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Dr. Can Chen is an associate professor (tenured) and Director of Ph.D. Programs in Public Policy in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. He founded and leads the Infrastructure Finance & Policy Lab (iFPL). His core research agenda is developing and promoting innovative, efficient, and effective infrastructure financing to support critical infrastructure that is sustainable and resilient in its financing and funding, use, performance, and maintenance. Dr. Chen’s substantive research topic interests include infrastructure finance & policy, fiscal transparency, disaster finance, and the intersection between public finance and public management & policy. His methodological interests are causal research designs and computational social sciences. 

Dr. Chen has published a book on innovative infrastructure finance (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022). His journal publications appear in Public Budgeting & Finance, Public Finance Review, Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, Municipal Finance Journal, Public Finance and Management, Policy Studies Journal, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, Journal of Air Transport Management, Transport Policy, Public Works Management & Policy, Public Administration, American Review of Public Administration, Public Management Review, Public Performance & Management Review, International Public Management Journal, International Review of Administrative Sciences, State and Local Government Review, and others. He has received three national research awards: the ASPA’s William J. Petak Best Paper Award, the ASPA’s Garcia-Zamor Best Paper Award, and the NASPAA’s Best Doctoral Student Manuscript Award. His research was supported by grant funding from the Center for the Study of Federalism, Volcker Alliance, World Bank, GASB, ICMA, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and Open Government Partnership. 

Dr. Chen currently serves on the Standing Committee of the Transportation Economic and Finance (Co-Chair of Research Task Force) of Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the Executive Committee of the Association of Budgeting and Financial Management (ABFM). He is the Chair for Chinese Policy Scholar Group (CPSG) and the past chair of the American Society of Public Administration (ASPA) Section on Transportation Policy and Administration (STPA) from 2021 to 2023. Dr. Chen is a certified research associate at the Mineta Transportation Institute and the Symposium Editor for Public Finance and Management, Associate Editor for the Chinese Public Administration Review (CPAR), and International Review of Public Administration (IRPA).