David Proffitt, Ph.D. Email & Phone Number

Phoenix, Arizona, United States

Phoenix, Arizona, United States

Tempe, Arizona, United States

Washington D.C. Metro Area

Creating curricula for university courses focused on solutions to climate change. The goal is to help college and university instructors present solutions to the multi-disciplinary challenges presented by climate change with implementation-ready solutions based on existing technology identified in the 2017 book Drawdown.

Greater Salt Lake City Area

Greater Salt Lake City Area

As part of my doctoral dissertation work, I designed a research program to evaluate the impact of statewide efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation in California and Oregon. To fund the project, I wrote a winning proposal for a $74,000 grant from the National Institute for Transportation in Communities (NITC) and fulfilled all grant requirements with minimal supervision from the principal investigator. I also trained and led two teams of student researchers over six months to assist me with the analysis. This mixed-methods research project uses content analysis of regional transportation plans, interviews with planners, and statistical analysis of plan-evaluation scores to determine how state mandates to reduce GHG emissions in metropolitan areas have affected planning processes and planning documents. I designed the study to follow best practices for both qualitative and quantitative research, which is a major challenge of mixed-methods research design. In addition to the $74,000 grant from NITC, I secured more than $5,000 in grant funding to travel to three international planning conferences, where I presented the results of this work to senior academic researchers. My presentation of this work won first prize in a competition at the 2016 NITC Summit in Portland, Oregon.

Greater Salt Lake City Area

Fellowship supporting sustainability research and study in the Metropolitan Planning, Policy + Design Ph.D. program at the University of Utah.

Pune Area, India

Modeled the effects of various urban-planning interventions to mitigate the urban heat island in Pune, India to identify biggest return on investment from government policies.

Edited and helped publish a major (1,600+ page) resource management plan for an area of federally managed land in Arizona approximately the size of Delaware.

Helped conceive and launch an entertainment/things to do weekly distributed along metro Phoenix's new light-rail route.

Assign and edit freelance and wire stories for weekly and daily business sections in the newspaper and the Arizona Business Gazette.

Teach online story-telling strategies to junior- and senior-level journalism students, including technologies such as Photoshop, Final Cut, Soundtrack and Dreamweaver.

Planned and edited a bi-monthly magazine focused on entrepreneurs and business leaders in Arizona.

Selected stories and art for the newspaper's homepage to maximize nighttime readership.

Shaped the editorial "voice" of the magazine. Developed story ideas and overall editorial direction. Wrote and edited stories on design, architecture, travel, politics, and other topics.

Reported and wrote articles on architecture, planning and design.

Ran day-to-day operations of magazine. Functioned as liaison between art and editorial staff. Edited all stories in the magazine for content and style.

Wrote news and entertainment for broadcast on radio stations around the country.

As a reporter, covered music, art & culture, breaking news, education & neighborhoods. Also checked stories for accuracy, style and consistency as a copy editor.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Phd), Metropolitan Planning, Policy & Design

Activities and Societies: Friends of Red Butte Creek Metropolitan Research Center Metro Water Lab

Master'S Degree, Urban And Environmental Planning

Master'S Of Urban And Environmental Planning, Urban Environmental Policy

Activities and Societies: American Planning Association, Planners at ASU

B.A., English Literature

Activities and Societies: The State Press (college newspaper), Golden Key honor society, Phi Beta KappaMagna cum laude

German Language And Culture