Tag: Fall 2014 Research Assistantship

Regulatory Policy
Professor Chris Carrigan and Professor Stuart Kasdin
Trachetenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration
The Project: This research project is aimed at understanding the impact of the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) on the regulatory review process. We are analyzing both how OIRA’s preferences shape regulatory outcomes and when the agency is most influential in impacting the content of government regulations submitted by agencies. We will see when OIRA has the biggest impacts on new regulations and when it acts more as a pass-through. The student will also gain a familiarity with the federal legislative and regulatory processes and learn about the available public sources for information on federal regulations and legislation.
Research Assistant Tasks: The student’s work would assist this project by examining the underlying legislation upon which the regulations are based. The student would use legislative data sources and do “content analysis” on the bills, such as word counts of sections of the legislation as part of an estimate for the complexity of the underlying legislation. In addition, he or she might examine the regulatory impact analyses of the regulations to locate and describe the associated benefit-cost estimates.
Time Commitment: 7-9 hours per week
Credit Hour Option: 1
Application Requirement: Send a resume to skasdin@gwu.edu
Contact Email: ccarrigan@email.gwu.edu, skasdin@gwu.edu

Ethical Issues in Beauvoir and Merleau-Ponty/Normalizing Bodies
Professor Gail Weiss
The Project:
Ethical Ambiguities in Beauvoir and Merleau-Ponty: Though the concept of ambiguity is central in both Beauvoir’s and Merleau-Ponty’s work, the connections between their respective views of ambiguity have not been sufficiently attended to in existing literature on both scholars. I am especially intrigued by the intersections in their work concerning how experiences of ambiguity affect not only ethics but meaning, freedom, intersubjectivity, politics, language, culture, nature, and the body. While numerous monographs and edited volumes have been published over the last few years on Beauvoir as well as on Merleau-Ponty (fueled in part by the 2008 centennials of their births), there are no significant monographs published on both philosophers despite the fact that they read each other’s work on an ongoing basis and cited one another regularly. Most of the comparative analyses have instead focused on the better-known (and all too often sensationalized) intellectual and personal relationship between Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre. So this book will mark a distinctive intervention in existing scholarship on Beauvoir and Merleau-Ponty.
Normalizing Bodies: This monograph focuses on the often taken-for-granted standards of normalcy, normativity, and naturalness that work together to define which types of bodies are most highly valued by a given society. By focusing on cases of “abnormal” embodiment that challenge conventional expectations, this book seeks to identify and dismantle oppressive norms of embodiment and expand the range of acceptable body types and behaviors. Ultimately, I argue against dualistic conceptions of normal/abnormal, natural/unnatural, and normative/non-normative forms of embodiment, and advocate a more continuous and complex model that acknowledges that what is considered to be normal, natural, and/or normative is always a function of a particular social and historical context, and is therefore capable of being altered.
Research Assistant Tasks: I am seeking a research assistant for Fall 2014 to aid me in completing the following projects:
1) Uploading my CV, published articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries, etc. to two Philosophy and Academic databases so that a complete, up-to-date profile appears under my name when scholars are using these sites to access my work: Philpapers and Academia.edu Copies of all of my publications are in my office and can be scanned using our dept. copier if electronic copies are not available. My dept. website should also be updated with a list of my most recent publications (and perhaps electronic copies of them if my colleagues have done this too)
2) Create bibliographies for the two monographs I am completing: 1) Ethical Ambiguities in Beauvoir and Merleau-Ponty: a book that focuses on shared philosophical themes in Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s and Simone de Beauvoir’s work and their ethical implications; 2) Normalizing Bodies: a book that critically examines conventional distinctions between normal and abnormal bodies. Since many of the chapters I’ve written for both books have been presented as papers at professional conferences and/or published, some of this work will involve combining existing bibliographies from these separate pieces into a single list of references. I would also like the assistant to locate and get copies through our library (or Consortium) of new journal issues, articles, books, and book chapters directly related to these two projects that are not yet in the bibliography but that should perhaps be incorporated into the book.
Time Commitment: 1-3 hours per week
Credit Hour Option: 1
Application Requirements: An unofficial transcript and a short statement indicating their philosophical relevant background for or interest in this project as well as their prior research experience.
Contact Email: gweiss@gwu.edu
 

Professor Archana Khurana
Department: Mathematics
The Project
The transportation model, a sub class of linear programming problem, considers minimum-cost planning problems for shipping a product from some origins to other destinations, such as from factories to warehouses, or from warehouses to supermarkets, with the shipping cost from one location to another being a linear function of the number of units shipped. The amount to be sent from each origin, the amount to be received at each destination, and the cost per unit shipped from any origin to any destination are specified. In transportation problems, transhipment is not considered, that is, each point acts as shipper only or as a receiver only. We can extend this problem to permit transhipment with the additional feature that shipments may go via any sequence of points rather than being restricted to direct connections from one origin to one of the destination which would reduce the cost of transportation.
Both the transportation problem and the transhipment problem are also quite widely used for planning bulk distribution, especially in the USA where the (road) distances travelled are large. Transportation problem deals with distributing any commodity from any group of ‘sources’ to any group of destinations or ‘sinks’ in the most cost effective way with a given ‘supply’ and ‘demand’ constraints. There always exists an optimal solution to the balanced transportation problem.
In case of unbalanced transportation problem, the total availability is not equal of total demand, thus some of the source and/or destination constraints are satisfied as inequalities. For example, sometimes, one wishes to keep reserve stocks at the sources for emergencies thereby restricting the total transportation flow to a known specified level, it results in a transportation problem with impaired flow. For example, stockiest reserves the goods viz. medicines, food grains and other items at warehouses for emergencies. At this point of situation, some of the warehouses are forced to be closed down or are made to operate below their original operational level, while some still continue to maintain their original supplying behaviour which gives rise to transportation problem with restricted flow. Again sometimes, situations may arise when because of the extra demand in the market due to high storage cost at some sources or during festive /marriage seasons or during fire / military services, the total flow needs to be enhanced compelling some of the factories to increase their productions in order to meet this extra demand. This results in a transportation problem with enhanced flow. The optimal solution of such problems is of practical interest to the decision maker.
Moreover in literature, much effort has been concentrated on two-dimensional transportation problems as well as transhipment problems with equality constraints. However, when we have to transport heterogeneous commodities of products, then we need to formulate a solid transportation problem which involves three indices.
All the above scenarios of transportation and transhipment problem are of practical interest to decision maker. We shall be formulating and finding out the solution procedures for all such kinds of problems.
Research Assistant Tasks
You would be formulating and developing solution procedures for transportation and transhipment problems with restricted and enhanced flow and you would also be required to study solid transportation and transhipment problems. You would be learning GAMS (General algebraic modelling system) software which is very useful to solve such linear programming problems.
Time Commitment: 7-9 hours per week
Contact Email: akhurana@email.gwu.edu
Additional Instructions for Applying:
1. Student CV including his/her educational background, software knowledge, awards, research and teaching experience
2. Do you have any previous knowledge of any of the softwares like Matlab, GAMS or C++?
3. Have you ever studied any course on Linear programming problems?

Professor David Alan Grier
Department: Elliott School
The Project
This project explores the technological foundations of globalization and its impact on work and workers. The technological contributions to globalization have been evident form the start. The announcement in Geneva of one of the key institutions of global trade, the WTO, occurred one week before the announcement of the programable digital computer in Philadelphia.

At this stage, the project seeks to build a detailed chronology of globalization and technology with a supportive bibliography. It will involve the use of primary resources at the LOC and the WTO library in Geneva and a few other research libraries.

The GW faculty leading this project is the former Editor in Chief of the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. One of the non-GW faculty is a former representative to the WTO.
Research Assistant Tasks
Build a detailed chronology using secondary sources from research databases. Connect material to primary sources at the WTO library and other places. The time commitment can vary depending on the interests of the research assistant but we are looking for at least 6 hours a week.
Time Commitment: 4-6 hours per week
Contact Email: grier@gwu.edu
Additional Instructions for Applying: A successful applicant will have skills in electronic research and have some experience with a research library. They should also know Microsoft Word and Excel. They should submit an email explaining their interest in the project, their qualifications, and what qualities that they would bring to the work.

Any prospect applicant seeking information about working with this research team, might contact Honors Graduate Melissa Gedney, who worked with them last year.

Professor Melissa Keeley
Department: Geography
The Project
Green Building (you may know LEED) is a growing trend…but what are the environmental effects associated with these practices? Understanding this and the rationals behind the many public policies that promote and require green building are first steps in understanding if these building practices are cost-effective and having the desired impacts on their communities.
Research Assistant Tasks
I have several ongoing projects related to green building that you could choose to be involved with. Some projects are more technical–budding environmental engineers might be interested in reviewing the specs on green technologies included in some case study buildings.
Other work is more policy-oriented. Such students might help with literature reviews of the subject, help with basic data analysis, or follow up with green building administrators in cities across the country so we represent the work of their departments accurately.
Time Commitment: 4-6 hours per week
Contact Email: keeley@gwu.edu
Additional Instructions for Applying:
You are welcome to contact me with questions or for more information. To apply, please send an email with a paragraph or so on why this topic interests you, and any relevant experiences you have had (in classes or out). Please include the name and contact information of one GW faculty member who will serve as your reference and attach your transcript (it can be an unofficial one through GWeb) and a writing sample (a paper your have written for a class will do).

Professors Melissa Keeley, Lisa Benton-Short
Department: Geography
The Project
In the US, the municipal-level is where the sustainability action is. Join us in a research project that uses municipal sustainability plans to understand how cities of different sizes and different region are approaching a variety of interconnected environmental, economic and social issues.
Although deliberately planning for sustainability takes place at different scales, there has been growing attention paid to the role of the city in this process. In recent years, and despite many hurdles, US cities have necessarily evolved as loci of sustainability efforts. This phenomena is seen in many ways, including the relatively recent development and implementation of urban sustainability plans.
In parallel, over a similar time period, there has been a shift in discussions of natural systems—here we call this green infrastructure—and the way that considered utilization of trees, parks, wetlands, etc. provide human benefits. Discussions of the role of green infrastructure similarly occur at different scales, but are perhaps most fraught in urban areas, where demand for green amenities is high yet density restricts implementation.
In this paper, we will first explore the rapidly growing and interdisciplinary literature on both urban sustainability and green infrastructure. We focus particularly on disconnects between the two practice areas, including the discourse framing current discussions and notions of open/green space and density in relation to sustainability at different scales. Yet, we also discuss areas of similarity and synergy, such as the holistic nature of sustainability and urban green space planning processes, and the demand for planning and implementation process that is regionally sensitive and which cross departmental and jurisdictional boundaries. We see green infrastructure as one important tool to achieve more sustainable urbanism, and seek through this analysis to contribute to synergies between these subjects.
Research Assistant Tasks
You will work on literature reviews on mutually-agreeable sustainability-planning related subjects (like climate change, transportation, land use planning or green building). Further, you will likely help in data collection (reviewing the sustainability plans of different cities and understanding how they approach and discuss different problems). We will meet as a group occasionally to discuss, but largely, this can be independent work occurring gradually over the semester or intensively over a break.
Time Commitment: 4-6 hours per week
Contact Email: keeley@gwu.edu
Additional Instructions for Applying: You are welcome to contact me with questions or for more information. To apply, please send an email with a paragraph or so on why this topic interests you, and any relevant experiences you have had (in classes or out). Please include the name and contact information of one GW faculty member who will serve as your reference and attach your transcript (it can be an unofficial one through GWeb) and a writing sample (a paper your have written for a class will do).

Tuberculosis and the Use of Social Distancing in the United States
Professor Rebecca Katz
The Project: Globalization, changing human behaviors and the emergence of new pathogens create an ongoing vulnerability to disease threats. In the early days of communicable disease outbreaks or pandemics, social distancing tools may be the only interventions available to public health officials to mitigate the spread of disease. State and local public health officials’ use of social distancing tools in infection control varies widely, even when these measures may limit morbidity and mortality. Instituting social distancing requires legal authorities and financial resources, and may also be impacted by evidentiary standards, risk assessments, political will, and community and individual support. It is unclear exactly how these factors influence public health officials when making decisions to use social distancing tools or if any of these factors can be predicted. Yet, this knowledge is essential to understanding what actions are most likely to be instituted during a public health emergency and to target interventions to better prepare health departments to enact social distancing measures when necessary. The specific aims of the proposed research are: (1) to conduct case studies of health department experiences with tuberculosis (TB) isolation, (2) to assess the decision making process associated with social distancing, and (3) to determine predictive factors associated with decision making for social distancing.
Research Assistant Tasks: 
– Check accuracy of previously-collected tuberculosis counts and case rates in local health jurisdictions in the U.S.
– Assist in the compilation of contextual information for a database of factors that may be important in local and state social distancing – this includes state and local demographic information, laws, and regulations
– Assist in the transcription and coding of case study interviews with local health department officials
– Assist in project-related administrative tasks
Time Commitment: 4-6 hours per week
Credit Hour Option: 2
Application Instructions: Please attach your resume and include a cover letter in the body of your email detailing your interest in the position and the project, your relevant skills and coursework, and what you hope to gain from the experience.
Contact Email: avaught@gwu.edu

Genes, environment and the development of childhood temperament
Professor Jody M. Ganiban
The Project: This study focuses on the impact of genes and environment on children’s development of temperament (personality) during the preschool years. In particular, we are interested in understanding how much parents influence their children’s negativity, fearfulness, positivity, and activity levels vs. how much children’s genetic makeup affect their parents’ behaviors. This study is also designed to examine the degree to which children’s genes and parenting predict early symptoms of behavioral and emotional problems and school readiness. 
Research Assistant Tasks: Research assistants will primarily help us rate the quality of parent-child interactions when the participants are 3, 4, and 5 years of age. Parents and children will be observed as they work together on specific tasks or play together.
There is also the opportunity to become involved in writing manuscripts for publication. 
Time Commitment: 7-9 hours per week
Credit Hour Option: 3
Application Instructions: Send me the following information:
1. Major field of study, year (i.e., freshman, sophomore, etc)
2. Previous research experience
3. Ability to commit for 1 semester versus 2 semesters (we prefer a 2 semester commitment).
Contact Email: ganiban@gwu.edu

Brokering Cooperation
Professor Eric Grynaviski
The Project: Who matters in International Politics? Most accounts of decision making in American Foreign Policy emphasize a thin number of agents, from Secretaries of State to Presidents. This project asks about how “ordinary people,” such as traders, missionaries, or low-level government officials, have affected American Foreign Policy, especially cooperation with militias.
This is very fun research.
Research Assistant Tasks: The primary task will be archival research at three sites in Washington, DC. Two are right on the metro. The third has a short shuttle bus. All are free. I will walk the RA through the process to explain how to do archival research. It is preferred that the RA have a camera with good resolution (not an Iphone).
The specific research can be geared to student interest, including Native Americans in the Civil War or the wars in the American West, the Philippines, or partisans in the Second World War.
Time Commitment: 4-6 hours per week
Credit Hours Option: Consult with your adviser.
Application Instructions: Please send a transcript, brief statement of your interests, and why you would want to work on the project (one page or less is fine).
This project may be useful for students interested in political science, international affairs, sociology, history, or related fields.
Contact Email: ericgryn@gwu.edu