ITS open a new position research assistant starting in Spring term 2026, and potentially continuing through the coming year. The assistant will support a research project led by Dr. Elisa Barbour and Dr. Jamey Volker, and will be especially useful and interesting for students of sustainable development for transportation and land use as well as multi-level governance and policy studies.
The project, funded by US DOT, is called What makes complete streets projects work? It addresses implementation of complete streets projects to enhance multimodal accessibility, such as by introducing transit or bicycle lanes and pedestrian infrastructure. The project will consider stakeholder perspectives on complete streets projects, including impacts on local businesses, and how priorities and concerns vary across stakeholders, and how goals and objectives are addressed, and conflicts resolved.
The research project will employ mixed methods, including conducting interviews with local planners, policymakers, business owners, and community activists. The research assistant will complete tasks including identifying and summarizing academic and policy-oriented literature on complete streets, investigating and analyzing information on complete streets projects identified for case study, identifying stakeholders in these projects, and helping analyze findings from the case study research.
Qualifications:
Candidates should have completed some coursework and/or have professional experience working on issues related to local or regional housing, transportation, and/or community development issues and concerns, and they should have good writing skills. Statistical analytical skills are also desirable.