Seth Kerr

Can you tell us a bit about your job and your job responsibilities?

I'm a Leadership Fellow at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Currently, I'm placed with the Office of Sustainability for my final rotation. My main focus is developing the Port Authority’s first zero-waste roadmap for recycling and composting for launch by 2025. Even though the Port Authority has been recycling and composting to some degree, this will be the first-ever holistic policy with a long-term focus. As a bi-state agency that is quasi-governmental but completely self-funded rather than relying on taxpayers, the Port Authority is a unique organization to work for. The Port Authority has a broad transportation and infrastructure portfolio representing Air, Land, Rail, and Sea: marine terminals, airports, bus terminals, tunnels, bridges, a rail system, and the World Trade Center campus, so the impact of reaching a zero-waste goal is great.

What were you doing before you came to NYU Wagner?

I was a U.S. Army officer specializing in medical logistics for eight years. For the majority of the time, I managed medical logistics for hospitals and medical research in Germany and Kenya. While in Kenya, I supported malaria and HIV research in partnership with the Center for Disease Control and its Kenyan counterpart. In Germany, I supported military hospitals conducting evacuations from the Middle East, Africa, and across Europe. For two years, I also jumped out of airplanes as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne, supporting our medical logistics and equipment needs. While serving abroad, I got to travel to capitals across Europe. That got me thinking about what’s working and what’s not working in cities. At the time, I didn't know about urban planning as a career. After doing some research, I realized I could go back to grad school and become a city planner to work on urban issues. I wanted to figure out what we can be doing better in American cities, especially compared to Asian and European cities, with transportation, livability, and having spaces that aren't hostile for pedestrians and that people can actually enjoy.

Why did you choose NYU Wagner for graduate school?

First, Wagner is very accommodating to people who are changing careers. I looked at different programs in urban planning, and some didn't feel as welcoming to people who were coming from a different professional background wanting to get into urban planning. Second, I wanted a curriculum focused on action and tangible impact. Wagner is all about how we do things in the real world and get things done. That comes with having professors who are practitioners and who are actually doing the jobs. That means giving students the opportunity to be part-time and work or intern during the day. I was getting all of that classroom experience mixed with people's professional experiences in a way that other planning programs don't offer.

What impact do you hope to make through your career and/or organization?

I want to figure out how urban planning, design, and policy can help reduce social isolation and loneliness. My work at the Port Authority focuses on environmental sustainability, but I’m also looking to enhance social sustainability and create environments and programming that bring people together. I want to help people combat the isolation and polarization that we have today and find the community and belonging that doesn't always happen in the urban environment.

How would you describe your experience as an NYU Wagner student?

Humbling and challenging in the right ways. I learned a lot from my professors and from my peers that taught me how much I didn't know. They challenged me to get out there and learn the things that I needed to learn about planning, about policy, about working as a teammate. It was a great experience to have my ego checked in that way. Not to say that I wasn't humble before, but pivoting careers, I learned that not all experience applies universally to every situation. I learned about when it’s necessary to take a step back and figure out what is really happening in this environment, what applies from what I already know, and what doesn't.

How did you find your first post-NYU Wagner job?

I attended a career fair where a Port Authority Leadership Fellow spoke. The Port Authority had not been on my radar before that at all. The talk resonated with me and got me curious. I immediately spoke to Wagner’s Career Services team, who connected me with Wagner alumni who had done the fellowship in the past. Learning more about the 2-year program, I realized that the fellowship was a great springboard that I wanted to pursue. Even though it was a long application process (at that time) –seven months, three rounds of interviews, two tests–it was worth it. I received an offer in April, just a few weeks before graduating, and my path was set.

What’s your top advice to current or future Wagner students?

First, use Wagner’s Career Services. Alexandra Cobus, who I still talk to, to this day, helped me a lot with my applications and interview prep. I wouldn't have been successful in the interviews without her help. Second, don't neglect your “soft” skills. You might feel compelled to focus a lot on developing your quantitative skill sets, like InDesign and GIS, which is great, but learning how to work as a team, how to present, and how to write and talk persuasively are equally as important, if not more important. You can have the smartest ideas and the best data in the world, but if you don't know how to communicate it, it's not going to matter. Third, remember that there are other paths outside of the traditional city and transportation planner roles. You don't have to work in those exact kinds of fields to be an urban planner or work in planning issues. I came into graduate school thinking the only way to be a planner was to have those official titles. While at Wagner and doing internships and fellowships, I realized that there are many more ways to be within the planning sphere.

Credits: Interview conducted in April 2024 by Elliot Wareham, an MUP 2025 student at NYU Wagner.