Jennifer Senick is a Senior Policy Fellow, Assistant Dean for Research, a member of the PhD Faculty and Senior Executive Director of the Center for Urban Policy Research at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Policy, Rutgers University. An experienced urban planner, Dr. Senick earned her PhD in Urban Planning and Public Policy from Rutgers, an MA in Political Science from the UCLA and an AB in Government and Russian from Bowdoin College.
Areas of expertise include energy policy, green building, and sustainable development (domestic and international engagements) and healthy communities, especially the intersection of air quality, poverty and urban settings.
She has authored or coauthored more than 30 publications on these topics. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. departments of Energy, Housing and Urban Development and Environmental Protection, and by the U.S. Green Building Council, the American Planning Association, and numerous NJ state agencies. Dr. Senick leads the Center’s program and policy evaluation work for the NJ Board of Public Utilities Clean Energy Program, is a member of the Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute and the NJ Climate Change Resource Center and CCICADA (Command, Control and Interoperability Center for Advanced Data Analysis). She co-chairs the Sustainable Planning Design and Behavior Knowledge Network, Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA), serves on the Board of Directors of the International Association of People Environment Studies (IAPS), a Healthy Communities Action Team Member for the NJDOH (NJ Department of Health) Healthy New Jersey, is a Trend Scout for the American Planning Association, and active in the APA International Division.
Dr. Senick also serves on the Board of Trustees of Children’s Specialized Hospital, RWJBH, is a founder and advisor of the Rutgers University Disability Studies minor and a steering committee member of Nature: Access for All, New Jersey Division of Disability Services and the Plan4Health NJ Environmental Technical Advisory Committee.
Prior to her employment at Rutgers, Dr. Senick was employed by the Rand Corporation as an analyst at the Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and Telcordia Technologies as Executive Director of Global Operations.
Research Interests
- Energy planning and policy development through modeling and field validation assessments
- Environment-behavior research and evaluation on topics including building usability, energy use, air quality, food and healthcare access
- Healthy communities, especially the intersection of climate change adaptation and built environment constraints and affordances
- Disaster planning and mitigation and tool development serving communities and policy makers