Biography:

Benjamin Clark is an academic expert in public budgeting and finance, public management, public administration, 311 systems, and crowdsourcing. His research examines public sector crowdsourcing, secondary effects of autonomous vehicles, citizen engagement, local government management, and public budgeting and finance. His recent work has been centered around data and decision-making regarding wildfires. He’s done policy work for local governments on interventions to take during events, effectiveness of cleaner air shelters, and care for vulnerable populations. Benjamin can provide expertise on how governments can start to prepare for dramatic drops in revenue and how government can prepare for increases in budgets, while also speaking to the long-term financial implications of COVID-19. He could also speak to how the emergency response of local governments and how resilient organizations will fare better.

Recent Media:

• Will Salem voters pass levy to fund library, parks, Center 50+? A look at the campaign (Statesman-Journal, April 13, 2025)
• Oregon Capitol construction quietly edges $90 million over budget (Associated Press, Aug. 8, 2023)
• Maps and apps help track wildfire smoke by city and neighborhood (Bloomberg, June 7, 2023)
• Which Oregon ZIP codes have the highest and lowest vaccination rates? (Portland Business Journal, July 19, 2021)
• Google parent picks Phoenix for first airport trial for Waymo driverless cars (Skift, May 23, 2022)
• These are the most and least federally-dependent U.S. states (Yahoo! Finance, March 21, 2022)
• The best maps to track wildfire smoke (Bloomberg CityLab, Aug. 16, 2021)
• State record-keeping on vaccinations leads to patchwork approach (The Hill, April 13, 2021)
• Survey says disbelief, myths guide COVID-19 choices of many Oregonians (Oregon Public Broadcasting, Jan. 11, 2021)
• Survey shows many Oregonians still reject COVID-19 rules (OregonNews, Jan. 6, 2021)
• Amateur Air Pollution Trackers Are Mapping Western Wildfire Smoke (Bloomberg CityLab, Sept. 14, 2020)
• How many contact tracers are battling coronavirus in Oregon right now? State can’t say. (The Oregonian, June 10, 2020)
• How the coronavirus exacerbated Oregon’s bitter political divide (The New Yorker, May 28, 2020)
• Fear of catching COVID-19 does not meet vote-by-mail eligibility, Texas AG says (The Epoch Times, April 16, 2020)
• What’s essential? In France: pastry, wine. In US: golf, guns (Associated Press, March 28, 2020)
• On the frontiers of co-production with Dr. Ben Clark (Applied Science Live, Jan. 3, 2020)
• Lewis and Clark to co-direct Institute for Policy Research and Engagement (College of Design, July 31, 2019)
• Preparing cities for an automated future: Parking, curb zones, and city services (National Institute for Transportation and Communities, May 1, 2019)
• Appleton's social media efforts earn national award (The Post Crescent, June 6, 2018)
• Legalize pot and fix your city’s potholes? (NextCity, Oct. 28, 2015)