Demographic change is reshaping public policy from NY to Africa
Cover story: Brooks School research prepares policymakers for shifting migration and birthrate patterns
CORNELL JEB E. BROOKS SCHOOL OF
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Brooks Impact
- Demographic change is reshaping public policy from NY to Africa
- Carey’s service sabbatical focuses on drug pricing reforms
- Professor Rick Geddes testifies before US Senate committee
- How universities can help strengthen democracy
Advancing Knowledge
- Personal crises reduce voter turnout but may prompt other political action
- Jeff Niederdeppe named Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor
- Two Brooks faculty members named NBER affiliates
- Hincapié and Hodges named 2024-25 Nixon Fellows
- Einhorn Center honors Rebecca Morgenstern Brenner with 2024 Kaplan Fellowship
- Brooks School adds 13 new full-time faculty, two hired under the provost’s Radical Collaboration initiative
Students Making a Difference
- Brooks students enjoy immersive experience at national conventions
- Brooks School’s newest alumni make their mark
Jeb E. Brooks, MBA ’70, his wife, Cherie Wendelken, and the Brooks Family Foundation provided the generous support to name the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. Jeb was an early advocate for socially responsible investment whose late father taught at Cornell and whose Cornell roots span three generations. Cherie holds a PhD in architectural history from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was a Harvard University professor. In 1999, Jeb and Cherie established the Brooks Family Foundation, which focuses on health care, underserved children, and the environment.
HOW CAN CORNELL FOSTER GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP?
In mid-September, we came together as a campus community to celebrate the third anniversary of the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. It amazes me to think about how much we have accomplished during this time.
As we transition from our initial founding years into a period of growth and impact, I find myself contemplating what it means to build a school that fosters and promotes global citizenship. Certainly, from a human perspective, our fates have never been more closely tied to one another as our global economies intertwine and we contend with the common problem of how to take better care of the Earth and each other. What does it mean to foster global democracy – for our faculty as researchers and educators, or for our policy students aspiring to launch purpose-driven careers?
In this edition of the Brooks Magazine, the cover story offers some clear lessons, highlighting how our Cornell Population Center’s team of demographers aims to understand the significance of demographic transformations occurring around the globe – from sub-Saharan Africa to upstate New York. As I have been spending time with the demographers on our faculty, I have come to better understand and appreciate the power of this field to guide policymakers in planning for an uncertain future. Demography is not a perfect crystal ball, but it offers some of the best tools we have for anticipating the policy needs of future generations.
As global migration patterns shift, decision-makers face new challenges, and our Cornell researchers can help them look ahead to the horizon to take advantage of
the opportunities population change presents and to mitigate its dangers. Brooks students bring their skills and perspectives to this work through their engagement in applied capstone projects that engage with community partners in different countries to advance policy changes to improve people’s lives.
Cornell’s global reputation, our deep roots in New York State, and our commitment to “any person ... any study” have inspired me since I joined Cornell three years ago as inaugural dean. Today, they offer a unique formula for addressing population shifts and the policy considerations accompanying them. To these ingredients, we are introducing new coursework to engage and educate students as global citizens. Through more robust student orientation honing the skills of dialogue to new coursework on civil discourse across policy differences, we are prioritizing the skills needed to be effective global leaders. And, as you will also see in the pages of this magazine, we continue to add astounding depth of expertise to our policy faculty.
Thank you for taking the time to read about how we are orienting the Brooks School to meet the challenges confronting democracy around the globe. I hope you are as excited as I am about where we are headed. Please join us in advancing this critical work.
Colleen Barry
Dean
Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy
Fall 2024 Brooks School Magazine
Published by the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy
Publication Date: October 14, 2024
Editor: Natalie Kimbrough
Designer: Rachel Philipson
CORNELL JEB E. BROOKS SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY
Illustration: Joey Guidone
Demographic change is reshaping public policy from NY to Africa
By Giles Morris
By the year 2100, more than half of the world’s children will be born in sub-Saharan Africa, a staggering population projection that represents a public policy crucible for African leaders.
“If you provide jobs and a safe transition into adulthood and the workforce, then you can create sustained economic growth, better income distribution, and the type of household savings that build stability,” said Parfait Eloundou-Enyegue, professor of global development and public policy at the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “If you don’t, you face a future of insecurity in a region that cannot sustain it. That’s the fork in the road many countries are facing.”
Eloundou-Enyegue’s research as a demographer spans decades and has led him to all parts of the globe. In his work as associate director of the Cornell Population Center in the Brooks School, he is primarily interested in the relationship between population transformation and economic well-being, a comparative study that incorporates demographic data across generations. His research combines traditional approaches that treat global impact as a function of the combined forces of population, affluence and technology with social science research that can situate those variables in their sociopolitical and cultural contexts.
Eloundou-Enyegue’s work probes, for instance, the lessons South Korea’s approach to its population inversion have for developing countries in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa on the cusp of similarly staggering demographic shifts.
“That middle moment when you have a dropping birth rate and a large and relatively young workforce is really critical,” said Eloundou-Enyegue. “But it’s not easy to study empirically because very few people have the data to compare across many countries to see the differences that make it possible for some countries to take advantage of the opportunity and others not.”
Eloundou-Enyegue and his student collaborators at the Cornell Population Center are currently working on a data model that would allow policymakers and researchers to compare countries undergoing similar demographic changes in real time.
While he was a member of an independent group of 15 scientists nominated by the U.N.’s Secretary General Panel to draft the first quadrennial report on “Sustainable Development Goals”, the work is also personal for him.
In 2016, in response to the rising number of the so-called “NEET” (youth who are neither in education, employment, or training), he started an annual two-month summer camp for young people in his home country of Cameroon to help prepare them and to create a model for how to transition young people into the workforce.
“I have studied these issues for decades and made recommendations to agencies and governments,” he said. “I am piloting a program that can be implemented in the short term to test on the micro level what can be applied at a more global level to help young people transition into adulthood.”
The program included 300 young adults in its first year, focusing on instilling basic principles of personal planning, financial literacy, and goal setting, in addition to creating exposure and pathways with employers. It has since trained and mentored over 2,000 young adults, but the effort will remain a tiny drop in the bucket unless mentoring can extend beyond two months and can cover more youth.
From a policy standpoint, it’s really important to think creatively about how to make the public and private investment worthwhile; we need to rise to the occasion for our young people.
- PARFAIT ELOUNDOU-ENYEGUE
MATT HALL PARFAIT ELOUNDOUENYEGUE
You have more mobile young people and more places in need of young people. Immigrants can play an important role in revitalizing and replenishing these communities.
- MATT HALL
The camps have generated useful insights into the low-cost, high-impact and wide reach programming needed to have a sizable impact at the national or regional levels. They are in increasing demand from youth and their families, in both low-income and middle-income groups.
“Some people consider this capacity-building approach conservative, because it seeks to empower individuals, but it does not overlook structural barriers to opportunity,” EloundouEnyegue said. “We don’t just build the capacity, but also discuss with local governments how to create opportunities. It’s not just about teaching youth how to do a resume. It is also about opening doors to employment opportunities, making sure employers are aware of these initiatives, creating inroads with institutions that can offer loans. There’s a lot of work to be done beyond training.”
Eloundou-Enyegue believes demographers have a powerful perspective to inform public policy. In Africa in particular, the continent’s leaders must understand the significance of the tectonic shift they are facing, and how they can create a different future in this region by riding its current wave of demographic change and its historically large cohort of youth.
“For leadership and the shapers of policy, this demographic moment represents a great opportunity but also a substantial challenge. If they seize this opportunity and provide jobs and a transition into successful adulthood and employment, then they put the entire continent on a path to growth and economic development and well-being. If they can’t get a handle on this, the region faces a heightened risk of insecurity from underemployed youth, along with economic stagnation and a dramatic rise in socioeconomic inequality in a region that is quickly becoming the global epicenter of inequality.”
According to Matt Hall, director of the Cornell Population Center and professor of sociology and public policy at the Brooks School, the same population forces that are animating Eloundou-Enyegue to raise money for his program in Cameroon tell an equally powerful story close to home in upstate New York.
“By the middle of this century, Africa is projected to be the only place on the planet with a population that is growing. This has enormous potential for building economic well-being where it hasn’t existed before, but it will also lead to the potential for mass emigration from Africa into places where declining fertility is leading to population aging and decline, including places like upstate New York,” Hall said. “This migration surplus in the face of fertility decline presents great opportunities for places in need of youthful workers.”
It’s those opportunities that are the focus of many of the faculty members affiliated with the Cornell Population Center.
“The beauty of demography lies in its simplicity, since all population change is driven by just three things: births, deaths, and migration,” Hall said. “Because of this simplicity demographers have a good idea of how populations will change in the future. Our goal is to use that clarity to advance effective planning, to create better policy and, ultimately, to support the well-being of people.”
SPOTLIGHT: CORNELL POPULATION CENTER
The Cornell Population Center, housed in the Cornell Brooks School, is the university's intellectual hub for demographic research and training. Faculty and students focus on families and children, poverty and inequality, health behaviors and disparities, and immigration and diversity. Their work is founded on an understanding of family processes, policy analysis, and translational research.
Left: A NextGenPop visiting undergraduate student scholar at the Cornell Population Center presents a team research project.
Cornell Population Center demographer Kelly Musick, senior associate dean of research and professor of sociology and public policy at the Brooks School, examines state paid leave and other social safety net policies for new parents and their children, while Brooks School faculty Maureen Waller and Peter Rich explore how New York state driver's licensing reforms have impacted racial and economic disparities, and Laura Tach’s work on the consequences of the opioid epidemic for families and children in upstate New York informs policymaking at the state and local levels.
Jan Vink and his team at the center’s Program on Applied Demographics furnish real-time demographic data and population forecasts to New York state so legislators and staff can make crucial decisions about schools, libraries, businesses, and health care infrastructure.
All of that work helps bring clarity to population-based planning decisions that have huge impacts on the well-being of communities from New York City to Buffalo.
With respect to changes in population and migration patterns, state lawmakers and officials must prepare for the fact that of the state’s 62 counties, 49 of them are experiencing population decline due to lower birth rates and out-migration. Meanwhile, immigrants from regions with growing populations, like Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, are coming in greater numbers.
“You have more mobile young people and more places in need of young people. Immigrants can play an important role in revitalizing and replenishing these communities,” Hall said.
“But the benefits of this immigration require policies that are effective in integrating and training these workers for the jobs that the baby boom generation is rapidly vacating.”
For leadership and the shapers of policy, this demographic moment represents a great opportunity but also a substantial challenge.
- PARFAIT ELOUNDOU-ENYEGUE
Together, Hall, Eloundou-Enyegue and their faculty colleagues at the Cornell Population Center are pushing the traditional limits of their disciplines to find creative ways to meet a generation that could be defined by major population transformations. This includes leveraging demographic and big data tools to analyze how older populations navigate their communities, how racial diversity shapes patterns of marriage and childbearing, and how accelerating migration may undermine repressive political regimes.
“In sub-Saharan Africa, the money is scarce but what is even more scarce is the strategic planning,” Eloundou-Enyegue said. “From a policy standpoint, it’s really important to think creatively about how to make the public and private investment worthwhile; we need to rise to the occasion for our young people.”
Parfait Eloundou-Enyegue (far right) at an event related to his research and community work in Africa.
Carey’s service sabbatical
focuses on drug pricing reforms
By Giles Morris
Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy Colleen Carey is taking a unique approach to her sabbatical year, traveling to Washington D.C., to take up a part-time advisory role as a fellow at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
For Carey, whose PhD at Johns Hopkins University focused on the design of the Medicare Part D insurance markets, the fellowship represents a chance to help inform federal policy at a crucial moment with expertise that has been honed over years researching and teaching the subject matter. The advisory role builds on her research on prescription drug coverage, particularly in Medicare, shared with many Brooks School students in her popular elective Pharmaceutical Management and Policy.
“I not only have an opportunity to learn about and shape a new policy but also to share expertise with the federal government on a topic where there are going to be a lot of difficult choices to make,” said Carey.
For Brooks School Senior Associate Dean of Public Engagement Jamila Michener, Carey’s service sabbatical is an example of how Brooks professors connect research, engaged learning, and active participation in shaping policy.
COLLEEN CAREY
“I was excited to hear about Colleen’s decision. As Brooks School faculty, we want to make the world a better place by making better policy,” said Michener. “To do that you can’t always just be conducting research, because policy is a real-world practice that affects individuals and communities in real time.”
The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act gave new powers to the federal government to bargain prices for top-spending drugs in Medicare, with the aim of lowering out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries and government expenditures. In her role as fellow, Carey will join a team engaging in the first round of negotiations for prices, preparing for the next round of negotiations, and setting up a long-term structure for evaluation.
“The U.S. is doing something that it’s never done before, which is to negotiate the price of pharmaceuticals with the industry in the way that many other countries do,” Carey said. “What is the fair price of a pharmaceutical? It’s an extremely difficult question to answer.”
Carey is no stranger to the subject matter, having authored four papers on prescription drugs in Medicare, or to the policy landscape, as she served as a staff economist at the Council of Economic Advisers during the rollout of the Affordable Care Act. But the problem facing the team at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services represents an entirely new kind of challenge.
“I teach in my class that there have been these incredible advances in the pharmaceutical industry and we’ve gotten huge benefits from prescription drugs and yet we pay a lot more than other countries do,” said Carey. “I also emphasize the linkage between pharmaceutical profits and the development of new drugs. So, it’s a tough challenge for CMS to find the best course forward.”
While Carey said the specifics of her engagement are still to be worked out, she felt certain the experience would be an enriching one that would give her new ideas for research, for teaching, and for sharing her knowledge.
Carey is interested to see whether "service sabbaticals" like hers become more common, and hopes her experience can serve as a model for other faculty and other agencies seeking to tap university expertise.
I not only have an opportunity to learn about and shape a new policy but also to share expertise at the federal level on a topic where there are going to be a lot of difficult choices to make.
- COLLEEN CAREY
Professor Rick Geddes testifies before US Senate committee
By Sarah Louise Schupp
Rick Geddes, founding director of the Cornell Program in Infrastructure Policy, housed within the Brooks School, was one of three experts invited to testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on July 31 about the long-term economic benefits of federal investment in infrastructure and public transportation.
Geddes discussed infrastructure’s impact on economic development and how recent legislation has impacted the progress of civil infrastructure. He also informed lawmakers on how public-private partnerships can support higher infrastructure needs and suggested how the permitting process could be improved to speed up the timetables of critically needed infrastructure improvements.
"There are, however, solid reasons for optimism in the infrastructure outlook. I believe we now have an opportunity for the private sector to take a larger role in financing U.S. infrastructure beyond that provided by the federal government,” Geddes said during the hearing.
“The [Bipartisan Infrastructure Act] took steps to encourage greater private participation by increasing the national limit on private activity bonds, or PABs, for qualified projects from a $15 billion cap to a $30 billion cap. So, the spirit of the law is there, but more can be done. These arrangements that encourage private and public cooperation can bring American infrastructure delivery up to global standards through better cooperation,” he added.
Geddes is an infrastructure policy expert and professor of economics and public policy. He researches the funding, financing, permitting, operation, and maintenance of heavy civil and social infrastructure, focusing on the adoption of new technologies. His research has examined networkwide road pricing, infrastructure resilience, and innovative infrastructure financing via public-private partnerships.
Rick Geddes, professor of economics and public policy, testifies before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Jamila Michener, senior associate dean of public engagement in the Cornell Brooks School, moderates the student Q&A.
“Fostering Global Democracy: Freedom and Responsibility” keynote conversation.
Johns Hopkins University President Ronald Daniels, stands for a photo with attendees at the first event hosted by the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy’s Center on Global Democracy.
Brooks MPA students gather after the event.
Cornell University Interim President Michael Kotlikoff, Rachel Beatty Riedl, the Peggy J. Koenig ’78 Director of the Center on Global Democracy, and Johns Hopkins University President Ronald Daniels pose before the “Fostering Global Democracy: Freedom and Responsibility” keynote conversation.
How universities can help strengthen democracy
By James Dean
Amid growing polarization, distrust in institutions and support for authoritarianism, universities will play a critical role in sustaining democracy – and must do more to prepare students as citizens, Johns Hopkins University President Ronald Daniels said at a Sept. 13 event launching the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy’s Center on Global Democracy.
“The university is an indispensable institution for our democratic project,” Daniels, the author of “What Universities Owe Democracies,” said in Willard Straight Hall. “Fundamentally our opportunity is to model something better, and to know that the students who ultimately graduate from our institutions give us a shot at changing the rancorous, poisonous character of interactions we see. And hopefully this becomes a way in which we heal our country.”
Kicking off the daylong program, “Fostering Global Democracy: Freedom and Responsibility,” Daniels addressed students, faculty and guests including international democracy experts during a keynote discussion with Rachel Beatty Riedl, professor in the Department of Government in the College of Arts and Sciences and in the Brooks School, and the inaugural Peggy J. Koenig ’78 Director of the Brooks School Center on Global Democracy, whose mission is to advance democracy through policy research and engagement with democratic actors. Several panel discussions followed with leading policymakers and practitioners, focused on global democracy and fundamental freedoms, effective governance and the danger of insecurity.
In opening remarks, Interim President Michael I. Kotlikoff said Daniels had been prescient in highlighting universities’ role in preparing students to participate in democracy, especially during periods of deep political conflict.
“At a time when universities and the work that we do are increasingly under attack, and liberal democracy increasingly at risk in countries around the world, it’s critically
important to understand the contributions of our institutions to our democratic society,” Kotlikoff said. “Not just to better appreciate those contributions, and defend our purpose before our detractors, but to better recognize the importance of this role and improve its execution.”
Ask someone to name society’s core democratic institutions, Daniels said, and they typically mention elected and accountable legislators, independent courts and a free press – but rarely universities. Yet, he said, universities are engines of social mobility, critical sites for validating claims of truth, and model democracy’s potential to accommodate and harness the benefits of pluralism.
The university is an indispensable institution for our democratic project.
- RONALD
DANIELS
Why then, he asked, has higher education’s standing dropped dramatically in recent years, with less than 40% of Americans across partisan lines saying universities benefit society? One reason, he said, is K-12 education’s retreat from teaching civics. With roughly one-third of students exposed to civics, he said, it’s no surprise many arrive at college – even elite universities – not knowing the full story behind the case for democracy.
“It’s got to be educated, it’s got to be taught, it’s got to be modeled,” Daniels said.
Community-engaged learning programs, Daniels said, are only part of what students need to become successful democratic citizens. He said universities should consider mandating democracy study and training. At Johns Hopkins, all undergraduates now must take at least one such course and orientation includes a Democracy Day,
among other efforts to promote civic discourse and identify common ground regardless of disagreement about policies or core values.
Responding to Naina Kalra ’26 – one of five Brooks School Undergraduate Democracy Fellows who posed questions – about how to promote democracy without imposing a Western perspective, Daniels said there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Creating enduring democracies will require humility and a willingness to learn from other countries and their international students, he said.
Kalra said she appreciated Daniels’ thoughtful interaction.
“I never really recognized how much universities play a role in promoting democracy,” she said. “I would love to promote democracy, but I didn’t know exactly how to do it. Being a part of this fellowship and hearing these impactful words has excited me to see what the new Center on Global Democracy at the Brooks School will do and what we as students can offer to that process.”
Riedl, who recently co-authored research that identified democratic backsliding in nearly 40 countries, said in closing that “democracy is always something that has to be practiced, it has to be bolstered and made real.”
While many scholars are surprised at democracies’ seeming fragility today, Daniels said, the U.S. over its history has responded when democracy was “on the ropes.”
“Every generation has a responsibility to re-earn, to reaffirm, to strengthen the democratic project,” he said. “For the folks in this room, this is your moment: The baton is clearly being handed off to you. … It’s my hope that even as we see democracy [appearing] incredibly vulnerable, that this generation will take the baton and run with it and make it better.”
Personal crises reduce voter turnout but may prompt other political action
By James Dean
Experiencing multiple life disruptions – such as unemployment, eviction, or a loss of health insurance – makes people less likely to vote, but the disruptions may motivate them to engage politically in other ways, a Cornell Brooks School political scientist and co-authors report in new research.
Analyzing several large surveys of verified American voters before and during the pandemic, the researchers found that outside of highly politicized crises like COVID-19, which can increase turnout, people with unstable lives are systematically underrepresented at the ballot box.
The data showed that people experiencing the most personal crises are nearly 20 percentage points less likely to vote compared with those who experience none – a turnout gap nearly as significant as that between white and Hispanic voters. But the same challenges could prompt political participation seen as more immediately helpful, such as contacting elected officials or attending community meetings or protests.
“When people connect their problems to direct forms of political action that might address their problems, crises can actually boost political participation,” said Jamila Michener, senior associate dean of public engagement in the Cornell Jeb. E. Brooks School of Public Policy and associate professor of government and public policy in the Brooks School and in the government department in the College of Arts and Sciences. “Crises are not an inevitable path toward deeper political alienation for people who are marginalized.”
Michener is a co-author of “The Politics of Personal Crisis: How Life Disruptions Shape Political Participation,” published recently in Political Behavior, with Jake Haselswerdt, associate professor of government and public affairs at the University of Missouri; and Christopher Ojeda, assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Merced.
If we only think about the political implications of one crisis at a time, we’re going to understate the relationship between our larger economic environment and democracy – the political choices that people make or don’t make.
- JAMILA MICHENER
The title references a rallying cry that emerged during women’s movements in the 1960s and ’70s: “The personal is political.” The authors argue that personal life can be profoundly political, and that many crises are the products of a changing economy and growing inequality that have heightened risks for those with fewer resources.
Studies have examined how some individual disruptions affect political participation – foreclosure, say, or being arrested. But after successive crises in the U.S. housing, labor, and health care markets, the scholars said, their study provides a more comprehensive view.
“If we only think about the political implications of one crisis at a time, we’re going to understate the relationship between our larger economic environment and democracy – the political choices that people make or don’t make,” Michener said. “Only by considering these things together can we understand the full picture of what many people are experiencing, which is multiple crises over a period of time.”
The authors analyzed publicly available data from the Cooperative Election Study (CES) in 2018 and 2020, which included common sections with more than 60,000 respondents, plus additional questions the researchers posed to nationally representative samples of 1,000. They also examined relevant data from the Democracy Fund’s Views of the Electorate Research (VOTER) Survey.
The surveys validated turnout in those years with public records and included self-reports about other activity, such as attending a political meeting, putting up a political sign, working for a candidate or campaign, attending a protest, contacting a public official, and donating money. Collectively, the surveys asked if any of several dozen crises had occurred in the previous year, ranging from divorce and trouble paying medical bills to lost jobs, homes, or health insurance.
As expected, after controlling for income, race, and other demographic factors, the analysis showed that more crises reduced the likelihood of someone voting. A suspended or revoked driver’s license was the disruption most strongly associated with lower turnout, followed by having possessions repossessed, being evicted, or losing a home.
“These findings are consistent with the idea that the totality of disruptions to everyday life can be disruptive to turnout,” the authors wrote.
That wasn’t true for COVID-related crises, where cumulative problems were associated with increased turnout. People respond differently to highly politicized issues, the researchers suggest, about which they are saturated with news and messages drawing clear political lines.
While crises could prompt activism in place of voting, the surveys found that type of participation much less common. For example, non-voting activity reported in the 2020 CES ranged from 3% of respondents working for a candidate or campaign to 23% donating money, while voter turnout was 62%.
Overall, Michener said, the study highlights the importance of considering life disruptions in the study of political behavior, and gives elected officials and advocacy groups a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding about when people will engage politically, and what kinds of political action they’re more likely to pursue.
“Choices about how to provide resources to constituents or not affect whether they engage the political process,” said Michener, who also directs the Cornell Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures. “It clarifies the stakes of larger decisions about how to structure the economy and meet people’s needs in challenging times. That very much matters for the nature and the content of our democracy.”
JAMILA MICHENER
Jeff Niederdeppe named Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor
By Giles Morris
Brooks School Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Development Jeff Niederdeppe was recently appointed Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Named to honor the first dean of CALS, whose efforts to secure funding from New York state led to the establishment of the college, the first Liberty Hyde Bailey Professorship was established May 25, 1972. Niederdeppe’s appointment will last through his tenure at Cornell.
“It’s an honor for me to be recognized for my contributions to the Department of Communication in CALS,” said Niederdeppe. “Among many other contributions, Liberty Hyde Bailey was a prolific and elegant communicator who embodied the idea that research, teaching, and public engagement are essential roles of a professor. He also helped to establish a new college at Cornell. While I have a great deal left to accomplish at Cornell, I will continue to engage in purpose-driven social science and am proud of the role I have played in helping to establish the Brooks School as a multidisciplinary policy school that seeks to make the world a better place.”
Liberty Hyde Bailey Jr., through his research and teaching efforts, played a key role in elevating the study of horticulture to a science and devising a system for disseminating practical knowledge about agriculture to farmers. He first came to Cornell in 1888 as a professor of horticulture and served as dean from 1903 to 1913.
In addition to his senior leadership role at the Brooks School, Niederdeppe serves as director of Cornell's Health Communication Research Initiative and co-director of the Cornell Center for Health Equity housed in the Brooks School and Weill Cornell Medicine. His research examines the impact of media campaigns, strategic messages, and news coverage in shaping health behavior and social policy.
He has published more than 220 peer-reviewed articles in communication, public health, health policy, and medical journals, and his work has been funded in recent years by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Niederdeppe’s most recent research examines the effectiveness of warning labels for adults and teenagers on tobacco vaping products. In his work as senior associate dean of faculty development, he was instrumental in the hiring of 13 new Brooks School faculty members in 2024.
Two Brooks faculty members named NBER affiliates
By Sarah Louise Schupp
Brooks faculty members Michael R. Richards and Max Kapustin have been appointed affiliate scholars of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).
Kapustin and Richards are two of 71 recently named affiliates representing 41 colleges and universities.
The NBER is a private nonprofit research organization dedicated to conducting and disseminating nonpartisan, cutting-edge economic research. It relies on a network of more than 1,700 affiliated scholars at North American colleges and universities to conduct research on a wide range of major economic issues.
According to the NBER, “affiliates are elected through a rigorous and competitive process.” With the assistance of leading scholars in each field, program directors review these nominations and recommend researchers as new affiliates. Notably, 44 current or former NBER affiliates have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, and 13 have chaired the President’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Richards’ primary research involves health care provider responses to public policies and evolving market environments. He also has considerable interests in the structure and delivery of public insurance programs (e.g., Medicare and Medicaid) and health care workforce issues. He is a professor of public policy and serves as the director of the Sloan Program in Health Administration, overseeing the Master of Health Administration and Executive Master of Health Administration degree programs.
Kapustin is an assistant professor of economics and public policy. He studies interventions to improve the life outcomes of disadvantaged youth and adults in U.S. cities, particularly ways to reduce their exposure to violence. Using large-scale experiments and other causal inference methods, his recent work estimates the effects of efforts such as cognitive behavioral interventions and employment for men at high risk of gun violence, mentorship for youth disengaged from school, and data-driven management changes within police departments.
Brooks faculty members Michael Richards and Max Kapustin named NBER affiliates.
Hincapié and Hodges named 2024-25 Nixon Fellows
By Giles Morris
Marielena Hincapié, a national leader on immigration reform and immigrant justice, and Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, former commanding general of U.S. Army Europe, have been named the 2024-25 John W. Nixon ’53 Distinguished Policy Fellows at the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy.
As Brooks School Nixon Policy Fellows, Hincapié and Hodges will visit the Cornell campus in Ithaca over the course of the academic year to guest lecture; participate in symposia; host student office hours to talk about careers in public policy and contemporary policy issues; and connect with faculty on research aligned with their expertise.
“We are thrilled that Marielena and Ben have agreed to participate in our second year of our Brooks Nixon Policy Fellows program,” said Brooks School Dean Colleen Barry. “As widely respected leaders in their fields, they will bring distinctive viewpoints to campus conversations about the pressing policy issues we face as global citizens and engage our community with new ways to foster democracy through democratic practices and civil discourse.”
Hincapié, a legal and political strategist in the social justice movement and a leading voice in the national conversation on immigration, served as executive director of the Los Angeles-based National Immigration Law Center. She co-chaired the Biden-Sanders Unity Taskforce on Immigration, and helped lead the national conversation on the essential role immigrants play in shaping the future of the U.S. and safeguarding our democracy.
Hincapié has also played a key role in supporting youth leaders in the creation and successful implementation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and co-founded the Protecting Immigrant Families coalition. As an immigrant from Colombia, she brings a bilingual and bicultural perspective to her work in the areas of equity, justice, and democracy. She is writing a forthcoming book, “Becoming America: A Personal History of a Nation’s Immigration Wars” (Flatiron Books, 2026).
“I am excited for this opportunity to be part of the Brooks School, and to inspire and be inspired by the stellar students and faculty as we explore the critical role that public policy plays in our lives, and how we can build a more just and equitable world in which we can all belong and thrive,” Hincapié said. “I look forward to partnering and learning with Lt. Gen. Hodges over the year.”
Lt. Gen. Hodges is the former commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and currently serves as NATO senior mentor for logistics. Prior to assuming his Army leadership role in Europe, Lt. Gen. Hodges commanded the 101st Airborne’s 1st Brigade during Operation Iraqi Freedom and later served as director of operations Regional Command South in Afghanistan.
Since his retirement, Lt. Gen. Hodges has served as senior advisor to Human Rights First, as the Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies at the Center for European Policy Analysis, and as a distinguished fellow with GLOBSEC. Lt. Gen. Hodges also consults for several companies on Europe, NATO, and the European Union, and he is co-author of the book, “Future War and the Defence of Europe,” published by Oxford University Press. A native of Quincy, Florida, Hodges graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1980.
“I’m looking forward to being a part of the Cornell University team and speaking with students and faculty about the global challenges facing our nation,” Hodges said. “I want to inspire young people to appreciate the importance and responsibilities of America’s role in the world and the relationship between effective domestic policy and effective foreign policy.”
The Nixon Fellows program contributes to the Brooks School of Public Policy’s Learning and Leading Through Difference Initiative, which aims to advance civil discourse, strengthen democracy, and develop students’ capacity to be thoughtful, purpose-driven leaders.
LT. GEN. BEN HODGES
MARIELENA HINCAPIÉ
Einhorn Center honors Rebecca Morgenstern Brenner with 2024 Kaplan Fellowship
By Giles Morris
Cornell’s Einhorn Center for Community Engagement named Rebecca Morgenstern Brenner, senior lecturer at the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, recipient of the 2024 Kaplan Family Distinguished Faculty Fellowship in recognition of her work with Ithaca’s Southside Community Center to mitigate homeowner displacement resulting from newly implemented FEMA flood insurance maps.
“I am grateful to the Kaplan family, the team at the Einhorn Center, and my community partners at Southside Community Center for the chance to continue our work and make sure Southside can be more resilient and a model for community empowerment in the face of climate change,” said Brenner.
The Kaplan Fellowship is awarded each year to a Cornell faculty member who shows outstanding leadership in the area of community-engaged learning. Brenner’s course, Environmental Justice and Policy, has engaged students in partnership with the Southside Community Center to investigate and assess the impact of FEMA flood insurance requirements on displacement in Southside, a historically African American neighborhood, and to work with the community to identify anti-displacement strategies.
Brenner, who serves as a senior faculty fellow at the Cornell’s Atkinson Center for Sustainability and co-authored the book “Service-Learning for Disaster Resilience; Partnerships for Social
Good” (Routledge, 2023), initiated the community partnership after learning that much of the Southside neighborhood would be recategorized in FEMA’s first flood map updates for Ithaca in 40 years.
The new maps, which are expected to be implemented in 2024, expand areas of the city that are considered at risk of being impacted by a “100-year flood,” with a 1% chance or greater of flooding in any given year and a 1 in 4 chance of flooding during the life of a 30-year mortgage.
Residents in neighborhoods like Southside, which lies along Six Mile Creek in an identified “special hazard flood zone,” will be required to purchase a federally backed mortgage on their homes in order to apply for flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program. Brenner’s research estimates the changes could add $7,000-$10,000 in new annual costs for homeowners.
“We know that climate change is going to affect vulnerable communities most acutely, and this is an early warning in our own backyard. You have a community that has weathered so many challenges through its history. Its residents are already facing the possibility of being priced out and might now be at a tipping point unless we do something about it,” said Brenner. “At the same time, the risk of catastrophic flooding is real. Climate resilience is about managing this kind of complexity.”
(From Left) Dr. Nia Nunn, Southside Community Center board president; Chavon Bunch, Southside Community Center executive director; Susan H. Murphy ’73, PhD ’94, former vice president for student and academic services, Rebecca Morgenstern Brenner, senior lecturer at the
Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, Doug Kaplan ’88, and Kayla Matos, Southside Community Center deputy director, at the Einhorn Center’s 2nd Annual Community Engagement Awards.
Brooks School adds 13 new full-time faculty, two hired under the provost’s Radical Collaboration initiative
By Giles Morris
The Brooks School has strengthened its faculty with the addition of 13 new full-time external hires who will bolster its research and teaching portfolios in global policy, data science, race and equity, education, and environmental policy.
“It’s a testament to Dean Barry’s leadership, our faculty, and the vision of the Brooks School that we’ve been able to bring in such a strong group of new faculty members this year,” said Senior Associate Dean Jeff Niederdeppe, who led the recruiting process. “The diverse portfolio of innovative and rigorous policy research that exemplifies the group will offer us added strength and capacity in the core areas of our undergraduate and graduate academic programs.”
It’s a testament to Dean Barry’s leadership, our faculty, and the vision of the Brooks School that we’ve been able to bring in such a strong group of new faculty members this year.
- JEFF NIEDERDEPPE
The group includes two new faculty who were recruited to Cornell under the provost’s Radical Collaboration initiative and will strengthen Brooks’ multidisciplinary capacity. Environmental economist and public policy expert Sheila Olmstead joins as part of a collaboration with the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability; and mathematician and data scientist Moon Duchin joins as part of a collaboration with the Center for Data Science for Enterprise and Society.
An environmental economist and public policy expert who has advised presidents and the Environmental Protection Agency joined Cornell July 1 as the newest hire in the provost’s Radical Collaboration initiative in the area of sustainability. Sheila Olmstead, formerly the Dean Rusk Professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, is a professor in the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy and is a Cornell Atkinson Scholar.
Olmstead studies the economic dimensions of environmental policies, especially those related to water quantity and quality. Her research has influenced academic thinking and regulatory policies on myriad topics, including climate change and water resource management; the effect of various pricing strategies on water conservation; economics and water quality considerations around shale gas development; and measuring the economic value of improved water quality.
“We are thrilled to welcome Sheila Olmstead to the Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy faculty,” said Dean Colleen Barry. “Sheila brings extensive expertise in environmental policy research, teaching, and public engagement to the Cornell community, and I know she will contribute greatly to strengthen our school’s ties with the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability as a Cornell Atkinson Scholar.”
Olmstead served on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2016 to 2017 and has served on the Science Advisory Board of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 2021 to the present.
“I really fell in love with economics as a lens for analyzing environmental problems because the problems are so complex, the stakes are so high, and the human cost is so large,” Olmstead said.
CORNELL
JEB E. BROOKS
SHEILA OLMSTEAD
Environmental economist, EPA advisor to join Brooks and Atkinson
By Krisy Gashler
When developing environmental regulations, agencies like the EPA have to develop cost-benefit analyses to help legislators and regulators understand the impacts of proposed rules. By developing strategies to quantify the economic value of natural resources, Olmstead helps provide a more-informed discussion.
I really fell in love with economics as a lens for analyzing environmental problems because the problems are so complex, the stakes are so high, and the human cost is so large.
- SHEILA OLMSTEAD
“When we’re talking about spending public dollars on conservation or environmental protection, firms are always going to come to the table talking about the cost to them of a certain regulation. The benefit side is the harder side,” Olmstead said. “Some people argue that the value of clean air or clean water is infinite, but the truth is, if you don’t provide a sound, economically rigorous benefit analysis, then firms will come to the table with cost estimates, and nobody comes to the table with benefit estimates. The risk is that these environmental values get heavily discounted in public discussion.”
As an example of how her work supports the public good, Olmstead cited research on public disclosure requirements by drinking water utilities. Since 1998, every utility and municipality that provides drinking water for at least 10,000 customers has been required to issue an annual public report stating whether they’ve met safety criteria for clean water, such as
keeping bacteria at bay and minimizing harmful chemicals. Some industry groups have pushed back on the requirement because of its cost. Olmstead and her co-authors analyzed water quality violation data from 1990–2001 and found that disclosure requirements reduced safety violations by one-third.
“What we found is that just the process of disclosure has reduced drinking water violations quite substantially, especially with bacterial contamination,” she said.
David Lodge, the Francis J. DiSalvo Director of Cornell Atkinson, said Olmstead’s leadership and expertise will strengthen Cornell’s influence and capacity to build partnerships.
“To ensure that new federal investments have the desired impact – on topics ranging from ensuring clean water to accelerating the energy transition – new rigorous methods to measure public and private benefits are critical,” Lodge said.
“As a Cornell Atkinson Scholar, Olmstead’s leadership and insights will connect Cornell researchers across the university and strengthen Cornell’s influence on environmental policy in growing partnership between the center and the Brooks School.”
READ MORE ABOUT OUR NEWEST FACULTY
New Brooks School full-time faculty
AMANDA AGAN
Amanda Agan’s research lies at the intersections of economics, law, and public policy with a focus on the economics of crime and labor market discrimination. Agan studies the consequences and determinants of criminal legal involvement and how various policies can change the incentives of defendants, and other criminal justice actors. She also studies sources of and policies to constrain the impacts of discrimination in the labor market and other spheres. Agan has a passion for undertaking rigorous, policy-relevant research and teaching research methods to the next generation of policy and economics scholars.
SULE ALAN
Sule Alan’s work integrates behavioral science with social policy design to address pressing global issues. She conducts large-scale randomized interventions to promote evidence-based policymaking, with a particular emphasis on reducing socioeconomic and gender inequalities in developing countries. As education sector co-chair at MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, Alan collaborates with global leaders to bridge research and policy. She also teaches impact evaluation and research design, preparing students to tackle complex policy challenges with evidence-driven approaches.
ROMAINE A. CAMPBELL
Romaine A. Campbell is currently a Provost Faculty Fellow and will join the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy as an assistant professor starting July 2026. Campbell’s research and teaching centers racial inequality in the United States, particularly in criminal justice, education, and labor markets. An applied microeconomist, he explores strategies to address persistent racial disparities, including examining how federal oversight of police departments can mitigate the social harms of aggressive policing without endangering public safety, and evaluating whether in-prison education programs can effectively reduce recidivism among formerly incarcerated individuals.
JULIE FICARRA
Julie Ficarra is interested in how internationalization policy can further global democracy, peace, and sustainability, and specifically, how increasing mutuality and reciprocity in educational exchanges can help to advance this goal. Ficarra is committed to engaging students with communities locally and globally, especially through her course on Refugee Resettlement Policy and a spring break exchange with USFQ in Ecuador. She teaches courses in Global Citizenship; Comparative Education Policy; and Diversity, Dialogue, and Ethical Leadership.
BENJAMIN GOLDMAN
Benjamin Goldman’s research focuses on labor and public economics, with an emphasis on race- and class-based economic disparities in the United States. Goldman studies the sources of these disparities and assesses policies designed to mitigate them. He begins his career at Brooks as a postdoctoral fellow and will transition to an assistant professor position in 2025. Goldman is also a research affiliate at Opportunity Insights, the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities, and EdRedesign.
JOHANNES HAUSHOFER
Johannes Haushofer is a development and behavioral economist who studies the effectiveness of poverty alleviation interventions in low-income countries. Haushofer has worked on unconditional cash transfers with the nongovernmental organization GiveDirectly; on health interventions such as water chlorination and community monitoring; on simple psychotherapy programs to improve mental health; and most recently, on international educational migration. His work in behavioral economics has focused on the effects of stress on economic choice. Haushofer founded the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics, a behavioral lab in Nairobi, Kenya; and Malengo, an NGO that facilitates international educational migration.
WILLIAM LODGE II
William Lodge II is a behavioral and social scientist dedicated to advancing health equity and HIV prevention and care among gender and sexual minorities, both in the U.S. and globally. Lodge’s work focuses on how social and structural determinants – such as stigma and discriminatory policies –impact health outcomes. He employs an intersectional approach and community-engaged research to address these issues. As a member of the Cornell NIH FIRST cohort, funded by the NIH Common Fund's Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation (FIRST) Program, Lodge strives to diversify the biomedical research field. Through research and teaching in Global Health, he critically engages with public health and policy to advocate for equitable health solutions for marginalized populations.
ELLEN LUST
Ellen Lust’s research examines the role of social institutions and local authorities in governance. She has conducted fieldwork and implemented surveys in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, and Zambia. Lust is the founding director of the Governance and Local Development Institute, which was first established at Yale University (in 2013) and is now based at the University of Gothenburg (from 2015) and Cornell University (from 2024).
FIKRI PITSUWAN
Fikri Pitsuwan’s research is in game theory and its applications in industrial regulation, political economy, and public policy. In a current project, Pitsuwan studies, in collaboration with the Zurich Information Security & Privacy Center at ETH Zürich, the game-theoretic design of crowdsourced security systems for Switzerland's e-voting platform. Pitsuwan has worked on intergenerational collective action problems as part of the Global Priorities Fellowship, with the broad goal of improving the well-being of future generations. His teaching interests include microeconomics, game theory, and market design for public policy.
AUBRYN ALLYN SIDLE
Aubryn Allyn Sidle is a mixed methods policy researcher, whose expertise is located at the intersection of community-driven development, gender policy, and education in sub-Saharan Africa. She collaborates with community practitioners, schools, and program implementers to develop research that is relevant to communities’ needs and informs the policy, practice and measurement of quality education for diverse young people. She also serves as director of undergraduate studies for the Brooks School.
JAN G. VOELKEL
Jan G. Voelkel is a postdoctoral researcher and will soon join the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell University as an assistant professor of public policy and sociology. Voelkel’s research investigates the factors influencing individuals' support for leaders and organizations advocating for moral change. This work contributes to policy discussions on structural democratic reforms, as well as economic and health equity. Voelkel looks forward to teaching courses at Brooks that will offer students cutting-edge analytical and statistical skills.
Explore the diverse research interests of our faculty members. Scan the QR code to learn more about their work, projects, and backgrounds.
Mathematician and redistricting expert joins Brooks School as Radical Collaboration hire
By Giles Morris MOON DUCHIN
Amathematician and public policy expert who has advised numerous U.S. states on redistricting and whose lab has been at the forefront of an emerging discipline that merges data science and elections has joined Cornell as a member of the Brooks School faculty, the Department of Mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences and is affiliated with the Center for Data Science for Enterprise and Society as part of the provost’s Data Science Radical Collaboration initiative.
Moon Duchin, who founded the MGGG Redistricting Lab in the Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University, is a prominent voice on fair redistricting who has developed mathematical models to analyze the potential and actual outcomes of changes to policy and voting districts. She has served as an expert in redistricting litigation in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Alabama, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Georgia.
“Moon brings a unique combination of research, practice, and instruction that bridges data science and policy in exciting ways and fits perfectly with the Brooks School’s mission to improve society and strengthen democracy,” said Brooks School Dean Colleen Barry.
Duchin, whose research focuses on discrete geometry and randomized models with applications to the study of voting and democracy, started her work with elections in 2016 when the field was only starting to see serious mathematical attention.
“When I first started I thought there were mature, well-evaluated models of what districts should look like without gerrymandering, but we found that there was really room for new ideas,” Duchin said. “Our first job was to build a better mathematical baseline for how things might look before line-drawing agendas get activated.”
In the years since, Duchin has become a sought-after expert for lawmakers and organizations seeking to make elections and voting districts more democratic.
“Mathematical data science is my home, but I have made a deep investment in taking in the interdisciplinary literature and understanding the legal and policy frameworks that have informed redistricting over time, because you are never going to solve these problems through pure math,” Duchin said. “Brooks and Cornell really offer me the perfect platform to deepen the understanding of how we can use data science to make democracies more responsive to citizens.”
Most recently, Duchin’s work has turned to the study of alternative systems of election as she advised community groups in Portland, Oregon, before and during the city’s implementation of ranked-choice voting for its city council elections.
“We are so excited about Moon’s work and about the collaboration with Brooks. The implications of using mathematical models to make elections more democratic are far-reaching and, really, a starting point for the type of work we can do together at Cornell to push the field of public policy forward with data science,” said David Shmoys, director of the Center for Data Science for Enterprise and Society and Laibe/Acheson Professor of Business Management and Leadership Studies. “Attracting Moon to Cornell is the epitome of a ‘radical collaboration’ hire in data science; she is a scholar who touches virtually the full span of campus, from cutting-edge computational perspectives to policy implications interacting with the social sciences and law, while built on a firm mathematical foundation.”
Duchin plans to bring her lab to Brooks with an expanded mission as she broadens the scope of her work and begins her work with Cornell undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers. This spring, she will launch a public policy class for undergraduates that examines how governments render their land and their people as data.
“We want to look at how the state sees its citizenry through the lens of the census and voting districts, but we’ll also be using hands-on computing tools to build our own models,” Duchin said. “I think that blend of social science and data science is something a lot of students are looking for these days.”
| Students Making a Difference | Brooks students enjoy immersive experience at national conventions
By Giles Morris
This summer a group of seven Cornell students traveled with the Brooks School Institute of Politics and Global Affairs (IOPGA) director, former Congressman Steve Israel, and senior associate director, Erin King Sweeney, to the Republican and Democratic National Conventions to get an inside look at these major political events. The engaged learning experience built on Israel’s Inside Elections class, in which he offers students a view inside the American political process on what it takes to organize and win elections, and was overseen by IOPGA Faculty Director Doug Kriner, the Clinton Rossiter Professor in American Institutions in the Department of Government and the Brooks School. This trip was sponsored by the Brooks School Learning and Leading through Difference Initiative, supported in part by a generous gift from Brenda Weissman Benn ’02 and Michael Benn ’02.
“We wanted to show the students how much work it takes to put these conventions together, to help them understand how the delegates are chosen and what their experiences are, and to offer them a chance to really soak in all of the emotion and energy that goes into these events that lie at the heart of the American political process,” Israel said.
The trip to the RNC Convention in Milwaukee came just after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania. Students engaged with local delegations and party chairs from all over the country, interacted with pollsters and political organizers, and soaked in the atmosphere inside the
ticketed perimeter in downtown Milwaukee. Highlights of the trip included interactions with senior Trump pollster John McLaughlin and former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.
“In addition to understanding the larger dynamics at play, we felt it was important that the students engaged with local and regional members of the Republican Party to get an understanding of how much diversity of opinion, identity, and priorities there are within each party and how those viewpoints turn into platforms during the conventions,” said Sweeney.
Less than a month later, the same group arrived at the University of Chicago, where they were hosted alongside student delegations from Georgetown and Harvard, and witnessed another historic convention that came directly on the heels of President Joe Biden withdrawing from the presidential election. In addition to meeting with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and hearing speeches from the Obamas and Clintons, the group got to see fellow Cornell student Edgar Vilchez address the convention about his personal experience with gun violence.
“I want to thank the Institute of Politics and Global Affairs scholars along with Congressman Israel and Professor Kriner for this experience,” said government major Megan Ventura-Lopez ’25. “I have been truly exposed to the most political arenas which have reinforced for me the necessity of active engagement in our democratic processes and the importance of voting.”
Megan Ventura-Lopez inside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Cornell students with IOPGA Senior Associate Director Erin King Sweeney outside of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
ANNA CECILIA FIERRO ’27
Anna Cecilia Fierro is a second-year student at the Brooks School studying public policy with a concentration in Latino/a/e studies. She was excited to attend the conventions during such a crucial election year. Some of her other campus involvements include Mariachi Regional de Cornell, Speech & Debate, Mecha, and the Advocacy Project.
“I am originally from California; this is important because when you’re from a blue state you cultivate a stereotype of how you believe red state Republicans would interact with politics. Interestingly, some of these assumptions were right, but most interactions were different than what I expected. When we talked to local politicians, they explained what they thought their party’s platform faults were and where they disagreed with Donald Trump or interest groups that had a loud influence on the party. I enjoyed this aspect of Milwaukee the most.”
“Chicago was a mission from the very beginning. Passes were incredibly difficult to come by even for politicians and campaign managers who frequently were handed perimeter passes, unable to see the candidates they helped reach the convention stage speak. Our group began to reach out to anyone we knew who was in Chicago for the convention, and thankfully a Cornell student who was interning for the DNC over the summer was our ticket into the convention hall. Edgar Vilchez, a second-year at Cornell who I shared a class with last semester, heard that we were looking for a way to come in, and he took time out of his incredibly busy schedule to deliver passes to our group. Later into the convention, we saw Edgar speak on the convention stage, and it was a heartbreaking reminder of why personal stories are important to inspire real policy change.”
KIRA TRETIAK ’27
Kira Tretiak is a second-year undergraduate student in the Brooks School of Public Policy. She is interested in politics and how policy can promote civic engagement. On campus, she is vice president of the Gender Justice Advocacy Coalition and secretary of Cornell ACLU. She has also written about the influence of money in politics in the Cornell Policy Review, the Brooks School graduate policy journal.
“At the Republican National Convention, I enjoyed getting to speak to Republican politicians working at the state level and staff working behind the scenes. Everywhere I walked, I saw people dressed in costumes (like Uncle Sam), decked out in American flags, or even in a Trump dress (his face was on the tail). Compared to the DNC, the RNC seemed to be much more focused on being fun, with the many events, bars, and restaurants filled with people located inside the perimeter.”
“Compared to the RNC, the Democratic National Convention was much more energetic. I remember entering the convention hall on the first night and joining the thousands of people cheering when Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance. My favorite speech was delivered during night two by Michelle Obama. The excitement was palpable when she walked on stage and the crowd went wild (myself included), chanting as she encouraged the audience to ‘do something.’”
Kira Tretiak (far right) with fellow students and New York Congressman Marc Molinaro during the Republican National Convention.
Anna Cecilia Fierro (right) with New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during the Democratic National Convention.
WILL BRADLEY ’26
Will Bradley is a junior studying mathematics and computer science in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is interested in applying math and computer science to demographic modeling of election turnout. He has worked as a volunteer canvasser for several elections, including for Judge Janet Protasiewicz’s successful 2023 campaign for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. His appreciation for the importance of bipartisan dialogue in politics was greatly expanded through Professor Steve Israel’s Inside Elections course, taught through the Brooks School, in spring 2024.
“Arriving in Milwaukee soon after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, I was most struck by the spectacle of the RNC and had no significant concern about potential political violence. A highlight of the convention was attending the CNN/Politico Grill live broadcast with House Speaker Mike Johnson, Congressman Mike Lawyer (R-NY), and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez discussing housing policy.”
“We had a packed schedule for the DNC, starting with a chance to meet Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at our host institution, the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, the day before the DNC started. I was able to get tickets to attend three of four nights of the DNC, and was thrilled to see both former First Lady Michelle Obama and former President Barack Obama speak in person. Although we were a long distance from the podium, experiencing the electrifying crowd reaction to their speeches was very memorable. I was also incredibly excited to see the enthusiasm for Tim Walz, who is not only my home state governor, but also represented my home district in Congress. Finally, it was a lot of fun attending the very lively New York State Democrats meeting, where Pete Buttigieg spoke via video.”
SPOTLIGHT: BACKSTAGE MEDIA EXPERIENCE
A unique aspect of the IOPGA summer trips was the students’ exposure to the role of national media at the conventions. Students attended the set of the CNN/Politico Grill live broadcast, which featured House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Congressman Mike Lawyer (R-NY), and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez discussing housing policy, and they participated in a discussion with conservative North Carolina-based radio host Michele Woodhouse for her “Point/Counterpoint” podcast.
SCAN TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST
Will Bradley, Kathryn McGinnis, and IOPGA Senior Associate Director Erin King Sweeney participate in the “Point/Counterpoint” podcast with host Michele Woodhouse.
Will Bradley (top center) with fellow students outside the CNN/Politico Grill broadcast studio during the Republican National Convention.
Brooks School’s newest alumni make their mark
By Sheri Hall
Members of the Cornell Brooks School’s Class of 2024 are already making an impact around the globe as they launch their careers and pursue further education.
The most recent Brooks alumni – armed with bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees – are teaching college courses, participating in language immersion programs, exploring entrepreneurial opportunities, and stepping into careers in public policy.
Veronica Zellers ’24
Degree: B.S. in health care policy
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Veronica Zellers arrived at Cornell
as an undergraduate interested in how math and science could be applied to improve people’s lives, and found herself gravitating toward health care policy. Originally a Global and Public Health Sciences student, she switched her major and never looked back.
“I love that everyone at the Brooks School is passionate about solving issues that affect human life,” she said.
A key experience for Zellers was the State Policy and Advocacy Clinic led by Professor Alexandra Dufresne, where her studentled team fought to expand access to ambulances in rural areas, protect pregnant women from incarceration, and ensure best practices for opioid use disorder treatment in New York state.
“All of the engaged experiences I participated in taught me a lot about government advocacy and successfully communicating across differences,” she said. “Faculty at Brooks are such advocates for students. I have learned so much, earned many professional and personal opportunities, and grown as a student, simply through conversations and relationships with others.”
Moving forward, Zellers is planning on applying to law school. In the meantime, she is moving to Paris where she will be teaching English in the public schools and immersing herself in the French language. After law school, she hopes to work on criminal justice reform.
“There is something special about being a part of a new endeavor that binds us all together,” she said of her time at Brooks. “There is a feeling that we are all at the forefront of something innovative. I definitely want to continue pushing boundaries in my career and seeking out people who will hear out forward-thinking ideas, just as has been the case here.”
As they reflect on their experiences at Brooks – where they learned a range of skills from financial modeling to demography, honed their public speaking and writing, and practiced critical thinking – they use phrases like “engaging,” “innovative,” and “life-changing” to describe the school’s ethos.
Let’s meet a few members of the Class of ’24.
Nay Thu Rein “Jacky” Aung ’24 Degree: Master of Health Administration
Hometown: Yangon, Myanmar
For Jacky Aung, the road to the Sloan Program in Health Administration was filled with many twists and turns. When Aung was an undergraduate student in chemistry at George Washington University, his father died of cancer. Shortly after, he had to conduct his studies virtually from Myanmar due to the COVID pandemic. At the same time, the Burmese military staged a coup, erupting in violence throughout his country.
“All of this was incredibly overwhelming emotionally, and it took a lot to continue virtual classes,” Aung said. “However, it revealed the cracks in Myanmar’s social services and inspired me to apply to Sloan to gain a depth of knowledge in health care.”
Aung chose Sloan and the Brooks School because of the focus on global impact. “The pandemic taught me that life is fleeting, and that led me to ask myself what my contribution is to the world,” he said. “The community at Brooks helped me uncover a deeper realization of self and the world.”
Through his coursework, Aung gained skills in financial modeling, strategy, public speaking, and critical thinking. “I greatly enjoyed my accounting course at Sloan because I love numbers,” he said. “I was intrigued by the idea of using a company’s historic financials to project future performance.”
Aung plans to work as a health care entrepreneur in Myanmar, believing his Sloan education has prepared him well. “Being a student at Brooks – and the Sloan program in particular – is really what you make of it,” he said. “The support and opportunities that I gained from being a part of this community were incredible, and make it easy to actively look for ways to stay engaged and give back.”
Emiriana Stanishja ’24
Degree: Master of Public Administration
Hometown: Kruja, Albania
Shyam Raman, PhD ’24
Degree: Doctorate in public policy
Hometown: Valparaiso, Indiana
Emiriana Stanishja arrived at the Brooks School with a clear vision: to find meaningful work in international development, focusing on economic policy and sustainable finance. Previously, she worked in public debt management at Albania’s Ministry of Finance. She was drawn to the Cornell MPA program for its economic and financial policy concentration and the chance to earn a certificate in environmental finance and impact investing – both of which aligned closely with her career aspirations.
“I had the chance to develop leadership skills and connect with like-minded peers,” she said. “I also loved the inspiring faculty who were always supportive, the vibrant school traditions that brought everyone together, and the campus environment that provided a balance between academics and relaxation.”
A highlight for Stanishja was a class project on green financing in developing countries. “The project aimed to explore how green bonds can be an effective tool for financing environmentally sustainable projects in these regions,” she said. “The goal was to propose solutions that could make green bonds more effective and accessible in driving sustainable development.”
Beyond academics, Stanishja thrived in student organizations, serving as vice president of external relations for the Cornell Public Affairs Society and vice president of the Albanian Student Association.
Today, Stanishja works as a consultant at the World Bank, focusing on external debt data. “I have built a strong foundation in both finance and policy,” she said. “The connections I’ve made with faculty, alumni, and professionals have been invaluable.”
Her advice to future Brooks students: “Don’t be afraid to explore different courses and find what truly interests you, even if it’s outside your comfort zone,” she said. “Your time at Brooks is what you make of it, so be proactive in seeking out experiences that align with your goals.”
As an undergraduate at Indiana University, Shyam Raman realized he wanted to build a career that would improve the well-being of others. His work as a health economics research assistant inspired him to pursue an advanced degree in public policy.
“A lot of my undergrad coursework centered on the social determinants of health,” Raman explained. “These are a product of policy decisions, and those decisions often systematically disadvantage already marginalized populations in the United States. I chose public policy as my field of study to rigorously investigate the role of policy design on the health and well-being of vulnerable, marginalized populations.”
Today, Raman is a visiting assistant professor of economics at Williams College, where he teaches about health economics and social insurance programs. He credits his experience at the Brooks School with providing him a broad education to address these complex issues.
“The interdisciplinary nature of study was by far my favorite part of being a student at the Brooks School,” he said. “Having the option to take courses in applied economics, government, and sociology all honed my research and teaching interests in the field of public policy.”
Raman’s dissertation focused on the impact of cannabis laws on prescription drug misuse in the U.S. He found that adult-use cannabis laws were associated with fewer shipments of codeine, suggesting a potential strategy for addressing the opioid epidemic.
“In the long-term, I hope to be in a role which allows me to contribute to the dialogue around public policy design and population health,” he said. “The courses, seminars, and mentorship I received from faculty all prepared me for this goal.”
Photo finish
Students participate in Brooks School Cultural Expo activities.
Cameron White ’24 celebrating during Commencement outside of Bailey Hall.
Brooks School Cornell in Washington students, Cornell alumni, family, and friends pose after a canoe paddle on the Potomac River.
Celebrating the Brooks School third year anniversary.
Professor William Lodge meets with undergrads during orientation.
Eeshaan Chaudhuri, Brooks School ambassador, gives first-year students a campus tour.
Executive MHA students gather on campus during their summer intensive.
Brooks School students at the MPA Program Orientation Meet and Greet event.
2024 Outstanding Senior award recipients.
The winners of the 2024 John Siliciano Student Leadership Awards pose with Brooks Dean Colleen Barry, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Gustavo Flores-Macias, and Cornell trustee Peggy Koenig ’78.
Brooks School Office of Admissions, Student Services, Career Management, and Registrar team members.
Undergraduate students tour campus during orientation.
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Ithaca, New York 14853
Established in September of 2021, the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy is positioned to quickly become one of the nation’s leading schools of public policy. Through its teaching, research, and global engagement, the Brooks School will improve the lives of people worldwide by advancing knowledge and informing policy solutions.
