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  • Event Speaker

    Sarah Kaufman

    Executive Director & Adjunct Associate Professor of Urban Planning
    NYU Rudin Center for Transportation

    Sarah M. Kaufman is the Interim Executive Director of the NYU Rudin Center for Transportation, where she researches, advocates for and educates about cutting-edge technologies in transportation. She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor of Planning, teaching Intelligent Cities and Advanced Projects in Urban Planning.

    Ms. Kaufman directs several projects related to improving transportation for contemporary needs: adapting to the increasing frequency and impact of extreme weather events on mobility; an autonomous vehicles policy framework for U.S. cities; The Pink Tax on Transportation, an analysis of how safety concerns impact women’s travel patterns in New York City; Intelligent Paratransit, to rethink how we transport seniors and disabled residents; and the Emerging Leaders in Transportation Fellowship, a program to enhance innovation at all levels of transportation planning and policymaking.

    Ms. Kaufman was honored with a Transportation Power 100 Award in 2022 and 2021, a Responsible 100 Award in 2018 and a Tech Power 50 Award in February 2019, by City & State New York. She serves on the advisory board of Transportation Alternatives, is a member of The List and a contributor to Forbes.com. She has been cited in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NBC, CNN, Curbed and Urban Omnibus.

    Ms. Kaufman joined NYU Wagner after nearly five years at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, where she led the open data program, created a conference and online exchange between the MTA and software developers, and assisted in developing the agency’s social media program.

    Ms. Kaufman earned a Master of Urban Planning from NYU’s Wagner School in 2005, specializing in infrastructure, transportation and telecommunications, and wrote an award-winning thesis designing a bus arrival time signage system. She earned her BA from Washington University in St. Louis, majoring in science writing and concentrating in computer science.

    Recent Research
    (Click here to read abstract summaries of each under “research tab”)

    2023

    Sarah Kaufman.Principles for Autonomous Urbanism.

    Sarah Kaufman, Rae Zimmerman, Kaan Ozbay, Ashley Smith, Suvi Hynynen Lambson, Christina Curry, Edwin Jeng, Jingqin Gao, and Eren Kaval.Lessons Learned from the Buffalo Blizzard: Recommendations for Strengthening Preparedness and Recovery Efforts.

    Edwin Jeng and Sarah Kaufman.Improving Language Access on NYC Transit.

    2022

    Sarah Kaufman, Joseph Y J Chow, Bingqing Liu, Alexander Yamron, and Michelle Geck.AVs in NYC: A Policy Framework.

    Alexander Yamron and Sarah Kaufman.How the Interborough Express Will Impact Local Populations.

    2022

    Sarah Kaufman, Alexander Shermansong, and Nicholas Cowan.The Pink Tax on Mobility: Opportunities for Innovation.

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahkaufman/
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