NCSG - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Faculty Research Assistant
Andrew Fellows coordinates Campus Community Connection at the University of Maryland, as part of a joint appointment to the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education/School for Architecture, Planning and Preservation and the College of Information Studies. He served as Mayor of College Park from 2009-2015, having served on the City Council from 2001-2007. He served on the U.S. Conference of Mayors' Water Council, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government's Board of Directors and Chesapeake Bay and Water Resources Policy Committee. By appointment of the Governor on the Maryland, he also served on the Commission on Environmental Justice and Sustainable Communities from 2002-2015.
He has over 30 years of grassroots organizing, lobbying, electoral, media, development, and management experience, and worked as the Chesapeake Regional Director for Clean Water Action from 1999 through 2014. He earned an M.A. at the University of Maryland after serving for two terms as President of the Graduate Student Government, following a B.S. in Broadcasting and Film at Boston University.
Anna Alberini received her PhD in Economics from the University of California San Diego. She is currently a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resources Economics at the University of Maryland, College Park. She teaches PhD-level econometrics courses, undergraduate statistics courses based on energy and environmental data, a course in the economics of climate change, and supervises numerous graduate and undergraduate research projects. She is an energy and environmental economist with a major focus on the economics of health and safety and non-market valuation. Her energy economics research focuses on residential energy demand, energy efficiency decisions and consequences of such decisions, policies targeted as shaping residential energy demand, and on vehicle fuel economy and driving decisions. Her work has appeared in the Energy Journal, Energy Economics, Energy Efficiency, JEEM, the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of Health Economics, and other journals. Alberini has served two stints on the Science Advisory Board for Environmental Economics to the US Environmental Protection Agency and is currently the chair of the American Statistical Association committee that advises the US Energy Information Administration. She is also a member of the Editorial Board of The Energy Journal, of the International Advisory Board of Energy Policy, and an associate editor of Energy Efficiency.
Dr. Bierbaum's research examines the links between planning practice, urban politics, and public education. Her research builds understanding of how planning supports or hinders educational equity and racial justice for historically marginalized youth and families, and how public schools play a role in urban planning and governance. She is particularly interested in the ways that policy and planning for neighborhoods and schools - as distinct and intertwined endeavors - have created landscapes that codify race and class hierarchies endemic to the United States' social, political, and economic structures. Using primarily use qualitative methods - ethnographic observation, interviews, and archival inquiry, Dr. Bierbaum's recent projects look at the institutional contexts of planning practice, cross-sector collaboration, and policy formation, as well as on-the-ground issues, the experience of being planned, and the consequences of planning interventions. Recent projects have focused on neighborhood and school change, transportation and educational equity, and access to opportunity.
Dr. Bierbaum is a fellow with the Maryland Equity Project in the University of Maryland College of Education. Her research has appeared in the Journal of Planning Education and Research, Urban Education, and the Transportation Research Record. The National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation, the University of Maryland Division of Research, the Poverty and Race Research Action Council, and Enterprise Community Partners have sponsored my research.
Dr. Bierbaum brings 20 years of experience in the non-profit and public sectors, working in public policy, community development, and community arts. Most recently, she served as the Program Director and Senior Researcher at the UC-Berkeley Center for Cities and Schools, a policy research and technical assistance center that promotes high-quality education as an essential component of creating equitable, healthy, and sustainable communities. She is a member of the American Planning Association Public Schools Interest Group, and currently sits on the board of the 21st Century School Fund and as an advisor to the Active Voice Lab's The Future of Public initiative. She earned her PhD in City and Regional Planning from the University of California-Berkeley, a Master in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor of Arts in urban studies from the University of Pennsylvania.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Urban and Regional
- Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois
Arnab Chakraborty is a Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. His research concerns critical questions of housing and infrastructure development, and the role of technology in advancing urban analysis and planning. From 2018-2021, Professor Chakraborty served as the Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Affairs in the College of Fine and Applied Arts with the responsibility to oversee the college's research support efforts, administer the promotion and tenure process, lead the college's faculty mentoring program, and advise the dean on matters related to faculty affairs. At Illinois, Professor Chakraborty is also affiliated with the Center for Global Studies, and Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. In addition to his academic appointments, Professor Chakraborty is an associate editor of the Journal of the American Planning Association, an editorial board member of the Journal of Urban Management, and a board member of the Consortium for Scenario Planning. Professor Chakraborty has also served on three Planning Accreditation Board site visit teams and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners.
Professor Chakraborty's research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Federal Highway Administration, Urban Institute, and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, among others. His work on advancing scenario analysis techniques, particularly for land use and transportation planning, has informed the American Planning Association's Research Knowledgebase on scenario planning, and has been credited as the ‘backbone' of the scenario framework in FHWA's "Next Generation Scenario Planning: a Transportation Practitioner's Guide". Chakraborty has also led numerous Lincoln Institute supported research projects on scenario planning, including one on advancing equity in scenario analysis which focused on social vulnerability to heat, and another on impact of regional scenario efforts.
Prior to his PhD, Professor Chakraborty received a master's degree in urban planning and policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a bachelor in architecture from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. In the past, he has taught at the Johns Hopkins University and worked for the Chicago Transit Authority. Professor Chakraborty can be reached at arnab@illinois.edu. For more details about Chakraborty's work, please visit: https://urban.illinois.edu/people/profiles/arnab-chakraborty-aicp/.
Brendan Williams is an Associate Professor and lectures in Urban Development, Urban Economics and Planning systems at the School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy (APEP) , University College Dublin. His principal research themes are urban development and policy frameworks in Ireland and internationally and applied research on the role of property markets in economic development. He is currently Director of International Programmes at APEP and previously served as Head of Subject, Director of Masters and Undergraduate programmes and Deputy Head of school. He has taught and researched at a number of universities in North America and Europe for over 20 years. Dr. Williams is also Affiliate Professor to the National Center for Smart Growth at University of Maryland U.S. since February 2015. In addition from February 2011-2015 Brendan was Visiting Professor and Visiting Scholar to the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University in Boston. He has published approximately 165 scientific papers and edited/co-authored 8 books on various aspects of planning and development in Ireland, the EU and internationally. In 2015 he was appointed as Evaluator/Reviewer for EU Joint Research Council Consolidator Grants in the areas of Environment, Space and Population. Brendan has mentored and participated in committees for over 20 doctoral students; including acting as external examiner for universities including Trinity College Dublin, UCC, University of Ulster and University of Barcelona. His work has been featured by both national and international media including RTE, BBC, Deutsche Welle and the Washington Post. He has also extensive experience in professional consultancy and commercial research in urban development issues for a wide range of clients including the IMF, Government Agencies, Financial and Property companies.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Professor of Urban Studies and Planning and Affiliate of the National Center for Smart Growth
Casey J. Dawkins is a Professor of Urban Studies and Planning and Affiliate of the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland's School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation. His current research addresses housing justice; U.S. housing policy evaluation; the causes, consequences, and measurement of residential segregation by race and income; and the link between land use regulations and housing affordability. He teaches courses on US housing policy, quantitative planning methods, and planning theory. During the 2021-2022 academic year, Casey will serve as a Scholar in Residence at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Job Titles:
- Director of NCSG 's Transportation Policy Research Group
Chester Harvey is the Director of NCSG's Transportation Policy Research Group. He works to bridge the allied fields of transportation and urban design has promising implications for shaping more active, equitable cities. A Vermont native who earned undergraduate and master's degrees at Middlebury and University of Vermont, respectively, Harvey is completing his doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley, where he explored concepts in transportation decision making, accessibility, urban infrastructure and pedestrian psychology and behavior.
At NSCG, Harvey will take the reins of the center's ongoing travel survey project with MDOT to understand commuting and congestion trends, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes the impact of flexible work schedules on transit demand, whether working from home has resulted in more localized, literal foot traffic and the barriers that keep people from living close to where they work.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Member of the Who We Are Executive Committee
- Dean / College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Job Titles:
- Student at the MIT Department of Urban Studies
Daniel L Engelberg is a PhD Student at the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) interested in how planners can help communities prepare for situations of deep uncertainty. This research examines every stage of the policy making process from analysis through planning and legislation. In particular, he seeks to understand how uncertainty differently affects various communities in order to move towards more equitable long-range planning. Before joining DUSP, he gained experience in exploratory scenario planning at the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland and now his research has turned towards adaptive methods and computational tools for uncertainty. Additional research interests include socio-environmental synthesis, urban systems modeling, regional land use planning, and urban transportation systems. Daniel possesses a Masters in Community Planning from the University of Maryland and a Bachelors of Arts in Mathematics from Bates College.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource
David Newburn is an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Maryland. His applied research and policy outreach focuses on two main areas: (1) land-use regulations for the preservation of farmland and forests; and (2) water quality and the Chesapeake Bay. He has worked extensively on spatial models of land-use change for managing urban sprawl and has examined the effectiveness of land-use policies to protect forest and farmland. Dr. Newburn's work on water quality and the Chesapeake Bay evaluates the effectiveness of voluntary incentive-based programs, like subsidies for adopting household urban stormwater management practices and agricultural conservation practices, as well as water quality trading. His research has been funded by the EPA, NSF, USDA,
Dr. Newburn also has extensive experience in multidisciplinary research groups and committees. He is a collaborator on the NSF funded Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) and was appointed to serve on the Chesapeake Bay Program Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC). He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Member of the Who We Are Executive Committee
- Dean / School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
Job Titles:
- Director of the Urban Studies and Planning Program
Clara Irazábal is the Director of the Urban Studies and Planning Program (URSP) in the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (MAPP) at the University of Maryland (UMD), College Park. In her research and teaching, she explores the interactions of culture, politics, and placemaking, and their impact on community development and socio-spatial justice in Latin American cities and Latinx, immigrant, and minority communities. She got her PhD from the University of California at Berkeley and has two master's degrees, one from UCB and another from the Central University of Venezuela.
Irazábal has published academic work in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. She is an editorial board member of internationally accredited architectural and planning journals and book presses, including associate editor of the Journal of the American Planning Association (JAPA). Irazábal has worked as a consultant, researcher, and/or professor in countries of the Americas, Europe, and Asia. She is a lecturer at Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona, where she annually teaches a course in a European Erasmus Mundus program. She has taught award-winning planning and multidisciplinary studios internationally in Brazil, Colombia, Chile, and Trinidad and Tobago; and domestically in Latinx, Black, and immigrant/refugee communities. Irazábal frequently offers her expertise in local, national, and international media.
Job Titles:
- Director of the Architecture Program
- Professor and Director of the Architecture Program at the University of Maryland
Dr. Mohammad Gharipour is professor and director of the Architecture Program at the University of Maryland, College Park. He serves as an...
Job Titles:
- Assistant for the National Center for Smart Growth Research
Ebrahim Seyedebrahimi is the graduate assistant for the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education (NCSG). He is also in the Master of Community Planning program at the University of Maryland, with expected graduation in 2023. He is currently working with the NCSG under the FTA grant on the accessibility impacts of the Purple Line and its planning. NCSG His main areas of interest are sustainable transportation and active mobility planning.
Job Titles:
- Professor
- Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource
Erik Lichtenberg is a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Maryland, College Par. His research spans a wide variety of topics in the general area of agriculture and the environment, including agri-environmental policies, pest management and pesticide regulation, irrigation and drainage, land use, food safety, invasive species, environmental health risk management, agricultural technology adoption, and the economics of pollination services. Lichtenberg is a fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association and a former co-editor of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, the leading journal in the field of agricultural and resource economics. He served on National Academy of Sciences expert panels on genetically engineered crops and on precision agriculture and was a consultant to a National Academy study on the future of pesticides in US agriculture. His work has earned him a number of awards, including a Bronze Medal from University of Helsinki, the Publication of Enduring Quality Award from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, awards for best paper in Water Resources Research and the Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, the Dean Gordon Cairns Award from the University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and awards for excellence in research from the University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Alumni Association. Lichtenberg received a BA in linguistics from the University of Chicago and a PhD in agricultural and resource economics from the University of California Berkeley.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Urban Studies
Gerrit-Jan Knaap is Professor of Urban Studies and Planning, and the former Executive Director of the National Center for Smart Growth Research at the University of Maryland. Knaap earned his B.S. from Willamette University, his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Oregon, and received post-doctoral training at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, all in economics.
Knaap's research interests include the interactions between housing markets and policy, the economics and politics of land use planning, the efficacy of economic development instruments, and the impacts of environmental policy. On these subjects, Knaap has authored or coauthored over 65 articles in peer refereed journals, and coauthored or co-edited nine books. He received the Chester Rapkin award for the
best paper published in Volume 10 of the Journal of Planning Education and Research, with Greg Lindsey, he received the 1998 best of ACSP award, and in 2006 he received the Outstanding Planner Award from the Maryland Chapter of the American Planning Association.
Funding for his research has been provided by the National Science Foundation, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the Town Creek foundation, and numerous other federal, state, and local government agencies. He currently serves on the State of Maryland's Smart Growth Subcabinet, Sustainable Growth Commission, Governor's Scientific Advisory Panel, and the Mitigation and Science workgroups of the Climate Commission.
Hiro Iseki is an affiliate with the NCSG and Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Planning. His research focuses on balancing efficiency,...
Hiro Iseki is an affiliate with the NCSG and Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Planning. His research focuses on balancing efficiency,...
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Special Projects Coordinator
Jason Sartori is a consultant serving as a Special Projects Coordinator at the NCSG, where he leads research efforts, helps procure grants...
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Member of the Who We Are Executive Committee
- Senior Vice President and Provost
Job Titles:
- Director of the National Center for Smart Growth Research
Kathryn Howell is the Director of the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education and an Associate Professor, Urban Studies &...
Pronouns: she/her Katy June-Friesen is a writer/editor for NCSG and the Small Business Anti-displacement Project. She is a Ph.D. candidate...
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers Kim Fisher is the Program Director of the Partnership for Active Learning in Sustainability (PALS) Project. PALS is...
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director
- Consultant
Kim Ross is a consultant currently serving as Assistant Director for the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education at the University...
Manuel T. Ochoa has over 25 years' experience in urban planning, housing, and community development. Manuel is Principal and Founder of the...
Martin A. Bierbaum's academic background includes masters degrees in political science, city and regional planning, a J.D. degree and a Ph.D....
Pronouns: (he/him) Matthew Reise is the Graduate Assistant for the Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS). He is currently...
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Associate Professor at the School of Architecture
Ming Hu is an Associate Professor at the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, University of Maryland, USA. She teaches technology...
Job Titles:
- Associate Director and Assistant Research Professor
Nick Finio, Ph.D. is the Associate Director of NCSG, and a graduate of the UMD Urban and Regional planning PhD and MCP programs. His research...
Pronouns: she/her/ella Nohely Alvarez is a PhD student in Urban and Regional Planning and Design at the School of Architecture, Planning and...
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Member of the Who We Are Executive Committee
- Dean / School of Public Policy
Ronit Eisenbach is an architect, artist, curator, and educator whose scholarship and multi-disciplinary spatial practice aims to engage others...
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Member of the Who We Are Executive Committee
- Dean / a. James Clark School of Engineering
Dr. Sevgi Erdoğan is an affiliate at the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education (NCSG) and an affiliate of Maryland Transportation...
Sheila Somashekhar joined the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland in 2020 as Director of the Purple Line Corridor...
Job Titles:
- Senior Research Analyst
- Assistant Professor at Northern Arizona University
Dr. Gehrke is an assistant professor at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in the Department of Geography, Planning, and Recreation. Prior to...
Job Titles:
- Research Development Professional
Tara Burke is a research development professional with 12 years of higher education experience in the procurement of federal, corporate, and...
Job Titles:
- Project Manager for the Small Business Anti - Displacement Network
Tatiana is the Project Manager for the Small Business Anti-Displacement Network (SBAN). Before coming to SBAN, Tatiana was an Associate with...
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland School of Public
Luke Spreen is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. His research assesses how external monitoring,...
Vonnette Harris is Housing Development Coordinator for the Purple Line Corridor Coalition. Vonnette works with PLCC coalition partners to select...
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Director of Community Development
Dr. Lung-Amam serves as Director of Community Development at NCSG and Assistant Professor of Urban Studies and Planning at the University of...