Infrastructure Planning and Research

The Infrastructure Planning and Research division conducts funded research for agencies, foundations and governments on a variety of topics related to infrastructure. Since 1999, the division has raised over $1.5 million.  Most recently, the program has been involved in recovery efforts in post-Katrina New Orleans, funded by the federal government; developing a master plan for Paterson NJ, which led directly to President Obama naming it the nation’s newest National Park in 2009, and in Newark NJ, working with Mayor Cory Booker and his staff to develop a comprehensive Bus Rapid Transit network. The division typically integrates research with graduate infrastructure planning and design studios as part of the Master of Infrastructure Planning Program (MIP). Affiliated with the College of Architecture and Design, a leading, nationally recognized design school, the MIP program blends practical knowledge with application, offering a design-based curriculum incorporating cutting edge practice.  The program regularly uses the infrastructure systems of the surrounding region as its classroom.

Studio courses are taught by a combination of academics and professionals with strong practical and theoretical experience as planners, architects, engineers, economists, attorneys, etc.  Because of the program’s central location in the New York metropolitan area, amidst what is arguably the most comprehensive and sophisticated array of infrastructure anywhere in the United States, the program draws from some of the best practitioners available to participate in research and teach courses.  The MIP program is directed by Darius Sollohub, recent recipient of the NCARB Prize.  Other faculty include Georgeen Theodore, an award winning designer who is represented the US at the Rotterdam Biennale in 2009, Alex Marshall, a Senior Fellow at the Regional Plan Association who has written numerous books on infrastructure, and Robert Hutchinson, a developer with Cushman and Wakefield, who is leading efforts to deploy solar panels throughout the region.  For more on the MIP program visit http://architecture.njit.edu/academics/graduate/mip-site/ .