Research Director
Transportation Sustainability Research Center (TSRC)
Honda Distinguished Scholar, ITS-Davis
Office: (510) 665-3483
e-mail: sashaheen@tsrc.berkeley.edu
and sashaheen@ucdavis.edu
Susan's interest in environmentally-
and socially-beneficial technology applications led her to focus her doctoral
dissertation on "smart" carsharing, linked to transit in the
mid-1990s. She designed and tested the CarLink I and II pilot programs, using
advanced technologies to support commuter carsharing services from 1997 to
2002. Carsharing has been proven to reduce auto ownership, energy use, and
emissions and increase transit ridership, cycling, and walking. In addition,
she has maintained an extensive database on carsharing and station car trends
in
North America over the last ten years.
An internationally recognized leader
in innovative mobility research, Susan continues to focus on carsharing, as
well as several other areas, including: smart parking management for transit
and trucks, fuel cell vehicles and infrastructure, smart growth/development, AB
32 (
California’s
Global Warming Solutions Act), low-speed electric modes linked to transit, and
older mobility.
Susan holds a joint research
appointment at the Transportation Sustainability Research Center (TSRC),
headquartered at the University of California (UC)
Berkeley,
and at UC Davis'
Institute
of
Transportation Studies.
In October 2007, Susan became a Research Director at TSRC. As of April 2006, Susan
co-leads the transportation track of the
Energy
Efficiency
Center at UC Davis. In
September 2002, Susan launched and now directs a group of projects, called
Innovative Mobility Research, housed at TSRC. She also served as the program
leader for the Policy and Behavioral Research program of California Partners
for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH) from 2003 to 2007, and as a Special
Assistant to the Director's Office of the California Department of
Transportation (2001 to 2004). In November 2000, she was honored as the first
Honda Distinguished Scholar in Transportation.
She has a Ph.D. in ecology, focusing
on technology management and the environmental aspects of transportation, from
UC Davis; an MS in public policy analysis from the
University
of
Rochester; and a BA in political
science and English (writing concentration) from
Nazareth
College.
She also has graduate certificates from the
University
of
Paris, Sorbonne and the
University of
Oxford (sponsored by an Eisenhower
scholarship from the English Speaking Union). She completed her post-doctoral
studies on advanced public transportation systems at UC Berkeley. She has over
seventeen years of professional experience in transportation and environmental
policy.
While a doctoral candidate, she
received a variety of awards, including the
University of
California's
Outstanding Graduate Student of the Year, the Dwight David Eisenhower
Fellowship (ranked 3rd in nation), a National Science Foundation Award, an Eno
Leadership Fellowship, and a National Air and Waste Management Association
Scholarship (ranked 2nd among all applicants). She has co-edited one book and
authored 28 journal articles and over 40 reports and proceeding articles. In
May 2007, she received the Berkeley Staff Assembly's "Excellence in
Management" award. She is also the chair of the Transportation Research
Board's (TRB) Committee on New Public Transportation Systems and Technologies
(2004 to present) and was the founding chair of TRB's Carsharing/Station Car
Subcommittee (1999 to 2004). She serves on the Intelligent Transportation
Systems (ITS) World Congress Program Committee (2003 to present). She also
served on the Governor's Environmental Action Plan Working Group in
California.
She envisions a new transportation
future in which advanced information and alternative fuel technologies are
integrated to offer travelers many of the same advantages as personal vehicles,
yet provide a set of options for tripmaking that is more diverse and
environmentally and socially sustainable. Susan oversees all IMR projects.
