About the Authors

Zhenhua Chen is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at University of Southern California. Before his postdoc, Dr. Chen received his PhD in Public Policy at George Mason University, a MA in Regional Economics from the College of Economics at Shenzhen University in China. His research interest focuses on both China and the United States covering fields of economic geography, regional science, transportation planning and policy, as well as public finance. Dr. Chen’s dissertation develops, demonstrates, and applies a new extension to computable general equilibrium analysis with an integration of spatial econometrics to assist policy makers in assessing the impact of public infrastructure investments on economic output at different geographic scales (national, state, and metropolitan) with an emphasis on the U.S. northeast megaregion. His dissertation receives a series of awards, including the Benjamin H. Stevens Graduate Fellowship in Regional Science awarded by North American Regional Science Council, the Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. Fellowship Award awarded by Economic Club of Washington, DC, and the 2014 RSAI Best Dissertation Award. Dr. Chen’s recent research has been published in Journal of Transport Geography, Transportation, Annals of Regional Science, Papers in Regional Science, Economic Development Quarterly, Public Works Management and Policy, Applied Economic Letters, Case Studies on Transport Policy, Journal of Transportation Research Forum, and Transportation Law Journal.

Kingsley E. Haynes is a World-Renown Scholar in Regional Economic Development and Infrastructure. He also holds appointments in the departments of Decision Sciences, Geography, and Public Affairs. Dr. Haynes has been involved in regional economic development, infrastructure, environmental planning, and natural resource management since the early 1970s. He has directed international programs for the Ford Foundation’s Office of Resources and Environment and EPA. Dr. Haynes has directed numerous research grants and contracts totaling over $50 million, co-authored or edited 5 books and over 300 articles and professional reports published in journals such as Annals of Association of American Geographers (AAG), Geographical Review, Economic Geography, and so on. He received the Boyce Award in 1997 for his work in the Regional Science Association International, the Anderson Medal in 2000 and the Ullman Award in 2003. In 2002 he was elected to the National Academy of Public Administration. In 2006 he was elected a Fellow of the Regional Science Association International, and also in 2006 he presented the ninth lecture for the UNESCO sponsored Megacities Foundation and the Netherlands Institute for City Innovation Studies on “Infrastructure: The Glue of Megacities” at The Hague. In 2007 he was awarded the ninth National Geographic Society’s President Gilbert H. Grosvenor Medal by Texas State University for his work in Geographic Education.