SPAA PhD Student Canyu Gao Selected as 2026 ASPA Founders' Fellow

SPAA PhD student Canyu Gao has been selected as an American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) Founders' Fellow as part of the Class of 2026. This flagship program recognizes the exceptional accomplishments and potential of the next generation of public servants in both academic and practitioner communities. The full list of 2026 Fellows can be found on ASPA's website.

Gao's research focuses on public management, including digital government, organizational behavior, social equity, accountability, and local governance. She is committed to understanding how public organizations manage emerging technologies and associated risks, and how technology shapes organizational behavior, citizen–government interactions, social equity, and performance management. Her dissertation, The Contingent Effects of Artificial Intelligence on Public Management: Evidence Across Bureaucrats, Public Organizations, and Citizens, examines how AI influences bureaucratic discretion, organizational performance, social equity, and government legitimacy, and identifies key boundary conditions at the cognitive, relational, institutional, and socio-technical levels.