Ph.D. Student Job Market Candidates
Urban Planning and Development
Robert Binder
Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Development
Education: Master in City and Regional Planning, Georgia Institute of Technology; Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, Michigan State University
Research Interests: Transportation, equity and justice, urban sociology, social interactions in public space, ethnography, community engagement, storytelling in planning, urban design, and public finance
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Genevieve Giuliano
Soyoon Choo
Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Development
Education: Bachelor or Arts in International Studies, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea; Master of Public Administration, University of Southern California
Research Interests: Community economic development, arts and the city, cultural planning, equity and just planning, qualitative methods, collaborative governance
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Elizabeth Currid-Halkett
Alanna Coombes
Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Development
Education: Master of Science in Public Administration and Public Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom; Master of Science in Urban Design and City Planning, University College London, United Kingdom; Bachelor of Arts in Politics, Hull University
Research Interests: Urban policy and planning, community resilience, autonomous vehicles, ‘smart city’ technology, STS, transport planning, economic development, city and local politics, public affairs – and how all these interact
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Genevieve Giuliano
Sue Dexter
Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Development
Education: Master of Science in Operations Research, London School of Economics and Political Science; Bachelor of Arts in Management Science, University of California, San Diego
Research Interests: Sustainable urban freight, transportation planning and infrastructure, land use policy, environmental policy, climate change mitigation, international development
Committee Chair: Dr. Genevieve Giuliano
Clemens Pilgram
Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Development
Education: Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Geography, Macalester College
Research Interests: Urban Data Science, Real Estate, Land Use and Transportation, Environmental Justice
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Marlon Boarnet
Ben Toney
Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Development
Education: Bachelor of Arts in Urban and Environmental Policy, Occidental College
Research Interests: Long term public planning, equity implications of the shifting role of the public sector, critiques of new public management, social justice, distributive justice, planning theory
Committee Chair: Dr. Gary Painter
Bonnie Wang
Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Development
Education: Master of Urban Planning, University of Michigan; Bachelor of Arts in Land Economics, National ChengChi University, Taiwan
Research Interests: Land use and transportation, spatial analysis, social equality, urban economics, international development, public health
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Marlon Boarnet
Kurt Wyatt
Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Development
[email protected] | LinkedIn
Education: Bachelor of Arts in Geography, University of Miami
Research Interests: Digital geographies, planning + metaverse, LGBTQ+ studies, public space, virtual worlds, media effects
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Lisa Schweitzer
Public Policy and Management
Heonuk Ha
Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management
[email protected] | LinkedIn | Website
Education: Master of Public Policy and Applied Economics, University of Michigan; Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Philosophy, Korea University
Research Interests: Fiscal (distributive) politics, fiscal federalism, financial management, bureaucratic politics, program evaluation, machine learning and artificial intelligence
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jeff Jenkins
Noah Miller
Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management
Education: Master of Public Policy, University of Southern California; Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Japanese, University of California, Davis
Research Interests: Environmental economics; climate change; associated issues of mitigation, adaptation, and resilience; migration and mobility; health and pollution; policy choice in second-best context
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Antonio Bento
Hilary Olson
Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management
Education: Master of Public Policy and Certificate in International Policy and Planning, University of Southern California; Bachelor of Arts in Diplomacy and World Affairs and minor in Economics, Occidental College
Research Interests: Social innovation, social finance, impact investing, program evaluation, co-production, co-creation, collaborative governance, systems change, and international development
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Gary Painter
Rebecca Smith
Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management
Education: Master of Science in Economics, Sciences Po Paris, France; Bachelor of Science in Economics and French, Georgia Institute of Technology
Research Interests: Spatial inequality, neighborhoods, housing, health policy
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Gary Painter
Shengjia Xu
Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management
Education: Master of Health Science, Johns Hopkins University; Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Psychology, Smith College
Research Interests: Health economics, alternative payment models, Health care utilization and costs, mental health care, dementia and cognitive impairment
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Alice Chen