Laxmi Ramasubramanian, Ph.D., AICP, Deputy Director & Director, Urban Sustainability Extension Service

An architect by training, Laxmi holds a Master in City Planning degree from MIT (1991) and a PhD in Architecture from UW-Milwaukee (1998).  After completing post-doctoral research positions in Australia and New Zealand, she returned to the United States to direct the Urban Data Visualization Lab at UI-Chicago (2002–2004) before joining the faculty of Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY). She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning and a member of the doctoral faculty in the Environmental Psychology Program at the CUNY Graduate Center. Laxmi directs the Hunter College Urban Sustainability Extension Service (USES), a community-university partnership program focused on solving contemporary problems using evidence-based research. USES emphasizes participatory planning, low cost interventions, and highly customized solutions that are carefully aligned to address stakeholders’ needs and interests.

In 2013-2014, Laxmi was selected to become a Fellow of the American Council on Education (ACE). The ACE Fellows Program, established in 1965, is designed to strengthen institutions and leadership in American higher education by identifying and preparing promising senior faculty and administrators for responsible positions in college and university administration.

Laxmi’s Fellowship Project is to develop a program and business plan to sustain the Urban Sustainability Extension Service (USES) at Hunter College, specifically to create a coherent brand identity and a university-wide commitment to urban sustainability and sustainability outreach and develop a program that is itself sustainable (resources, staffing, and a strong advisory council that brings stakeholders together).