Our Team

Henry Louis Taylor, Jr.

Founding Director

U.B. Center for Urban Studies

Sarah Cunningham

Director of Operations

U.B. Center for Urban Studies

Beth Kwiatek

Senior Research Fellow

U.B. Center for Urban Studies

Laura Arias

Senior Research Fellow

U.B. Center for Urban Studies

Gavin Luter

Senior Research Fellow

Managing Director, University Alliance - University of Wisconsin–Madison

Robert Silverman

Professor, UB

Department of Urban and Regional Planning

Jin-Kyu Jung

Professor

School of Interdisciplinary and Arts & Sciences, University of Washington Bothell

Keith Lucas

Planning Director

Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency

Kelly Patterson

Assistant Professor

UB School of Social Work

Li Yin

Professor, UB

Department of Urban and Regional Planning

Lori Martin

Professor, African and African American Studies; Associate Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences

Louisiana State University

Sam Cole

Professor Emeritus, UB

Department of Urban and Regional Planning

Qian Wang

Associate Professor

Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering

Dean Seneca

Adjunct Instructor

Urban and Regional Planning

James W. Pitts

President and CEO

J. W. Pitts Planning & Development LLC

Eldon Montague

GIS Graduate Assistant

Master of Urban Planning (Spring 2026)

Krishna Teja Anumolu

Graduate Social Media Specialist

Engineering Science (Data Science) MS (Spring 2027)

Zach Rouhana

Graduate Teaching Assistant - Community as Classroom

Master of Urban Planning (Fall 2027)

Melanie Thompson

Graduate Teaching Assistant - Community as Classroom

American Studies MA (Fall 2026)

Sean Kane

Graduate Research Assistant 

Master of Urban Planning (May 2027)