UNC Charlotte Doctoral Graduate Assistant NSFfunded Project

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Department of Geography and Earth Sciences
9201 University City Boulevard, Charlotte, NC

The UNC Charlotte Department of Geography and Earth Sciences is accepting applications for a Doctoral Graduate Assistant to work on a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded study entitled Rail Transit, Residential Mobility, and Income Segregation. The purpose of this research is to investigate the role that public investments in rail transit play in shaping urban income segregation. This mixed-methods study asks the following research questions: (1) Are low-income residents more likely to move out of neighborhoods following the placement of a new transit station than other residents?

(2) Do they then relocate to neighborhoods of a lower socioeconomic composition? and (3) What are the motivating factors that drive re-location decisions both into and out of transit neighborhoods? Finally, to measure how these individual-level behaviors ultimately shape economic segregation, we assess (4) where and for which income groups have residential economic segregation trends changed since the new transit system was put into place?

The project will generate knowledge that will inform key debates surrounding transit-induced gentrification and displacement, the causes of rising levels of urban income segregation, and will serve as a platform for linking local residents with city officials in identifying policy solutions to the findings.

This is a 9-month contract for 20hrs/week at $21,000/year, starting in the Fall of 2018. In addition, tuition is fully covered. Funding is guaranteed for two years and likely to continue contingent on satisfactory performance and university funds.

Please send resume or vitae, a letter of interest, and contact information of three references to Dr. Claire Schuch (jschuch1) by February 15, 2018.