Peter Derrick is a transit historian who is currently working on a book about MTA’s efforts to rebuild New York’s transit network from 1982 on. Dr. Derrick earned his Ph.D. from New York University in 1979, and worked as a planner and as assistant director of a department for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority from 1982 to 1996. He is the author of “Tunneling to the Future: The Story of the Great Subway Expansion That Saved New York,” published by New York University Press in April 2001 (paperback, 2002), as well as numerous articles about mass transit. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University.
Michael Laskawy
Michael Laskawy is currently a visiting scholar at the NYU Rudin Center. Previously he served as a senior economic advisor to Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, including serving as the Executive Director of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee during the '07-'08 financial crisis. He holds a PhD from New York University in American Studies.
Greg Lindsay is a contributing writer for Fast Company and the co-author of Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next, a look at how air transportation and globalization are impacting cities, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in March 2011. Greg was previously a contributing writer for Fortune and an editor-at-large for Advertising Age. He has written for Bloomberg BusinessWeek and Business 2.0, and was a senior correspondent at Inside.com. His writing has also appeared in Time, Wired, New York, Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, and The Daily Beast. Greg graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in journalism.
Charles Shelhamer is a code analyst for the New York City Department of Buildings where his area of expertise include construction safety, law and education. Prior to his work at NYC DOB, Charles worked as a research scientist and instructor at the Wagner School. Charles has been published in a variety in industry publications, including "The Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management" and the "Building Safety Journal." He received his B.A. in Geography and History from the University of Delaware, and his MUP from New York University's Wagner School of Public Service.
Tom Vanderbilt’s most recent book is The New York Times bestseller Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), published by Alfred A. Knopf. His essays have appeared in Wired, Slate, The London Review of Books, Gourmet, The Wall Street Journal, Men’s Vogue, Artforum, The Wilson Quarterly, Travel and Leisure, Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, and Popular Science. He has appeared on a wide variety of radio and television programs around the world, including NBC’s Today Show, ABC News’ Nightline, NPR’s Morning Edition, Fresh Air with Teri Gross, the BBC’s World Service and The One Show, Fox Business, and CNN’s Business Today, among many others.