University of New Orleans planning and urban studies professor Guang Tian is the recipient of the 2024 Rising Scholar Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning. Tian accepted the award at the organization’s annual conference last week in Seattle. 

Tian is the associate director of the UNO Transportation Institute and the founding director of the Center for Equitable Transit-Oriented Communities, which is a U.S. Department of Transportation Tier 1 University Transportation Center. His research interest areas include land use and transportation planning, travel behavior and the built environment, sustainability and climate change, and quantitative methods, including statistics, GIS, machine learning and artificial intelligence. 

Established in 2018, the ACSP Rising Scholar Award recognizes early-career scholars who demonstrate strong potential for a meritorious impact on planning scholarship. The award committee commented on Tian’s strong research trajectory demonstrated by his publications and grants while teaching eight different courses since he began his tenure-track appointment at UNO. 

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning is a consortium of more than 100 university departments and programs offering planning degrees as well as programs that offer degrees affiliated with planning. It also has individual faculty, retired faculty, and student members. Most of its school members are located in North America, particularly the U.S., but its individual members are from around the world.