Carol Atkinson-Palombo

Professor

Department of Geography, Sustainability, Community, and Urban Studies

Dr. Carol Atkinson-Palombo has a Ph.D. in Geography from Arizona State University’s School of Geographical Sciences and Planning, a Masters in Economics from New York University, and has over a decade of experience working in finance and economic development in London and New York City. She spent three years as a Fellow of the National Science Foundation in an Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Research and Training (IGERT) Program in Urban Ecology and has Ph.D. minors in Planning and Urban Ecology. Dr. Atkinson-Palombo is a strong advocate of integrating teaching, research, and community engagement to produce meaningful educational opportunities for students and applied research on issues of societal importance that can help to inform policymakers. One project that exemplifies this approach is the US-Ethiopia Partnership in Sustainable Water Resource Management that has been funded by the United States Agency for International Development and Higher Education in Development to train future professors and water resource professionals in Ethiopia. Another, more local project, is a collaboration with the Blue Hills Civic Association in Hartford, Connecticut, to respond to a Call for Action issued by the Black Caucus to address social and environmental justice issues such as health disparities and achievement gaps.

Areas of Specialty

Research specializations include evaluating the impact of public policies designed to support sustainable cities (in both developed and developing country settings), spatial analysis using GIS, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Current externally-funded projects in the United States include analyses of the impact of Light Rail Transit systems on property values and land-use change in Phoenix, Arizona, and Denver, Colorado; analysis of the spatial distribution of residential foreclosures in Phoenix, Arizona; and the development of an indicator to measure transportation sustainability with faculty and graduate students at the University of Connecticut’s Center for Transportation and Livable Systems. She is also interested in the human and environmental impacts of air pollution generated by transportation, and in understanding support for and barriers to the adoption of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.