Suwan Shen

Title: Assistant Professor
Organization: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Hawaii
Keywords: climate change adaptation, transportation planning, GIS  
Education: Ph.D., Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida, 2014 Master of Science, Civil Engineering, University of Florida, 2014 Master of Art, Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida, 2010 Bachelor of Science, Geographical Information Science, Southeast University, China, 2008
Email: swshen@ufl.edu

Suwan Shen graduates from the University of Florida, with a Ph.D. degree in urban and regional planning in spring 2014. She has a special interest in climate adaptation and transportation planning. She got her undergraduate degree in Geographical Information System (GIS) from Southeast University, China and master degrees in Urban and Regional Planning department and Civil Engineering department respectively at University of Florida. Over the years, she is particularly interested in using GIS to explore the relationship between land use, infrastructure and the environment. She has conducted research analyzing how the environmental changes in terms of climate changes influence urban planning, especially transportation planning. Her master thesis focused on analyzing the impacts of changing riverine flood frequencies caused by climate change on land use and transportation system using coastal city Pensacola in Florida as a case study. She expanded the research to sea level rise vulnerability analysis and adaptation in her Ph.D. study. Her research is supported by “Development of Sea Level Rise Adaptation Planning Procedures and Tools Using NOAA Sea Level Rise Impacts Viewer” project funded by NOAA and Gulf of Mexico Sea Grant. During her study at University of Florida, she has presented her works at Transportation Research Board annual meetings, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning meetings, and International Association for China Planning meetings, and has won the Karen R. Polenske Best Student Award. She also worked as a planning intern for the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council (NCFRPC) since spring 2010. Suwan is preparing herself for a career in urban planning with a focus on environment and transportation planning. Her future research plans include further improvements of vulnerability studies by considering potential social behavior change.

Keywords: climate change adaptation, transportation planning, GIS  
Publications:
Zhong-Ren Peng, Suwan Shen, Qingchang Lu and Sarah Perch, 2010, Chapter 25, Climate Change and Transportation, in Handbook of Transportation Engineering Volume II 2e (editor: Myer Kutz), pp. 35.1 – 35.24 Suwan Shen, Zhong-Ren Peng. “Impact Analysis of Changing Riverine Flood Frequencies Caused by Climate Change on Transportation Infrastructure and Land Use: Case Study of Pensacola, Florida”. 90th TRB Annual Meeting, Washington D.C. January 2011, TRB Paper # 11-3575 Suwan Shen, Zhong-Ren Peng, Zun Wang, and Hemant Salokhe."Impacts of Vertical Data Accuracy on Estimating the Effects of Sea Level Rise on Local Highway Infrastructure". 89th TRB Annual Meeting, Washington D.C. January 2010, TRB Paper # 10-3961