Mailing address
George Mason School of Public Policy
4400 University Drive– MS 3C6
Fairfax, VA, 22030
Website
Philip Auerswald
Associate, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program
Contact:
Telephone: 703-993-3787
Fax: 703-993-2284
Email: philip_auerswald@harvard.edu
Website: http://policy.gmu.edu/faculty/auerswald/
Experience
Philip Auerswald was Assistant Director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program (STPP) at the Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. In January of 2003, he was made Director of the Center for Science and Technology Policy and an Assistant Professor at the School of Public Policy, George Mason University. Professor Auerswald's work focuses on linked processes of technological and organizational change in the contexts of policy, economics, and strategy. He is the co-editor of Innovations: Technology | Governance | Globalization, a quarterly journal from MIT Press about people using technology to address global challenges, co-hosted at the Belfer Center. He author and co-author of numerous books, reports, and research papers, including Taking Technical Risk: How Innovators, Executives, and Investors Manage High-Tech Risks (MIT Press: 2001) and Seeds of Disaster, Roots of Response: How Private Action Can Reduce Public Vulnerability (Cambridge University Press, 2006) Prior to joining the faculty at George Mason University, Professor Auerswald was a lecturer and Assistant Director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He has been a consultant to the National Academies of Science, the Commonwealth of Massacusetts, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Washington and a B.A. (political science) from Yale University.
AP Photo
June 8, 2010
"First Newspapers, Now Universities: It's Transformation Time"
Op-Ed, On Leadership at washingtonpost.com
By Philip Auerswald, Associate, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program
"Because talent is the core competitive differentiator of the 21st century, students seeking educational choices will have global business on their side.... Corporations are already accustomed to sourcing talent globally—in many cases from other sets of universities that no one here has ever heard of, but which are producing highly competent graduates. And they're ramping up their own programs of corporate education. As the global corporate world refines its systems to assess competencies directly, rather than relying on the often imperfect signal conveyed by the embossed letters on a college degree, the true tipping point for collegiate education will arrive."
AP Photo
February 2010
"Rail Transportation of Toxic Inhalation Hazards: Policy Responses to the Safety and Security Externality"
Discussion Paper
By Lewis M. Branscomb, Director Emeritus of the Science, Technology and Public Policy Program; Professor Emeritus of Public Policy and Corporate Management, Mark Fagan, Philip Auerswald, Associate, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, Ryan Ellis, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program/Project on Technology, Security, and Conflict in the Cyber Age and Raphael Barcham
Toxic inhalation hazard (TIH) chemicals such as chlorine gas and anhydrous ammonia are among the most dangerous of hazardous materials. Rail transportation of TIH creates risk that is not adequately reflected in the costs, creating a TIH safety and security externality. This paper describes and evaluates policy alternatives that might effectively mitigate the dangers of TIH transportation by rail. After describing the nature of TIH risk and defining the TIH externality, general policy approaches to externalities from other arenas are examined. Potential risk reduction strategies and approaches for each segment of the supply chain are reviewed. The paper concludes by summarizing policy options and assessing some of the most promising means to reduce the risks of transportation of toxic inhalation hazards. Four policy approaches are recommended: internalizing external costs through creation of a fund for liability and claims, improving supply chain operations, enhancing emergency response and focusing regulatory authority. It is further suggested that the Department of Transportation convene a discussion among stakeholder representatives to evaluate policy alternatives.
AP Photo
August 11, 2008
"China's Quick Fall, Slow Return to Glory"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Philip Auerswald, Associate, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program
"...China's resurgence extends to a domain in which the country has historically been weak: science and technology. Twenty years ago, China was not on the list of the top 10 exporters of high-tech products; today it is number one. The United States remains the world leader with regard to research and development investments, but in China such spending has for over a decade been growing at a remarkable 19 percent per year — more than six times the US rate...."
Middle East 2008
"Learning from the Future, Innovating in the Present"
Journal Article, Innovations, Special Edition for the World Economic Forum on the Middle East 2008
By Philip Auerswald, Associate, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program and Mirjam Schoening
"...In this special edition of Innovations journal, prepared for distribution at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East 2008, we have compiled three essays and five stories that illustrate what it means to learn from the future, and what it takes to innovate. Together, the insights in this volume trace a path from present challenges toward a future of prosperity, balance, and resilience...."
May 2008
Financing Entrepreneurship
Book
By Philip Auerswald, Associate, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program and Ant Bozkaya, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2008–2009; Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, 2005–2009; Dubai Initiative, 2007–2008
This important collection comprises foundational papers which offer an understanding of the conceptual and historical substructure of entrepreneurial finance and more recent seminal works about entrepreneurs and the obstacles that they systematically seek to overcome. Further articles describe the variety of institutional forms that have evolved to address the challenges inherent in entrepreneurial finance and the role of government in the process of innovation, entrepreneurship and the financing of new ventures. These papers, complemented by the editors' comprehensive introduction, are essential for scholars, researchers, policy makers and entrepreneurs wishing to advance their understanding of this important and expanding field of study.
July 15, 2007
Old Oil Fears Don't Match 2007 Reality: U.S. Vulnerability, Economic Threat are Largely Overstated
Op-Ed, San Francisco Chronicle
By Philip Auerswald, Associate, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program
May / June 2007
The Irrelevance of the Middle East
Magazine or Newspaper Article, The American Interest, issue 5, volume 2
By Philip Auerswald, Associate, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program
January 26, 2007
A Model to Eradicate False Gulf between Doing Good and Doing Well
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Financial Times, Letter to the Editor
By Iqbal Quadir, Former Senior Associate, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program; Former Fellow and Lecturer, Harvard Kennedy School, 2001–2005 and Philip Auerswald, Associate, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program
January 23, 2007
Calling an End to Oil Alarmism
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Philip Auerswald, Associate, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program
September 2006
Seeds of Disaster, Roots of Response: How Private Action Can Reduce Public Vulnerability
Book
By Lewis M. Branscomb, Director Emeritus of the Science, Technology and Public Policy Program; Professor Emeritus of Public Policy and Corporate Management, Philip Auerswald, Associate, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, Todd M. La Porte and Erwann O. Michel-Kerjan
Seeds of Disaster, Roots of Response ... describes effective and sustainable approaches — both business strategies and public policies — to ensure provision of critical services in the event of disaster.
