Public Policy Research Overview
Research is a critical component of the Department of Public Policy’s mission, linking education with public service. Four social science research centers spanning a range of disciplines support this mission. Research activities of faculty and our research centers are supported by federal agencies, private foundations and state and local governments. Students have the opportunity, and are in fact encouraged, to work with faculty members on research projects.
Examples of recent public policy research by UMBC faculty and students:
Education Policy
"Unscheduled School Closings and Student Performance," an article in Education Finance and Policy by Dave Marcotte and Steven Hemelt (Ph.D., 2009) looks at how snow days affect academic performance.
Evaluation and Analytic Methods
Focusing on Success, Pathways Out of Childhood Poverty by Marv Mandell, Dave Marcotte and others analyzed the economic benefits of reducing childhood poverty.
Health Policy
"Why African Americans did not evacuate before Hurricane Katrina: A qualitative study of evacuees from New Orleans," was co-authored by Nancy Miller.
David Salkever is conducting research on “Veteran’s Compensation for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder,” for a National Institute of Medicine project.
"Managing the gap: evaluating the impact of Medicaid managed care on preventive care receipt by child and adolescent minority populations,” Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved,(February 2010) was co-authored by Todd Eberly (Ph.D., 2006) and Cheryl Miller.
Urban Policy
A book by Bernadette Hanlon (Ph.D., 2007), John Rennie Short and Thomas J. Vicino (Ph.D., 2006) explores the changing dynamics of cities and suburbs. Cities and Suburbs: New Metropolitan Realities in the U.S. (Routledge, 2009).
Don Norris and Tonya Zimmerman (Ph.D., 2008) authored two chapters in a book, Governing Metropolitan Regions in the 21st Century (M.E. Sharpe, 2009) that looks at trends in metropolitan governance.
Resources
Policy Briefs
Concise, readable
summaries of relevant public policy research by faculty and students.
Research Centers
Find out about UMBC's outstanding social science research centers.
Research@UMBC
Learn more about the importance of research to UMBC's mission.