Kristen Kurland 

	Associate Teaching Professor Heinz School of Public Policy and Management/School of Architecture BA, University of Pittsburgh e-mail: kurland@andrew.cmu.edu

Professional Background

Kristen Kurland holds a joint faculty appointment at Carnegie Mellon University's H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management and School of Architecture. Her focus at CMU includes technologies in the fields of Building Information Modeling (BIM), Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer Aided Facilities Management (CAFM), and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). In addition to her full time position at Carnegie Mellon, she is the president of a local consulting firm that has implemented CAD, CAFM, and GIS programs in numerous organizations since 1989. Her clients include architects, engineers, hospitals, universities, corporations, as well as local, state and federal government.

Honors

Ms. Kurland received the Heinz School's Martcia Wade award for teaching excellence in 2005. She also received the 1998, 2000, and 2003 Excellence in Education award from ARCHIBUS, Inc. for her CAFM teaching programs in the community and at Carnegie Mellon. Kurland was featured in CMU's Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research (SEER), Spotlight on SEER Faculty, (Spring 2005).

Research

Kurland's research focuses on interdisciplinary collaborations in urban design, community participation and decision-making, health and the built environment, and spatial analysis using geographic information systems. Kristen works closely with the School of Architecture's Urban Laboratory, Heinz School public policy students, and Oxford University on urban sustainability issues. In addition to her work at CMU, she actively collaborates with colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and RAND.

Teaching

Kristen's teaching at CMU includes Building Information Modeling, CAD, 3D Visualization, CAFM, and GIS. Her courses typically include students from multiple disciplines. At the Heinz School, Kristen also teaches Infrastructure Planning to executive physicians in the Master of Medical Management (MMM) program and Health GIS in the Health Care Policy Management (HCPM) program. She also has a strong interest in distance education and has been teaching through this medium for many years.

Community Service

Kristen Kurland is actively involved with local organizations focusing on health and the built environment and is an active member of Highmark's Childhood Obesity Regional Strategy Committee and the Allegheny County Medical Society's Obesity Taskforce. In addition, she is involved in many projects focusing on improving community and neighborhood design.

Selected Publications

"GIS Tutorial" with Wil Gorr, 2005, ESRI Press

"Learning and Using GIS: ArcExplorer Edition" with Wil Gorr, 2005, Thompson Publishing

"GIS Tutorial for Health" with Wil Gorr, 2006, ESRI Press

"Application of a Geographic Information System (GIS) to Identify Neighborhoods at High Risk for Severe Pediatric Pedestrian Injuries and the Relation to Green Space Density" Poster presentation, 2006 Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting Abstracts. Pediatric Research. Apr 2006 suppl.NS Zuckerbraun, K Kurland, T Songer, K Gismondi and BA Gaines.

"EVALUATING THE RELATIONSHIP OF ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLE (ATV) MOTOCROSS TRACKS AND PEDIATRIC INJURY USING GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS, Sohail R. Shah, MD 1 , Noel Zuckerbraun, MD 1 , Kathy Gismondi 1 , Christine J. McKenna, MSN 1 , Marianne Miller, BS 1 , Barbara Gaines, MD 1 , Kristen Kurland 2 and Jeffrey S. Upperman, MD , American Academy of Pediatrics 2006 National Conference and Exhibition

"How Physician Executives Can Use Geographic Information Systems (GIS)", American College of Physician Executives, January 2005 vol2 no1

"Architecture and Engineering", Pittsburgh Engineer Magazine, guest editor, Spring 2004