CLAHS faculty are leaders or team members of three of the four transdisciplinary teams awarded Destination Area 2.0 grants by the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost in December 2022.

Shalini Misra, an associate professor in the School of Public and International Affairs, serves as the Principal Investigator for the “Public Interest Technology Initiative.” The first project of the team is a partnership with the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency to develop technologies that add cultural and racial nuance to how managers address crises. Members of Misra’s team from the College are: Sylvester Johnson, a professor in the Department of Religion and Culture and Associate Vice Provost for Public Interest Technology; Ben Katz, an assistant professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science; Patrick Roberts, a professor in the School of Public and International Affairs; and Fernanda Rosa, an assistant professor in the Department of Science, Technology, and Society.

In addition, Julie Gerdes, an assistant professor in the Department of English, is a team member for “Pandemic Prediction and Prevention,” and Todd Schenk, an associate professor in the School of Public and International Affairs, is a member of the team for “Invasive Species: Mitigating a Global Threat to Security.”