For the third time in the past four years, an ITS scholar has received the Barclay Gibbs Jones Award for Best Dissertation in Planning.

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) has honored Anne E. Brown for her groundbreaking dissertation on racial discrimination and travel patterns in ridehailing. Anne completed her doctorate at ITS this spring and spent the summer putting her research into action as an ITS postdoctoral fellow before departing to join the faculty at the University of Oregon. Her work was covered extensively in the media, including in an op-ed Anne wrote for the Los Angeles Times.

The award selection committee released the following statement about Anne’s dissertation:

“The committee was especially impressed by Anne’s comprehensive and cautious treatment of an important, contemporary, and understudied topic in transportation planning, her deft use of novel data sources, solid grasp of data analysis, and clear and engaging prose. Anne’s ability to link the analysis of the original quantitative data she collected with a thorough review of secondary sources and relevant policies was especially impressive. Her research on racial and economic equity in the use of ride-hail services is already making headlines, and we look forward to seeing Anne’s contributions to scholarship and policy change in the future.”

Anne joins recent ITS scholars Kelcie Ralph and Carole Turley Voulgaris, who won the award in 2015 and 2017 for their work on young adult travel and transit ridership forecasts, respectively. ITS director Brian D. Taylor and faculty fellows Evelyn Blumenberg, Michael Manville, and Martin Wachs formed Anne’s dissertation committee, along with Daniel Sperling at UC Davis. Anne will speak at the ACSP Annual Conference in Buffalo, New York this October, and previously presented her findings as part of the ITS spring speaker series: