Amanda Giang is a Post-Doctoral Associate in the Institute for Data, Systems and Society at MIT and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Program on Science, Technology and Society at the Harvard Kennedy School. Her research addresses challenges at the interface of environmental assessment and policy through an interdisciplinary lens, with a focus on air pollution and toxics. While at Harvard, she will explore the theory and practice of community engaged research in the study of environmental health through a case study of the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Superfund Research Program.

Amanda’s research interests concern how environmental assessment processes can better empower communities and inform policy decision-making. How can we assess the environmental and health impacts of human activity given uncertainty and complexity in human, technological, and natural systems? How can different ways of knowing inform policy design and evaluation? How can we integrate scientific analysis and public deliberation in policy decision-making? Combining integrated modelling and qualitative approaches, Amanda’s past research on mercury, lead, and persistent organic pollutants has explored these questions in the context of North American and global policy.

Amanda holds a PhD and MS in Technology and Policy from MIT, and a BASc in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto.