PhD-Public Affairs, Student Bios Entry Term 2014 -- Inaugural Class!

Vivek BhandariFaculty Advisor: Professor Elizabeth WilsonAreas of Expertise: Renewable energy, energy systems, micro-grids, distributed generation, energy policy

bhand029@umn.edu

Bhandari, a native of Nepal, has an undergraduate degree in electrical and electronics engineering from Kathmandu University (KU) in Nepal and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from University of Minnesota as a Fulbright scholar. Bhandari is an interdisciplinary researcher examining broader areas that shape energy and environmental sectors. His dissertation research is focused on interactions between a carbon tax and legacy energy policies in a power system, market diffusion of combined heat and power, and the importance of market rules for electric vehicles to provide grid services. View a list of Bhandari's publications here.

Dana BoyerFaculty Advisor: Professor Anu RamaswamiAreas of Expertise: International development, urban sustainability and resilience, food systems, social entrepreneurship, vertical farming

boyer120@umn.edu

Dana Boyer holds a Masters degree in Engineering (MPhil) from the University of Cambridge and Bachelors degrees in Environmental Engineering (BS) and German Studies (BA) from the University of Connecticut. She is currently a PhD student in the Sustainable Cities Group in the Center for Science Technology and Environmental Policy. Pursuing an interdisciplinary research combining policy, engineering, and industrial ecology, her work explores food provisioning in the context of urban development in India, China, and the United States. Her research analyzes urban food flows and the associated system-wide water and energy/greenhouse gas impacts from production all the way to consumption and waste management. The objective is to help cities ensure a sufficient supply of food, while minimizing environmental impact in the face of water and energy resource scarcity and concerns of greenhouse gas mitigation. Prior to Minnesota, Dana spent time working in India, Nicaragua, and Guatemala.

Gregg ColburnFaculty Advisor: Professor Ed GoetzAreas of Expertise: Housing, homelessness, social policy, comparative social policy

colbu039@umn.edu

Colburn has an undergraduate degree in economics and management from Albion College, a master’s degree in social work from the University of Minnesota, and a Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University. He has more than 17 years of private sector experience, including working as an investment banker with Goldman, Sachs & Co. Colburn has a broad interest in social welfare policy with a particular interest in housing and homelessness. Fall 2016 publication and press coverage on Affordable Housing Crisis

Completion date: August 2017

Dissertation title: The Use of Markets in Social Policy: Welfare Recipients as Market Participants

Employment: Assistant Professor, University of Washington, College of Built Environments, Department of Urban Design and Planning

Andrew FangFaculty Advisor: Professor Anu RamaswamiAreas of Expertise: Urban sustainability, energy systems, industrial ecology, life cycle assessment, water-energy nexusfangx184@umn.edu

Fang earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Northwestern University and a master’s degree in sustainable energy systems from the University of Michigan. Recently, he has worked to evaluate environmental footprints of algal biofuels, vehicles, and urban water infrastructure. His interests lie in scalable solutions that will address energy/water infrastructure challenges at the urban scale.

Andrew (Andy) Guthrie Faculty Advisor: Associate Professor Yingling FanAreas of Expertise: Transit planning research, regional accessibility, improved performance measures, transit service and facility design, and transit-oriented development; rail transit and the social equity implications of transportation

guth0064@umn.edu

Guthrie obtained a bachelor’s degree in drama from the University of Georgia and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. As a member of a group that developed a light rail station plan, he received the Planning Award for a Student Project from the American Planning Association of Minnesota. In 2015, Guthrie also received the John S. Adams Award for his achievements in transportation planning scholarship. Guthrie’s interests include the resurgence of rail transit and the social equity implications of transportation.

Completion date: September 2017

Dissertation title: Favorable Conditions for and Active Promotion of Transit-Oriented Development and Economic Development

Kangkang (KK) TongFaculty Advisors: Professors Anu Ramaswami and Jerry (Zhirong) ZhaoAreas of Expertise: interdisciplinary studies on sustainable urban development; environmental impact evaluation; public finance; strategic planning evaluation

tongx169@umn.edu

Tong is doing interdisciplinary research on sustainable urban development from the perspective of infrastructure systems. She seeks to understand the environmental impact of urban infrastructure and what we can do to build environmentally friendly cities in the future. Her previous study analyzed the greenhouse gas emissions of seven infrastructure sectors in different Chinese cities. Focusing on district energy systems, she is developing a method to evaluate the environmental benefits of utilizing industrial waste heat in district energy systems in Chinese cities. She also studies infrastructure from the perspective of public finance, trying to understand what we can do to build cities. One of her projects is about identifying the determinants of investment in urban infrastructure systems in Chinese cities. She is also interested with work on city typology and the evaluation of environmental strategic planning.

Chen ZhangFaculty Advisor: Associate Professor Kathy Quick Areas of Expertise: Ethnic/group disparity and urban planning; insurgent citizenship; rural-to-urban migration; international urbanization; community-based planning; transportation planning

zhan3373@umn.edu

Zhang, a native of China, obtained her bachelor’s degree from Sun Yet-Sen University, China, and a master's degree in urban and regional planning from University of California, Irvine. Zhang won the John S Adams Award in 2014 for her academic achievements in transportation policy and planning fields. Recent publications of her include, "A Novel Analysis of Consumption-Based Carbon Footprints in China: Unpacking the Effects of Urban Settlement and Rural-to-Urban Migration," Global Environmental Change (2016).