Associate Professor, Schar School of Policy and Government
Contact Information
Phone: 703-993-3351
:703-993-8215
Mason Square, Van Metre Hall, Room 552
3351 Fairfax Drive
Arlington, VA 22201
MSN: 3B1
Biography
Todd M. La Porte is an associate professor in the Schar School of Policy andGovernment at AV. His current research interests include climate change adaptation policy and governance, organizational and social resiliency.
La Porte has also worked on governance and the use and impacts of networked information technologies, for which he has received National Science Foundation and Pew Foundation support, public attitudes to technology and homeland security, with Department of Homeland Security funding, critical infrastructure protection, and organizational responses to extreme events, such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. His most recent major publication in this area is as contributor to and coeditor ofSeeds of Disaster, Roots of Response: How Private Action Can Reduce Public Vulnerability,with Philip Auerswald, Lewis M. Branscomb, and Erwann Michel-Kerjan (Cambridge University Press, 2006).
La Porte is currently on leave in the Office of Policy, Environmental Protection Agency, working on resilient cities, climate adaptation policy and interagency climate adaptation planning. He is also appointed visiting professor at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, working on societal dimensions of the energy transition.
La Porte teaches courses on climate change adaptation policy; global political economy; critical infrastructures and extreme events; global Internet public policy; technology and institutional change; and culture, organizations and technology.
Before coming to Mason, La Porte was a member of the faculty of technology, policy and management at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, where he was associate professor. From 1989 to 1995, he was an analyst at the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), a research office of the U.S. Congress, where he worked on the role of wireless telecommunications and the National Information Infrastructure, international trade in telecommunications services and U.S. policy, and international defense industrial cooperation and the arms trade.
In addition to his work at OTA, La Porte has published work in public organizational challenges of the web in disaster assistance, on European technology assessment methodologies and practices, and on the social implications of telecommunications mobility.
He received his PhD in political science from Yale University in 1989, and his BA in sociology and political science from Swarthmore College in 1980. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Curriculum Vitae
ViewTodd M. La Porte'sCV
School of Public Policy
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3401 North Fairfax Dr.
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(703)993-3351
tlaporte@gmu.edu
Home
3215 Morrison St. NW Washington,DC20015
(202)686-7115
t.laporte@verizon.net
Education
YaleUniversity,Political Science
..,1984,.ʳ.,1985,ʳ..,1989
Dissertation:“TSocialOrganizationalPropertiesofLarge-scaleInformationNetworks: Telecommunications and Television Broadcasting in France”
Fields ComparativePolitics,EuropeanPolitics,Policy SciencesandPublic Administration
Institutd’EtudesPolitiques,Paris,France
1981-1982
NewYorkUniversity,FrenchStudiesProgram
1980-82
SwarthmoreCollege,SociologyandPoliticalScience
B.A.withHonors,1980
TeachingandResearch
Frank Talbott, Jr. Visiting Associate Professor
January-May2006
Program on Science, Technology and Society
SchoolofEngineering
University of Virginia
Byinvitation, teach a newcourse on “Politics and Policy in Science and Technology,” and work with facultyandstaffontheDz’spublicpolicycurriculumandinternshipprograms. Advisestudents, conduct research, maintain presence on campus three to fours days per week.
AssociateProfessor(tenure-track)
June2000-present
Visiting Research Associate Professor
July1998-June2000
School of Public Policy
GeorgeMason University
Teach and research issues in critical infrastructure protection, homeland security, and organizational strategiesforpublicresponsetoextremeevents. Maintainsubstantialresearch interestsinnetworked society, large technical systems, information and communications policy, public organizations and institutional change, particularly relating to the Internet. Also maintain research interest in critical infrastructures, institutional capacity and organizational response capability. Emphasis on the international dimensions of organizational and technological change.
Courses
"Culture,OrganizationsandTechnology"
“ADztoInternationalCommerce andʴDZ”(InternationalPoliticalEconomy)
"Critical Infrastructures, Natural and Technological Disasters, and Public Policy"
“Information, Technologies, and Institutional Change”
“TԴDZDzPolicyandInternationalStrategies:GlobalInternet PoliciesandTrajectories”
“T Global Information Economy:Prospects for Development”
Research
Research on organization-theoretic approaches to critical infrastructure protection and essentialservice provisionunderextreme stress,includingterrorist attacks.Large-sample survey research work on public attitudes to vulnerability and public confidence, and experimentation with public participation in policy analysis.
NSF-sponsored project on government use of World Wide Web collects and maintains web-baseddataandexamines diffusion,use,andanalyzesorganizationalimplicationsof Webforpublicagencies, worldwide.Teamhasidentifiedanewindicator permittinglarge- scale cross-national comparisons of bureaucratic and organization behavior with both theoretical and practical use.
Grants
SubcontractortoUniversityofCalifornia,SanDiegoandIdahoNational Labs,curriculum development project, “Cپ Infrastructure and Control Systems Security Curriculum: Tools to create a masters level course on the security and resilience of critical infrastructures with emphasis on control systems security” (2006) $6,000.
“BٷɱFearandComplacency:SustainingPreparednessandResponseCapabilities for Extreme Events.” Exploratory analysis of issues in sustaining social watchfulness to deal withverylarge-scaleextreme events.Fundingthrough SchoolofPublicPolicyfrom Mr. Bardyl Tirana, former director of the Civil Defense Preparedness Agency. (2006) $10,000.
Principal investigator, Critical Infrastructure Working Group, AV School of Public Policy: "Critical Infrastructure Protection, Vulnerability and Public Confidence." Analysis from citizens' perspectives, using novel deliberative techniques. Second phase consisted of large-scale public opinion survey. Funding for both phases originated in the Department of Homeland Security. (2004-2005). $165,000.
"Expert Workshop on Private Efficiency, Public Vulnerability: Developing Sustainable Strategies for Protecting Critical Infrastructure," Critical Infrastructure Protection Project, $175,000. Co-PI with Phil Auerswald. Project resulted in edited volume of contributed papers, and own original work, 2006.
"HighReliabilityNetworks,DisasterMitigationandtheWorld TradeCenter:Analysis of Technological, Organizational and Social Factors Affecting Performance of a Critical National Economic Concentration." (2002).
"AComparativeAnalysisofTechnological,OrganizationalandHuman FactorsAffecting SecurityofNetwork-DependentCivilian andMilitaryInfrastructureClusters:CrystalCity and the Washington Navy Yard" (2002).
Fundingforbothprojects jointlyprovidedCritical InfrastructureProtectionProject(CIPP), AV School of Law, National Defense University and Dept. of the Navy. $225,000.
Co-principalinvestigator,NationalScienceFoundation,“GDZԳԳinCyberspace” (1996, 2000).
Prof.ChrisDemchak,Univ.ofArizona, co-principalinvestigator,Prof.ChristianFriis,Univ. of Roskilde, Denmark, collaborating investigator. $49,878.
Principal investigator in Pew Project on the Internet and American Life on U.S. Federal Government web operations' openness and effectiveness (2000). Prof. Chris Demchak, Univ. of Arizona, collaborating investigator. $20,000.
AssociateProfessor(tenured)
InformationandCommunicationsTechnologySection
Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management
DelftUniversityofTechnology August1996-June1998
Taught and did research in information and communications policy, comparative public policy, infrastructurestudies,andtechnology,organizationsandpolitics.Advised undergraduateandgraduate students’ papers, projects, theses and dissertations. Supervised student assistants.
PolicyResearchand Analysis
VicePresident
InstituteforTechnology Assessment
Washington,DC October1995-May1996
Co-founderofprivate,non-profit,technologyandpolicyanalysisorganization,asprivatesuccessor to the Office of Technology Assessment.
Analyst
OfficeofTechnologyAssessment,U.S.Congress
Washington,DC
November1989-September1995
Researched,wrote, andpublishedfourmajorbook-lengthanalyticalstudiesonsignificantpolicyissues for Committees of the United States Congress. Projects undertaken utilized three to seven team members.
Publications
Edited Volume
SeedsofDisaster,Roots ofResponse:HowPrivateAction CanReducePublic Vulnerability,co-editedwithPhil Auerswald, Lewis Branscomb, and Erwann Meichel-Kerjan, (New York:Cambridge University Press, 2006). Authoredchapters6,10,co-authoredchapters1,26.
Articles
“TChallengeofProtectingCriticalԴڰٰܳٳܰ,”inIssuesinScience andTechnology,Fall2005,co- authors Phil Auerswald, Lewis Branscomb, and Erwann Meichel-Kerjan.
"CyberdemocracyorPotemkine-Villages:E-GovernmentinOECDandPost-CommunistCountries,"co- authored with Ivan Katchanovski, International Journal of Public Administration,special issue on e- government, vol. 28, nos. 7/8, 2005.
“BeingGoodandDoingWell: OrganizationalOpennessandGovernmentEffectivenessontheWorld Wide ±,”BulletinoftheAmericanSociety forInformationScience andTechnology,vol.31,no.3,Sept.2005, pp. 23-27.
dzandBureaucracyintheAgeoftheWeb:Empirical FindingsandTheoreticalܱپDzԲ,”co- authored with Martin de Jong and Chris C. Demchak, Administration & Society, vol. 34, no. 4, September 2002, pp. 411-446.
“WԲGovernance:GlobalTrends acrossNationalLevelPublicԳ,”co-authoredwithChrisC. Demchak and Christian Friis, Communications of the ACM,January, 2001.
“Contingencies and Communications in Cyberspace:the World Wide Web and Non-Hierarchical Coordination,”JournalofContingenciesandCrisisManagement,vol.7,No.4,December1999,pp.215- 224.
“NewOpportunitiesforTechnologyAssessmentinthePost-OTA World,”TechnologicalForecastingand Social Change,vol. 54, nos. 2 & 3, February/March, 1997, pp. 199-214.
“TԴDZDz, Language, and Public Decisions:Finding Common Ground for Experts and Citizens,” co- authoredwithDavidD.Jensen, Proceedings,1996InternationalSymposium onTechnologyandSociety, IEEE, June 1996.
Chapters
“WԲGovernance:National DifferencesinConstructingthePublic,”2nded.,co-authoredwith Chris C. Demchak and Chris Weare, in G. David Garson, ed.,Handbook of Public Information Systems, (New York: Marcel Dekker Publishers, 2004).
“ShapingtheInformationRevolution:TheInformationSuperhighwayandParliamentaryTechnology Assessment” in Norman Vig and Herbert Paschen, eds., Multivisioning the Future:Parliamentary Technology Assessment in Europe,(Albany:SUNY Press, 1999).
“WԲ Governance:National Differences in Constructing the Public Face,” co-authored with, Chris C. DemchakandChristianFriis, inG.DavidGarson,ed.,Handbook ofPublicInformationSystems,(NewYork: Marcel Dekker Publishers, 1999).
“Offentlig forvaltning på World Wide Web:Evaluering af åbenhed,” (Public Administration on the World WideWeb:EvaluatingOpenness),co-authoredwithChristianFriis,ChrisC.Demchak,inK.V.Andersen, C.S.Friis,andJensHoff,eds.,Informationsteknologi,organisationogforandring:denoffentligesektor under forvandling, (Information Technology, Organization and Change:Transformation of Public Administration),DJØF-forlaget, København, 1999.
“ReflectionsonConfiguringPublicAgenciesinCyberspace:AConceptualInvestigation,”co-authoredwith Chris C. Demchak, and Christian Friis, in Public Administration in an Information Age:A Handbook,I. Th. M.SnellenandW.B.H.J.vandeDonk,eds.,(Amsterdam:IOSPress,1998),pp.225-244.
Reports
“Cپ Infrastructure:Citizens’ Views of Protection in the National Capital Region:a Summary of the CitizenPanelonCriticalInfrastructureProtection,VulnerabilityandPublicDzԴھԳ,”ch.14,May2005, and
“CپInfrastructureProtection,VulnerabilityandPublicConfidence:AReportonthePublic Opinion Surveys of the United States and the National Capital Region,” ch. 15, September 2005.
Bothchaptersareincluded infinalreport toU.S.DepartmentofHomelandSecurity underUrban Area Security Initiative grant #03-TU-03, under the direction of the Senior Policy Group of the National Capital Region, May 15, 2005.
"OrganizationStudiesandCriticalInfrastructureProtection,"CriticalInfrastructureProtectionProjectAnnual Research Review, 2004.
“NationalDifferencesinHowGovernmentsUseWebSites,” TheInternetConnection:YourGuideto Government Resources, March 1999.
“HdzٱGovernment:EvaluatingPublicAgencies onthe±,”DTORouter,MinistryofDefense,the Netherlands, no. 4, November 1998.
Wireless Telecommunications Technologies and the National Information Infrastructure,U.S. Congress OfficeofTechnologyAssessment,June1995.Surveyswirelesstechnologypolicyandsocial issuessuchas mobility, federal preemption of local land use, privacy and security, health effects, and interference with other electronic devices.
U.S.TelecommunicationsServicesinEuropean Markets,U.S.CongressOfficeofTechnologyAssessment, August 1993. Analyzes U.S. services trade dependent on telecommunications networks.
GlobalArmsTrade:Commerce inAdvancedMilitary TechnologyandWeapons, U.S.Congress Officeof Technology Assessment, June 1991. Examines the global trade in conventional defense and weapons technologies, the U.S. and Allied defense industries and technology bases, and the technology transfer policies which underpin U.S. and Allied defense technology trade.
Arming Our Allies:Cooperation and Competition in Military Technologies,May 1990. Details the governmentinternationaldefense technologycooperationprograms andtechnologysharing arrangements, focusing primarily on relations with NATO allies, Japan and South Korea.
Papers
Գ:AConceptinNeedofھԱԳ,”prepared fortheResilienceConference,LeidenUniversity, June 7-9, 2007.
“GDZԲԳandtheSpecterofInfrastructureDZ,”presentedattheNationalPublic Management Research Conference, University of Southern California, October 1, 2005.
"Hotlinked Governance:A Worldwide Assessment, 1997-2001," co-authored with Chris C. Demchak, presented at6thNational ConferenceonResearchinPublicManagement,Bloomington,Indiana,prepared for submission to Journal of Public Administration Theory and Research.
dzandBureaucracyintheAgeoftheWeb:Empirical FindingsandTheoreticalܱپDzԲ,”co- authored withChrisC.Demchak,MartindeJong,andChristian Friis,presentedattheInternationalPolitical Science Association meetings, Québec City, Québec, August 5, 2000.
“MԾٱandtheWorldWideWeb:SecondandThird OrderLargeTechnicalٱ,”presentedatthe European Association of Studies of Science and Technology, panel on the Political Sociology of Large Technical Systems, October 1, 1998.
ٱ辱ԲԾԲtheWeb:ConstructingEthnographiesofPublicOrganizationsinCyberspaceinEuropeand America,” presented at the American Political Science Association meetings, Boston, Massachusetts, September 5, 1998.
“GDZԲԳ in an Information Age: Values, Structures and Alternatives for Public Agencies in Cyberspace,” co-authored with Chris Demchak, Christian Friis, paper presented to European Consortium for Political Research annual meeting, Bern, Switzerland, February 1997.
“W Telecommunications and Mobility in the National Information Դڰٰܳٳܰ,” paper presented to the Computing in the Social Sciences annual meeting, April, 1995. Received award for best paper presentation.
“C貹andTrojanHorses, CyberspaceandDemocracy Conference,”conferencepaperpresentedat University of Arizona, April 1995.
“TԴDZDzAssessmentandLarge-scaleձԴDZDz,”paperpresentedtoandpublished byIEEE Technology and Society, April 1994. Organized and chaired panel discussion.
“EܰDZDefenseIndustriesandTechnologies:ChallengestoDZԳٲ,”paperpresentedtoAmerican Political Science Association annual meeting, August 1992.
ٴdzOrganizationalPropertiesofձԴDZDz,”paperforworkshop organizedinconjunctionwith American Political Science Association annual meeting, August 1991.
ٴdzOrganizationalPropertiesofTechnologies:TelecommunicationsandTelevisionBroadcastingin France,” paper presented to American Political Science Association annual meeting, August 1990.
PresentationsandReviews
“BٷɱFearandComplacency:SustainingPreparednessandResponseCapabilitiesforExtreme Events,” University of Pittsburgh, conference on Managing the Unexpected, Marcy 3, 2006.
“GDZԲԳandtheSpecter ofInfrastructureDZ,”presentationinScience, TechnologyandSociety Colloquium series, School of Engineering, University of Virginia, January 28, 2006.
Reviewer,NationalScienceFoundation,ProgramonScience, EthicsandSociety, EthicsandValues Studies, October, 2000.
“Measuring Openness in Government Web Operations:Criteria, Findings and Prospects for Electronic Governance,”presentationtotheFederal WorldWideWebConsortiumannualFedWebmeeting, National Institutes of Medicine, April 29, 1999, Bethesda, MD.
PublicAdministrationandtheInternet seminar,UniversityofColorado,September20,1999.
“T Internet and Society,” seminar with the Delft Studenten Pastoraat, September 1997.
ԳٱԱandٱdz,”paneldiscussantandpapercommenter atAmericanPolitical ScienceAssociation annual meeting, Washington, DC, August 1997.
“FܳٳܰofTechnologyAssessmentintheUnitedٲٱ,”presentationtoTechnologyAssessmentSummer School, Delft University of Technology, September 1997.
ReviewofthecontributionbytheScience PolicyResearchUnit,UniversityofSussex,totheU.K.Program on Information and Communication Technology, 1986-96, conducted by the Tavistock Institute for the Economic and Social Science Research Council, June, 1997.
“WTelecommunicationsTechnologiesandNationalInformationԴڰٰܳٳܰ,”presentationinhonor of Prof.ir. Leo Krul, TopTech Studies, Delft University of Technology, May 1996.
“TԴDZDzandPolitics:IssuesforAmerican ٱdz,”presentationatAmericanUniversity, September 1995.
“WMakesaGoodTechnologyҴǴǻ?”and“TEliminationoftheOffice ofTechnologyԳ,” presentations at Pennsylvania State University, September 1995.
“T National Information Infrastructure Debate in the United States, and the Role of Wireless TelecommunicationsձԴDZDz,”and“TOffice ofTechnologyAssessment:SituationintheUnited ٲٱ,” presentations to European ParliamentaryTechnology Association conference, The Hague, The Netherlands, September 1995.
“CԲofNetworkedCommunicationstoPublicԾپDzԲ,”presentationtoFourth Annual Computer Ethics Society Conference,” Brookings Institution, April 1995.
“U..TelecommunicationsServices inEuropeanMarkets: IssuesandOptions,” presentationto Telecommunications Policy Research Board, October 1993.
“U..TelecommunicationsServicesTradeandPolicy,” presentationatWorldFuturesSociety annual meeting, September 1993.
“PDZAnalysisandTechnologyԳ,”workshoporganizedandchairedinconjunctionwith American Political Science Association annual meeting, August 1993.
Training,SkillsandSpecialQualifications
Extensivecomputerandtelecommunicationsnetworkskills.Internet,wordprocessing,spreadsheet, graphics, communications software expertise, Windows and Macintosh O/S. Graphic design skills.
Frenchlanguage fluency(reading,writing, speaking).
References available on request.
Areas of Research
- Energy Policy
- Environmental Policy
- Public Administration
- Science and Technology Policy
- Climate Change Adaptation
- Energy and Climate Policy