Tara Behrend and Jean Hardy Awarded NSF-Funded Project Examining How Rural Communities Adapt To Workplace Automation
Dr. Tara Behrend
Michigan State University School of Human Resources and Labor Relations professor Tara Behrend is serving as co-principal investigator on a new four-year project examining how rural communities respond to technological change in the workplace.
Michigan State University's Tara Behrend is part of a research team that has received a $914,904 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a four-year project examining how rural communities adapt to workplace automation and how lessons from past technological transitions can help communities prepare for the future.
Titled Understanding and Supporting Rural Community Adaptation to Workplace Automation, the project is led by Jean Hardy, associate professor in the Department of Media and Information in MSU’s College of Communication Arts and Sciences, with Behrend serving as co-principal investigator. Behrend is the John Richard Butler II Endowed Professor in the School of Human Resources and Labor Relations.
The research will examine how rural communities in Michigan have experienced and responded to decades of workplace automation, particularly in manufacturing and agriculture. The team will focus on three Michigan counties — Allegan, St. Joseph and Oceana — working with residents, workers, business leaders and community organizations to understand how technological change has affected local economies, workplaces and daily life.
Rather than focusing solely on jobs displaced by automation, the project will explore how workers, families, businesses and community institutions adapt over time. Researchers will document strategies that have helped communities navigate technological change and use those insights to develop practical approaches for responding to future waves of automation.
"Rural manufacturing and farming communities have actually been living through automation cycles for decades," Hardy said. "I want to treat these communities as the experts they are, rather than as case studies of decline."
The project will combine sustained community-based research with collaborative design activities. Community members will have opportunities to help identify challenges and develop strategies that could support future workforce and economic transitions. The researchers ultimately hope to translate the findings into useful resources for policymakers, workforce development organizations and rural communities.
For Behrend, the project builds directly on her research into the future of work and the ways emerging technologies affect workers and organizations. Her research group, the Workplaces and Virtual Environments Lab, focuses on the ethical, social and psychological implications of workplace technologies, including human-AI interactions. She also directs MSU’s Future of Work Initiative, which brings together researchers from across the university to examine how work is changing and how organizations, workers and communities can prepare for those changes.
The NSF-funded project provides an opportunity to apply that future-of-work perspective in rural communities, where technological transitions can have effects that extend beyond individual workplaces and influence families, local economies, and community institutions.
The project is scheduled to run from 2026 through 2030 and reflects MSU's broader commitment to interdisciplinary research addressing the changing nature of work and its implications for Michigan communities.
About Tara Behrend
Tara Behrend is the John Richard Butler II Endowed Professor in the School of Human Resources and Labor Relations at Michigan State University. Her areas of expertise include the future of work, human-AI systems, career and technical education, workforce readiness, and electronic surveillance and privacy.
Behrend is a recognized expert on workplace technologies and their ethical, social and psychological implications. She previously served as a program director at the National Science Foundation, where she chaired the Future of Work working group and oversaw the Science of Organizations program. She also directs MSU's Future of Work Initiative and leads the Workplaces and Virtual Environments Lab.