Our Team

Michael Lens stands in front of green plant wall — Michael Lens
Director

Michael Lens is the Director of the Lewis Center and a Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy. Professor Lens’s research and teaching explore the potential of public policy to address housing market inequities that lead to negative outcomes for low-income families and communities of color. This research involves housing interventions such as subsidies, tenant protections, and production. Professor Lens regularly publishes this work in leading academic journals and his research has won awards from the *Journal of the American Planning Association and Housing Policy Debate*.

Areas of Work:Housing Affordability

Aaron Barrall
Housing Data Analyst

Aaron is a housing data analyst at the Randall Lewis Housing Initiative for the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, assisting faculty, students, and staff with data analysis and visualization. Before joining the Lewis Center, he worked as a private-sector urban planner, where he developed comprehensive land-use and housing plans. He has also held environmental-related roles at state and local government agencies.

Areas of Work:Housing Access, Environmental Justice

Evelyn Blumenberg
Former Director

Evelyn Blumenberg is a Professor of Urban Planning within the Luskin School of Public Affairs and the former Director of the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. Her research examines the effects of urban structure — the spatial location of residents, employment, and services — on economic outcomes for low-wage workers, and on the role of planning and policy in shaping the spatial structure of cities. Professor Blumenberg’s recent projects include analyses of trends in transit ridership, gender and travel behavior, low-wage workers and the changing commute, and the relationship between automobile ownership and employment outcomes among the poor.

Areas of Work:Transportation, Access to Opportunities

Madeline Brozen
Deputy Director

Madeline Brozen is Deputy Director of the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies and a transportation researcher. Her research focuses on the transportation needs for vulnerable populations and how transportation connects people to opportunity, most recently focusing on transportation needs to healthcare. Her previous research includes work on parklet design and evaluation, park design for older adults, and street performance metrics. Madeline is a lecturer in GIS for the UCLA Urban Planning Department and commonly incorporates spatial analysis in her work. She previously managed the UCLA Complete Streets Initiative, was the founding editor-in-chief of Transfers Magazine, and is a member of the Investing in Place advisory board.

Areas of Work:Transportation, Access to Opportunities

Claudia Bustamante
Communications Manager

Claudia is the communications manager for the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, where she promotes the center’s research, expertise and accomplishments through original content, media outreach, website and social media management, publication dissemination, and community engagement. She also serves as communications manager for the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, and as managing editor for Transfers Magazine, a biannual research publication of the Pacific Southwest Region University Transportation Center.

Claudia has extensive experience running communications programs for other university-based research centers, including most recently the USC Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families, UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education and Access, and UC/ACCORD, an all-UC campus research consortium. She has also worked as a development officer for a Hollywood-based community mental health agency and a newspaper reporter in the Inland Empire. Claudia received a master’s in journalism from USC and a bachelor’s in communications and classics from UCLA.

Sang-O Kim
Postdoctoral Scholar

Sang-O Kim is a research-oriented scholar whose work lies at the intersection of travel behavior, population aging, and gender. He recently completed his doctoral dissertation in planning at Cornell University which investigated the travel behavior of family caregivers whose unseen and unpaid labor of love plays a critical role in sustaining the well-being of an expanding senior population. Sang-O also combines qualitative and quantitative approaches to deeply investigate the complex mobilities surrounding care in the U.S. With his research, Sang-O ultimately hoped to contribute towards helping cities and civic institutions to better prepare themselves for the novel challenges of an aging society. Before joining the Lewis Center, he gained various work experiences ranging from public diplomacy in Austria, interior design in South Korea, and local government in California. He holds a bachelor’s degree in geography from King’s College London (UK), a master of urban planning from the University of Southern California, and a Ph.D. in planning from Cornell University. Originally from Seoul, Sang-O has lived in Korea, the UK, Singapore, and Austria.

Areas of Work:Mobility of Care, Gender, Travel Behavior, Health & Well-being

Shane Phillips
Housing Initiative Project Manager

Shane Phillips manages the Randall Lewis Housing Initiative for the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. In this role, he supports faculty and student research, manages events, and publishes research, policy briefs, and educational materials. His work covers a wide range of housing topics including tenant protections, housing production policies, and government revenue and financing reforms. Shane is also the author of “The Affordable City: Strategies for Putting Housing Within Reach (and Keeping it There),” in which he argues for an “all of the above” approach to housing policy and outlines 55 strategies for improving affordability and household stability.

Areas of Work:Housing Affordability

Georgiana Prevost

Events and Operations Coordinator

Georgiana is the Events and Operations Coordinator for the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies and Institute for Transportation Studies. In her role she oversees event logistics, planning, and execution for both centers. Additionally, she coordinates day-to-day business and purchasing operations. Prior to joining the Lewis Center/ITS, Georgiana served as community engagement and logistics coordinator at the AI Institute for Next Generation Food Systems, based at UC Davis. Georgiana brings experience in academic event management experience and research institute financial administration at the UC level. Georgiana received a bachelors degree in Environmental Science from UC Berkeley. Her studies at UC Berkeley spurred a passion for understanding how systems such as food, transportation, housing, and medical systems are impacted by and impact the environment

Jessica Schirmer
Postdoctoral Scholar

Jessica Schirmer is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. Her research examines how interest groups and institutions shape policy, and how federal, state, and local policies impact housing affordability, spatial inequality and land use. Her recent projects include analyses of property tax reform and trends in housing production.

Areas of Work:Housing Affordability

Whitney Willis
Assistant Director

As operations manager, Whitney coordinates events and manages the center’s daily business and personnel operations including procurement, student fellowships, facilities projects, center and project budgets, and proposal applications. Prior to joining the Lewis Center, Whitney was the program manager for the Center for Collaborative Education’s Los Angeles (CCE). During her time at CCE, she managed the program and administrative efforts of the Los Angeles Urban Teacher Residency Program and the Los Angeles New Administrators Leadership Program. She also supported the recruitment and communications efforts of both programs. Whitney also worked as a senior supervisor with the Associate Students of UCLA for five years managing a staff of up 40-60 employees.

Whitney’s interests include fostering change in Los Angeles through community work and involvement as well as creating diverse leadership. She has volunteered as a math and science tutor in numerous child care centers and mentoring programs. She has also spent time as a wellness coach and volunteer in many educational nonprofits such as the Casa Heiwa Angelina Mentorship Program, the Center for Powerful Public Schools, and the Angel Tree Foundation. In 2013, she was an honoree for the One Faith Fellowship program for her volunteer work. She is a graduate of the 2019-20 cohort of the UCLA Professional Development Program where she currently serves as a peer mentor. Currently, she is an advisor for UCLA Staff Assembly’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Task Force. She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from UCLA and is currently pursuing a master’s in public administration.

Vera Goetze
Postdoctoral Scholar

Vera Götze is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. Her research examines how planning institutions and upzoning policies shape housing affordability and tenure security for renters, drawing on comparative case studies and spatial analysis across Europe and the United States.

Tiffany Lieu
Podcast Assistant

Tiffany Lieu is a second-year undergraduate studying Public Affairs and Communication. She currently works as a Podcast Assistant at the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. Her focuses within her work and her academics center on how language can be used to increase accessibility and promote environmental sustainability. Outside of her professional interests, she enjoys sewing, listening to live music, and spending time outside.

Simone Midby

Operations Assistant

Simone Midby is a fourth-year undergraduate at UCLA majoring in Sociology and Labor Studies. She works as an Operations Assistant with the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies and the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, supporting organizational operations and event planning. Simone is interested in management and organizational leadership and is passionate about creating positive social impact through effective organizations and public service.