Current Projects

Urban Water Innovation Network

Funded by: the National Science Foundation Grant # 144758 and Supplement to 144758

This research project is designed to enhance our fundamental understanding and characterization of the sustainability of urban water systems by comparing trends in the past with alternative future land and water use, population, and climate scenarios. A focus of my work on this project is on household uses, expenditures, and the affordability of water and wastewater services.

For more on U-WIN, please visit: https://erams.com/UWIN/

RELATED PUBLICATIONS:

A Comparative Analysis of Firm Dynamics in Rustbelt and Sunbelt Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

Funded by: The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Grant #20150940

This project will construct firm genealogies for family trees to analyze spinoff dynamics across a diverse set of entrepreneurial ecosystems. The objectives of the proposed research are twofold: to design metrics of firm spinoff dynamics derived from firm genealogies and use these metrics in a comparative manner to analyze differences in firm dynamics across entrepreneurial ecosystems from an evolutionary perspective.

RELATED PUBLICATIONS:

Societal Impacts of Broadband Internet Connections

Broadband Internet connections are within a unique class of inventions that have forever changed the development trajectory of humankind. The high-speed connectivity provided by broadband has changed the way we communicate, work and play. Despite the perception that this speed of Internet connection is ubiquitous, there are disparities in their availability and use. These inequities have important implications for the economic competitiveness of people and regional economies. The goal of this research project is to unravel where and why broadband Internet connections are unevenly distributed. It also seeks to understand how people use Internet connections with a focus on entrepreneurs.

RELATED PUBLICATIONS:

Autonomous Vehicles (AVs)

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are an emerging technology with tremendous potential for revolutionizing our lives. Currently, AVs are in the experimentation phase as society begins to explore the intricacies of their use. We are also just beginning to explore the impacts of these vehicles on the workforce and where people live and commute to work.

This research stream examines the impact of autonomous vehicles on the landscape of employment and the concentration of business activity in cities.

Partners: American Center for Mobility (ACM), AARP, Toyota, and Waymo

Research has received funding from the National Science Foundation, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

emack@msu.edu