Serena Kim

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Bio

Serena Kim is an assistant professor of research methods in the School of Public and International Affairs at NC State University. Her research lies at the intersection of data science, public policy and collective action problems, particularly in the areas of energy, environment, and public health. Serena is passionate about developing software, tools, and models that leverage various types of data and artificial intelligence to solve real-world problems. Her published work has appeared in the Energy Policy, Applied Energy, SSM – Population Health, EPJ Data Science and Policy Studies Journal among other peer-reviewed journals. Her research has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and other media outlets. Prior to her current position, she was a research associate in the College of Engineering, Design, and Computing and a scholar in residence in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver for four years. During this time, she taught graduate courses on evidence-based decision-making, public policy analysis, and research and analytic methods.

Projects

• Strengthening American Infrastructure (SAI): Integration of Electric Vehicles and the Electric Grid (E-VIBES) ($750,000 funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Co-PI) – https://evibes.us
• Public Perception of Renewable Energy – https://solarsentiment.org
• Spatial Distribution of Rooftop Solar Systems
• Global Diffusion of Renewable Energy Policies

Website

https://serenakim.org

Selected Publications

“Spatial distribution of solar PV deployment: an application of the region-based convolutional neural network,” EPJ DATA SCIENCE (2023).

“Electricity peak shaving for commercial buildings using machine learning and vehicle to building (V2B) system,” APPLIED ENERGY (2023).

“Public sentiment toward solar energy—opinion mining of twitter using a transformer-based language model,” SUSTAINABILITY (2021).

“Institutional arrangements and airport solar PV,” ENERGY POLICY (2020).

“Updating the institutional collective action framework,” POLICY STUDIES JOURNAL (2020).

Teaching

• PA 515 Research Methods and Analysis – Course Website (Fall 2024)
• PA 765 Quantitative Research in Public Administration
• PA 766 Advanced Quantitative Research in Public Administration – Course Website (Fall 2024)
• PA 541 Geographic Information Systems for Public Administration (Scheduled for Spring 2025)

Office Hours

By Appointment

Area(s) of Expertise

Research Methods, Data Science, Energy Policy, Public Health and Environment