Catherine Ross

Catherine Ross

Harry West Professor of City and Regional Planning

Director, Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development

catherine [dot] ross [at] coa [dot] gatech [dot] edu
Phone: (404) 385-5130Fax: (404) 385-5130Office location: 760 Spring Street

View Ross' full C.V.

Biosketch 

Dr. Catherine Ross is an internationally recognized expert on transportation systems planning, urban planning and quality growth. She has extensive experience in both the public and private sector and directs Georgia Institute of Technology’s Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development (CQGRD) where she also serves as serves as Harry West Professor and Advance Professor in the School of City and Regional Planning in the College of Architecture. She is a member of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) and past president of the National Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP). Dr. Ross has served on numerous National Academies committees including the Transportation Research Board Executive Committee, University Transportation Centers Program and on the board of directors of the ENO Transportation Foundation. She earned a Masters Degree and a PhD in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University and completed post-doctorate work at the University of California, Berkeley. She has conducted research for numerous governmental agencies, foundations and the private sector. In July 2009, Dr. Ross was selected to advise the Obama Administration on the first-ever White House Office of Urban Affairs. She is the editor of Megaregions: Planning for Global Competitiveness (Island Press, 2009) and the co-author of The Inner City: Urban Poverty and Economic Development in the Next Century (1997). Dr. Ross has conducted research on transportation and urban planning and how to make cities, neighborhoods and regions safer, healthier places for all to live. She is the author of numerous articles, books, research reports and media publications including the Wall Street Journal, Urban Land Institute, the Atlanta Journal Constitution and speaks regularly to national and international forums.

Educational Background
Ph.D., City and Regional Planning, Cornell University
M.R.P., Regional Planning, Cornell University
B.A., History, Sociology, and Education Certification, Kent State University

Fields

  • Transportation and Infrastructure
  • Land Use and Regional Governance
  • Healthy Places
  • Regional Science (Megaregions)

 

Synergistic Activities

The Megaregion: Most recently, Dr. Ross has emerged as thought leader in the creation of a new theoretical direction “Megaregions”. She has made more than 35 invited presentations on this topic over the last four years both nationally and internationally and is the author of Megaregions: Planning for Global Competitiveness (Ed), Island Press, 2009. She serves as principal investigator on a number of research efforts funded by the United States Department of Transportation to assess the impact of megaregions on both the methodological and operations of current transportation planning practice and administration. This research is developing the pedagogical and conceptual roadmap for identifying and delineating megaregions in the United States. In fifty years more than 400 million people will reside in the United States according to estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau (2006); approximately 70% will reside in or live in close proximity to a megaregion. This population expansion will take place around eight to ten megaregions, and will place even greater pressures on economic, natural, built, social and infrastructure systems. In both her teaching and research activities Dr. Ross integrates sustainability focusing on the increasing urbanization we are experiencing and its implications for redevelopment and future investments.  

Dr. Ross's academic work has largely been concerned with the development of metrics to measure the impacts of different transportation investments on the spatial and social structure of urban areas. Recently the work on spatial and social structures has expanded to include metrics to gauge the sustainability and health impacts associated with different transportation plans and technologies. She is one among a very small number of researchers who are currently conducting pioneering work in the field of Health Impact Assessment using (HIA) ,a relatively new impact assessment tool. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has funded a number of research projects and continues to support her work. Dr. Ross has conducted more than six HIAs. One HIA was conducted for the Atlanta beltline project, currently the largest redevelopment project in the United States. She has published extensively. and across a wide range of outlets.  

Dr. Ross is engaged in the conduct of research for the Georgia Department of Transportation on value pricing, context sensitive design and infrastructure finance. Her work on congestion pricing is focused on the research and analysis of consumer preferences to identify methods, and strategies required for the successful implementation of congestion pricing programs. The research has contributed substantially to the implementation of High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes along the Georgia Interstate 85 in Metropolitan Atlanta. The research included the collection of and analysis of large amounts of data on preferences of different socio-economic groups, drivers, vehicle operations during peak and non peak periods and emissions.  

Dr. Ross has been active in a number of significant initiatives. She was appointed to the “Advisory Committee for the White House Office of Urban Affairs in 2009 by President Obama and contributes regularly to urban initiatives at the federal level. She has been widely recognized for the quality of her work and was the recipient of the “Find the Good and Praise It Award” presented in 1998 by Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater for her work on the National Personal Transportation Survey Team. She is past president of the National Association of Collegiate Schools of planning (ACSP) and has been named to 2009 Atlanta’s Top 100 Women of Influence by the Atlanta Business League and named to Georgia Trend’s list of Notable Georgians (2009). 

Research Ambitions
An internationally known transportation and urban planner, Dr. Catherine L. Ross has conducted research and has project experience at the local, national, and international levels. In addition, she co-founded Euquant, Inc., an Atlanta-based economic and planning consulting firm. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Ford Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), PEW Charitable Trusts, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy-China, Federal Transit Administration, and many local, city, and state governments throughout the country.

Research Groups/Labs
Director, Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development

Books

  • Ross, C.L. (2009). Megaregions: Planning for Global Competitiveness. Washington D.C.: Island Press.
  • Boston, T. D., & Ross, C. L. (Eds.). (1997). The Inner City: Urban Poverty and Economic Development in the Next Century (1 ed.). New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.


Book Chapters

Refereed Articles

Recent Courses

  • CP 6311/ CEE 6602 | Introduction to Transportation Planning
  • CP 6233 | Sustainable Urban Development
  • CP 6052 | Growth, Regionalism and Cities


Dissertations Supervised

  • Shi Hak Noh, 1989: Efficiency and Equity Implications of Private Automobile Use in an Urban Area. A Case Study of Metro-Atlanta.


Current PhD Students

  • Arthi Rao
  • Barbara Faga
  • Jessica L. H. Doyle
  • Eric Sundquist