Mike has been serving as a Postdoctoral Fellow with PIJIP over the past year, following his receipt of a PhD in Economics from AU. Mike originally joined us over 15 years ago as PIJIP’s first Assistant Director for Interdisciplinary Research. Mike is moving on to the U.S. Copyright Office where he will be working as a Statistician studying registration and other government data to apply to policy issues such as the intersection between copyright and artificial intelligence. The Office assured me that their researchers continue to have freedom to present and collaborate with outside institutions, and we hope this means we will continue working together.

During Mike’s tenure with us he helped build our web presence -- including www.infojustice.org (analytical blog) and www.pijip.org (academic home page) –edited our working paper series https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/research/, and conducted and managed empirical research projects, such as his cutting edge work on the economic impact of patent and copyright limitations and exceptions, see Palmedo, Michael. "Korea’s 2011 Copyright Act Amendments and Innovation by Online Service Providers" (2023). PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series no. 92. https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/research/92 (and other papers at https://palmedo.owlstown.net/). Mike has been a core part of building PIJIP as a community - managing and mentoring Dean’s Fellows and LLM students, supporting and welcoming new staff, and creating a positive and collaborative place to work.

We extend Mike our greatest possible personal thanks for being a great friend and colleague. Mike has been an impactful contributor to all we have achieved at PIJIP, reflected in our steady rise to a constant place among the top 10 ranked IP programs in the US.