A Lecturer in the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), Dr. Scott Aquanno’s interdisciplinary research focuses on political economy, public policy, economics and political science, and applies his political economy foundation to the study of regional economics and labour patterns. At the grassroots level, his research provides an opportunity to dig into broader issues within the community that significantly affect the knowledge-based economy. Dr. Aquanno is developing an app to provide students and gamers alike with a deeper understanding of the experience associated with homelessness, the constraints and limitations imposed on people in this situation, and the difficulty in successfully emerging from it. The app will be piloted within Oshawa, Ontario, a community tremendously impacted by the restructuring of the global economy. He is also partnering with Durham Region Social Services and UOIT faculty on research to understand the pathways into and out of homelessness and recommend policy solutions that could help ameliorate some of the hurdles faced by people in these living conditions within the community. At the macro level, Dr. Aquanno’s extensive monetary policy and central banking research has culminated into writing two manuscripts, The Crisis of Value; and The Evolution of Monetary Policy, Communities in the Federal Reserve. Since joining UOIT in July 2013, Dr. Aquanno has played a key role in developing Community Development and Policy Studies, an emerging undergraduate program in an interdisciplinary field. Previously, he was appointed a postdoctoral research fellow/research scholar, Canada Research Chair with York University in Toronto; followed by a postdoctoral research fellow at the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies and Innovation Policy Lab in the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, where he continues to serve as a visiting research fellow until 2016. Fascinated by political implications, Dr. Aquanno is acutely drawn to the social aspects of economics and finance, and how they can be harvested to create more effective and efficient societies and policies. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with Honours from York University in 2001; his Master of Arts in Canadian Politics in 2002, and his Doctorate in Comparative Politics, with a Minor in Canadian Politics in 2011, both from the Ross School of Politics at York University.