Our team

The Berkeley Infrastructure Initiative team members’ expertise span the systems critical to economic and social well-being. Our research methods include: quantitative analyses rooted in multiple areas of economics (e.g., behavioral, transaction cost and agglomeration economies); spatial (e.g. geographic information systems (GIS) / participatory GIS), qualitative (e.g., interviews, focus groups, participant observation); mixed methods, travel behavior, surveys, and other statistical analyses; as well as policy narrative, content, and case study analysis. Our studies integrate empirical quantitative and qualitative methods of research to discover the means to obtain long-term objectives, related to climate change, global poverty and social equity, sustainability, and resiliency through decisions made today.

Karen Trapenberg Frick
Karen Trapenberg Frick, PhD is Associate Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning. She also is Director of the University of California Transportation Center (UCTC) and Assistant Director of the University of California Transportation Center on Economic Competitiveness in Transportation (UCCONNECT). She is an expert on sustainable transport and community-based planning and major transportation infrastructure projects. Her current research focuses on conservative, Tea Party and property rights activists’ perspectives on planning and planners’ responses.
Jeffrey M. Vincent
Jeffrey M. Vincent, PhD is deputy director and cofounder of the Center for Cities & Schools (CC&S) at the University of California, Berkeley. His policy and research interests lie at the intersection of land use planning, community development, and educational improvement, with a particular focus on how school facilities serve as educational and neighborhood assets.
Joan Walker
Joan Walker, PhD is a Professor of Civil Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley where she currently serves as Acting Director of UC Berkeley’s Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS), and previously served as Co-Director of GMS. Joan Walker’s research focus is behavioral modeling, with an expertise in discrete choice analysis and travel behavior. She works to improve the models that are used for transportation planning, policy, and operations.
Alison Post
Alison Post, PhD is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Global Metropolitan Studies, and Co-Director of the Global Metropolitan Studies Program. Her research lies at the intersection of comparative urban politics and comparative political economy, with regional emphases on Latin America and South Asia.
Brandie Nonnocke
Brandie Nonnecke, PhD is Research & Development Manager for CITRIS, UC Berkeley and Director of the CITRIS Tech for Social Good Program. She is a Fellow at the World Economic Forum where she serves on the Council on the Future of the Digital Economy and Society. Brandie researches human rights at the intersection of law, policy, and emerging technologies. Her current research is primarily focused on the benefits and risks of AI-enabled decision-making, including issues of fairness, accountability, and appropriate governance.

Faculty Affiliates

Jane Macfarlane
Director of the Smart Cities and Sustainable Mobility Center
Area of Specialization: High performance computing, data analytics and geospatial mapping

Karen Chapple
Department of City and Regional Planning
Area of Specialization: The governance, planning, and development of regions in the U.S. and Latin America, with a focus on housing and economic development.

Daniel Rodriguez
Department of City and Regional Planning
Area of Specialization: Transportation Policy and Planning and Environmental Planning and Healthy Cities specializations.

Daniel Chatman
Department of City and Regional Planning
Area of Specialization: Land use and development policies; public transportation services; travel patterns and residential choices of immigrants to the U.S.

Charisma Acey
Department of City and Regional Planning
Area of Specialization: Sustainable urbanism in the U.S. and the developing world; environmental behaviors and governance; water and sanitation infrastructure; political economy of poverty reduction and access to basic services; social equity and participatory decision making; public participation GIS and spatial analysis.

Elizabeth Deakin
Department of City and Regional Planning
Area of Specialization: Transportation policy, planning and analysis; land use policy and planning; legal and regulatory issues; institutions and organizations; energy and the environment, new technologies.

Robert Cervero
Department of City and Regional Planning
Area of Specialization: Transportation Planning; Transportation and Land Use; Infrastructure Planning; Growth Management planning; International Development.