Faculty working with the IOC
From “Street Car Suburb” to “Student Ghetto”: Allston and Urban Change
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator Sociology Ph.D. candidate Sarah Hosman, under the advisement of Professor of Sociology Japonica Brown-Saracino, will examine the urban identity of the Boston neighborhood of Allston. Rather than following typical patterns of gentrification of disinvestment, Allston has instead fluctuated between decline and ascent as Boston’s “student ghetto”. Hosman seeks to understand how […]
Gentrification Debates Revisited: Lessons from 30 Years of Sociological Research
Principal Investigator Associate Professor Japonica Brown-Saracino will examine thirty years of extant gentrification scholarship to identify definitional differences, research trends and knowledge gaps. She will address several key themes including: Core features of sociological approaches to gentrification, including examinations of racial, residential, commercial and educational impacts Gentrification’s origins, dynamics and consequences Policy recommendations that have […]
Enhancing Energy Efficiency for Urban Housing: Madison Park Energy Efficiency Project, Phase II
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator In Phase II of an ongoing collaboration with Wells Fargo to reduce energy costs and energy use in urban housing, Professors Robert Kaufmann, Nalin Kulatilaka, and Associate Professor Michael Gevelber seek to build on their preliminary research results. Phase II will develop further tools and models to analyze efficient technology investment […]
Growing Old in Urban Subsidized Housing: The Relationships Between Perceived Neighborhood Environment and Residents’ Mental Health
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator Led by Professor Judith Gonyea, along with Ph.D. candidate Yeonjung Lee, this project seeks to investigate the relationship between older low-income community residents’ subjective perceptions of their environmental resources and problems and their emotional health. This study will also explore racial and ethnic patterns of the prevalence and correlates of depression among […]
Understanding the Social Justice Function of Youth Councils
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator Assistant Professor Astraea Augsberger and Professor and Associate Dean Mary Collins seek to examine the range of topics youth councils address, youth involvement in the councils, and potential barriers to youth involvement in youth councils in the Boston metropolitan region. As a component of the study, Augsberger and Collins will complete […]
Integrated Process for Landfill and Leachate Management: Experimentally Informed Design of Waste-to-Energy Conversation for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Mitigation
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator With her project, Research Assistant Professor Jillian Goldfarb searches for a scheme to reduce the energy required to manage MSW and leachate landfills and develop new ways and materials to reduce waste and slow the spread of contaminants. Goldfarb will address municipal solid waste (MSW) management in urban areas by using […]
Engineering Main Street: The Spatial Dimension of Organizations and Revitalization in Boston
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator Ph.D. candidate Taylor Cain, under the advisement of Professor Japonica Brown-Saracino, seeks to identify how place attributes (including income, racial/ethnic composition, and residential and commercial property values) influence the strategies for and consequences of revitalization in two geographically proximate Main Streets business districts in Boston. Presentations “Competitive Streets: Do Market Driven […]
What Mayors Think: National Politics in Local Policy
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator In their new study, Assistant Professors Katherine Einstein and David Glick, lead authors of the 2014 and 2015 Menino Survey of Mayors, will combine extensive mayoral interview data with municipal capital expenditures, mayoral support for city ordinances and mayoral demographic data. They evaluate the extent to which national policies influence local […]
The Choices, Experiences, and Role of Second Homeowners in Boston
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator Led by Ph.D. candidate Meaghan Stiman under the advisement of Professor Japonica Brown-Saracino, this study seeks to understand a rarely studied class of urban resident: the second homeowner. Stiman will evaluate how Boston second homeowners frame their residential choices and experiences, their civic, cultural, and economic contributions, and their impact on […]
Multi-Party Computation Software to Evaluate Pay Equity in the City of Boston
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator Continuing a project that began in November 2014, Professor and Hariri Institute Director Azer Bestavros sought to create a proprietary software tool to enable area corporate employers to anonymously share employee wage data by gender, race/ethnicity, and level. The goal is to track the gender wage gap across thousands of employees […]