We canvassed the world of the social and behavioral sciences, looking for rising stars whose careers promise to make a lasting mark. We’ll be profiling the top 30 throughout the month of April.

The purpose of this paper is to describe proposals for reform of low-income housing assistance that will alleviate poverty without increasing public spending. Low-income housing assistance is fertile ground for such reforms.

Brendin Duckett, who will graduate later this month, has immersed himself in University life since transferring to UVA after suffering a lacrosse injury.

CARE USA President and CEO and University of Virginia alumna Michelle Nunn will be the keynote speaker during the Batten School’s 2019 Academic Regalia Ceremony on Saturday, May 18, at James Monroe’s Highland. Nunn, who graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UVA with a bachelor’s in history and a minor in religious studies, will address Batten’s Class of 2019 during this special ceremony, which marks the tenth anniversary of the Batten School’s first graduating class.

Leora Friedberg is an associate professor of economics and public policy at the Batten School and an associate professor and Vice Chair at UVA's Department of Economics. Her focus is on labor economics, including research on social security, aging and retirement economic impacts.

John Holbein is an associate professor of public policy, politics, and education at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Holbein studies political participation, political inequality, democratic accountability, political representation, and education policy.

Paul Martin is an associate professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Martin studies how and when political elites respond to the preferences of ordinary people; political participation and advocacy, how and when citizens become involved in the policy process; on the role of mass media; and on the origins and consequences of social capital .

Andy Pennock is an associate professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He serves UVA as the faculty director of Batten’s MPP orientation program, on Batten’s curriculum committee, and as an elected member of the Executive Council of the Faculty Senate. Pennock’s academic research examines public policy in the global economy as well as the scholarship of teaching and learning

James D. Savage is a professor of politics and public policy at the Batten School and a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. His research and teaching focus on comparative budgetary, fiscal, and macroeconomic policy, with an emphasis on the United States, the European Union, Iraq and Japan. He is particularly interested in the development of macrobudgetary rules, procedures, and institutions in these countries, and how they influence fiscal outcomes.

Craig Volden is a professor of public policy and politics at the University of Virginia, with appointments in the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Department of Politics. He studies the politics of public policy, with a focus on what policy choices arise within legislative institutions and within American federalism. He is founder and co-director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking.