Urban Planning Professor Brian D. Taylor has been named director of the Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, housed in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Taylor also serves as director of the School’s Institute of Transportation Studies. Professor Taylor recently concluded a three-year term as chair of the Department of Urban Planning. After serving for four years as associate director of the center, Taylor steps into the post formerly held by Public Policy Associate Professor J.R. DeShazo, who now directs the Luskin Center for Innovation at the School.
Commenting on the growth and achievement of the center, DeShazo said, “I am confident this growth will continue under the dynamic leadership of the new director, Dr. Brian Taylor, and associate director, Dr. Allison Yoh, as each of them has already contributed immensely to making the Lewis Center what it has become.”
Taylor, whose research centers on transportation policy and planning, focuses on transportation finance, political influence on transportation planning outcomes, and transportation equity. A UCLA Urban Planning alumnus (PhD 1992), Taylor also conducts research on travel behavior including the social, economic, and spatial factors that explain the use of public transit.
The Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies was founded in 1988 to promote the study, understanding of, and solutions to regional policy issues in California, with special reference to the environment, housing and community development, and transportation.