His research looks at how community participation affects local planning and policymaking around issues including sustainability, environmental justice and social equity. A longtime New York City resident, he was not personally affected by Hurricane Sandy but quickly became interested in how the storm and its accompanying recovery and rebuilding processes would change the city’s coastal neighborhoods and its approach to issues of sustainability, resilience and social equity. Since 2012 he has been involved in research on the recovery process across the region, as well as in the specific neighborhoods of Red Hook, Midland Beach and the Rockaways. He has a PhD in regional planning and an MUP in urban planning, both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.