Get Out There with SPIA – Slides & Recordings

Please find below links to the 3-minute presentations given during the “Get Out There with SPIA” event held on February 10. The slides from the event can be accessed here.

If you have any questions about a specific program/course, please reach out to the lead faculty member(s) listed below. The first two summer programs have an application deadline of February 15, so please apply before then if you would like to be considered for one of these.

Washington, D.C. Semester, Leadership through Policy & Governance (WSLG) (Summer) & U.S. Congressional Oversight in Action (Winter)

WSLG Application Deadline: February 15
Contacts: Matthew Dull, mdull@vt.edu; Charity Boyette, boyettecl@vt.edu

Study Abroad in Italy (Florence, Pisa, and the Apuan Alps), Sustainable Transitions in Employment, Economic Welfare, and the Environment (Summer)

Application Deadline: February 15
Contact: Ralph Hall, rphall@vt.edu
Deadline for CLAHS education abroad scholarships: February 13

Support Provided by the VT Global Education Office

Contact: Theo Figurasin, theof22@vt.edu

Washington, D.C. Semester in Global Engagement (WSGE) (Fall and Spring)

Contact: Ariel Ahram, ahram@vt.edu

UAP 2004 Real Estate (Summer, online course)

Contact: David Bieri, bieri@vt.edu

SPIA 2005, 2006, & 2014 Urban Analytics (Summer, online course)

Contact: Theodore Lim, tclim@vt.edu

Homeland Security Policy (HSP) Graduate Certificate (open to seniors) (Video)

Contact: Patrick Roberts, robertsp@vt.edu

Study Abroad, Sustainable Policy Making & Planning in Europe (Summer)

The 2023 program is full. If you are interested in the 2024 program, please make sure you apply early in the fall semester.
Contacts: Ralph Buehler, ralphbu@vt.edu; Todd Schenk, tschenk@vt.edu

Get Out There with SPIA!

VT undergraduate and graduate students, please join us (in room 111, Architecture Annex or via zoom) on Friday, February 10 at 12pm to learn more about SPIA’s off campus and summer opportunities.

During the event, faculty will give 3-minute presentations on their programs/courses to provide a broad overview of the full range of unique opportunities available to students.

Video of the Center Launch

Please find below the recording of the launch of the new Virginia Tech Center for the Future of Work Places and Practices.

Here is a link to the slides used in the presentation.

Recording of SPIA Seminar with Dr. Tiziano Distefano

Please find below a recording of Dr. Tiziano Distefano’s SPIA Seminar that explores how the Ecological Macroeconomics (EM) and Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) developed for Italy and France could be adapted to study the US economy.

SPIA Seminar (9/16, 12-1pm)

What is the relationship between climate change and increasing inequality? How can a different paradigm and representation of the world help advance a more sustainable future?

In this seminar, Dr. Tiziano Distefano (an Assistant Professor at the University of Florence) will explore how Ecological Macroeconomics (EM) and Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) can be used to merge diverse knowledge, data, and methodologies to address complex environmental problems and their connections with the socio-economic system. Dr. Distefano will present his EM-IAM research focused on Italy and France, and will discuss how this analysis approach could be applied to the US.

When: September 16, 12-1pm (EST)

Location: Room 111, Architecture Annex

Zoom: Register here

Congratulations to our 2022 EPP and SSC Graduates!

Congratulations to our 2022 Environmental Policy and Planning (EPP) and Smart and Sustainable Cities (SSC) graduates. The images below were taken before, during, and after the CAUS graduation ceremony.

AgChain Hackathon Welcome Address

On Monday, November 15, our AgChain Hackathon at Egerton University, Kenya, will officially begin. My welcome address for the three-day hackathon event can be watched below. During this address, I outline a number of the findings we have obtained from our USAID LASER PULSE project entitled “Exploring Blockchain Technology to Improve Food Security Through African Indigenous Vegetables in Western Kenya.” This hackathon is the second project milestone event this fall, and follows the blockchain webinar we held on October 26, 2021.

Recording of the ‘To Block or Not’ Webinar

Please find below a recording of our international USAID LASER PULSE webinar entitled To Block or Not? Exploring the Use of Blockchain in Last Mile Agriculture Communities.

Webinar Description – Blockchain technology is heralded for its ability to improve traceability, trust, and trust in agri-food value chains. What is lesser known is whether it is a viable technology for those value chains that originate in last-mile agriculture communities. This webinar explores the contexts in which blockchain offers real solutions to strengthening value chains and its potential for creating social impact, like improved food security or engaging youth in agriculture, and where it does not. For the optimist and the skeptic, this two-hour webinar aims to discard the trendiness of the emerging technology and take a pragmatic view of the opportunities to use blockchain to strengthen last-mile agriculture.

New Paper – Exploring Smart City Project Implementation Risks

The final paper from Dr. Kushboo Gupta’s dissertation has been published in the Journal of Urban Technology. This new paper focuses on exploring smart city project implementation risks in the cities of Kakinada and Kanpur, India. The list below captures several other contributions by Dr. Gupta that stem from her PhD research:

Gupta, K. and Hall, R. P. (2020) Understanding the What, Why, and How of Becoming a Smart City: Experiences from Kakinada and Kanpur. Smart Cities 3(2), 232-247.
Gupta, K., Zhang, W., and Hall, R. P. (2020) Risk priorities and their co-occurrences in smart city project implementation: Evidence from India’s Smart Cities Mission (SCM). Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 1–15.
“The Indian perspective of smart cities.” Paper presented by Khushboo Gupta at the 2017 Smart City Symposium Prague (SCSP).
“Measuring Smart Cities in India.” Poster presentation by Khushboo Gupta at the 2016 Smart Cities Summit, June 13-15, 2016, Austin, Texas.

Abstract

With an increasing number of smart city initiatives in developed as well as developing nations, smart cities are seen as a catalyst for improving the quality of life for city residents. However, the current understanding of the risks that may hamper the successful implementation of smart city projects remains limited. This research examines the risk landscape for implementing smart city projects in two Indian cities, Kakinada and Kanpur, by interviewing 20 professionals from industry and local government who were closely associated with implementing smart city projects. Seven risks are identified—namely resource management and partnership, institutional, scheduling and execution, social, financial, political, and technology—using thematic analysis. Further, the interrelationships between the risks are modelled using causal mapping techniques. The results suggest different risk priorities among the two types of professionals interviewed. Further, a number of risks were found to be closely connected. These findings suggest that risk mitigation strategies need to take a comprehensive view towards all risks and their interconnections instead of managing each risk in isolation.

A Message for the 2020 SPIA Undergraduates

Since I was unable to celebrate with the class of 2020 today, I tasked my children with helping me record a video message for our graduating seniors. I even managed to find enough courage to record myself playing the guitar 🙂

The online VT commencement ceremony will start at 6:30pm (EDT) this evening and can be accessed here: https://commencement.vt.edu

Congratulations to all of our 2020 graduates!