Eric Lindquist
Visiting Assistant Professor, and Assistant Director, Research and Associate Research Scientist of the Institute for Science, Technology, and Public Policy
Dr. Lindquist's research interests are in public policy and decision processes, agenda setting, problem/solution definition studies, and the impact of focusing events on public policy. In addition to serving as principal investigator, co-principal investigator or research scientist on Institute research projects, Lindquist provides conceptual and theoretical leadership for interdisciplinary research teams. His most recent projects are in the area of climate change, the use of climate science in intergovernmental decision making, the public understanding of science in regard to global climate change, and on nanotechnology. He is currently co-PI on major grants for NOAA and the EPA focusing on the utilization and understanding of climate variability and climate change science. He is also currently PI on an NSF nanotechnology grant focusing on nanotechnology and problem definition. Prior to joining ISTPP full time, Lindquist held a joint appointment with ISTPP and the Texas Transportation Institute, where he worked for ten years in the areas of transportation planning and policy. He is currently principal investigator on a joint USDOT and USGS project examining the impact of climate change on transportation infrastructure along the US Gulf Coast.
Dr. Lindquist has taught undergraduate policy and planning courses for Texas A&M University, and Capstone courses for the Bush School. He currently teaches BUSH 671: Science and technology policy and politics. The syllabus can be found here: Syllabus [PDF]
Current research projects:
- Nanotechnology. One of my current activities is an NSF funded research project on nanotechnology. I am interested in how policy entrepreneurs and advocates strategically define nanotechnology problems and solutions. The project summary is located here: Project Summary [PDF].
- Climate Change and Transportation. The US Climate Change Science Program's Synthesis and Assessment product 4.7 "Impacts of Climate Change and Variability on Transportation Systems and Infrastructure: Gulf Coast Study." has been published. I was a co-author on Chapter 5, and the report is available here: http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap4-7/final-report/
There have been several news reports on the study:- NPR's Morning Edition
- Science has a good review of this study and another recent report from the Transportation Research Board
- New York Times
- Urban flooding as a focusing event. My current area of interest is in the area of focusing events, or how natural or man made disasters and crises result in abrupt policy change. I have been working with Dr. Emily Zechman (environmental engineering) and Dr. Binayak Mohanty hydrology) at Texas A&M, and Dr. Ron Hagelman (hazard geography at Texas State University) on developing a research agenda and proposals. Here is a poster presentation I did for the 2007 European Geosciences Union General Assembly on this topic: EGUpres_ELindquist.ppt.
I will also be presenting a poster (or paper) on this subject at the 2008 EGU General Assembly in April. Here is the link to the EGU conference: http://meetings.copernicus.org/egu2008/index.html
We have a session proposal on this topic pending for the 2008 EGU conference. You can find it under the "natural hazards" section (http://meetings.copernicus.org/egu2008).
