Course investigates practical challenges policy researchers face conducting impact evaluations. Develop capacity to replicate prominent empirical research using experimental & quasi-experimental methods & present results in compelling, accessible formats.Course primarily uses R (No prior exp. w/R expected). Course assumes prior grad-level instruction in experimental & quasi-experimental methods and Batten MPPs likely have completed RMDA II.

This course is the third capstone project course. It asks each team to prepare and deliver an oral presentation to an audience that includes their classmates and the sponsoring company. Faculty will work with the teams to help them develop an effective approach to communicating their solution and its business impact. The main deliverables are the in-person presentation and a supporting deck of slides.

In this course, you acquire skills in analytics project scoping, planning, risk analysis and management, resource allocation and budgeting, monitoring, and real options thinking. You will use state-of-the-art software such as Microsoft Project and Jira to plan and execute large-scale projects. You will also consider the challenge of managing projects and develop an awareness of behavioral decision-making biases in project management.

In this course, you will build a more accurate and up-to-date understanding of what drives human behavior, understand the nature and complexity of moral issues that digital technology and analytics raise, and practice making decisions that balance your ability to use analytics and benefit people.

This course introduces students to the field of impact investing and innovative finance. With insufficient non-profit and government spending in most policy areas (sustainable agriculture, economic development, health care, housing, etc.) innovative leaders are developing new models to unlock new capital to tackle the toughest issues facing humanity. Students will learn about blended finance, catalytic capital, impact investing, capital stacks, impact venture capital, and more.

The threat of international terrorism in the wake of 9/11 prompted costly & controversial US military & stabilization efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Initially targeting terrorism, it expanded into regime change. Bush, Obama, & Trump administrations struggled to craft effective strategies, facing setbacks like ISIS & Taliban resurgence. What can we learn from this chapter in America¿s endeavor to counter terrorist and security threats abroad?

Why are some countries poor and how can growth be increased? How do we ensure basic services for the poorest? This course examines capacity, demand, and influence in development, covering poverty, inequality, and growth. Topics include land, labor, credit, human capital, environment, urbanization, risk, decentralization, and corruption. Students test theories of effectiveness, design anti-poverty programs, and write policy memos.

Graduate-level poetry writing workshop for advanced writing students. A weekly 2.5 hour workshop discussion of student poems. For more details, visit our program website at creativewriting.virginia.edu.

International relations studies often overlook underlying geographic, economic, & intern¿l order dimensions that varyingly benefit some states & disadvantage others. How does access to open seas or having a veto at the UN benefit a country? How does being landlocked or lacking natural resources disadvantage a country? Course highlights underlying dimensions shaping how a country perceives its interests & what it emphasizes in foreign policy.

Covers advanced theoretical concepts for deep neural networks. Topics include convolutional neural networks and their design principles, encoder-decoder architectures, recurrent neural networks, transformers, bounding box detection, image segmentation, generative adversarial networks, diffusion models, etc. Using open-source Python libraries such as NumPy, TensorFlow, and Keras, to understand how theoretical concepts are implemented.