September 18, 2024

We are delighted to welcome three new faculty members and one new staff member to the School of Public Policy: Justin Gross, Director of Data Analytics and Computational Social Science (DACSS) Programs and Associate Professor of Public Policy; Carolina Rossini, Director of Public Interest Technology (PIT) Programs and Professor of Practice; Gregor Semieniuk, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Economics; and Tess Bartman, Graduate Admissions Counselor. 

Justin Gross joins SPP as Director of DACSS and an associate professor of public policy. In addition, Gross is currently working on projects related to how media activists and politicians (opinion elites) invoke core values in order to frame arguments while at times contesting the meanings and appropriate applications of these values. 

Carolina Rossini joins us as Professor of Practice and Director of Public Interest Technology Programs. She is a globally recognized expert in technology policy and law with 25+ years of experience spanning the private, non-profit, and academic sectors. She serves on the G20's Think20 and the World Economic Forum's Global Council on the Future of Technology Policy. She is a cofounder of two think tanks,  Portulans Institute and Datasphere Initiative.

Gregor Semieniuk’s research focuses on the energy and resource requirements of global economic growth and on the political economy of rapid, policy-induced structural change that is required for the transition to a low-carbon economy.  He currently serves as a Senior Climate Change Economist at the World Bank and will return to UMass Amherst in 2025.

Tess Bartman joined us in the spring as Graduate Admissions Counselor for SPP’s graduate programs. She is an alum of UMass Amherst with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology.