Fellows bring a wide range of expertise with distinguished careers in public policy research and practice
Albany, NY — The Rockefeller Institute of Government is proud to announce six dynamic researchers and practitioners as 2020 Richard P. Nathan Public Policy Fellows. Over the next year, these experts will partner with Rockefeller Institute researchers to research timely public policy issues in primary and postsecondary education, sustainability, substance abuse, and local government finance and management.
The prestigious fellowship program is named after longtime Rockefeller Institute Director Richard P. Nathan. The fellowship seeks to connect cutting-edge policy expertise to public problems and the policy community that tries to address these problems. Candidates with expertise in healthcare, local government, fiscal policy, education, law, and social policy were encouraged to apply.
“As we face an uncertain future brought on by COVID-19, effective public policy must be at the center of our efforts to reimagine and rebuild more resilient and equitable systems,” said Executive Director of Research Laura Schultz. “We are excited to welcome this diverse and talented group of experts to the Rockefeller Institute to expand our capacity to find lasting solutions to the problems facing New York State and the nation.”
The fellows are:
Matthew P. Adams
Matthew P. Adams is an assistant professor in the John A. Reif, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, New Jersey. He is a fellow of the American Concrete Institute where he is currently secretary of Committee 555 on Recycled Materials in Concrete. He is a member of ASTM International committees on Concrete and Concrete Aggregates, and Cement. His main research focus is on the use of recycled concrete aggregates in new concrete, developing new understanding of cement based rapid repair materials, and improving concrete durability. His research has been funded by agencies such as the U.S. Department of Transportation, New Jersey Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, and ACI Foundation. As part of his fellowship, Dr. Adam’s will analyze municipal incentives that can advance the use of sustainable and durable concrete materials in construction.
Christopher Goodman
Christopher Goodman is an assistant professor of public administration at Northern Illinois University. His research primarily focuses on the antecedents and consequences of overlapping local governments. His research appears in several outlets, including The American Review of Public Administration, Journal of Urban Affairs, Public Finance Review, Public Budgeting and Finance, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, and Urban Affairs Review. As part of his fellowship, Dr. Goodman will examine the growth of New York town special districts and their relationship to traditional municipal forms of government.
Luke J. Nasta
Luke J. Nasta is a chief executive officer and educator with extensive experience in the non-profit substance-abuse rehabilitation arena. He has been chief executive officer of Camelot Counseling Centers, the largest drug treatment program on Staten Island, since 1976. In 1987, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in community and human services at SUNY Empire State College. In 1991, he made the dean’s list while earning a Master of Science degree in public administration at Metropolitan College. Since 1990, he has been the public policy officer for the Coalition for Community Services, a lobbying group for drug treatment providers in the New York City region. Mr. Nasta was a former member of the New York State Governor’s Advisory Council on Substance Abuse and Alcoholism, and the New York City Bureau of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services Commissioner’s Advisory Group. In 2001, he received the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services Commissioner’s Award for 25 years of Outstanding Service. He is the author of many chemical dependency articles which are published regularly in the Staten Island Advance and has been featured in numerous media outlets, including New York One and Al Jazeera America. As part of his fellowship, Mr. Nasta will explore disparities and inconsistencies in compensation of substance abuse treatment professionals.
Rebecca Natow
Rebecca Natow is an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at Hofstra University. She is an expert in higher education policy and has conducted extensive research into the federal higher education rulemaking process in the U.S. Department of Education. She has also researched and written about performance-based funding policies for higher education, technology use in postsecondary developmental education, and research utilization in the creation of federal regulations governing higher education. Dr. Natow received her Ed.D., Ed.M., and M.A. in higher and postsecondary education from Teachers College, Columbia University and her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. Her dissertation, Making Policy in the United States Department of Education: The Political Process of Federal Rulemaking for Higher Education, received the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Politics of Education Association in 2014. Currently, Dr. Natow researches the federal government’s influence on higher education, including state-federal partnerships, how higher education interest groups influence federal policy, and how federal officials and agencies create and implement higher education policy. As part of her fellowship, Dr. Natow will study the function of state-federal partnerships in the higher education sector.
Lisette Nieves
Lisette Nieves is the director of educational leadership and policy studies and a clinical full professor at NYU Steinhardt where she teaches both undergraduate and graduate students. She is the co-author of the book Working to Learn: Disrupting the Divide Between College and Career Pathways for Young People, recently published by Palgrave Macmillan. Dr. Nieves served as the Belle Zeller distinguished visiting professor in public policy at the City University of New York at Brooklyn College. She has held senior leadership positions in municipal and federal government, serving most recently as an Obama appointee on the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, where she co-chaired the higher education subcommittee. She served as the founding executive director of Year Up NY, an innovative workforce development program, where in the span of five years she grew the organization from a $250,000 seed grant to a $6 million operation with over 20 corporate partnerships. Her dissertation on the relationship between student work and school roles received the 2016 Dissertation of the Year Award by the NCSD–AACC. Her board affiliations include the Education Trust, AVID, Fund for the City of New York, and Jobs for the Future, among others. Her areas of research interest include workforce and education partnerships, community colleges, and college pathways. Dr. Nieves holds a B.A. from Brooklyn College, a B.A./M.A. from the University of Oxford, an M.P.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and a doctorate with distinction in higher education management at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a Truman Scholar, Rhodes Scholar, and an Aspen Pahara Fellow. As part of her fellowship, Dr. Nieves will explore new career pathways that better match the needs of the workforce with the incorporation of skills development in secondary and postsecondary education for minority, low-income, first-generation, full-time community college students in New York State.
Rene S. Parmar
Rene S. Parmar is professor of instructional leadership at St. John’s University, New York. Prior to this position, she was an associate professor at the University at Buffalo. Her research interests include curriculum, leadership, and school-parent relationships for students with disabilities. She is an active grant writer, researcher, and mentor to doctoral candidates. She has published and presented at numerous national and international research venues and serves on the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Learning Disabilities. Dr. Parmar received her M.Ed. from Vanderbilt University and her Ph.D. from the University of North Texas. As part of her fellowship, Dr. Parmar will focus on expanding her research on diverse families of students with disabilities, including examining national, state, and regional data.