Dr. Lawson, a regional scientist, delves into issues as diverse as the impact of the urban infrastructure on the health of children and the nature and extent of racial profiling by police in traffic stops. She is an expert on the monitoring of transportation use and needs and in related applications of GIS techniques. Her work falls squarely under the signature theme of spatial demography, though she contributes through her collaborative research to health and health inequalities as well.
She has publishes in nationally recognized transportation and planning journals, such as the Journal of Urban Technology, Planning Practice and Research, and the Journal of the Transportation Research Forum. She has been involved in the early evaluation of data from the American Community Survey in Oregon.
Because of her expertise on the relationship between demographics and such transportation needs, she is extensively involved in the committees of the Transportation Research Board, a division of the National Research Council. She is currently the secretary for its Urban Transportation Data and Information Systems Committee (ABJ30) and serves also on the Research Subcommittee on Data and Information Technology Section, the Travel Survey Methods Freight Data Research Subcommittee, and the Committee on Military Transportation.
Lawson is Co-PI with CSDA associate Kirsten Davison (Public Health) on a pilot project of the EXPORT Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities that is exploring the use of GIS to enhance the understanding of environmental barriers to children’s physical activity. She is also co-PI of the Initiative for Healthy Infrastructure (iHi), funded by the New York’s Department of Health. Healthy Infrastructure Plans are community-based documents that combine the skills of transportation planners, health department staff, and interested citizens, to formulate infrastructure plans for walking and biking, including funding strategies. Such plans have now been developed for numerous New York counties.
Based on their pilot project for the EXPORT Center, Lawson and Davison are working on a proposal for research that will combine in-home surveys with built environment elements. The proposal is expected to be submitted in early 2007.
Lawson contributes to population research in two significant ways: first, because of her knowledge of GIS technology and analysis, she is integral to CSDA/Mumford’s efforts to do cutting-edge research in spatial demography; and second, her early use of ACS data makes her a valuable resource as other researchers using these data. In addition, through her membership on numerous national committees, she raises the national profile of CSDA. Lawson maintains a research office in the Lewis Mumford Center, so she is easily available for consultation with other researchers.
Lawson uses the services of the Administrative Core for preparation and submission of grant proposals and budgets, as well for the administration of her projects. She also uses the Computing/Statistical core.