Schar School News for October 2024

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Where Did Your Fine Really Go? Students Are Invited to Make an Impact on Justice Transparency

Andrew J Schappert — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 13:39:58 +0000

Where Did Your Fine Really Go? Students Are Invited to Make an Impact on Justice Transparency Andrew J Schappert Thu, 10/31/2024 - 09:39

Have you ever wondered where the $4.3 billion fine paid to the U.S. government by cryptocurrency exchange Binance actually went? Or, for that matter, in which coffer did your $100 fine for speeding wind up in?

Tauheeda Yasin: ‘There are profound impacts on not only the individual but their family and communities.’

Most likely, most of us never think about what happens to the billions in funds paid by citizens and corporations for fines large and small—you simply pay it to avoid further penalties.

But there is someone thinking about it, and she is building a tool with the help of ��AV students to track monetary penalties and gauge their impact on those who pay them.

And you can help during a dynamic and groundbreaking three-day event that organizer Tauheeda Yasin, an affiliate faculty member of the Schar School of Policy and Government, is calling DataStorm: Ride the Legislative Change.

Some 200 students will gather at Horizon Hall on George Mason’s Fairfax Campus to help build what Yasin calls “the first searchable AI-enabled web tool that will allow lawmakers, researchers, and the public have access to the data to help them make informed decisions about changes to laws and public resources.”

It is called InsightLegi.

Students who participate in DataStorm, which takes place November 15, 16, and 17, will get “get hands-on skills in data collection and analysis,” Yasin said. “We’ll also have opportunities to dive into the data and create a social media campaign for awareness on legislation and policy. Students will also get to work on cool visualizations and gain access to mentorship. It's a great resume builder.”

Registration information is at this comprehensive website. There is no fee to participate and Yasin adds that food and snacks will be provided.

DataStorm and the resulting InsightLegi platform build on Yasin’s previous work and come on the heels of an October proof-of-concept hackathon. The goal of the effort, she said, “is to bring some transparency as to how the justice system funds itself so that we can create more efficient laws.

“Many people are unaware of how a $200 traffic fine can have a cascade of consequences for those unable to pay those penalties. Cyclical debt, loss of licensure, job loss, and incarceration are common occurrences for those who cannot afford their encounters with the legal system.

“There are profound impacts on not only the individual but their family and communities. Many people are unaware of their constitutional rights and also unaware of ways to help rectify issues when they are unable to pay. We hope this tool brings various stakeholders together to improve our justice system.”

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Passion for International Development Drives Double Alum

Andrew J Schappert — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 12:36:49 +0000

Passion for International Development Drives Double Alum Andrew J Schappert Mon, 10/28/2024 - 08:36

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From a young age, Annie Tulann always had her sights on ��AV. As a resident of Arlington, Virginia, she was familiar with the school and its reputation.

“I remember thinking early on when I was younger, ‘I am going to go to George Mason,’ which seems funny looking back now,” she said. “But it was a great school—close to D.C., close to my family, and really diverse. I just knew I’d feel comfortable there.”

‘I’m thrilled that I got my MPP. It’s really set me on the right path forward and it’s become such a huge stepping stone for my career.’

After graduating in 2014 with a degree in biology, Tulann realized that she no longer wanted to pursue a career in medicine. Instead, she joined the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and began working as a program assistant. Within two years, she moved to a new position in the Office of Afghanistan Affairs and the Office of Pakistan Affairs, where she assisted on gender issues, education, water sanitation, and hygiene, traveling to each country multiple times.

In 2018, while still working full time in the Afghanistan and Pakistan offices, Tulann enrolled in the Master of Public Policy program at the Schar School of Policy and Government. At first, she felt nervous entering the program given her science background.

“I didn’t take any development classes or any of that like my peers did,” she said.

Attending orientation and hearing other students talk about their experience helped quell her nerves. A consultation with Jill Deering, senior assistant dean for student and academic affairs at the Schar School, eased any remaining jitters.

“She just made it so comforting for me and made sure that I would have everything that I need,” Tulann said. “It was such a validating experience in the sense of like, you will be OK and you will get through and you will do what you need to do.”

Once classes began, the connection between her coursework and her job was immediate.

“Every single class I had completely correlated to the work that I was doing,” she said. “I took a terrorism class and I was working in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which really worked out well for me, and I started understanding issues deeply.”

When COVID-19 hit in 2020, Tulann was recruited to work on the agency’s COVID-19 task force to make sure rules and regulations were in place.

“At the time I was taking an emergency preparedness class, so every single thing that I was doing was completely aligned,” she said.

In 2021, Tulann graduated with her master’s degree and transitioned from the Office of the Administrator working directly with Administrator Samantha Power to the Executive Secretariat as a program analyst. In her position, she daily navigates through multiple high-stakes projects and works with the agency’s multiple bureaus to ensure that Power has everything she needs.

“I work with the bureaus to make sure that she’s well prepared,” she said.

Tulann’s position affords her the extraordinary chance to attend most of the agency front office and administrator meetings. She has been in rooms with presidents, prime ministers, CEOs, and celebrities.

“It’s a really great opportunity that not everybody in the agency gets to experience,” she said. “I learn directly from the administrator but also from other leaders around the world.”

Earning her MPP, while difficult, was worth it and one of the greatest experiences she’s had, Tulann says.

“I’m thrilled that I got my MPP,” she said. “It’s really set me on the right path forward and it’s become such a huge stepping stone for my career.”

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Schar School’s Mahmut Cengiz: On the Frontlines of Global Security and Terrorism

Andrew J Schappert — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 17:42:08 +0000

Schar School’s Mahmut Cengiz: On the Frontlines of Global Security and Terrorism Andrew J Schappert Thu, 10/24/2024 - 13:42

Associate Professor Mahmut Cengiz: Studying terrorism ‘is not a job; it’s a mission.’ Photos by Buzz McClain/Schar School of Policy and Government

Mahmut Cengiz's first exposure to the brutal realities of transnational organized crime, terrorism, and illicit economies was in films he saw as a young man growing up in Türkiye. But these were not abstract horrors: They were living nightmares, unfolding in real time. The images of suffering and devastation seared themselves into his mind, igniting a fire in him to fight back.

“I couldn’t just stand by,” he recalled. "These crimes destroy lives—thousands, millions. I had to act."

Mahmut Cengiz: His students are ‘exceptionally well-prepared to become young experts in analyzing terrorism and this critical security issue in the U.S.’

Cengiz spent more than 15 years as a high-level official in law enforcement, focusing on counterterrorism and trafficking cases. During that time, he saved more than 300 victims of human trafficking. However, he had a larger goal in mind.

“I wanted to create a model to address human trafficking,” he said, reflecting on the lasting impact of his work. And to do that he needed to apply his passion to a different front—academia— where he could train the next generation of warriors to continue his battle.

Cengiz continues this work as an associate professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at ��AV, where he not only teaches students how to follow in his footsteps but also leads a number of initiatives devoted to dismantling the systems of evil that perpetuate human suffering.

For Cengiz, “it’s not a job; it’s a mission,” he said.

Cengiz is a graduate of George Mason, having completed his PhD in 2010 at the Schar School before joining the Terrorism, Transnational Crime, and Corruption Center (TraCCC) in 2015. His current research focuses on the convergence between organized crime and terrorist networks, a growing trend in the international underworld.

“Convergence equals collaboration,” he said, describing how terrorist groups learn from each other to strengthen their operations. For example, he examines how terrorist organizations have adopted money laundering and smuggling techniques from organized crime groups to fund their activities. For Cengiz, understanding this evolving dynamic is critical for developing effective policy solutions.

Cengiz is currently leading TraCCC’s Global Terrorism Trends and Analyses Center (GTTAC), which collects and processes data for the U.S. Department of State. In its seventh year at the Schar School, GTTAC has gathered over 55,000 terrorist incidents, including attacks by Al Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, lone wolves, and far-right extremist groups.

Cengiz invites and trains his students—there are 16 this semester—providing them one-of-a-kind, paid opportunities to work at GTTAC. Some 150 newly minted terrorism researchers have worked at GTTAC. That work often leads to publishing research and data-driven articles of opinion and to present their accomplishments at international conferences.

“They are exceptionally well-prepared to become young experts in analyzing terrorism and this critical security issue in the U.S.,” he said.

Cengiz appears frequently in international media outlets to share insights on transnational crime and terrorism. He regularly contributes to influential publications Small Wars Journal and Homeland Security Today, writing op-eds fueled by up-to-the-minute data collected at the GTTAC that raises awareness about the interconnectedness of terrorism, organized crime, and corruption.

He aims to make these complex issues more accessible to a broader audience, emphasizing the need for practicality and simplicity. His seventh book, Murder by Mail: The Global History of the Letter Bomb coauthored with Mitchel P. Roth, and other recent publications reflect his continued leadership and knowledge in the field.

Cengiz has a strong bond with his students and prioritizes enhancing their academic skills as they engage in analyses of global security issues.

In the classroom, Cengiz combines theory and practice, enabling students to gain from his real-world knowledge and transforming his expertise into impactful lessons. In fact, students have nominated him several times for George Mason’s Career Connection Faculty Award and the Teaching Excellence Award.

“My students appreciate the practical nature of my lectures and how I integrate field experience with theory,” he said.

Prospective students considering George Mason’s Schar School for their studies in international security will find an unmatched opportunity to learn from Cengiz and other top experts, including TraCCC’s founding director, University Professor Louise Shelley, as well as Master of International Security degree program director Ellen Laipson, Master of Biodefense and PhD in Biodefense director Gregory Koblentz, Distinguished Visiting Professor and former ambassador Richard Kauzlarich and others, including former directors of key agencies and current practitioners in important positions in Washington, D.C.

“We have great faculty with field experience and academic expertise,” Cengiz said, emphasizing the collaborative nature of the Schar School’s programs that often find diverse units combining expertise for research studies and panel discussions.

Cengiz’s work does more than analyze global security challenges—it actively seeks to combat them. His blend of field experience, academic expertise, and dedication to student success provides a pathway for those who want to make a tangible difference.

“You don’t just study these issues,” he said. “You gain the tools to confront and resolve them.”

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Transforming Access to Justice: Students Tackle Language Barriers at Fairfax Courthouse

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 15:17:21 +0000

Transforming Access to Justice: Students Tackle Language Barriers at Fairfax Courthouse Andrew J Schappert Tue, 10/22/2024 - 11:17

From left, Schar School Jurisprudence Learning Community students Mohammed Ibrahim Al Zubaidi and Sharanya Maddukuri, a government and international politics major and Honors College student, flank General District Court Judge Dipti Pidikiti-Smith in her courtroom. Photo provided

Going to a court of law as plaintiff, defendant, witness, juror, or a spectator in the gallery can be stressful and confusing if you don’t know where to go. What floor is the right office on? Which clerk at which window do you need to visit? Which courtroom do you need to be in and when do you need to be there? And which way to the bathroom?

Mohammed Al Zubaidi presents the Court Signage Survey Project to an attorney who advocates at the Fairfax General District Court. Photo provided

The Fairfax General District Court conducts its business at the Fairfax County Courthouse, not far from ��AV’s Fairfax Campus near the City of Fairfax. It shares the facility with the Fairfax Circuit Court, the largest trial court in Virginia. Understandably, the hallways of the campus can be confounding even to those who frequent the complex, much less those who have business there only occasionally.

Now imagine you need to visit the General District Court but do not speak English as your native language. All the signage is in English. You can see there might be a problem.

Members of a team of 15 volunteer students from the Jurisprudence Learning Community (JPLC), one of five learning communities in the Schar School of Policy and Government, are spending time in the hallways and offices of the busy court complex conducting a survey project aimed at helping the court understand the accessibility needs of court users.

The students visit the courthouse in shifts each weekday for a month to administer surveys to those who use the court, including judges, attorneys, deputies, bailiffs, and visitors. When the survey period is over, the students will compile the results to gain an understanding of the steps the court should take to increase accessibility for individuals, particularly language and translation accessibility.

“The results of the Court Signage Survey Project will be sent to the District Court for review and ultimately compiled into a larger report that will go to the Virginia Supreme Court,” said Assistant Professor Shea Holman, director of the JPLC.

From left, Sathvika Kolluru, Sharanya Maddukuri, and Abigail Harmon wield survey clipboards in the courthouse hallway. Photo provided

General District Court Judge Dipti Pidikiti-Smith reached out to Holman for the project.

“She specifically wanted to connect with George Mason students,” Holman said. “We are such a diverse campus and the JPLC is a place where students from many different backgrounds have the opportunity to experience the legal field firsthand. This is an amazing experience for students to interact directly with individuals attempting to navigate our legal system and to spend time in a courthouse setting.”

For Schar School junior Mohammad Ibrahim Al Zubaidi, that’s exactly what has happened.

“The most memorable experience has been engaging with court users directly,” the government and international politics major said. “Listening to their stories about the communication barriers they face in such a crucial setting has been eye-opening. It reinforced the importance of the work we’re doing and the impact this project can have on improving access to justice for everyone.”

Al Zubaidi’s degree program includes a concentration in American Institutions and Processes and a minor in criminology, law, and society. His visits to the courthouse, he said, will help him gain hands-on experience in legal processes, particularly in improving access to justice for underrepresented communities.

“This project allows me to connect my academic knowledge of government and law with real-world applications," Al Zubaidi said. "Balancing classwork and off-campus duties has been a challenge, but it's also helped me develop strong time management and organizational skills. By staying organized and setting clear priorities, I’ve been able to manage both effectively."

Walking the hallways of the bustling courthouse is a new experience for some of the students.

“I haven't spent much time in [a courthouse] up until this point, so it has been interesting to see the innerworkings,” said Abigail Harmon, an integrative studies major with a legal concentration. “I also feel that making the courtroom more accessible to all kinds of people is a really important cause, and I am proud to be helping out with that. I hope that the information collected in the surveys can help with this.”

Among all the court users she’s met, it’s the interpreters who work there that have made a significant impression.

“They are passionate about helping people who don't speak English navigate and understand our legal system,” the Twin Falls, Idaho, native said. “One of the interpreters stressed how important it is to have interpreters, because if you don't speak English and don't utilize one, you might be unable to get the justice you deserve.

“I feel that this was relevant in our survey, because non-English speaking individuals might find it difficult to get around the courtroom, and the courthouse should find ways to fix that. I've had the opportunity to see a couple of the interpreters in action, and without them their clients may have had a different outcome and experience in their case.”

“This project allows me to submerse myself in the exact environment I am striving to be in postgraduation,” said government and international politics senior April Cornelius from Aliso Viejo, California. “The best experience I have had thus far has been surveying people on the third floor, which is the domestic cases. I had a mom with her two daughters fill out a survey, and was nice to connect with her older teenage daughter.

“Nobody likes to be bothered with a survey,” she added, “but it is nice to take someone’s brain off the reason why they are there—most times not for a good reason.”

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Shea M. Holman Kilian

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Schar School Research Project Explores How to Encourage Student Voting

Andrew J Schappert — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 15:51:03 +0000

Schar School Research Project Explores How to Encourage Student Voting Andrew J Schappert Thu, 10/17/2024 - 11:51

‘In Virginia, every year is an election year, since we have state elections in the off years, so it presents a wonderful opportunity every fall to run an election study.’

Turnout among younger voters is lower than for any other age group. In the 2020 election, which had an unusually high turnout among young people, just under half of eligible voters between the ages of 18 and 24 participated, compared to 63% of all eligible voters. Civic groups have launched digital mobilization campaigns, from texting to Instagram spots, targeted toward these younger voters.

According to Schar School of Policy and Government at ��AV associate professor Jennifer N. Victor, relying on electronic communication and social media is misguided. The most effective way to promote greater turnout in this group is by having students make personal appeals to other students directly, face to face. This is the finding of a research project called “You’re the Voter” that Victor conducted alongside doctoral candidate Tim Bynion and several undergraduate volunteers from the First-Year Democracy Lab residential learning community.

“I began this project as a way to engage students both in research—the ‘lab’ part of our name—and the political process—the ’democracy’ part,” said Victor. “In Virginia, every year is an election year, since we have state elections in the off years, so it presents a wonderful opportunity every fall to run an election study.”

Democracy Lab students live together on the Fairfax Campus, take class together, and visit area government institutions for tours and lectures. Victor recruited students for the project both from the Democracy Lab community and across the university to serve as Mason Voting Ambassadors.

Now in its third year, Victor has used the project to help her students better understand how to conduct social scientific research surrounding questions about elections and voting while also contributing to the scholarship on voter turnout and encouraging more young people to vote.

Under Victor’s direction, the research team has refined their methods each year in their search to discover the most effective way to encourage college students to vote. In the first year of the project, they administered a panel survey before the election, asking several students about their intention to vote. Survey respondents were then either sent an email with information about how to vote or were contacted by Democracy Lab students for a one-on-one meeting to provide guidance on how to vote. However, the team found problems with this approach. Responses to their post-election survey were disappointingly low, making it challenging to assess which communication strategy yielded greater results.

Arina van Breda, of the League of Women Voters of Fairfax, training Democracy Lab students on how to register voters in fall 2023. Photo provided

The following year, Victor switched to a field experiment approach in which they recruited faculty partners to engage their classes in the survey. Students either heard a brief presentation about voting during class or were sent an email with the same information, alongside a control group that received no voting information at all. Using a grant from the Students Learn Students Vote coalition, Victor purchased access to the Virginia Voter File, allowing the team to see which participants had voted. “In that experiment,” Victor said, “we found that peer-to-peer presentations moved the needle, making students 11% more likely to vote, whereas emails had the same impact as absolutely no contact at all.”

According to Victor, this demonstrates that there is a trade-off between cost and efficacy in encouraging voter turnout among young voters. Digital communications might be cheaper and reach more potential voters, but are ultimately of little, if any, effect. In contrast, sending out volunteers to have face-to-face discussions with potential voters, especially peer-to-peer, while more costly and time-consuming, achieves far greater results. This means that effective voter engagement, unfortunately, cannot be scaled up without significant expense, a finding that comports with the existing literature about voter engagement more generally.

“Voting ambassadors—students talking to students—work best,” said Arina van Breda, director of voter registration for the Fairfax, Virginia, League of Women Voters (LWV). “My group’s volunteers are mostly older women with clipboards, and when it looks like a group of mothers standing around campus, we don’t make much progress in getting students to respond to us. That’s why we love partnering with Professor Victor and her students.”

Students in the Schar School’s First-Year Democracy Lab assisted with a research project to find the most effective way to promote voter turnout among young people.

LWV leaders train George Mason students not only in the rules surrounding voter registration, but also in the challenges college students might face in registering to vote.

“It’s fun watching the students become effective advocates for voting,” van Breda said. “Information is power, and once they have the training, you can see the confidence they exude in getting their peers active in voting as well.”

“College students often have very different situations that affect how they vote” said Victor, “so you can’t just stand in front of a group and say, ‘Here's what you do.’”

Many students are first-time voters and are unsure of how to register; others are unsure if they should vote at home or on campus. Since universities draw students from all over the country, and the laws governing absentee ballots differ from state to state, it’s difficult to offer generalized information to a large group.

“And so, when there is no one single set of instructions to give all students, it's really helpful to sit and have a conversation with individual voters, figure out what their situation is, what their goals are, and help them figure out the best plan for their own voting,” Victor said.

“Being able to practice public speaking, participate in civic engagement, and work on something I'm passionate about has made for one of the best college experiences I've had so far,” said government and international politics major Maxwell Castner, one of the undergraduates who worked on the project.

Bynion, a doctoral candidate in political science, was equally enthusiastic about the project, explaining that “we learn about experiments and the methodology behind them in our doctoral training, but working with Dr. Victor to create and implement a project like this was invaluable in building my research skills. I feel much more prepared to conduct this kind of research in the future.”

This year’s project, “The Choice is Yours,” is focused primarily on civic engagement in the next few months, more than research design.

“After two years of focusing on teaching how to conduct a social science research project, this year our attention is on activating the campus community,” Bynion said. “Given the high interest in the presidential election, we want to direct our energy to voter turnout, putting our research findings into action.”

In addition to their partnership with LWV, the Democracy Lab is engaging other campus groups in voter turnout efforts including student government, campus housing, and George Mason’s Office of Community Engagement and Civic Learning.

LWV’s van Breda explains why outreach like this is so important: “If a young voter’s first registration experience is a negative one, they may never try again. One bad interaction may turn them into a lifetime nonvoter. They will be affected most by the policies that are created now, so it’s essential that they register and vote at a rate that reflects their longer future as citizens.”

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Live Discussion with David French: What Do Evangelical Christians Want, Liberty or Authority?

Andrew J Schappert — Mon, 14 Oct 2024 19:12:50 +0000

Live Discussion with David French: What Do Evangelical Christians Want, Liberty or Authority? Andrew J Schappert Mon, 10/14/2024 - 15:12

In the 1970s and ’80s, David French said, the idea of the separation between church and state began to fray due to “some of the constitutional overreach that occurred. Governments became way too vigorous in suppressing religious expression in public places, up to and including private religious expression.

“Now we’ve moved into a world where a number of Christians are saying, ‘liberty isn’t enough—we also want authority.’”

New York Times columnist David French. Photo provided.

That apparent evolution in contemporary religious thinking is the theme of French’s talk on Monday, October 21, at 7 p.m., when the New York Times columnist addresses “Liberty or Authority? Christian Political Engagement at the Crossroads” in Merten Hall, Room 1201, on ��AV’s Fairfax Campus. The event is free, and no registration is required.

The appearance is cosponsored by the Schar School of Policy and Government and the Department of Religious Studies at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

The talk will appeal to “members of the George Mason community who want to understand the vicissitudes of contemporary evangelical Christianity,” said Professor John Turner, who is the chair of the Department of Religious Studies and will introduce French. “David French understands the fervency and anguish that characterize contemporary Christian engagement with politics.”

A Times conservative columnist who has been critical of Donald Trump, French is a former Harvard Law School-trained constitutional lawyer and an Army Reserve veteran of the Iraq War. His military service and legal expertise often inform his perspectives on issues related to national security, military ethics, and foreign policy.

“French has been a fearless advocate for free speech, religious liberty, and a principled politics in which character and virtue matter more than partisan victories,” Turner said. “Almost all Americans admit that we need to make more of an effort to talk with people across partisan and ideological boundaries. Few journalists and activists do that better than David French.”

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Schar School Professor David M. Hart Appointed Senior Fellow at Council on Foreign Relations

Andrew J Schappert — Fri, 11 Oct 2024 19:49:56 +0000

Schar School Professor David M. Hart Appointed Senior Fellow at Council on Foreign Relations Andrew J Schappert Fri, 10/11/2024 - 15:49

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Professor David M. Hart of the Schar School of Policy and Government at ��AV has been appointed as Senior Fellow for Climate and Energy at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He joins CFR to expand research and outreach in their Energy Security and Climate Change Program. He will also help Senior Fellow Varun Sivaram launch a new crosscutting initiative on climate change.

“I am excited to partner again with my colleague and coauthor,” said Hart. In 2020, he and Sivaram (along with Colin Cunliff, Julio Friedmann, and David Sandalow) published a strategic framework for clean energy innovation, Energizing America. In this monograph, they outline how a significant federal research and development investment would propel clean energy technology to market faster, simultaneously strengthening the U.S. economy and combating climate change. Many of their recommendations were incorporated into federal appropriations and other legislation during the Biden administration.

“David brings to CFR both deep understanding of the research literature on technological innovation and practical knowledge of the political art of the possible, gleaned from his time in the White House and the D.C. policy community,” said Sivaram. “I am excited to work with him to strengthen U.S. leadership of the global transition to clean energy.”

David M. Hart

Hart’s outreach with the council will build on his large body of work examining clean energy and climate-tech innovation policy. His research areas will include the interplay between trade policy and climate change; and bringing emerging technologies to commercial scale and expanding their adoption globally.

He also devotes attention to educating the next generation of policy experts. With funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Hart led a boot camp designed to introduce early-career scientists to the policy process so that they might position their research more effectively to influence policymakers. He also mentors several doctoral students in the Schar School’s public policy program, providing them with experience conducting funded research. Doctoral student Chad Smith collaborated with Hart in developing the Global Energy Innovation Index, an assessment of how much national governments contribute to clean energy innovation, noting that the United States’ contribution has declined since 2016. A recent Journal of Environmental Management article, co-authored with doctoral student Hyeseon Na, introduces the concept of “future avoided emissions,” or how higher-income countries might export advanced machinery to help reduce carbon consumption in lower-income countries.

Hart is a veteran in this policy space, having served both as assistant director for innovation policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy from 2011 to 2012 and as director of the Center for Clean Energy Innovation at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation from 2016 to 2022. In 2023, Hart was named a lifetime fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals.

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