O’Neill students play critical role in national COVID-19 research project

Posted on December 9, 2020 by Leslie Wells

student at laptop, sitting at kitchen table, working — Madison Byarley sits at her laptop, working on coding COVID-19 executive orders

In three separate corners of Indianapolis, Ciana Rose Sorrentino, Madison Byarley, and Amanda Studor Bond all intently read through documents on their laptops. Even though it was summer, and they were miles apart, these O’Neill IUPUI MPA students were working together on a project that would ultimately have a national and international impact.

The women are student researchers currently working with O’Neill Assistant Professor Peter Federman and former O’Neill faculty member Cali Curley to track executive orders in response to COVID-19. Now, the team is launching an online database that codes the orders so people can compare stringency.

Research opportunities like this are open to all O’Neill students by searching the O’Neill faculty directory by research area and reaching out to faculty directly or by becoming a student research assistant. Byarley joined this project because of her position as Federman’s graduate research assistant.

“I’ve always been interested in the policymaking process,” Byarley says. “This is a pretty unprecedented situation. I was really interested in how leaders would quickly handle things they’ve never seen before and how different states with different cultures would handle it differently.”

For Studor Bond and Sorrentino, an in-class connection with Curley opened the door. They say the project gave them a way to help get involved in a situation that left so many people feeling helpless.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about everything going on,” Studor Bond says. “Working on this project gave me somewhere to put my energy and a way to contribute when the most you can really do is wear a mask and stay home.”

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O’Neill IUPUI’s Jeremy Carter honored with 2020 Research Frontiers Trailblazer Award

Posted on November 30, 2020 by Leslie Wells

In a year marked by a pandemic and increased social justice activism, the meaningful work of IUPUI researchers is more important than ever. That includes the efforts of the O’Neill School’s Jeremy Carter, whose research reaches into the criminal justice system.

Carter’s work spans helping local police de1partments evaluate and improve their own practices to working with national, state, and local officials to evaluate intelligence practices that combat terrorism, extremism, and organized crime. His research has landed him among the four recipients of the 2020 Research Frontiers Trailblazer Award, an annual recognition presented by the IUPUI Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.

“It is incredibly humbling and a great honor to be a recipient of this award,” Carter says. “As a social scientist, it is sometimes challenging to evidence the impact of our work on society. I believe IUPUI has done an incredible job of putting faculty in a position to engage in translational research and truly be community-engaged.”

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O’Neill student focuses on future in immigration policy while recovering from bone marrow transplant

Posted on November 23, 2020 by Leslie Wells

By IU Health Senior Journalist T.J. Banes, tfender1@iuhealth.org

She has her sights set on a career with a focus on social justice and equality. And the sooner she recovers, the sooner she can get back on track as a student at O’Neill IUPUI.

It was 2018 when Mayra Rodriguez found a mass under her right armpit. It didn’t hurt so she thought she might have an ingrown hair or something simple like acne. But when she eventually felt pain, her doctor biopsied the growth. It was about the size of a softball. Rodriguez was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a blood cancer that starts in the lymph nodes.

Under the care of IU Health oncologist/hematologist Dr. Sherif Farag she completed six rounds of chemotherapy.

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O’Neill IUPUI and University of Miami win Fourth Annual Voinovich Public Innovation Challenge

Posted on November 18, 2020 by Leslie Wells

Authored by Ohio University Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs

Faculty from the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI and the University of Miami won the fourth annual George V. Voinovich Public Innovation Challenge with an online dashboard to compare the ways states are responding to COVID-19.

The challenge is sponsored by Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs in conjunction with the Network of Schools and Public Policy, Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) during their 2020 virtual annual conference. This year’s challenge focused on innovation in the face of COVID-19.

The winning innovative project, “COVID-19 Executive Orders Project,” was created and presented by Peter Stanley Federman, O’Neill IUPUI, and former O’Neill IUPUI faculty member Cali Curley, now at the University of Miami. The tool examines and analyzes pandemic-related executive orders adopted at state levels and presents them in a dashboard for comparison.

“We think that we can learn from how executives have responded to this crisis and potentially identify the variables that might predict the type, style, and comprehensiveness of further responses to other crises,” Federman said.

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O’Neill students play crucial role in COVID-19 response

Posted on November 16, 2020 by Leslie Wells

Mohammad Khan (L) and Aaron Farrer (R) both used their internships to help respond to the national and state COVID-19 pandemic.

As Mohammad Khan sat at his computer this summer, he worked on a white paper for the Boston-based urban planning group The Collaborative. Khan was an O’Neill Policy Studies major at the time, interning for the group and tasked with examining alternate care facilities that could be set up within 48 hours of an outbreak.

“The team wanted to know how and where they could quickly create makeshift hospitals,” he says. “We looked at what could be viable options—including schools, convention centers, hotels, even dorm rooms. Most city and state officials will have questions, so we will have answers to guide them.”

Khan’s research found that a centralized, well-connected location near public transportation was ideal in most large cities—a city within a city, he explained.

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