URBAN Trainee Ian Smith Studies Urban Tree Water Sources
Watch Video: URBAN Trainee Ian Smith Studies Urban Tree Water Sources Ian Smith is a PhD student in the Department of Earth and Environment in the BU Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and the BU URBAN Program. He received a 2021 Early Stage Urban Research Award from the Initiative on Cities (IOC) for his […]
URBAN Trainee Caroline Fleming Studies Urban Corals Under Stressors
Watch Video: URBAN Trainee Caroline Fleming Studies Urban Corals Under Stressors Caroline Fleming is a PhD Student in the Department of Biology in the BU Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and the BU URBAN Program. She received a 2021 Early Stage Urban Research Award from the Initiative on Cities (IOC) for her project, “Stress […]
URBAN Trainee Kathryn Atherton Researches Urban Soil Microbiomes
Watch Video: URBAN Trainee Kathryn Atherton Researches Urban Soil Microbiomes Kathryn Atherton is a PhD Student studying Bioinformatics in the BU URBAN Program. She received a 2021 Early Stage Urban Research Award from the Initiative on Cities (IOC) for her project, “The Impact of Racism on Urban Belowground Biodiversity.” Read the Q&A with Atherton and […]
Spring 2022 Request for Proposals now Open: Early Stage Urban Research Awards
Awarded annually to BU faculty and graduate students under faculty supervision, these seed grants of up to $10,000 support research addressing urban challenges and urban populations in the U.S. and abroad.
2021 Early Stage Urban Research Awards
In Spring 2021, the Initiative on Cities issued its seventh request for proposals to support early stage academic research endeavors focused on urban challenges and urban populations, both domestic and global. We received 37 applications from 20 schools and departments at BU, and we are thrilled to announce we have funded 14 projects, including 8 […]
Youth Emergency Mental Health Response in Boston
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigators: Many urban school districts are under-resourced to meet the mental health needs of their students and therefore rely on emergency service providers for crisis response. These emergency response services, however, can increase the likelihood that youth will be served in emergency departments and, in the case of police response, increase the […]
Seeking Educational Spaces: Syrian Refugees and the Landscape of Amman, Jordan
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigator: This dissertation research project centers how Syrian refugee youth and families, as well as their Jordanian peers, conceptualize the educational spaces they are able to access in light of the serious barriers they face in accessing such spaces in a foreign urban context. Amman presents a unique setting in which to […]
Lived Experiences of Boston Youth During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigator: While the COVID pandemic has disrupted the education of all U.S. youth, it has disproportionately impacted racially and linguistically minoritized youth. Within the Boston Public Schools, the latest report shows that 30% of Black students and 31% of Latinx students are chronically absent compared with 12% of White students. Similarly, 30% […]
Examining Dually-Involved Black, Indigenous, and Youth of Color’s Reentry Experiences in Massachusetts
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigator: Youth involved with child welfare system (CWS) are entering the juvenile justice system (JJS) at rates far higher than their peers, and Black, Indigenous, and Youth of Color (BIYOC) represent a disproportionate percentage of youth with dual-involvement. Scholarship on dual-involvement focuses on youth demographics and their experiences within the CWS and […]
Race and Policing in America’s Cities: The Role of Mayors
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigators: Scholars of urban politics have long noted the limited power of mayors to address racial inequality. In recent decades, state governments and the federal government have curtailed the policymaking authority of urban administrations while also reducing funding sent to urban areas. White flight and capital mobility, meanwhile, have eroded the tax […]