The Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs is pleased to announce four new honors for its faculty members in 2024.
Professor Joe Shaw, who is also associate dean for research at the O’Neill School, has been honored with a Paul H. O’Neill Chair. Additionally, three Paul H. O’Neill Professorships have been awarded to Professor Shahzeen Attari and Associate Professors Dena Carson and Allison Schnable.
“The faculty at the O’Neill School are known around the world for their high quality research and education, we take great pride in all of our faculty members,” said Siân Mooney, dean of the O’Neill School. “Receiving the honor of Paul H. O’Neill Chair and Paul H. O’Neill Professor recognizes those faculty members whose leadership in their fields has been exemplary, and I congratulate Joe, Shahzeen, Dena, and Allison for their stellar scholarship and all they’ve done for the O’Neill School.”
The positions of O’Neill Chairs and O’Neill Professorships were established through a $30 million gift from IU alumnus Paul H. O’Neill in 2019.
As an O’Neill Chair, Shaw will build and lead a new research cluster focused on the development of non-animal alternatives that can be harnessed to identify pollutants and determine the safety of chemicals. This work will support implementation of toxic chemical regulations, speed drug discovery, and has many food safety applications. This will position the O’Neill school at the forefront of these exciting new techniques. Shaw will also develop an interdisciplinary program in the areas of pollution and health. Finally, Shaw will establish partnerships with universities across the globe to provide research and educational exchange opportunities for faculty and students.
Shaw has already planted many initial seeds that will support this research and scholarly agenda including a winning proposal for a new cluster hire in Precision Toxicology.
Attari proposes to use the O’Neill Professorship to support a new line of research exploring how people perceive where their trash and recyclables go and whether their perceptions are accurate. She will collect novel data to identify effective motivations for reducing resource use and increasing the durability of products.
Carson, based on O’Neill’s Indianapolis campus, will use the resources accompanying her professorship to enhance her current line of research on juvenile delinquency. She is currently a co-PI on a large grant from the National Institute of Justice supporting a unique long-term follow-up of at-risk youth. The support of the Professorship will allow Carson to collect important information on individuals from the original study who are currently incarcerated and better understand their life course.
Schnable will focus on identifying the cost of time needed to secure and use child-related services provided by nonprofits, government agencies, or for-profit businesses. Schnable will analyze parents’ time use using the American Time Use Survey and examine how these costs vary across socio-economic groups.