Hal Salzman

Hal Salzman
Professor, Planning and Public Policy
Senior Faculty Fellow, John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development
B.A., University of California, Santa Cruz; M..A. and Ph.D., Brandeis University
 

 

Contact Information

30 Livingston Avenue, Room 207

Fax (978) 383-8020

E-mail hsalzman@rutgers.edu

Science and Engineering Education and the Workforce - current project information and publications

 

 

  • Profile
  • Research Interests
  • Courses
  • S&E Workforce, and Globalization
  • Labor,  Workforce and Organizations
  • Arctic Sustainability Research

Profile

Hal Salzman is Professor of Public Policy at the Edward J. Bloustein School and Senior Faculty Fellow at the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development. His research focuses on science and engineering labor markets, workplace restructuring, skill requirements, and globalization of innovation, engineering and technology design. Recently he has been writing on the science and technology policy implications of his research. A current project, as Principal Investigator, examines science and engineering education and careers and is funded by the Sloan Foundation. This project builds on Salzman’s previous research on science and engineering education and the workforce (see, for example, “Making the Grade” in Nature).

 

His other area of research and teaching is on human capital development, firm strategy, and community sustainability in the Arctic. He is Principal Investigator of an International Polar Year grant from the National Science Foundation, Arctic Social Science Program/Office of Polar Programs.

 

Past projects include Principal Investigator of a National Science Foundation-funded project on globalization, innovation, and human capital; this work has continued in his research on “collaborative advantage” in globalization, engineering, technology entrepreneurship (research funded by the National Science Foundation and Kauffman Foundation, with Leonard Lynn of Case Western Reserve University and conducted with colleagues in the U.S., Germany, Japan, China, India, and Latin America). Prof. Salzman has conducted a number of studies of the IT industry, on both software design and work practices and on labor force issues in the IT industry. A recently completed project was on corporate restructuring and the impact on low-wage jobs and skills. His publications include Software By Design: Shaping Technology and the Workplace (Oxford University Press) and articles on issues of technology, skills, and the workplace, including “Collaborative Advantage” (in Issues in Science and Technology), "Under Construction: The Continuing Evolution of Job Structures in Call Centers,"  in Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, "Too Many Cooks?: Changing Wages and Job Ladders in the Food Industry." Regional Review, and forthcoming, Technology Entrepreneurs in the Emerging Economies: The new shape of global innovation.

 

Research Interests

 

Courses

  • Globalization & Sustainability
  • Cold War Politics and Policy through Film and Literature (Byrne, freshman seminar)
  • Arctic Studio | Spring 2012 Presentation
  • Science and Technology Policy

 

Spring 2014: Arctic Lens: A journey to the Great North through film (Byrne Freshman Seminar; co-taught with Åsa Rennermalm, Geography)

 

The Arctic is one of the most rapidly changing regions of the world--warming is diminishing the Arctic Ocean's sea ice cover, opening up new possibilities for transport, natural resource development and economic growth for local communities. At the same time, globalization and environmental change are stressing the sustainability of arctic communities. In this seminar, Arctic climate, environmental and social change will be examined through feature films, documentaries, and art. Examining the rapidly changing Arctic, as the global bellwether of climate change, will also draw on the research of both instructors, one a glacial hydrologist studying Greenland ice sheet and the other a sociologist examining sustainability of Arctic villages in the North Slope of Alaska.

 

Fall & Spring 2013-2014 International Studio: "Assessing Global Development Programs for Sustainability and Resilience."

 

This Studio focuses on the development challenges in countries that are utilizing UN and international aid programs. As nations face numerous crises of development, of climate and social change, and are engaged in building economies, institutions, and processes of governance, they are also struggling with using international programs that are effective in supporting these objectives and that achieve measurable improvements. Understanding these development challenges and how to assess the contributions of international programs to national development are the goals of this Studio. The client will be the Evaluation Office of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and we will work closely with our clients at the UNDP. This Studio will be taught in a two-semester sequence, with the overall project developed over both Fall and Spring semesters (students receive 3 credits each semester, for a total of 6 credits for this year-long Studio).

 

Spring 2013 Arctic Studio: “Moving Oil to Market” Planning for Community and Natural Resource Development in Indigenous/Rural Communities

 

Moving the oil pumped from the Arctic Seas is the less-discussed but quite daunting challenge accompanying successful offshore exploration. However, all the interested parties – industry, local communities and their planning offices, environmental organizations, the state of Alaska, the Federal government, among others – are intensely interested in planning for marine and terrestrial transit of the oil with minimal negative impact on the environment and communities and maximizing the possibility of benefits to the state and local communities. The Arctic Studio Working Group (the Studio) will work with the Studio client to develop two illustrative economic impact scenarios through the 2050s for an Alaska arctic village. A primary objective of the proposed work is to develop alternative planning scenarios for infrastructure and economic activities that can provide long-term benefit and sustainability for the villages. Project deliverables include a development map-set and brief written map descriptions.

S&E Workforce, Technology, Globalization Publications

 

 

Labor,  Workforce& Organizations

 

 

Employment and Sustainability in a Time of Transition: Human capital development, firm strategy, and community in the Arctic

 

Arctic communities and industries are facing a trio of challenges from climate change, economic change, and social change. The next generation may be faced with tough choices between maintaining traditional, subsistence life and the lure of expanding opportunities in standard employment in the oil, field services, and mining industries.  This research involves case studies and extensive field work of several industries and communities in the Arctic to examine the changing employment and career structures, worker career development, and the sustainability of local communities.  The project will also provide multiple perspectives on the impact of climate change on human and economic activity.  The findings will address the broader issues of sustainability of communities outside of urban and industrial work systems.  This research is supported by the National Science Foundation, Arctic Social Sciences Program and is an International Polar Year project.

 

This project address three major areas of research: (a) Arctic social systems: the project will add to our understanding of the uneasy accommodation between traditional culture and the internal labor markets in firms operating in extreme environments, and the implications for future sustainability in face of climate and economic change; (b) Internal labor markets and workforce development: this extends research on the transformation of internal labor markets to mixed and transitional economies to determine how nonstandard jobs and careers can be maintained, particularly under conditions of temporal discontinuity; (c) Transitional and emerging economies: project findings may have relevance to modeling of alternative paths of economic and workforce development as well as business strategies that sustain traditional practices in the context of increasing industrialization (as an alternative path to convergence).  The project will also provide multiple perspectives on the impact of climate change on human and economic activity.  The findings will address the broader issues of sustainability of communities outside of urban and industrial work systems.

 

As part of the education outreach for this project, Arctic Science curriculum was developed with a group of middle school teachers. http://arcticscience.wikispaces.com/

 

 

Spring 2012 Arctic Studio

Related to this work is my course, "Arctic Studio". The Spring, 2012 "Arctic Studio" course involved an assessment of oil spill responder risks for a project sponsored by the Arctic Council.

 

Presentation | Notes | Flyer

 

This research is supported by an International Polar Year grant from the National Science Foundation, Arctic Social Science Program/Office of Polar Programs (Grant #0732973)

National Science Foundation International Polar Year

 

 

Spring 2013 Arctic Studio

 

“Moving Oil to Market” Planning for Community and Natural Resource Development in Indigenous/Rural Communities

 

Presentation

 

Arctic Studio Arctic Studio

 

 

Spring 2014: Arctic Lens: A journey to the Great North through film (Byrne Freshman Seminar; co-taught with Åsa Rennermalm, Geography)

 

The Arctic is one of the most rapidly changing regions of the world--warming is diminishing the Arctic Ocean's sea ice cover, opening up new possibilities for transport, natural resource development and economic growth for local communities. At the same time, globalization and environmental change are stressing the sustainability of arctic communities. In this seminar, Arctic climate, environmental and social change will be examined through feature films, documentaries, and art. Examining the rapidly changing Arctic, as the global bellwether of climate change, will also draw on the research of both instructors, one a glacial hydrologist studying Greenland ice sheet and the other a sociologist examining sustainability of Arctic villages in the North Slope of Alaska.