Dr. Steven Richter joins the Pirate Planning program

Published Jul 18, 2022 by
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In Fall 2022, the Community and Regional Planning program welcomes two new faculty members: Dr. Steven Richter (a new assistant professor) and Ms. Michelle Nance (our 3rd Planner-in-residence). Let’s meet Dr. Richter!

  • Hometown: originally from Irvine, CA (Orange County), but have lived so many places – much of the Pacific coast, Chicago, Memphis, Austin, and Annapolis. 
  • Hobbies: hiking, soccer, traveling, cooking, reading, wrestling with my small children, 
  • Educations: too much! Northwestern Engineering for undergrad, Leadership in Sustainability at Univ of Oregon, then Masters and Ph.D. in Planning from the University of Texas at Austin.
  • Specialties: I use urban analytics (GIS + data analytics) to focus on a wide array of human-environmental systems—my recent work targetting national urban land trends and state water planning in Texas.
  • Special memories: right after completing my dissertation, we tried to explain to my 2-year-old that I was now “Dr. Richter”…her firm response was, “No! I’m Dr. Richter!!!”. 
  • Career goals: 1) have lots of fun with colleagues and students at ECU! 2) establish me as a thought leader in ecological urban and coastal planning, and 3) lead projects in Greenville and coastal NC to help make communities more resilient and sustainable.
  • What excites you about ECU and Pirate Planning program: everyone I met at ECU, including the students, had a great combination of congeniality and professionalism. And I’m very excited to teach and research coastal planning. I’ve spent most of my life near the coast, and intellectually, it a such a crucial region, given the juxtaposition of dense human settlement and ecological vitality/sensitivity.