Current Fellows

Our distinguished selection committee chose 14 Public Policy Fellows from approximately 100 candidates. The outpouring of interest in these programs confirms the great interest in state and local governance issues. Rappaport Public Policy Fellows spend 10 weeks working in state and local government offices in the Greater Boston area. The Fellows come from graduate and professional programs at local universities such as Harvard, Suffolk, MIT, Tufts, Northeastern and Boston University. To learn more about the program, visit our Eligibility page. If you work at a state or local government office interested in hosting an intern or fellow for next summer, please contact Polly O'Brien at (617) 495-5091. 2013 Rappaport Institute Public Policy Summer Fellows
	Tara Aubuchon, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Undergraduate Degree: Washington University, St. Louis, MO Area of Interest: Housing Issues Mentors: Amy Dain, Dain Research and Ellen Ward, Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development Agency: Cambridge Housing Authority Supervisor: Kathleen Evans, Senior Program Manager for Policy and Technology Project Description: Tara is interested in housing issues. She will be working for the Cambridge Housing Authority. She will be working on CHA's longer term efforts to help residents and voucher holders participate in traditional banking and gain financial literacy. Her summer project will focus on reviewing CHA's current rental collection process and offering alternative payment methods. She will also evaluate rent payment incentives and alternatives to eviction when payments are late.

	Sara Brown, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Undergraduate Degree: Dartmouth College Area of Interest: Economic Development Issues Mentors: Kathy Kottaridis, Historic Boston, Inc. and Devin Quirk, Boston About Results Agency: City of Boston Department of Neighborhood Development Supervisor: Carol Owens, Director of Marketing Project Description: Sara is interested in environmental and walkability issues. She will be working for Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development and working on “problem properties,” including identifying sources of this vacant land, defining groups/categories for the parcels, structuring DND’s portfolio, coordinating agencies, streamlining the disposition process, and marketing available land.

	Mary Burkhauser, Harvard Graduate School of Education Undergraduate Degree: Cornell University Area of Interest: Education Issues Mentors: Agency: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Supervisor: Heather Peske, Associate Commissioner, Office of Educator Policy, Preparation and Leadership Project Description: Mary will be a Radcliffe/Rappaport Doctoral Policy Fellow. She will be working at the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Mary will be working with the Associate Commissioner of Department of Educator Policy, Preparation, and Leadership.

	Nick Carney, Harvard Kennedy School Undergraduate Degree: Davidson College Area of Interest: Transportation Issues Mentors: Phil Puccia, Consultant and Matt Mayrl, City of Boston Department of Public Works Agency: Massachusetts Department of Transportation Supervisor: Mike Lambert, Deputy Administrator and Assistant to the General Manager Project Description: Nick is interested in transportation finance and planning. He will work in the state’s Department of Transportation with the Deputy Administrator and Assistant to the General Manager. While at MassDOT, he will focus on working on improving service quality of regional transit authorities throughout the state and on increasing the efficiency of paratransit service (The Ride) while maintaining ADA compliance.

	Robey Champine, Tufts University Undergraduate Degree: Smith College Area of Interest: Criminal Justice Issues Mentors: Bruce Western, Director, Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy and Jessica Simes, Harvard University Agency: Massachusetts Department of Youth Services Supervisor: Peter Forbes, Deputy Director Project Description: Robey will be a 2013 Radcliffe/Rappaport Doctoral Summer Fellow and will be working at the state’s Department of Youth Services with Deputy Commissioner Peter Forbes. Her project will help guide and contribute to efforts to promote positive developmental outcomes among adolescents involved with the juvenile justice system. She will work with members of the DYS Subcommittee on Positive Youth Development (PYD) to define PYD within the context of DYS and the population it serves, use this definition to develop a PYD framework that informs daily decision-making by DYS staff about the services that are provided to adolescents, “implement a[PYD]-based communication and training program to establish a uniform and evidence-based set of expectations for youth, family, staff, and other stakeholders,” and develop measures for evaluating adolescent- and organization-level outcomes under the PYD framework.

	Araceli Gutierrez, Harvard School of Public Health Undergraduate Degree: San Francisco State University Area of Interest: Public Health Issues Mentors: Dahianna Lopez, Harvard School of Public Health Agency: Office of Representative Jeffrey Sanchez, House Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Health Supervisor: Representative Jeffrey Sanchez Project Description: Araceli will be working in the Office of Rep. Jeff Sanchez (D-Boston) who is the House Chair of the Joint Committee for Public Health. Her main project will examine how the implementation of provisions in Massachusetts’ payment reform, including global payments and market impact reviews, could complement the Affordable Care Act’s community benefits provisions.

	Jennifer Haugh, Harvard Graduate School of Design Undergraduate Degree: University of Minnesota Area of Interest: Environmental Issues Mentors: Carol Burns, Taylor Burns Architects and Josh Bagnato, First Wind Agency: Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources Supervisor: Eric Friedman, Director, Leading by Example Program Project Description: Jennifer is interested in environmental issues. She will be working at the state’s Department of Energy Resources with the Director of the Leading by Example Program. Her project will involve development of a multi-year analysis and a proposed set of strategies that will help the Leading by Example Program develop a plan necessary to meet its next set of aggressive goals in 2020 related to building operations. Specifically the fellow will look at historical and future trends related to energy use by state government, levels of new construction, numbers of site closures, energy efficiency projects and resulting impacts, the carbon content of grid electricity, as well as other factors that all contribute to overall energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in state facilities.

	Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Harvard University Undergraduate Degree: Northwestern University Area of Interest: Labor and Unemployment Issues Mentors: Jim Segel, Smith, Segel, and Ruddock Agency: Massachusetts Division of Unemployment Assistance Supervisor: Michelle Amante, Director, MA Division of Unemployment Assistance Project Description: Alex will be a Radcliffe/Rappaport Doctoral Summer Fellow. He will be working with the state’s Unemployment Assistance Director on evaluating the roll out of a new system for workers to apply for unemployment benefits.

	Melissa Majerol, Harvard School of Public Health Undergraduate Degree: Binghamton University Area of Interest: Health Care Finance Issues Mentors: Renee Landers, Suffolk University Law School Agency: Massachusetts Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Supervisor: Project Description: Melissa will be working at the state’s Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector. Her project will be forthcoming.

	Abadur Rahman, Northeaster University Undergraduate Degree: Northeastern University Area of Interest: Economic Development Issues Mentors: Stephanie Bloch, Boston Municipal Research Bureau Agency: Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development Supervisor: Larry Field, Special initiatives and Project Manager Project Description: Abadur will be working at the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). DHCD is leading a task force of public and quasi-public housing agencies (Massachusetts Housing Partnership, MassHousing, and MassDevelopment) to work with selected communities to determine where planning and re-zoning can lead to the development of multi-family housing in the near future to meet Governor Patrick's housing goal of creating 10,000 multi-family housing units per year as part of the Choosing to Compete in 21st Century Initiative. His role would be to staff this task force and work with community planners to help craft districts to build multi-family housing, that can be adopted locally.

	Mirza Ramic, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University Undergraduate Degree: Bowdoin College Area of Interest: Education Issues Mentors: Joan Wallace Benjamin, The Home for Little Wanderers and Robert Goodspeed, MIT Agency: Massachusetts Board of Higher Education Supervisor: Dr. Carlos Santiago, Senior Deputy Commissioner for Academic Affairs and Academic Policy Project Description: Mirza is interested in using technology to improve education access. This summer, he will be working at the state’s Board of Higher Education and examining how educational technology tools and initiatives can help reduce learning and opportunity gaps for low-income students in Massachusetts. As part of the department's Vision Project, which among other things aims at improving college preparedness and career placement for public higher education students, he hopes to identify how innovative new local initiatives such as edX can be leveraged to meet these objectives more effectively.

	Nathan Sanders, Harvard University Undergraduate Degree: Michigan State University Area of Interest: Environmental Issues Mentors: Neil Veilleux, Meister Consulting Group Agency: Office of Senator Pat Jehlen and Office of Representative Denise Provost Supervisor: Tim Snyder, Chief of Staff, Office of Sen. Patricia Jehlen and Mark Kennedy, Office of Rep. Denise Provost Project Description: Nathan will be a Radcliffe/Rappaport Doctoral Policy Fellow working at the Offices of Sen. Patricia Jehlen (D - Somerville) and Rep. Denise Provost (D-Somerville) on environmental and educational issues. While at Sen. Jehlen’s office, he will focus on a project involving the Mystic River Watershed Cleanup and while at Rep. Provost’s office he will work on an evaluation of education reform proposals in Massachusetts.

	Ruth Sappelt, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Undergraduate Degree: University of California, Berkeley Area of Interest: Housing Issues Mentors: Tim Warren, The Warren Group and Laura Delgado, City of Boston Department of Neighborhood Development Agency: Office of Representative Kevin Honan, House Chair of the Joint Committee for Housing Supervisor: Kurt Stiegel, Office of Representative Kevin Honan Project Description: Ruth will be working at the Office of Rep. Kevin Honan (D-Boston) on housing issues. Rep. Honan is the House Chair of the Joint Committee on Housing.

	Melissa Threadgill, Harvard Kennedy School Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School Undergraduate Degree: Oberlin College Area of Interest: Performance Management Mentors: Meghan Haggerty, MassPort Agency: Massachusetts Department of Youth Services Supervisor: Crystal Collier, Chief of Staff Project Description: She will be working at the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services to establish measures for successful youth outcomes as DYS implements positive youth development practices and protocols. Her project will focus on expanding operational capacity for measurement; metric finalization, reporting system development and specific implementation plans as well as reviewing current performance contract outcomes measures with recommendations for uniform metrics that will provide the Department with tracking measures for service delivery outcomes.

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Current Fellows

2013 Rappaport Institute Public Policy Summer Fellows