Our Team

Adam Millard-Ball

Adam Millard-Ball is a professor of urban planning in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies. His research and teaching are about transportation, the environment, and urban data science. Trained as an economist, a geographer, and an urban planner, he analyzes the environmental consequences of transportation and land-use decisions, and the effectiveness of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. His research uses large-scale geospatial data analysis as well as econometric and qualitative methods.

Claudia Bustamante

Claudia is the communications manager for the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, where she promotes the institute’s research, expertise and accomplishments through original content, media outreach, website and social media management, publication dissemination, and community engagement. She also serves as managing editor for Transfers Magazine, a biannual research publication of the Pacific Southwest Region University Transportation Center.

Claudia brings extensive experience running communications programs for other university-based research centers, including most recently the USC Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families, UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education and Access, and UC/ACCORD, an all-UC campus research consortium. Claudia has also worked as a development officer for a Hollywood-based community mental health agency and a newspaper reporter in the Inland Empire. Claudia received a master’s in journalism from USC and a bachelor’s in communications and classics from UCLA. 

Hao Ding

Hao Ding is a postdoctoral scholar at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies. His research interests include the equity and justice impacts of urban design regulations, the interaction between urban form and transportation, and transportation equity. His most recent works examine the effects of conventional local transportation planning practices on housing production and affordability, and the effects of design regulations on place identities in the Asian American ethnoburbs in Los Angeles.

John Gahbauer

John Gahbauer is a research consultant at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies.

Mark Garrett

Mark Garrett is a research consultant at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies.

Adonia Lugo

Cultural anthropologist Adonia E. Lugo was born and raised in traditional and unceded Acjachemen territory and now lives and works in traditional and unceded Tongva territory in Los Angeles. Adonia began investigating transportation, race, and space during her graduate studies at UC Irvine, when she co-created the Los Angeles open street event CicLAvia and the organization today known as People for Mobility Justice. Since receiving her doctorate in 2013, Adonia has applied her research on “human infrastructure” in sustainable mobility advocacy and helped to define the concept of “mobility justice.” Adonia is a Staff Researcher at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, a 2022 appointee to the California Transportation Commission, and a member of Los Angeles Walks’ advisory board.

Jiaqi Ma

Jiaqi Ma is Faculty Associate Director of UCLA ITS and an associate professor at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering.

Professor Ma is the lead for the New Mobility research program.

Juan Matute

Juan Matute, Deputy Director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS), leads research initiatives that bridge the gap between academic inquiry and practical transportation decision-making. As Deputy Director, Juan Matute leads UCLA ITS’s annual UCLA Arrowhead Symposium on urban and regional planning and is the Program Manager for the national Center of Excellence on New Mobility and Automated Vehicles.

At UCLA ITS, Juan spearheads research projects that delve into public transit, transportation finance, and governance. His interdisciplinary approach, rooted in problem-solving and systems thinking, enables him to unravel complex transportation challenges and develop effective solutions.

Juan’s dedication to public service extends beyond UCLA. He actively serves on various state, regional, and city committees, contributing his expertise to initiatives such as the Transit Transformation Task Force, Open Data/Big Data – Smart, and Connected SCAG Region Committee. Juan’s involvement in working groups and boards, such as the Los Angeles Parking Reform Working Group and the Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. Board of Directors, demonstrates his commitment to improving transportation systems at the local level.

Juan’s passion for transportation extends to the classroom, where he has taught numerous courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels at UCLA. His courses cover a wide range of topics, including transportation, environmental assessment, and climate planning.

Juan holds an MBA and Urban Planning MA from UCLA and a BA from Pomona College. He lives in Santa Monica, CA., where he and his wife Sirinya bike, walk, and use transit regularly with their son.

Georgiana Prevost

Georgiana is the Events and Operations Coordinator for the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies and Institute for Transportation Studies. In her role she oversees event logistics, planning, and execution for both centers. Additionally, she coordinates day-to-day business and purchasing operations. Prior to joining the Lewis Center/ITS, Georgiana served as the community engagement and logistics coordinator at the AI Institute for Next Generation Food Systems, based at UC Davis. Georgiana brings experience in academic event management and research institute financial administration at the UC level. She received a bachelors degree in Environmental Science from UC Berkeley. Her studies at UC Berkeley spurred a passion for understanding how food, transportation, and housing systems are impacted by and impact the environment

Ellen Schwartz

Ellen Schwartz manages the UCLA Center for Parking Policy. After reading The High Cost of Free Parking, Ellen was captivated by the connections between parking and health, housing, equity, and sustainability, and inspired to pursue graduate studies and a career in parking policy. Her work with the Center focuses on making parking research accessible to public officials and supporting city and state policy efforts.

Before joining ITS, Ellen worked as a Curb, Mobility, and Parking Planner at Walker Consultants, where she advised public sector clients on transportation and land use plans, including parking management frameworks and development review policies. She also brings public sector experience, having worked on various policy and planning initiatives with the City Manager’s Office in Mountain View, California, and the Planning Division in Fremont, California.

Ellen holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, with a concentration in Transportation Policy and Planning, and a Bachelor of Science in Spanish from Wisconsin Lutheran College.

Jacob Wasserman

Jacob Wasserman studies and manages research on public transit, the intersection of transportation and other social issues, and a range of mobility questions at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies. With a background in transportation equity, finance, and demand management, Wasserman serves as the lead scholar of ITS’ Public Transit research program.

Prior to joining ITS, he worked for the Cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New Haven on capital planning, vehicle miles traveled development review thresholds, budget process improvements, and active transportation. He also served as a Transportation Justice Fellow for BART Director Lateefah Simon, coordinating passage of the system’s Safe Transit sanctuary policy.

Wasserman has a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, with concentrations in transportation policy and planning and in community economic development and housing, in the housing stream. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Yale.

Whitney Willis

Whitney coordinates events and manages the center’s daily business and personnel operations including the student fellowships and grants. Prior to joining ITS, Whitney was the program manager for the Center for Collaborative Education’s Los Angeles (CCE). During her time at CCE, she managed the program and administrative efforts of the Los Angeles Urban Teacher Residency Program and the Los Angeles New Administrators Leadership Program. She also supported the recruitment and communications efforts of both programs. Whitney also worked as a senior supervisor with the the Associate Students of UCLA for five years managing a staff of up 40-60 employees.  

Whitney’s passion is community development. She has volunteered as a math and science tutor in numerous childcare centers and mentoring programs. She has also spent time as a volunteer in many educational nonprofits such as the Casa Heiwa Angelina Mentorship Program, the Center for Powerful Public Schools, and the Angel Tree Foundation. In 2013, she was an honoree for the One Faith Fellowship program for her volunteer work. She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from UCLA.

Mahtab Ahmed

Mahtab Ahmed is a Graduate Student Researcher with the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies and a Master’s student in Civil & Environmental Engineering, specializing in Transportation Engineering. His research focuses on examining the relationship between highway expansion and warehouse growth, and how these trends shape air quality and environmental justice outcomes for nearby communities. Mahtab is both a Dwight D. Eisenhower Transportation Fellow and an Eno Center for Transportation Fellow. In addition to his research, he works full-time as a Civil Engineer at AECOM, contributing to public infrastructure projects across California.

Tamika Butler

Tamika L. Butler (she/her/they/them) is a student researcher at ITS. She is a national expert and speaker on issues related to the built environment, equity, anti-racism, organizational behavior, and change management. As the Founder of Tamika L. Butler Consulting, she focuses on shining a light on inequality, inequity, and social injustice. Previously, she was the Director of Planning, California and the Director of Equity and Inclusion at Toole Design. Tamika served as the Executive Director of the LA Neighborhood Land Trust and LA County Bicycle Coalition. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Urban Planning. Tamika received her J.D. from Stanford Law School, and received B.S. in Sociology at Creighton University in her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.

Jordan Grimaldi

Jordan is a current Master of Urban and Regional Planning student at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs. She is excited to be supporting the Institute of Transportation Studies as a Communications Fellow for the 2024-2025 academic year. Jordan is arriving to UCLA with 4+ years of community-based planning experience with a specialty in Safe Routes to Schools policies and programming. If you share a passion for food, health equity, and active transportation, please feel free to reach out!

Yu Hong Hwang

Yu Hong Hwang is a PhD student in urban planning and a research data analyst with the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies. He is interested in the intersection of transportation engineering, planning, and policy, especially at the misalignment between engineering practice and planning and policy goals. He obtained his BS in Materials Engineering and has a MURP from UCLA.

Raghava Kodavatikanti

Raghava is an Intern with UCLA ITS. He is a Public Affairs major that is very interested in the intersection between transportation and disability rights. Through his internship with Congressman Kevin Kiley and research with UCLA faculty, he has developed a commitment to exploring how inclusive policy can advance equity. He’s currently a writer and editor for Bruin Political Review, where he continues to explore various solutions to improve accessibility for people with disabilities.

Vishnu Potharaju

Vishnu is a second year undergraduate Public Affairs and Economics student from Fremont, California. He currently works as an Operations Assistant with the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies and the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, aiding in event planning and organizational management for the centers. He has a strong interest in education policy and social impact and nonprofit work.

Andres F. Ramirez

Andres F. Ramirez is a doctoral candidate in urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research explores the entanglements of property, Indigenous urbanism and insurgent planning in the global South, with a particular emphasis in his country of birth, Colombia. He has also worked extensively at UCLA’s ITS on examining the historical impact of freeways on communities of color across California.

Shay Rivera-Bremner

Shay is a Public Affairs major with minors in Spanish and Global Studies. Her background includes legal research, policy analysis and data management, including work with the LA County Board of Supervisors and Morrison Foerster LLP. She brings a strong interest in transportation, sustainably, and innovation. Currently she is also working as a research assistant with the Luskin Social Welfare Dept., and is writer/editor for the Latinx Undergraduate Law Journal. She is looking forward to engaging with policymakers and entrepreneurs in the transportation space and passionate about how tech innovation can lead to positive change. Shay will be assisting with 100 year celebration, research and event operations as a part of Luskin’s Undergraduate Capstone program.

Sam Speroni

Sam Speroni is a doctoral student in the UCLA Department of Urban Planning and a graduate student researcher at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies. His primary research interests lie in travel behavior, transportation finance, and school transportation, all with a focus on advancing equity. Sam earned his master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from UCLA and a bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies from Brown University.

Tat Srisan

Tat Srisan is a doctoral student from the UCLA Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His interests lie in transportation equity, supporting disadvantaged communities and developing areas, analyzing travel behavior, and connecting travel demand modeling with practitioners and policymakers. He also holds a master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.

Jasmine Law

Jasmine is a second-year Masters in Urban and Regional Planning student concentrating in Transportation Policy and Planning. She is currently working on research about curbside EV charging programs in North America. Before coming to UCLA, she primarily did community outreach with Safe Routes to Schools programs in the Bay Area.

Lilith Winkler-Schor

Lilith’s research broadly examines how the field of urban planning is attempting to reimagine itself as a field of racial justice. Her doctoral research examines the federal Reconnecting Communities program as an example of how the transportation planning sector is working to acknowledge and redress the past racial harms of the highway interstate program. She hopes to contribute deeper understanding on how planners are conceptualizing past racial harms, how agencies are attempting to deliver repair, and how issues of retrospective justice can be understood through a spatial frame. Lilith is currently collaborating with Dr. Regan Patterson (UCLA) to examine community choices around highway-healing infrastructure interventions, and Dr. Paul Ong on how to conceptualize delivering justice at a meso-level scale.

Anika Tasnia

Anika Tasnia is a graduate student researcher with UCLA’s Institute of Transportation Studies in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her work centers on the intersection of transportation engineering and environmental justice, examining how flooding caused by transportation infrastructure disproportionately impacts marginalized communities. She integrates hydrodynamic modeling, flood-loss estimation, and community-centered equity analysis to understand these dynamics. By evaluating how infrastructure planning can unintentionally amplify climate hazards, she aims to advance transportation systems that are resilient, equitable, and community-centered. Anika’s work supports decision-making that promotes sustainable mobility and protects climate-vulnerable populations.