Category: Research Awards

Living in the Future City: Migration, Class, and Placemaking in a Chinese “New Area”

PI: Xuyi Zhao, PhD Student, Department of Anthropology, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Co-PI: Robert Weller, Professor, Department of Anthropology, College of Arts & Sciences How is urban life made meaningful in a city recently planned and built up from scratch? Xuyi’s research investigates migration and homemaking in a “National New Area” in Southwest […]

Folded Speech: An Ethics of Comings-and-Goings in an Accra Zongo

PI: Emily Williamson, PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Co-PI: Joanna Davidson, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, College of Arts & Sciences; Associate Director, Kilachand Honors College “It is not impossible for a lizard to ride on a housefly!,” artist Nicolas Wayo remarked, directing Williamson’s attention to his wall painting […]

Where do urban trees get their water?

PI: Ian Smith, PhD student, Department of Earth and Environment, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences; BU URBAN Program Co-PIs: Lucy Hutyra, Professor, Department of Earth and Environment, College of Arts & Sciences; Pamela Templer, Professor, Department of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences Read a Q&A with Ian Smith and watch a spotlight video. […]

The Impact of Racism on Urban Belowground Biodiversity

PI: Kathryn Atherton, PhD Student, Bioinformatics; BU URBAN Program Co-PI: Jennifer M. Bhatnagar, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences Read a Q&A with Kathryn Atherton and watch a spotlight video. Healthy soils are a key measure of urban green space quality. In particular, soil microbial diversity is a crucial ecosystem […]

Stress in the City: Examining metabolic consequences of toxicological exposures in resilient urban corals under global change stressors

PI: Caroline Fleming, PhD Student, Department of Biology, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences; BU URBAN Program Co-PIs: Randi Rotjan, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences; Wendy Heiger-Bernays, Clinical Professor, Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health Read a Q&A with Caroline Fleming and watch a spotlight video. […]

Reentry, Employment and Persisting Inequality: Understanding the experiences of formerly incarcerated jobseekers with employment reentry programs

PI: Audrey Holm, PhD candidate, Management & Organizations, Questrom School of Business Co-PI: Michel Anteby, Professor, Management & Organizations, Questrom School of Business Today in the United States, 50% of formerly incarcerated people remain unemployed in the year following their release. Over the past decades, prisoner reentry programs have increasingly provided formerly incarcerated jobseekers with […]

2020 COVID-19 Urban Research to Action Award: The “Aging Disaster” of COVID19: The Association of Social Isolation and Loneliness to Perceived Health, Psychological Wellbeing, and Material Hardship Among Boston Residents Age 60 and Older

PI: Judith G. Gonyea, PhD, MPH, Professor, BU School of Social Work (BUSSW) Co-PI: Arden O’ Donnell, PhD Student, BUSSW This project, in collaboration with the City of Boston’s Age Strong Commission, explores the experiences of Boston residents age 60 and older during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given their risk of severe […]

2020 COVID-19 Urban Research-to-Action Award: Race, Place, and Policing During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multi-City Study

PI: Jessica T. Simes, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, BU College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) Co-PI: Jaquelyn L. Jahn, PhD, Visiting Scholar, Department of Sociology, BU CAS and PhD candidate, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Low-level policing—which includes enforcement and arrests based on quality-of-life offenses […]

2020 COVID-19 Urban Research-to-Action Award: How Are Cities Responding to the COVID-19 Housing Crisis?

PI: Katherine Levine Einstein, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, BU College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) Co-PI: Maxwell Palmer, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Sciences, CAS Many cities have responded to the housing crisis caused by COVID-19 with various protections and programs, ranging from financial relief funds for housing costs to eviction […]

2020 COVID-19 Urban Research-to-Action Award: From the Pediatric Frontlines: Basic Needs, Access to COVID19 Supports & Equity Among Families with Young Children in the Boston Area

PI: Megan Sandel, MD, MPH, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, BU School of Medicine (BUSM), Boston Medical Center (BMC), and Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Health, BU School of Public Health (SPH) Co-PI: Deborah A. Frank, MD, Professor in Child Health and Well-Being, Department of Pediatrics, BUSM, BMC, and Assistant Professor, Department of Community Health […]