At Georgia Tech Commencement, students are asked to complete a survey that includes information about their plans. Last semester about half of our undergraduates reported that they’re moving on directly to graduate schools. Those that are starting new jobs reported on their salary offers and bonuses. Their success is not an infallible predictor of the future for any of our current students, of course, but….. for Spring 2008, Public Policy students reported the highest median starting salary of any major at Georgia Tech — higher than the starting salaries any of the other undergraduate programs in engineering, computing, management, architecture, science, or elsewhere in Ivan Allen College. BSPP students also reported the highest median bonuses.

This is a reflection of the academic abilities, hard work, and entrepreneurial energy of BSPP students.

Congratulations!

The Governor’s Intern Program is looking for bright, hardworking, and enthusiastic people to intern at the State Capitol during Fall 2008.  Our interns range in age from college juniors to recent college graduates to graduate or law school students.  Governor’s Interns work in a fast-paced environment and gain a wide-range of experience in politics and government.

Each intern is assigned to a supervisor in a state agency or Governor’s Office department.  Here, the interns will gain specific experience based on his/her internship assignment; in addition, many interns are given the opportunity to cross-intern in different shops to gain a wide variety of experiences.

All majors are encouraged to apply and interns will receive a stipend based upon their education level.  

The deadline for Fall 2008 applications is June 30.  More information can be found at www.gov.state.ga.us, and I have also attached a brochure for you to distribute at your convenience. 

We are also currently accepting applications for fellows in the Governor’s Internship Program. Fellows are required to be recent college graduates and have the ability to work forty hours a week.  A fellowship in the Governor’s Office lasts for 6 months. The next period is December 18 – June 18, 2009.  Fellows receive a stipend of $9.50/ hour.  If anyone is interested, please have them fax their resume, a cover letter, a reference list and a writing sample to 404-656-7119.

Questions? Contact information below:

Mary Kathryn Yearta
Deputy Scheduler
Office of Governor Sonny Perdue
myearta@gov.state.ga.us
(404) 657-4861

Former FCC official Dr. Michael Marcus will be speaking on the spectrum policy regulatory pitfalls in getting new technologies to market on June 19th at the Centergy Building located in the Technology Square Research Park on the Georgia Tech Campus. The Center for Advanced Communications Policy (CACP), associated with Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy, and the Georgia Center for Advanced Telecommunications Technologies (GCATT) are co-sponsors for this exciting and informative workshop.

The Center for Advanced Communications Policy and GCATT present:

Spectrum Policy for the Wireless Engineer: Avoiding Regulatory Pitfalls
in Getting New Wireless Technology to Market

Speakers: Dr. Michael Marcus and Anne Linton, Esq., Marcus Spectrum Solutions LLC

Two former FCC staffers, an engineer and a lawyer, will discuss the process of getting a new wireless product or service out of the lab and into the civil marketplace. For such technologies regulatory issues are just as real as Maxwell’s Equations. But unlike the famous four equations, policies can change if the change is realistic and you have allowed enough lead time.

Michael J. Marcus joined the Federal Communications Commission in 1979 where he worked for almost 25 years before retiring in March 2004. At FCC he initiated and directed pioneering efforts that resulted in the creation of the unlicensed bands used by Wi-Fi and other products, the world’s first rules for civil use of spread spectrum/CDMA, and the world’s first rules for civil use of frequencies greater that 55 GHz. He had a key role in the FCC’s Spectrum Policy Task Force and directed the preparation of the FCC’s recent cognitive radio proposals. He also directed the successful technical investigations into the “Captain Midnight” and “Playboy” satellite jamming incidents that both resulted in criminal convictions. In 2004 he was recognized as a Fellow of the IEEE “for leadership in the development of spectrum management policies.”

Anne Linton, Esq. is associated with Patton Boggs LLC after serving as a managing partner at Washington Federal Strategies, LLC, where she represented clients before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the Departments of State, Health and Human Services (HHS), Transportation (DOT), Defense, and Education, as well as before elected members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, foreign telecommunications regulatory bodies, and other governmental organizations

Thursday, June 19, 2008, 3:30 pm - 5:00
Centergy Building, 85 Fifth St. NW, Atlanta GA, Room 5126

*Please register by Monday, June 16th to:
Jennifer.Moen@cacp.gatech.edu, or (404) 385-4614

GTPRIND Colloquium
Georgia Institute of Technology
Cosponsored by the Nuclear and Radiological Engineering Program, G. W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering

Nonproliferation, Nuclear Weapon Effects, and Nuclear Forensics

Doug Berning, Ph.D.
Los Alamos National Laboratory

Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Room 3201A
MS&E Building
11:00am to 12:00 noon

Abstract:
The presentation briefly covers the history of nuclear weapon testing. Then, using the National Planning Scenario as the basic scenario, the speaker will discuss the consequences of a mock detonation. Included in this discussion are primary and secondary nuclear weapon effects, the impact on the community infrastructure, and health effects. Finally, the speaker will discuss nuclear forensics in relation to the described scenario.

Biosketch:
Doug Berning received his Ph.D. in Chemistry with an emphasis in radiochemistry in 1997 from the University of Missouri – Columbia. His dissertation focused on the development of water-soluble phosphines and their reactions with various radionuclides and biomolecules for applications in nuclear medicine. He then worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on the development of catalysts for the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide. In July 2000, he accepted a Director’s Post-doctoral Fellowship at Los Alamos National Laboratory where he worked on a variety of projects including the reduction of technetium-99 in simulated Hanford tanks and the coating of hard magnetic nanoparticles for biomedical applications. From 2002 to 2005, after converting to a Technical Staff Member in the Chemistry division Dr. Berning was the team leader for radiochemistry group who supported various nuclear forensics programs. In 2005, he accepted a position in the Nuclear Nonproliferation division to support and lead projects related to community preparedness and consequence management of a nuclear incident. He also joined a National Technical Nuclear Forensics program team that will respond to a terrorist event involving radioactive material (dirty bomb or nuclear device). He now serves as the deputy for the team. Recently, he moved to the International Applied Technology division where he has served as a subject matter expert in other programs such as, the Nuclear Assessment Program, Sentry, and SNIPER. In addition to nuclear related projects, Doug has worked on chemical and biological weapon programs as well as, writing papers on potential threats to homeland security. He has published over 20 papers in peered reviewed journals and has four patents for biomedical related processes.

Refreshments will be served. For further information, please contact Professor Nolan Hertel
at (404) 894-3601 or nolan.hertel@me.gatech.edu.

The Biotechnology Policy Forum would like to announce our upcoming seminar on Wednesday, June 11th at 4:00pm:

“Control and Elimination of Tropical Diseases”

When: Wednesday, June 11th at 4:00pm
Where: Institute for Bioengineering & Bioscience (IBB) Suddath Symposium, Room 1128
Directions: http://www.ibb.gatech.edu/visitors/

The Carter Center Health Programs support the control, elimination or eradication of six major neglected tropical diseases. Each of these six diseases will be described and The Carter Center’s efforts against the diseases will be explained. Gaps in the current control strategies that limit the elimination or eradication of each disease will be identified. As program epidemiologist, Mr. King provides scientific support to the Center’s trachoma program. Mr. King comes to The Carter Center with seven years of applied public health experience from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Through CDC and the International Trachoma Initiative, he helped research integration between the global programs to eliminate lymphatic filariasis and blinding trachoma. In addition, Mr. King served as resident epidemiologist for the American Samoa Department of Health. He received the 2002 PHPS Award for Distinguished Service and Achievement. He holds a degree in Applied Biology at Georgia Institute of Technology and obtained a Master of Science in Public Health in epidemiology from Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.

The Georgia Child Fatality Review Panel (GACFR) is a legislatively mandated body, charged with overseeing all 159 counties in the state of Georgia, and providing assistance to those counties in analyzing causes, risk factors, and circumstances surrounding unexpected or unexplained child deaths.

Applicant Qualifications:
Senior-level undergraduate or graduate student in the areas of Journalism, Marketing, Public Relations, Communications, Legal, Public Health, Sociology, Psychology, or a health-related discipline are preferred. Preference will be given to candidates with strong education or work experience in marketing or advertising, research methodology, community organizing, or health promotion.

Job Description:
The qualified applicant will possess excellent written and verbal communication skills (3-5 page writing sample is required), be detail-oriented, and able to manage multiple tasks. The candidate must also have familiarity with MS Office Suite software, knowledge of the community in which they live, and awareness of child health or injury issues. We are looking for several dedicated, diligent interns to handle a variety of challenging, yet professionally rewarding tasks. The interns selected must be adept at communicating with people from the community as well as attorneys and state officials.

Tasks include: organizing community focus groups, statewide marketing program, working with community partners to evaluate prevention efforts and access available resources, managing multiple data sources, clerical assignments, creating reports and publications based on the available child death data, and other duties as assigned.

How to Apply:
Fax resume and writing sample to (770) 528-3989 or e-mail araheem@dhr.state.ga.us
No phone calls please!

intern-duties1

The Governor’s Intern Program is looking for bright, hardworking, and enthusiastic people to intern at the State Capitol during Fall 2008. Our interns range in age from college juniors to recent college graduates to graduate or law school students. Governor’s Interns work in a fast-paced environment and gain a wide-range of experience in politics and government.

Each intern is assigned to a supervisor in a state agency or Governor’s Office department. Here, the interns will gain specific experience based on his/her internship assignment; in addition, many interns are given the opportunity to cross-intern in different shops to gain a wide variety of experiences.

All majors are encouraged to apply and interns will receive a stipend based upon their education level. The deadline for Fall 2008 applications is June 20. More information can be found at www.gov.state.ga.us. BSPP majors should note that it may be possible to earn some academic credit for an internship experience. Talk to your faculty mentor, your academic advisor, or Prof. Cheryl Leggon for more information about credit.

We are also currently accepting applications for fellows in the Governor’s Internship Program. Fellows are required to be recent college graduates and have the ability to work forty hours a week. A fellowship in the Governor’s Office lasts for 6 months. The next period is December 18 – June 18, 2009. Fellows receive a stipend of $9.50/ hour. If anyone is interested, please have them fax their resume, a cover letter, a reference list and a writing sample to 404-656-7119.

Mary Kathryn Yearta
Deputy Scheduler
Office of Governor Sonny Perdue
myearta@gov.state.ga.us
(404) 657-4861

“Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought.” A hypothesis might be elegant, but if it is proved false, then we discard it. Likewise, a public policy might be efficient and well-planned, but if it is unjust, then we have the strongest reason to discard it. If you can agree to that and if you are puzzled by what justice requires, and how it should be applied to policy choices, then this is your class.

John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice is the most important work in moral and political philosophy in the last century. It showed that philosophy can do more than ruminate on its own self-invented questions – that it can respond thoroughly and creatively to concerns that weigh on every adult citizen: How should we conceive of justice in a democratic society? What do we owe to our fellow citizens? This class will critically survey A Theory of Justice and related literature in order to provide a sound introduction to contemporary political philosophy.

Perhaps you care about public policy because you care about justice. But if you care about justice, then you must care to know what it is.

—————–

Jeremy Farris is a currently a DPhil candidate reading political philosophy at the University of Oxford, University College. He is also a Visiting Scholar in the Georgia State University Philosophy Department. He thinks about democracies, specifically about their legitimacy (what kind of praise should we confer on democratic law?) and their epistemology (how are “many heads better than one” in knowing the answers to public problems). He is also interested in questions surrounding egalitarianism and justice – questions about what we owe to each other. He thinks philosophy matters.  (The School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech agrees.)

The Office of Policy Analysis and Research at the GT Research Institute has an ongoing internship program that offers a variety of useful experiences for policy majors. BSPP students are strongly encouraged to consider an OPAR experience. The internships are unpaid, but policy majors have been able to get course credit for the academic aspects of their OPAR responsibilities.  See the attachment below for details.  Deadline for applications is July 1, 2008.

opar-internship-description-fall-20081

Prof. Doug Noonan provides this information about the Special Topics course (PUBP 4803 DN) he’s teaching this fall.

What are formal models? No, you won’t find them on the catwalks in Milan. Formal models are what we use to distinguish a rigorous theory of public policy from fuzzy, informal explanations. Bold assertions (e.g., “only rain can solve our drought problem”) are everywhere, but it’s often difficult to know what logic and assumptions were used to reach someone’s conclusions. Formal models put those assumptions out in plain view.

For example, it seems reasonable that “seatbelts save lives,” especially if we assume that, holding all else equal, people wearing seatbelts are safer. But what if we relax that assumption and speculate that drivers respond to their newfound safety by driving a bit more riskily? Then we might expect more accidents and more innocent victims. In fact, seatbelts might not save lives once we change the ground rules in our model of safety features, driver behavior, and fatalities.

Formal models are useful in understanding the world around us, particularly when we need to understand complex situations. In this course we will learn about a variety of classic formal models, and we’ll custom-build some as well. These will become tools in your toolkit as a policy analyst. You’ll get practice applying these tools to a variety of situations. We will develop the tools together, then you will apply them to contexts of your choosing. Want to study presidential elections? Sustainability? Digital music, outsourcing, panhandlers, avatars — or Milan catwalks? We can do all of these. We develop the “formal model” tools. You apply them.

Within the first month of the course, you will be able to explain why Ron Howard and Russell Crowe — despite their Oscars — got it wrong when they had John Nash tell us that everyone’s best strategy is to avoid the blonde in the pub. In fact, by the end of the course you’ll be able to offer simple proofs about how recycling paper destroys forests, why group projects are doomed, how patent law stifles innovation, why faster chairlifts create longer queues on ski hills, how winner-take-all games pervade society (e.g., presidential elections, competitive R&D funding, American Idol) with potentially tragic consequences, how a little knowledge can be a very bad thing in politics, how anti-sprawl policies actually might make urban sprawl much worse, how banning polygamy harms women, and other topics.