I am an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning where I currently serve as the Director of Undergraduate Education. I am also the founding Faculty Director of the Homelessness Hub. Established in 2022, Homelessness Hub is a non-partisan hub for research, education, policy, and action on homelessness that is dedicated to critical, unbiased and data-driven research in order to inform local policy and action aimed at reducing homelessness in the San Diego region.

My research focuses on five core areas: affordable housing, homelessness, local community development, the intersection between planning and real estate and development, and the role of philanthropy in community economic development. I have co-authored/co-edited two books on place-based philanthropy including the award-winning Catalysts for Change: 21st Century Philanthropy and Community Development (Routledge, 2013) and the recently published A New Look at Place-Based Philanthropy: Insights from Canada and the U.S. (FriesenPress 2023).

I recently completed a three year mixed-methods evaluation of the Jewish Family Service of San Diego Safe Parking Program. It is the most comprehensive evaluation to date of a safe parking program, a critical intervention that provides a safe place and access to services for people who live out of their vehicles. The research resulted in two policy reports and a forthcoming journal article.

As a member of the NAIOP Research Foundation’s Distinguished Fellows Program, I recently completed a study that identified best practices and challenges in promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in commercial real estate.  

A recipient of UC San Diego’s Paul D. and Barbara J. Saltman Distinguished Teaching Award, I teach a range of courses including land use planning, San Diego community research, history of urban planning and design, and housing and community development policy and practice. I have co-developed and co-taught two experiential learning course sequences: Life Course Scholars and Urban Challenges: Homelessness in San Diego. I also teach a summer global seminar focused on sustainable planning, development and design in the Netherlands. 

Community engagement and community service are important to me. I currently serve as a board member and secretary of the California Planning Foundation. I frequently serve on local juries and committees and am also a member of the California Planning Roundtable. 

I received my undergraduate degree in architecture, with a minor in city planning, from UC Berkeley, a master’s in regional planning from Cornell University, and a PhD in urban planning from UCLA.