Category: Current News

Center says farewell to longtime fellow and research assistant

This summer the Center bid farewell to two longtime staff members. First, Lisardo Bolaños completed with his PhD and returned back to his home country of Guatemala. Lisardo contributed to many research documents and publications on P3s. As a longtime GRA for the Center he became a regular face at many conferences. He will be missed. We suggest keeping an eye out for his future activities – there is no doubt he will be up to great things!

Second, we bid farewell to Motoki Murayama. Moto was a visiting scholar from NEXCO-Central, a Japanese major expressway company, and as a representative of the company. Moto was an important part of the team at the Center for Transportation Public-Private Partnership Policy from 2016-2019 and he will be missed. He has moved on to his next position and we are grateful for the ongoing support and relationship built between George Mason University and NEXCO-Central.

Center Welcomes New Researchers

With the start of the 2019-2020 academic year, the Center welcomes two new GRAs from the Schar School of Policy and Government: Hyun Ju (Monica) Kim and Daniel Grimaldi. Ms. Kim’s research interests include safety net programs, gender equality, and household decision-making models. Prior to joining the Schar School doctoral program, she worked at US-Korea Institute at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. She assisted research on Official Development Assistance policy and P3 policy in South Korea. She holds M.A. in Public Policy from George Mason University and B.A. in Korean History from Korea University. Before joining Schar School doctoral program, Daniel worked for the Brazilian Government for almost nine years, first as a researcher at the Brazilian Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea), and then as an economist at the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES). As the leading impact evaluator of BNDES, he was responsible for structuring the institution’s M&E system and for developing several impact evaluations for its projects and policies. His main research interests are in credit policies and impact evaluation methods. He holds B.A in Economics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of São Paulo.

Publication Alert

“U.S. Surface Transportation Public–Private Partnerships: Objectives and Evidence—Extended Findings” was published in the Transportation Research Record, following presentation at the 2019 TRB meeting. The paper is the second stage of analysis undertaken as part of the Evidence project.

Citation:

Bolaños, L., Transue, M., Wheeler, P., & Gifford, J. (2019). U.S. Surface Transportation Public–Private Partnerships: Objectives and Evidence—Extended Findings. Transportation Research Record. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198119858280

Center welcomes new GRA

The Center is please to welcome our new Graduate Research Associate, Eric Childress. Eric is a first year Public Policy Ph.D. student at the Schar School of Policy and Government. His research interests include international development, international trade, financialization, and public finance. Before coming to the Schar School, Eric served as a proposal manager for various international development firms. He earned his M.A. in International Commerce and Policy at the Schar School in 2016, and a B.A. in History from Ferrum College in 2012.

Eric grew up in Arlington, VA and is well acquainted with the transportation problems that the region has grappled with. His professional experience spans international development, domestic fiscal and monetary policy, and federal contract preparation. At the Schar School, Eric has focused his efforts on international trade and development issues; he is particularly interested in how developing economies can adopt trade policies which maximize their development potential. In his spare time, Eric is an avid fisherman and can frequently be found exploring the waterways around the Northern Virginia region.

Center Director Speaks at Reason

Young Professionals in Transportation (YPT-DC), Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS-DC), and the Transportation Research Forum (TRF-DC) co-hosted their 9th annual joint summer event. The panel composed of Robert Poole, The Reason Foundation
Jonathan Gifford, Professor and Director, Center for Transportation Public-Private Partnership Policy, George Mason
Joung Lee, Policy Director, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and moderated by: Baruch Feigenbaum, The Reason Foundation, discussed alternatives to the current highway and infrastructure financing in the U.S. The panel began with a short presentation about the existing model of state-owned highways by Robert Poole, followed by the opinions and perspectives of the panelists.

Center Director Presents at ARTBA’s 2018 P3 Conference

Center Director Jonathan Gifford presented The P3 evidence project: phase I and II during the Public-Private Partnership Conference, American Association of Road and Transportation Builders Association, Washington, D.C. (July 19).

Contact

Contact

Contact

Contact

Contact

Contact