Olivia David is a Doctoral Candidate at University of Michigan's School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS), from which she also obtained her MS degree. She also holds a Graduate Certificate from STPP.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity:
How did you decide your educational path to your STPP certificate and PhD program?
Before coming to UM, I majored in Environmental Studies in undergrad and then worked as a Research Assistant at a non-profit focused on low-emissions development in the Tropics. As an undergraduate, I was unsure of my niche within the breadth the Environmental Studies program covered. I didn't necessarily want to pursue "natural science" research and liked my environmental policy, economics, and law courses but didn't quite know what to do with that. In hindsight, I didn't know what it meant to "do research" beyond the lab experiment type of research I'd been exposed to in my basic chemistry, biology, and geology classes. Once I started doing policy-related research, I realized that was the type of thing I wanted to do and fortunately had some great mentors who encouraged me to apply to graduate school and helped me navigate securing funding to pursue it. I ended up at U-M never having been to Michigan before, thinking I would spend two years in SEAS's master's program, but ended up applying to the PhD program to basically be able to keep doing what I was doing!
The STPP certificate program strongly influenced my decision to continue at U-M as a PhD student and helped shape my time in SEAS both in terms of coursework and research interests. I learned about the STPP certificate shortly after starting my master's program and took Intro to Science & Tech Policy (PUBPOL 650) with Professor Parthasarathy during my second semester. The class opened me up to so many new ideas and ways of thinking—I was quickly sold on enrolling in the certificate program, and it became a hugely important part of my graduate education. The STPP courses complemented my course of study as a SEAS master's student, even though the core courses were not specifically "environmental" in their focus. In fact, the range of topics I've learned about through STPP courses and classmates is an asset—it's amazing to be able to make connections between controversies spanning climate, health, AI, and technological innovation, to name just a few, and to use ideas from these areas to build analytic skills to apply to my own research.
What is your research focus? How did you decide on that?
My research focuses on the politics of drinking water policy and infrastructures and more broadly, on how policy can help advance environmental justice outcomes. My dissertation uses cases of drinking water service disconnections in Detroit and in Cape Town, South Africa, to investigate these politics. In these two places, many low-income households are susceptible to water shutoffs if and when they are unable to pay their bills. I came to this topic after writing my master's thesis on policy responses to drought in California and in the Western Cape Province of South Africa (where Cape Town is located), which was inspired by my own experiences and observations in both places during severe droughts in each. My thesis research (published in Policy Studies Journal in 2023) exposed me to scholarship on water policy and politics that extended beyond my project's direct focus, much of which intersected with ideas I was exploring in my STPP courses emphasizing social and environmental justice implications of S&T policy. Informed by these ideas, my thesis ended up focusing on how policy often entrenches inequality—a thread I followed for developing my doctoral dissertation project, shifting my focus to a different water justice-related topic.
How has your experience with the STPP certificate program and as a student researcher affected your research and potential career path? How would you explain STPP's intersection with the topics of the environment and energy?
I have been involved in the STPP program as a student, a GSI for PUBPOL 510, and a Research Assistant for the Community Partnerships Initiative. In these roles, I have learned about so many new topics, sharpened my policy analysis and writing skills, and had opportunities to work with other students and with several community partners —all of which has contributed to my research interests and approach. The STPP alumni community has also been a great resource in terms of offering insight into a range of potential career opportunities.
In terms of STPP's intersection with environment and energy topics, it is difficult to imagine an environment/energy topic that wouldn't benefit from an STPP-informed approach! The ways we interact with the environment and approach environmental challenges are fully entwined with and shaped by [science and techology] policy and politics, whether we're talking about regulating pollutants, building infrastructures, or developing renewable energy technologies. The complementary value of STPP to studying environmental topics comes not only from the critical thinking skills STPP courses build and demand, but also because it is increasingly important for environmental and energy research to be policy-engaged, and for researchers to engage in politics and understand policy processes. It is also increasingly clear that science and technology policy, including in relation to funding science and technology research, has implications across society—and that environmental and energy related policy conflicts will continue to be contentious in US and global politics, requiring the type of insights that STPP students will be prepared to develop and are already contributing!
Any advice you'd give to future STPP students? Anything else you'd like to add?
Be open to learning from critique, and prepare to be unsettled in what you think you know! My experience is that the more open you are to challenging your own ways of thinking, the more you'll get out of the STPP courses. Also, take advantage of the opportunities to connect with colleagues across campus that the STPP program provides. Lastly, take advantage of the Ford School's writing instructors! I've really benefited from having access to the writing center as an STPP student, even for writing unrelated to courses, like grant applications.