About the Presentation
Policy makers face challenges managing multifaceted urban and environmental systems that are influenced by global factors such as population growth, migration, recession, and climate change. In addition, local actors such as parties or companies that direct the development according to their own interests can be a challenge.
Confronted with such complexity, decision makers need an integrated approach and adequate tools to better understand and evaluate the impact of policies on their urban regions. As developing new models is expensive and time-consuming, model coupling, so the practice of existing models to analyze complex policy questions is sometimes used. Dr. Shahumyan will demonstrate the use of model coupling through his work at the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland. Through the integration of the Maryland Statewide Transportation Model with existing models for land use, building based carbon emissions, vehicle-based carbon emissions, and water quality, Dr. Shauhmyan will examine scenarios for a more sustainable future of Baltimore-Washington Region.
About the Speaker
Dr. Harutyun Shahumyan is a Marie Curie Research Fellow from University College Dublin currently hosted at the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland. His research is focused on geospatial modelling, model integration and application of spatial decision supporting systems for policy analysis.
Dr. Shahumyan holds a PHD in Engineering from the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia and has several years of post-doctoral research experience in University College Dublin, where his work was focused mainly on land use modelling and regional development scenario analysis. Dr. Shahumyan has several years of consulting experience with leading international organizations such as USAID, Emerging Markets Group, PA Consulting and Development Alternatives Inc.
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