Department of Geography and Planning

About

Dr. Shay is an Associate Professor and serves as the Planning Program Director in the Department of Geography and Planning. Her teaching and research in city and regional planning focuses on transportation and land use, travel behavior and active travel, transportation equity, community development, and rural resilience.

Dr. Shay is also an Associate Director for the NCDOT Center of Excellence in Transportation Safety and Policy (TSAP), a consortium of five North Carolina universities, for which the lead institution is the Highway Safety Research Center in Chapel Hill, NC. Click here to view details about her current project, titled "Impacts of CAV-Ready Infrastructure on Vulnerable Road Users (VRUS): Guidance for North Carolina's Local and State Transportation Agencies."

Recent Courses

• PLN 2410: Town, City and Regional Planning
• PLN 3432: Planning Techniques
• PLN 3730: Land Use Controls
• PLN 4240/5240: Transportation Planning
• PLN 4450/5450: Inside the Sustainable City
• PLN 4470/5470: Sustainable Community Development
• PLN 4700: Planning Studio
• PLN 5400, 5431, 5730: Graduate Courses in Planning Theory and Practice, Planning Techniques, Land Use Controls

Research Interests

• Transportation, land use, access, equity
• Automated and connected vehicles—impacts on walkability, safety, vulnerable road users
• Built environment, travel behavior, non-motorized travel, public health
• Planning and development in small, rural, and mountain communities
• Social work and community planning

Recent Publications

Shay, E, M MacNamara, “Planning and social work: Teaching pre-professional university students across colleges.” Journal of Community Practice, 31: 1, 11-23, 2023

Christiana, R., S. Daily, T. Bias, V. Haas, A. Dwyer, E. Shay, A. Hege, R. Broce, H. Venrick, and C. Abildso, 2022. “Effectiveness of a point-of-decision prompt to encourage physical distancing on greenways and rail-trails during Covid19 pandemic,” Environment & Behavior, 54:6

Bagli, H., E. Shay, and T. Combs, 2022. “AVs—Use, share, own? Young adults’ perceptions of connected and automated vehicles,” Transportation Research Record, 2676: 11

Bonevac, A., E. Shay, and T. Combs, 2022. “Key informant perceptions of flooding and landslides in Western NC following 2018 floods and landslides,” Southeastern Geographer, 62: 2