Researchers tackle R.I. infrastructure issues

FLEX TIME: Helen Mederer, left, URI professor of sociology and labor research, and Barbara Silver, URI social psychology professor and research coordinator at the Schmidt Labor Research Center. Silver is studying the importance of workplace flexibility to a robust state economy. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
FLEX TIME: Helen Mederer, left, URI professor of sociology and labor research, and Barbara Silver, URI social psychology professor and research coordinator at the Schmidt Labor Research Center. Silver is studying the importance of workplace flexibility to a robust state economy. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

As a researcher for the College & University Research Collaborative, Jonathan Harris, an assistant professor of design at Johnson & Wales University, is exploring whether bike paths and mass transit in the state cater to millennials – or should.
His research proposal focuses on infrastructure, which, along with the topic on workforce, has been added to the areas of exploration for the collaborative, now beginning its third year. Other topics include manufacturing and regional competitiveness. All told, 12 research proposals, which range in funding from $750 to nearly $10,000, are due to be complete early this year.
Harris said he came up with his own focus on millennials after participating in meetings on possible study areas with collaborative organizers and policymakers in the state House and Senate.
Workforce and infrastructure issues “rose to the top” as priorities for research, said Amber Caulkins, the collaborative’s program director.
“Infrastructure financing has been a major challenge for the state,” Marie Ganim, the Senate’s policy director, said in an email when asked where the focus came from. “This research question was identified prior to the passage of the transportation-infrastructure fund toward the end of the 2014 session. The question is still useful as it will help us recognize options and best practices to ensure that investments are made now that will save millions in the future.”
Harris said policymakers were looking for research that would identify “a return on investment, which is an incredibly difficult thing to put together. My take is a return on investment should be getting the type of people here that we want to have.”
As a statewide public/private partnership of Rhode Island’s 11 colleges and universities, the collaborative links public policy and academic research. Research data and findings are intended to serve as an evidence-based foundation for policymakers as they develop economic-development initiatives this year. Researchers on infrastructure and workforce topics discussed their proposals with Providence Business News, but declined to share results, which will be shared publicly over the next few months, depending on the project.
“We have a new governor and leaders interested in transportation,” said Harris, explaining why he picked his topic. “I see these things not as a social service helping people [with low incomes] but as a civic service, and until we see these issues as a civic service, we’ll never get past the funding issues.”
For Nicole Martino, an assistant professor of engineering at Roger Williams University, the research question she applied to answer also focuses on infrastructure. It focuses on examining Rhode Island and other states to see how funding structures compare, and how funding mechanisms for development and maintenance have changed over time.
Policymakers framed her question, she said.
Martino declined to identify the states she is focusing on, but said she has chosen states with good infrastructure and climates similar to Rhode Island.
“I am focusing not only on funding approaches but focusing on diagnosis of bridge conditions across the board,” she said, “how those are being improved, and how those improvements are being funding.”
Martino’s biggest challenge has been in contacting the departments of transportation in other states, but she’s been able to get the data she needs and is happy with the way her research is progressing, she said.
Workforce issues also are paramount, Ganim said. At 7.4 percent, Rhode Island has the third-highest unemployment rate in the country.
“Two major areas of continued concern are the apparent disconnect between open jobs in the state and the number of unemployed persons who appear to have a skill match for those jobs, and between open or projected jobs and the education and training being provided to produce the workers to fill those jobs,” she said. Neil Mehrotra, Brown University’s assistant professor of economics, is exploring whether the mismatch in skill sets is contributing to the high rate of unemployment here. He is also studying the impact of the Great Recession, in particular on such sectors as construction and manufacturing, he said.
Two University of Rhode Island professors are also researching workforce issues.
Matthew Bodah, professor of industrial relations and chairman of the Department of Economics, is examining the skills and abilities needed for existing and emerging jobs in Rhode Island. Barbara Silver, a social psychology professor and research coordinator at the Schmidt Labor Research Center at URI, is studying the importance of workplace flexibility to a robust state economy.
Bodah is examining existing federal and state data on jobs and occupations that are growing. He’s also identifying “bedrock skills” for these occupations – those skills that retain high value for the jobs that are growing, he said.
For her research project, Silver is defining what workplace flexibility is and what benefits can be reaped from employers who implement responsive, flexible policies. She is exploring whether control over work schedules is a priority for workers and employers, for instance, and what benefits might accrue from it, she said.
“I hope that bringing a spotlight to these realities in Rhode Island could serve as a foundation for future policy work and future efforts, at the policy level, legislative level or employer level to embrace contemporary economically beneficial workplace policies,” she said. “I’m hoping employers and legislators will pay attention.” •

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