Faculty

Associate Teaching Professor of Human Services and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Margot Abels has a joint appointment in the Human Services and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies programs. After many years of professional work in the public health and public education fields, she completed her doctorate at Northeastern. Her sc…

Professor, Political Science and Public Policy; Director of the Resiliences Studies Program; Co-Director of the Global Resilience Institute

An award winning author, Aldrich has published five books including Building Resilience and Black Wave, more than 95 peer-reviewed articles, and written op-eds for the New York Times, CNN, HuffPost, and many other media outlets. He has spent more tha…

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Environmental Engineering

Dr. Serena Alexander is an Associate Professor of Public Policy and Environmental Engineering with a joint appointment in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her research focuses…

Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Health Sciences

Dr. Kaitlyn S. Alvarez Noli, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Health Sciences, holds a joint appointment in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs (College of Social Sciences and Humanities) and the Department of Health Sciences (Bouvé…

Interim Chair, Department of Political Science; Professor of Public Policy and Political Science

Christopher Bosso’s areas of research and teaching interest are in food and environmental policy. His newest book is Why SNAP Works: A Political History – and Defense – of the Food Stamp Program (University of California Press, 2023). Previous books …

Associate Teaching Professor

Dr. Cali-Ryan Collin is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Human Services Program.  Dr. Collin is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker with more than ten years of clinical practice experience. Her research and practice activities focus o…

Director of Programs, Arlington Campus; Professor of the Practice in Public Policy and Urban Affairs

Tracy Corley, Director of Programs, Arlington Campus, College of Social Sciences and Humanities, is frequently sought as an expert, public speaker, and guest lecturer in community-engaged research and planning, public policy, law, sustainability, env…

Associate Teaching Professor, Director of M.S. Enviornmental Science and Policy program

Ben Dittbrenner is the director of the M.S. Environmental Science and Policy program. He is interested in exploring non-traditional approaches to promote habitat enhancement and maintenance, increase ecosystem resilience, and reduced effects of clima…

Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Director, Master of Public Policy Program; Director, MS in Engineering and Public Policy

Associate Teaching Professor

Fang Fang is a geographer specializing in urban greenspace and landscape dynamics, and environmental planning, particularly in the context of climate change. She employs various data sources and technologies, including Geographic Information Systems …

Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Urban Affairs and Health Sciences

Dr. Nasim Ferdows, completed her PhD in economics and gerontology at Wayne State University and postdoctoral training at Brown University in health services research and long-term care. Her research mainly focused on disparities in dementia, cognitio…

Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs

Joan Fitzgerald is a Professor of Urban and Public Policy. She focuses on urban climate action and strategies for linking it to equity, economic development, and innovation. In her fourth book, Greenovation: Urban Leadership on Climate Change (Oxford…

Lipman Family Professor of Criminology, Law, and Public Policy

James Alan Fox has published 18 books, dozens of journal and magazine articles, and hundreds of freelance columns in newspapers around the country, primarily in the areas of mass murder, serial murder youth crime, school and campus violence, workpla…

Assistant Professor, Marine and Environmental Sciences and Public Policy

Gabriela Garcia is an assistant professor exploring the intersection between plants and people. As an ecologist, she is especially interested in how ecosystem dynamics on farms influence human decision-making, and how those decisions feed back to inf…

Director and Teaching Professor of Human Services; Senior Research Associate, Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy

Lori Gardinier has practiced in the area of antipoverty/social justice work in community-based settings and as a counselor in organizations addressing intimate partner violence. In her role at Northeastern, she is a leader in experiential education p…

Graduate Program Director, Master of Arts in International Affairs; Associate Teaching Professor of Political Science

Dr. Julie Garey specializes in international relations, US foreign policy and national security, and international organizations. Her courses offer extensive experiential learning opportunities both inside and outside of the classroom. All courses ar…

Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Public Policy

Damon Hall holds a joint appointment between the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences, based at Northeastern’s Marine Science Center in Nahant. His research focuses on the human dimensions …

Professor of Environmental Science and Public Policy

Brian Helmuth holds a joint appointment between the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences, based at Northeastern’s Marine Science Center in Nahant. His research and teaching focus on predict…

Professor of Public Policy, Oakland MPA Coordinator

Mark Henderson’s research focuses on environmental and social policy issues in the United States and China, often employing spatial analysis methods using Geographic Information Systems. Based on Northeastern’s Oakland, California campus, he ha…

Professor of Management, Healthcare Systems and Public Policy

Timothy Hoff, Ph.D. is a Professor of Management, Healthcare Systems, and Health Policy in the D’Amore-McKim School of Business and School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University, in Boston, Massachusetts. He is a Visiting Associa…

Director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs; Professor of Public Policy

Professor Ivanova is the Director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University. She focuses on international environmental institutions, environmental sustainability, and the science-policy interface. The author of The …

Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Economics

Shantanu Khanna is an Assistant Professor at the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the Department of Economics. Shantanu is an applied microeconomist with research interests in labor, development, and public economics. His research explor…

Professor of the Practice in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs

Neil Kleiman has spent 25 years building a career at the intersection of policy, philanthropy, government, and academia. He founded an urban issues think tank, established new university degree programs, and developed innovative and practical policy …

Professor of the Practice in Public Policy and Urban Affairs; Associate Director, School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs; Director, Master of Public Administration

Linda Kowalcky teaches public policy, public administration, and works with the school’s internship programs. Her career includes senior positions in government as well as academia. Most recently, Linda served as liaison to higher education to former…

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and International Affairs

Laura Kuhl’s research examines climate adaptation and sustainable transitions in the United States and internationally. She is particularly interested in questions of power and equity in processes of transformation across multiple scales from individ…

Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs; Director, Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy

Ted Landsmark has been a civic planner, civil rights and equity advocate, higher education administrator, arts and culture researcher, and community-engaged social activist in Boston and nationally. He serves on the leadership committee of the Northe…

Teaching Professor of Human Services

Matt Lee has taught courses in counseling theory and practice, cross-cultural psychology, ethnic identity and conflict (in Romania, Germany, Poland, and Croatia), intro to psychology, lifespan development, developmental psychology, race and empowerme…

Professor of the Practice in Public Policy and Economic Justice

Kim is an academic-practitioner who is committed to community-driven civic research, innovation in city-university collaborations, and leveraging our collective expertise for the social good. Kim previously served as Interim Executive Director at Met…

Teaching Professor of Human Services; Senior Research Associate, Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy

Emily Mann is a teaching professor in the Human Services Program and a senior research associate at the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University. She is a founding member of the Northeastern University Public Evaluation…

Assistant Professor of Race and Social Justice in the Built Environment

Cara Michell is an urban planner with a background in sculpture from Princeton University. Cara holds a Masters in Urban Planning from Harvard University. She was a Senior Urban Planner and Associate at WXY Studio in New York. Cara’s conceptual art h…

Associate Teaching Professor in International Affairs, Political Science, and School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs

Dr. Nichola Minott holds a PhD from The Fletcher School at Tufts University, were she was the recipient of a Boren Fellowship and participated in the Aceh Research Training Institute.  Dr. Minott is originally from Jamaica, West Indies and spent her …

Assistant Teaching Professor

Etai Mizrav, PhD, is a professor, researcher, and consultant specializing in educational policy and inequality. His research investigates 21st-century drivers of educational inequality and discriminatory policies contributing to opportunity and achie…

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and Economics; Research Director, Dukakis Center

Dr. Modestino is an Associate Professor with appointments in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the Department of Economics at Northeastern University, where she also serves as the Research Director of the Dukakis Center for Urban and …

Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and Criminology and Criminal Justice; Director, Boston Area Research Initiative; Director, PhD in Public Policy Program

Dr. Daniel T. O’Brien is a leader of the burgeoning field of “urban informatics”, which uses modern digital data to better understand and serve local communities. He is Associate Professor in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the Scho…

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and Art + Design

Dietmar Offenhuber’s research focuses on the relationship between design, technology, and governance. Dietmar is the author of the award-winning monograph Waste is Information (MIT Press), works as an advisor to the United Nations and published…

Professor of Public Policy and Economics

Professor Prakash is a Research Fellow at CESifo, Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), HiCN Households in Conflict Network (HiCN), Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) Network Researcher, …

Khaled and Olfat Juffali Director of the Social Impact Lab; Lecturer of Human Services

Rebecca Riccio’s teaching and research centers the use of experiential learning to cultivate systems thinking, ethical reasoning, and self-authorship among students who aspire to engage in social change. Her teaching models were featured in Ash…

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Economics

Matthew B. Ross is an associate professor jointly appointed to the School of Public Policy & Urban Affairs and the Department of Economics. He is an applied microeconomist working at the intersection of urban, public, and labor economics. His res…

Director, MS in Urban Planning and Policy & MA in International Affairs; Professor of Public Policy & Architecture

Gavin Shatkin’s research focuses on globalization, social equity, and sustainability in the rapidly urbanizing societies of Asia. His recent research includes a National Science Foundation funded project investigating the impacts of climate change-in…

Assistant Professor of Race, Social Justice, and the Built Environment

Lily Song is an Assistant Professor of Race and Social Justice in the Built Environment at Northeastern University. She holds a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA in Urban and Regional Planning from …

Assistant Teaching Professor of Public Policy and Administration

Cristina Stanica is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Public Policy and Administration. Most of her teaching is in critical core courses that support the MPA and MPP programs, in particular Techniques of Policy Analysis and Principles of Public Admi…

Dean’s Professor of Sustainability Science and Policy

* Prof. Stephens is on leave from Northeastern in 2024-2025 * Jennie C. Stephens’ research, teaching, and community engagement focus on social-political aspects of renewable energy transformation, energy democracy, climate resilience, reducing …

Visiting Associate Professor

Lorna Swanson’s research focuses on using law reforms, inclusive processes and emerging technologies to render institutions agile, equitable and effective in responding to changes in climate, technology, demographics and power dynamics. She has…

Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion and Public Policy and Urban Affairs

Ann C (Anncy) Thresher is an applied ethicist whose work focuses on emerging environmental technologies and, in particular, what risks we’re warranted in taking to solve environmental crises. As part of this, she works with scientists and policy-make…

Assistant Teaching Professor

Akua Twumasi is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University. She holds a PhD in public administration from North Carolina State University. She graduated with a master’s degree in public…

Director of Hybrid and Online Programs in the School of Law; Director of the Law and Public Policy Minor

Dan Urman runs the Law & Public Policy Minor at the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and Hybrid & Online Programs at Northeastern University School of Law. He has taught at Northeastern since 2009. Dan has run various university prog…

Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs; Director of Participatory Modeling and Data Science; Director, MS in Urban Informatics Program; Co-Director of NULab for Digital Humanities and Computational Social Science

Moira Zellner’s academic background lies at the intersection of Urban and Regional Planning, Environmental Science, and Complexity. She has served as Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator in interdisciplinary projects examining how specifi…