SPDC welcomes Associate Professor Teresa Qu to the Urban & Regional Planning Program

This spring, the School of Planning, Design and Construction welcomed Associate Professor Tongbin (Teresa) Qu, PhD, to the Urban & Regional Planning Program.

Photo of Tongbin (Teresa) Qu.
Teresa Qu, associate professor of urban & regional planning.

This spring, the School of Planning, Design and Construction welcomed Associate Professor Tongbin (Teresa) Qu, PhD, to the Urban & Regional Planning Program.

Qu has more than 20 years of experience in transportation field where she has performed research, consulting and engineering services in both the United States and China. She is a registered professional engineer.

Qu has a PhD in urban and regional science from Texas A&M University, a Master of Science in transportation engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from Tongji University in Shanghai, China.

At MSU, Qu will be teaching courses on urban and regional transportation system planning, modeling and design.

Qu’s research experience covers a wide variety of urban and transportation issues, including travel demand and vehicle emission modeling, traffic congestion monitoring and evaluation, bicycle and pedestrian planning and modeling, as well as Big Data analysis.

During her years with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, she was involved with research funded by the U.S. and Chinese government, including the Federal Highway Administration, the Texas Department of Transportation, the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality, the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Houston-Galveston Area Council, the Ministry of Transport of China and the Beijing Transportation Research Center.

More recently, Qu has focused on bike share system research and implementation.

The class research project she instructed and guided won the 2013 Dr. Kent Butler Student Paper Award by Central Texas Chapter of American Planning Association and 2014 Best Student Project Award in Applied Research by American Planning Association. Her effort and collaboration with the Transportation Service has made bike share a reality on Texas A&M University campus. 

At MSU, Qu will be working on research related to shared mobility, autonomous vehicles and their impact on mobility and society, as well as smart cities for the elderly and people with disabilities.

“I’m very happy to be here at MSU and SPDC Urban & Regional Planning Program. Although the winter in Michigan is cold, I do feel the warmth from those that I’ve met. I’m honored to join MSU and am looking forward to working with all of you,” said Teresa Qu.

Qu is a Fellow of the International Road Federation. She is also actively engaged with Transportation Research Board committees, including Developing Countries, Bicycle Transportation, Pedestrians, as well as Emerging and Innovative Public Transport and Technologies.

Please join us in welcoming Teresa Qu to Michigan State University and the School of Planning, Design and Construction!

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