National Bureau of Economic Research names ASU public affairs professor as research associate
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The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has named an Arizona State University public affairs professor to its prestigious list of research associates.
Maryann Feldman, Watts Endowed Professor of Public Policy and Management in the School of Public Affairs at the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, is one of 17 new NBER research associates appointed in 2024.
NBER, a network of more than 1,750 economists who hold primary appointments in North American colleges and universities, also named 54 new faculty research fellows. Both associates and fellows are called affiliates.
Many affiliates of the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based NBER are leaders in the field. Forty-four current or former affiliates have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, and 13 have chaired the President’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Feldman will be working with the Productivity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship program, according to her new profile on the NBER website.
Feldman, a full professor who came to ASU in 2022 from the Department of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is research director of the ASU-based Global Center for Technology Transfer.
She chairs the Policy Forum of the Science, Technology and Economic Policy Board of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, as well as the organization’s congressionally mandated assessment of the Small Business Innovation Research program.
Feldman is a senior fellow at Heartland Forward, a nonpartisan “think and do tank” focused on improving economic performance. Feldman serves on the advisory board of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research's global program on Innovation, Equity and the Future of Prosperity. She is a board member of the Ontario Brain Institute. Feldman also is an editor of Research Policy, regarded as the leading academic journal in the field of innovation studies.
School of Public Affairs Director and Professor Shannon Portillo said NBER’s recognition speaks to the significance and importance of Feldman’s scholarship and policy influence.
“Professor Feldman’s achievements are a significant part of why the school is a national leader in public affairs education,” Portillo said. “She joins an honored roster of the most accomplished economic researchers in the field.”
Feldman said her affiliation with the Productivity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship program will provide “an opportunity to publish working papers and attend meetings several times a year. It’s a great honor to become affiliated with this accomplished group of faculty research fellows.”
The directors of the NBER’s 19 research programs recommend appointments as either research associates or faculty research fellows after consulting with steering committees made up of leading scholars. Research associate appointments must be approved by the NBER Board of Directors, while faculty research fellows are appointed by the NBER president. All new affiliates must hold primary academic appointments in North America; research associates must have tenure.
The newly appointed researchers serve on the faculties of 41 different colleges and universities. They received their graduate training at 28 different institutions. The new appointments bring the total number of research associates to 1,475 and the number of faculty research fellows to 338. Twenty-four affiliated researchers are on leave; most are serving in government policy roles.
“Research associates are the backbone of the NBER. They are the long-term affiliates who largely determine the direction and tone of research within each program,” said Kevin Tasley, NBER’s director of communications. “They play a critical role in helping to identify promising research initiatives, in recruiting new faculty research fellows — the junior members of each program — and in raising funds to support program activities.”
The NBER is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policymakers and business professionals. NBER-affiliated researchers study a wide range of topics, and they employ many different methods in their work. The organization is supported by grants from government agencies and private foundations, contributions from corporations and individuals, subscription revenue and portfolio income.
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