Michael Neblo, professor in the Department of Political Science and director of the Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability (IDEA), has been named a member of the 2020 class of Andrew Carnegie Fellows by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Each of this year’s 27 fellows will receive $200,000 in philanthropic support for high-caliber scholarly research across the humanities and social sciences that addresses important and enduring issues confronting our society.

Neblo will use his fellowship to examine how a new form of constituent engagement with members of Congress can help shape public policy. These “Deliberative Town Halls,” conducted online between members and a representative sample of their constituents, provide a productive and civil forum for two-way communication and feedback around a single issue or topic. Recently, Neblo and his colleagues have leveraged the town hall format to enable elected officials to engage with their constituents about issues and impacts around the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am very grateful to Ohio State for nominating me for the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship and to the Carnegie Corporation for the time and resources that the award will afford me. I feel deeply honored to be among such a distinguished group of 2020 classmates, and I am excited to get down to work on our project,” said Neblo.

Providing one of the most generous research stipends of its kind, the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program represents an overall investment of $38 million in recipients whose scholarly research spans such subjects as U.S. democracy, the environment, technological and cultural evolution, and international relations. The criteria prioritize the originality and potential impact of a proposal, as well as a scholar’s capacity to communicate the findings to a broad audience.

“The pursuit of knowledge and the generation of ideas were critically important to the Corporation’s founder, Andrew Carnegie, whose mission is especially relevant today as our society confronts problems that have been greatly exacerbated by COVID-19,” said Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York and president emeritus of Brown University. “Fellows from earlier classes are actively addressing the coronavirus through their research on topics such as its impact on rural America, government authority during a pandemic and ways in which different countries address infectious diseases. The work of this exemplary Class of 2020 will also be of service across a range of other crucial issues.”

The latest class of fellows was selected by a distinguished panel of 17 jurors comprised of scholars and academic and intellectual leaders from some of the nation’s most prominent educational institutions, foundations and scholarly societies. Seven of the jurors are either current or former university presidents.

“I am greatly impressed by the breadth and depth of the proposals from this year’s nominees and their potential for progress. For the jury and for me, the selection process was deeply gratifying and inspiring,” said Susan Hockfield, chair of the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program jury since 2015, president emerita of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a former member of the Carnegie Corporation of New York board of trustees. “As we respond to the many disruptions caused by COVID-19, we must not lose sight of the necessity of solving both today’s and the world’s persistent challenges. The complex solutions required for these difficult problems require more than the best of science and engineering; they must also incorporate perspectives and insights from the humanities and social sciences.”

The award is for a period of up to two years and its anticipated result is a book or major study.