Skip to main content

About Michael P. Johnson

I am professor in the Department of Public Policy and Public Affairs at University of Massachusetts Boston. I am affiliated faculty with the UMass Boston Honors College, core faculty with the Critical Ethnic and Community Studies masters program, and affiliated faculty with the Department of Urban Planning and Community Development. I direct the Master of Public Administration program.

My research interests lie primarily in operations research/management science planning models for public-sector facility location and service delivery, with applications to subsidized/affordable housing, senior services and community corrections. I also use cost-benefit analysis to estimate impacts of public policies and information technology to design decision support systems. My primary mission is to develop quantitative methods that enable public organizations serving disadvantaged and vulnerable populations to develop programs and policies that jointly optimize economic efficiency, beneficial social outcomes and social equity.

I have taught courses in research methods, geographic information systems, probability and statistics, decision support systems, operations research, cost-benefit analysis and management information systems. I have supervised multiple doctoral dissertations, as well as doctoral-level group projects and master's-level individual and group capstones.
For more information about the Department of Public Policy and Public Affairs at University of Massachusetts Boston, go to http://www.umb.edu/academics/mgs/publicpolicy_publicaffairs.

Positions

August 2022 - Present Director, Master of Public Administration Program, University of Massachusetts Boston Department of Public Policy and Public Affairs
to
2007 - Present Professor, University of Massachusetts Boston Department of Public Policy and Public Affairs
to
March 2023 - December 2023 Interim Director, University of Massachusetts Boston ‐ Trotter Institute
to
January 2022 - December 2022 Visiting Scholar, Yale University ‐ Yale School of Management
to
January 2014 - May 2014 Visiting Scholar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology ‐ Department of Urban Studies and Planning
to

Curriculum Vitae




Grants

2023 - Present Planning: CRISES: The Climate Inequality and Integrative Resilience Center
National Science Foundation - 2334216
Centers for Research and Innovation in Science, the Environment and Society (CRISES)
Role: Co-principal investigator
Colleague(s): Rosalyn Negron
$100,000
2022 - 2023 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Operations Research and Analytics University Programs
INFORMS Diversity Ambassadors Program
Role: Principal Investigator
Colleague(s): Tayo Fabusuyi, University of Michigan
$2,500
2021 - 2022 Building an Approach to DEI‐Informed Research in OR/Analytics
INFORMS Diversity Ambassadors Program
Role: Principal Investigator
Colleague(s): Tayo Fabusuyi, University of Michigan
$2,500
2020 - 2020 Climate Housing Crisis Research Structuring
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
Colleague(s): Rebecca Herst, Sustainable Solutions Lab.
$25,000
2015 - 2015 Community Development Analytics: From Data to Decisions for Boston Main Streets
Boston Main Streets Foundation
Role: Principal Investigator
Colleague(s): Sandeep Jani
$4,465
2010 - 2014 Collaborative Proposal: Decision Models for Foreclosed Housing Acquisition and Redevelopment
National Science Foundation - 1024968
Role: Principal Investigator
Colleague(s): Jeffrey Keisler (UMass Boston); Senay Solak (UMass Amherst); David Turcotte (UMass Lowell)
$374,718
2013 - 2013 Decision Modeling Tool for Vacant Structure Demolition and Redevelopment
The Abell Foundation
Role: UMB subcontract
Colleague(s): Justin Hollander, Tufts University; Jill Lemke, City of Baltimore Department of Planning (PI)
$50,000
$
to
Enter a valid date range.

Professional Service and Affiliations

2016 - Present Member and founding chair, INFORMS Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
2016 - Present Chair and founding member, URBAN.Boston Planning Team, Urban Research-Based Action Network, Boston Node
2015 - Present President, NFBPA-Boston, National Forum for Black Public Administrators, Boston chapter
2014 - Present Founding member, INFORMS Pro Bono Analytics committee, Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
to
Enter a valid date range.

Honors and Awards

  • 2020 Citation for Outstanding Performance, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, February 10, 2021.
  • 2019 Academic Award, Massachusetts chapter of the American Society for Public Administration
  • Honorable mention, Online Innovation Teaching Award, University Conference on Teaching, Learning and Technology, University of Massachusetts Boston, April 25, 2018.


Education

to
1993 - 1997 PhD, Northwestern University ‐ Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences
to
1989 - 1990 M.S., University of California Berkeley ‐ Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
to
1986 - 1987 M.S., Georgia Institute of Technology ‐ Electrical Engineering
to
1982 - 1987 B.S., Morehouse College ‐ Mathematics
to


Contact Information

Department of Public Policy and Public Affairs
John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies
McCormack Hall 3-428A
University of Massachusetts Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125-3393

Email:


Articles (29)