grey scale patterned background with a headshot of Fred Boehmke on the far right

Boehmke Awarded $131,000 from the National Science Foundation

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Fred Boehmke, senior research fellow in the Politics and Policy Research Program and director of the Iowa Social Science Research Center (ISRC), was awarded grant funding by the National Science Foundation  entitled, Collaborative Research: State Policy Responses to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus: Patterns, Context, and Secondary Impacts on Health. Boehmke received $131,000 for University of Iowa's contribution to the project, which falls under NSF's Accountable Institutions and Behavior Program.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic presented Boehmke and colleagues the opportunity to study the expansion of public policy in real time, as states have taken tens of thousands of pandemic-related policy actions. Examining these policy actions helps to understand the causes of states' pandemic responses, specifically how states manage a global health crisis, the ways that online communication involving public officials impact management of a public health emergency, and the public health impacts of rapid innovations in state health policies. 

This project was submitted in collaboration with Penn State University and the University of Notre Dame.