Research

I study how to leverage emerging transportation technologies for the benefit of, rather than detriment to, society.

Publications in Peer Reviewed Journals

  1. Kaplan, L. & Helveston, J.P., (2024)“Undercutting Transit? Exploring potential competition between autonomous vehicles and public transportation in the U.S.” Transportation Research Record. https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981231208976
  2. Kaplan, L., Farooque, M., Sarewitz, D., & Tomblin, D. (2021). Designing Participatory Technology Assessments: A Reflexive Method for Advancing the Public Role in Science Policy Decision-making. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 171, 120974. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120974
  3. Nelson, J. P., Kaplan, L., & Tomblin, D. (2020). Assessing solar geoengineering research funders: Insights from two US public deliberations. The Anthropocene Review, 2053019620964845. https://doi.org/10.1177/2053019620964845
  4. Hernandez, E., MacNamee, S. E., Kaplan, L. R., Lance, K., Garcia-Verdugo, H. D., Farhadi, D. S., Deer, C., Lee, S. W., & Oland, L. A. (2020). The astrocyte network in the ventral nerve cord neuropil of the Drosophila third-instar larva. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 528(10), 1683–1703. https://doi.org/10.1002/cne.24852


Working Papers & Papers Under Review

  1. Kaplan, L., Nurullaeva, L. & Helveston, J.P., “Modeling the Hidden Labor Costs of Autonomous Vehicle Taxi Services.” Under review.
  2. Kaplan, L., Szajnfarber, Z., & Helveston, J.P., “Mapping the AI-enabled Transformation of Labor in Autonomous Vehicle Taxi Services.” Working paper


Book Chapters

  1. Kaplan, L., Farooque, M., Sarewitz, D., & Tomblin, D. (2023). Designing Participatory Technology Assessments. In The Rightful Place of Science: New Tools for Science Policy (Vol II) (pp. 107-154). Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes.
  2. Kaplan, L., Rupprecht, S., Grosso, M., Thomopoulos, N., Backhaus, W., Raposo, M. A., … & Franco, D. (2023). Ensuring Strong Public Support for Automation in the Planning Process: From Engagement to Co-creation. In Automated Road Transportation Symposium (pp. 167-183). Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-11112-9#page=169


Dissertation

  1. Kaplan, L. (2024) AI Behind the Wheel: Work, Economics, and Preferences in the Era of Autonomous Vehicles. George Washington University. PDF

Policy Memos, Reports, Articles for Non-Academic Audiences, and Other Publications

  1. Kaplan, L., Szajnfarber, Z., & Helveston, J. P. (2023, November). Driverless but not humanless– vehicle systems. IISE Magazine, 55(11). https://www.iise.org/isemagazine/details.aspx?id=54506

  2. Kaplan, L., Currier, E. O., Omar, M., & Tchoumie, O. (2023). Food for Thought: An Interactive Exercise in Ethical Decision-Making. FASPE 2023 Journal. https://www.faspe-ethics.org/2023-journal-food-for-thought/

  3. Doyle, S., Kaplan, L., & Pan, E. (2023). Three Lessons from the Holocaust for Young Technologists. FASPE 2023 Journal. https://www.faspe-ethics.org/2023-journal-doyle-kaplan-pan/

  4. Kaplan, L., Mulcare, S., and Pantha, S. (2021). Cool Roofs to Reduce Urban Heat in New Orleans. European Horizons Policy Competition.

  5. Weller, N., Sullivan-Govani, M., Farooque, M., and Kaplan, L. (2020). Blinded by the Frontier. Issues in Science and Technology. https://issues.org/endless-frontier-act-and-public-values/

  6. Kaplan, L., Nelson, J., Tomblin, D., Farooque, M., Lloyd, J., Neff, M., Bedsted, B., and Sarewitz, D., (2019). Exploring Democratic Governance of Geoengineering Research Through Public and Stakeholder Engagement. Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes. https://cspo.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/SRM_book_EPUB.pdf

  7. Kaplan, L. (2019). Background materials for “Our Driverless Futures: Community Forums on Automated Mobility.” Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes. https://cspo.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Background-Materials-for-Our-Driverless-Futures.pdf

  8. Kaplan, L. (2019). Give STAA a Chance. As We Now Think. Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes. https://cspo.org/give-staa-a-chance/

  9. Farooque, M., Kaplan, L., Lloyd, J., and Quach, K. (2019). Boundary Practitioners Workshop Report for the Earthrise Alliance. Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes. https://earthrisealliance.org/s/FinalBoundarySpanningWorkshopReport021519.pdf


Selected Presentations

2022 | Kaplan, L. & Helveston, J.P., Undercutting Transit? Exploring potential competition between autonomous vehicles and public transportation in the U.S. Industry Studies Association (Oral)

2021 | Kaplan, L., Benefits for Whom? Considering Equity as a Design Goal for Autonomous Vehicle Development, Society for Philosophy and Technology Conference (Oral, Virtual)

2021 | Brown, R., Kaplan, L., Isaac, L., & Lanigan, T., Opportunities and Challenges for Testing Collaboration. Vermont AV-Xchange. (Oral, Virtual)

2019 | Kaplan, L., Mahmud Farooque, Kimberly Quach, and Jason Lloyd, Boundary Spanning at the Science Policy Interface: Challenges and Opportunities, Dec. 2019; American Geophysical Union Annual Conference (eLightning)

2019 | Kaplan, L., John Nelson, Our Driverless Futures – Informing Autonomous Vehicle Design and Deployment through Public Deliberation. Oct. 2019. Phoenix Mobile and Emerging Tech Festival

2019 | Sarewitz, D., Leah Kaplan and Mahmud Farooque, How can engaging public deliberations build bridges across the S&T enterprise?, June. 2019. National Science and Technology Council “Building Bridges Across the S&T Enterprise” Conference

2019 | Kaplan, L., Engaging Stakeholders in Future Change. Jun. 2019. The Foresight Sandbox – Workshop on Strategic Foresight

2019 | Kaplan, L., and David Tomblin, Why Public Engagement with Science and Technology. Mar. 2019. Workshop with American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellows

2018 | Kaplan, L., Hassan A. Vafai, and Kevin E. Lansey. Sowing the seeds of understanding and interest: An example of university-sponsored incubation and collaboration for science diplomacy. Nov. 2018. Science Policy Symposium, Science and Education Policy Association

Fellowships & Awards

Fellowships & Scholarships

  • 2023 | Design & Technology Fellow, Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics

  • 2022 | Co-Designing Trustworthy AI Systems National Science Foundation Research Traineeship

  • 2020 | National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow

  • 2017 | Chapman Scholar – awarded to 1 UA engineering student, department nominated and committee selected

  • 2014 | Flinn Scholar – merit based scholarship awarded to top 20 high school seniors in Arizona, valued at more than $115,000

Awards

  • 2024 | Best Paper Award for the 6th Bridging Transportation Researchers Conference – “Modeling the Operational & Labor Costs of Autonomous Robotaxi Services”

  • 2024 | Outstanding Presentation – Technology, Data, and Policy Conference 2024

  • 2024 | People’s Choice – Northeastern Regional 3 Minute Thesis Competition

  • 2024 | 1st Place – George Washington University 3 Minute Thesis Competition

  • 2023 | 1st Place – Public Interest Technology University Network Student Video Competition

  • 2018 | Freeman Medal – awarded to 2 graduating seniors (out of 6,000 graduates) from the University of Arizona

  • 2018 | Outstanding Senior in Chemical Engineering, 2018 (out of 80 undergraduates)

  • 2018 | 1st Place – Society of Women Engineers Undergraduate Rapid-Fire Research Presentation Competition

  • 2018 | 2nd Place – Lockheed Martin Ethics in Engineering Case Competition

  • 2016 | The University of Arizona Honors College Outstanding Sophomore of the Year

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