and Society
- Public Trust in Data Could Have Helped China Contain the Novel Coronavirus [The Hill]
Recent Publications:
- 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
- A Qualitative Study of Affected Community Perspectives on Algorithmic Decision-making in Child Welfare Services, Proceedings
- Bot Detection: Will Focusing on Recall Cause Overall Performance Deterioration?, Social, Cultural, and Behavioral Modeling
- Counterfactual Risk Assessments, Evaluation, and Fairness, ARXIV
- The IT Revolution and the Globalization of R&D, NBER
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:
- Can Self-Driving Go Mainstream Within 10 Years? Watch this Debate [Forbes]
- What To Expect When You Rent A Car Now (You'll Be Surprised) [Forbes]
- Tesla’s Pickup Truck Is Coming Soon. Maybe. [New York Times]
- The future of open city streets could start with smarter traffic lights [Popular Science]
- In response to COVID-19 - and shift to remote work, school - tech services firms change policies [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
- COVID-19 Is Creating the Largest Ever Telecommunity, But Not for Everyone
- Urban-rural partnerships spread resources beyond city centers [Axios]
- How The 5G Era Could Help Build A More Sustainable Future [Forbes]
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
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.
Policy Proposals, PAPER, and REPORTS:
- 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
- CLEAR: Commission for Law Enforcement’s Assessment of Recruits
- Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Source of Income Law
- 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
- Reducing Recidivism with Machine Learning
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...
