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Penn IUR Scholar

Reid Ewing

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Distinguished Professor of City and Metropolitan Planning, University of Utah

About

Reid Ewing, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor of City and Metropolitan Planning at the University of Utah, Distinguished Research Chair for Resilient Places, and associate editor of Cities. He holds master’s degrees in Engineering and City Planning from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Transportation Systems from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ewing’s 12 books include Pedestrian and Transit Oriented Design, co-published by the Urban Land Institute and American Planning Association; Growing Cooler: Evidence of Urban Development and Climate Change, published by the Urban Land Institute; and Best Development Practices, listed by the American Planning Association (APA) as one of the 100 “essential” books in planning over the past 100 years. His 100-plus peer reviewed articles include “Relationship Between Urban Sprawl and Physical Activity, Obesity, and Morbidity,” the most widely cited academic paper in the Social Sciences as of late 2005, according to Essential Science Indicators; and “Travel and the Built Environment: A Meta-Analysis,” given the Best Article of 2010 Award by the American Planning Association and the second most widely cited article in JAPA’s 80-year history. A recent citation analysis by Virginia Tech found that Ewing, with 26,300 citations, is the 6th most highly cited among 1,100 planning academics in the U.S. and Canada.

Affiliated PhD Student

Spencer Folk

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PhD Candidate at GRASP Lab

About

Spencer is a robotics researcher at the GRASP Lab at the University of Pennsylvania where he studies how wind affects perception, planning, and control for UAVs operating in urban environments. His approach harnesses synergies between classical model-based estimation algorithms, machine learning, and fluid dynamics to enable fast predictions of urban wind flow fields from minimal onboard sensors and computation. Spencer strives to enable UAVs to reason about the complex wind that forms within the urban canopy layer and use this capability to operate safely, efficiently, and autonomously in future city airspaces. 

Beyond his role as a PhD student at GRASP, Spencer works with NASA as a Pathways Intern, utilizing UAVs as mobile in-situ wind sensors. This initiative aims to improve the accuracy and timeliness of urban weather forecasts, inform policy for future urban airspaces, and catalyze advancements in urban air mobility technologies. Prior to his PhD, his previous research for the U.S. Army Research Laboratory centered on designing 3D printed UAVs. Looking ahead, Spencer aspires to one day develop algorithms for extraterrestrial UAV probes, empowering the scientific exploration of our solar system's atmospheres.

Spencer holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Lafayette College and an M.S.E. in Robotics from the University of Pennsylvania. 

Faculty Fellow

Allison Lassiter

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Assistant Professor

About

Dr. Allison Lassiter examines opportunities to use landscape infrastructure and emerging technologies to build resilience and increase adaptive capacity in cities. Her research focuses on urban water management. She is working on evidence-based green infrastructure policy; adapting municipal water to rising seas; and smart water. She teaches courses on sustainable cities, smart cities, and water policy. She received a BS in Computational Biology from Cornell, Masters in City Planning from MIT, and PhD in Environmental Planning from UC Berkeley. Prior to joining the faculty at Penn, she was a research fellow in Economics at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, working with the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities.

Selected Publications

Sustainable Water: Challenges and Solutions from California. Editor. University of California Press. 2015.

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