Scholarly Voices Series
September 17, 2024
Dennis Culhane on The Emerging Crisis of Aged Homelessness
Dennis Culhane’s research covers a wide range of topics related to homelessness, assisted housing solutions, and social welfare; his current research examines the relationship between homelessness and the aging of the “Baby Boom” cohort.
Gilles Duranton on the Growth of Cities
Gilles Duranton's extensive body of research has significantly advanced our understanding of the growth and decline of cities. His current work focuses on land use and urban growth in emerging cities, the measurement of urban transportation and congestion, land development, and the geography of innovation and technology.
Jessie Handbury on Shifts in Urban Living Patterns
Jessie Handbury’s research examines how the economies of cities are shifting as workers, businesses, and residents adapt to a post-pandemic world. Her work is integral to understanding urbanization patterns, the revival of American cities, and the broader spatial sorting of income--all key components in how cities will evolve in the coming years.
John MacDonald on Addressing Abandoned Housing to Improve Public Safety
John MacDonald’s randomized control trials on abandoned housing remediation in Philadelphia found that low-cost interventions—like replacing windows and doors—significantly reduced gun violence and visual disorder. His research emphasizes the role of the built environment in shaping community wellbeing and highlights the future potential of AI and systematic observation to track urban change more effectively.
Laura Perna on Access to Higher Education
Among the nation's leading scholars on issues of college access and affordability, Laura Perna has advanced the discourse on equity in higher education through numerous highly acclaimed edited volumes, reports, and articles. Her scholarship examines the policy choices for enabling access—and success—for post-K-12 education, assessing college access, affordability, and success--especially for low-income, first-generation, and non-traditional students.
Megan Ryerson on Resilient, Environmentally-efficient Transportation
Megan Ryerson’s research into transportation systems spans multiple modalities. While recent work has focused on aviation systems, her body of scholarship examines the interplay between transportation networks, urban development, energy efficiency, and resilience.
Erick Guerra on the Costs and Benefits of Roads
Erick Guerra studies the intersection of transportation, land use, and travel behavior, particularly in rapidly urbanizing and motorizing cities. His research explores how urban form and transportation systems influence mobility choices, public health, and environmental outcomes.
Shane Jensen on the Price Effects of Greening Vacant Lots
Shane Jensen is widely recognized for his interdisciplinary research that blends advanced statistical methodologies with real-world applications. His work spans Bayesian multi-level modeling, spatial and spatio-temporal statistics, and statistical computing, with impactful contributions in urban analytics, public health, and sports analytics.
Jere R. Behrman on the Impacts of Community Infrastructure on Children’s Learning
Jere R. Behrman is a globally renowned economist and prolific scholar with over 530 articles published in leading journals, spanning a multitude of disciplines including empirical microeconomics, labor economics, and economic demography. A unifying theme in his work is improving empirical knowledge about human capital formation and outcomes, especially considering unobserved factors such as innate ability and health and institutional imperfections including incomplete markets and information asymmetries.
