John Horrigan involved in Ph.D. research and community work

In September he answered a flurry of questions from reporters interested in the results of research conducted at the LBJ School on universal telecommunications service. In October he defended his doctoral dissertation proposal at a Ph.D. colloquium held at the LBJ School.

In November he traveled to New Orleans, where he represented the Texas Public Utility Commission at a meeting of the National Regulatory Utility Commissioners Staff Subcommittee.

And these are just the highlights.

Working with LBJ School Professor Lodis Rhodes, Horrigan has coauthored a policy brief on the evolution of universal service in Texas. The brief is based on work done by the 1994-95 policy research project on that topic, which was codirected by Professor Susan Hadden until her death last January.

The brief has been published on the World Wide Web site of the Alliance for Public Technology, which is a nonprofit coalition of public interest groups dedicated to fostering broad access to affordable information and communication services and technology.

Following publication of the paper on the Internet, the Austin American-Statesman ran an article highlighting the report's main findings, among which was that long distance bills constitute the main barrier to phone service for people with limited incomes. The industry newsletter, Telecommunications Reports, also reported the LBJ School's findings. The policy research project's full report was published in November as part of the LBJ School's PRP series.

Horrigan, who is the first LBJ School doctoral student to defend a dissertation proposal, also began his field research for his dissertation this fall. By looking at Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation and SEMATECH, he is seeking to assess how research consortia develop and maintain cooperation among competitors.

"When MCC and SEMATECH were founded in the 1980s, they were seen as a new model for conducting R&D in the United States. Lots of policymakers still see consortia as promising ways to channel federal R&D funds," Horrigan said. "But there has been no systematic assessment of MCC and SEMATECH to see what holds consortia together. By drawing lessons from two centerpiece R&D consortia, my work will develop insights about when and why cooperation works and about guidelines for funding consortia in the future."

From 1989 to 1992 Horrigan worked for U.S. Congressman J. J. Pickle in Washington as press secretary and legislative aide for technology issues. Currently he is involved in telecommunications policymaking at the local level. He is the chairman of the Austin Telecommunications Commission, which advises the Austin City Council on issues such as the upcoming refranchising of Austin CableVision and other telecommunications infrastructure topics.