David Popp, professor of public administration and international affairs and Caroline Rapking Faculty Scholar in Public Administration and Policy, is helping lead a National Academy of Sciences committee studying the role and impacts of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs at the U.S. Department of Energy.

The ad hoc committee will study how the SBIR and STTR programs stimulate innovation and engage with small businesses.  They will evaluate the Department of Energy’s outreach to potential SBIR/STTR applicants, with the goal of better understanding the potential applicant pool and the challenges faced by of women-owned and minority-owned businesses. The committee will consider barriers to and opportunities for collaboration among small businesses and research institutions. 

Popp is co-chair of the committee, along with Timothy B. Folta, professor at the University of Connecticut. The group recently convened for a two-day meeting with guest speakers in Washington, D.C. They will produce a consensus report with their findings and recommendations.

“Professor Popp’s selection to co-chair this committee is an honor that speaks highly of his expertise and leadership,” says Shana Kushner Gadarian, associate dean for research and Merle Goldberg Fabian Professor of Excellence in Citizenship and Critical Thinking. “His contributions will not only support the National Academy of Sciences’ work but will also bring benefits back to Maxwell as he will be able to share this important policy conversation with students and colleagues.”

Popp is a senior research associate for the Center for Policy Research and the Center for Environmental Policy and Administration. Additionally, he is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a research network member in the Energy and Climate Economics Research Group of CESifo.

He researches environmental policy and the economics of technological change. Much of his work focuses on the links between environmental policy and innovation, with a particular interest in how environmental and energy policies shape the development of new technologies that may be relevant for combating climate change. His work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Sloan Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Energy, and has been published in a variety of economics and policy journals, including American Economic Review, the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Nature Energy, Research Policy, and the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.

By Jessica Youngman