Professor Laxmi Ramasubramanian, PhD, AICP holds a Master’s degree in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a PhD in Environment-Behavior Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in addition to undergraduate and graduate degrees in Architecture from her home country, India. She has a wealth of research, teaching, and administrative experience gained through working at universities in the United States and abroad. Laxmi most recently served as the Chair of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and as the Interim Associate Dean for Research in the College of Social Sciences at San José State University. Previously, she was a faculty member at Hunter College, CUNY.
Dr. Ramasubramanian is the author of three books. Her latest, GIS and Housing: Principles and Practices is co-authored with Professor Jochen Albrecht and Deborah Rojas De Leon was published by Taylor & Francis (January 2024). Previously, she published Geographic Information Science and Public Participation, and Essential Methods for Planning Practitioners: Skills and Techniques for Data Analysis, Visualization, and Communication (with Jochen Albrecht). Over the course of her faculty career, she has raised over $2 Million in grants and contracts as a PI or co-PI, and published numerous peer-reviewed book chapters, journal articles, and conference proceedings. In 2019, Cal Poly Pomona awarded her the Dale Scholar Prize in recognition of her research that links theory with practice. As an engaged scholar and educator, Dr. Ramasubramanian works collaboratively with scholars, practitioners, and community advocates to address intractable policy problems in housing, economic development, and transportation, while simultaneously addressing issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Dr. Laxmi Ramasubramanian was the elected President of two academic organizations in her fields of expertise - the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) from 2012-2014 and the Association of the Collegiate Schools of Planning from 2021-2023. Since 2017, Dr. Ramasubramanian has been developing a faculty mentoring/leadership model to advance the needs of first-generation faculty and people of color. Some of this work has been funded by the National Science Foundation. She is passionate about faculty success and nothing pleases her more than spending time with faculty to help them advance in their chosen career path.