Anton Rozhkov named as the new director of the M.S. in Applied Urban Science and Informatics at CUSP

Anton Rozhkov, Industry Assistant Professor at the Center for Urban Science + Progress (CUSP) at NYU Tandon, was recently named as the new director of CUSP’s M.S. in Applied Urban Science and Informatics program. With a solid background in geospatial research and a passion for energy systems, Rozhkov is enthusiastic about guiding the program into new areas of exploration. The graduate program is evolving beyond its leadership; it recently transitioned from a one-year to a two-year format, effectively doubling the size of CUSP’s student cohort in Fall 2024.

Crafting a trajectory for geospatial analysis and real-world applications

At CUSP, Rozhkov has taught Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Urban Spatial Analytics, and Machine Learning for Cities. He currently also serves as a sponsor for the capstone project titled Sustainable Cityscape: Mapping Tomorrow’s Urban Microgrids. Capstone projects are a key component of the master’s program, where students collaborate with sponsors from government, industry, and non-profit sectors, along with faculty members, to work on a two-semester project that addresses a pressing issue related to urban environments. Sustainable Cityscape focuses in particular on Rozhkov’s area of expertise: energy systems. 

“I primarily work with data related to energy, particularly electrical systems, and also connections between energy and other types of infrastructure,” said Rozhkov. “It could be housing, transportation, water, or agriculture — everything that connects to energy to form a nexus.”

For this capstone project, he will guide students in identifying patterns in the siting of microgrids in California and examine how they relate to energy consumption. The research aims to tackle questions such as: Do regions with a higher concentration of microgrids correlate with more frequent natural hazards, or are they more closely associated with social and behavioral characteristics? Can these patterns inform the siting of microgrids in cities outside of the state? This project enables students to apply the geospatial analysis skills they’ve gained in Rozhkov’s courses.

“I've had many students transition from Introduction to GIS to the more advanced Urban Spatial Analytics course, creating a nice trajectory for a geospatial concentration. We don’t have a formal concentration in geospatial studies at CUSP yet, but many students are working with spatial data and applying it in their research and capstones, which has sparked significant interest in expanding this area within the program,” said Rozhkov.

Building toolsets for navigating data-rich and data-scarce cities

New York City is a treasure trove of open data, featuring one of the largest government-provided open data portals in the world. As a result, over half of Rozhkov’s students regularly use NYC-based datasets for their coursework. However, Rozhkov also wants students to learn how to operate in cities that lack an abundance of data. To further develop his curriculum in this area, Rozhkov applied for and received a 2024 Teaching Advancement Grant from NYU’s Office of the Provost to address the lack of diversity and inclusivity found in most GIS education programs. 

“We don’t need to solely focus only on big cities like New York City, Los Angeles, or Chicago. We also need to focus on cities and territories with smaller and more diverse populations, incorporating case studies from historically underrepresented regions,” said Rozhkov. “It's great that we have enough open data in New York City, but, especially because we have a very international community at CUSP, students need to know how to work with limited data and adopt a mindset that extends beyond the traditional, well-established geographies.”

Speaking about his courses, Rozhkov also noted the diverse range of students who enroll in GIS and Urban Spatial Analytics due to the relevance of spatial data across various fields. The M.S. in Applied Urban Science and Informatics cohort is highly multidisciplinary, attracting students from computer science, civil engineering, urban planning, architecture, and beyond.

“There are always different perspectives. A computer scientist, designer, or journalist will have very different approaches to presenting data and the story they could and would like to tell,” said Rozhkov. 

Real-word research on affordable housing and transit beyond the classroom

Rozhkov’s work inside of the classroom complements his research outside of it. This year, together with Ahoura Zandiatashbar, associate professor of urban and regional planning at San José State University, Rozhkov was awarded a grant funded by San Jose State University’s Mineta Transportation Institute to pursue a research project titled “An Empirical Investigation into Affordable Transit-Oriented Development (A-TOD) in California: Applying Classification and Scoring Systems.” The research aims to evaluate the relationship between affordable housing and access to public transport and determine if the placement of affordable housing in California is optimized in relation to transit hubs, particularly within the framework of transit-oriented development (TOD). Beyond mere proximity to public transit, TOD is a planning strategy that considers density, amenities, and additional infrastructure when concentrating on housing, businesses, and communal spaces around public transit.

“California has tons of affordable housing, but in some cases, affordable housing just checks a box. It’s classified as affordable housing, but is it really affordable? It may be in terms of the actual price, but that may not matter if it’s inaccessible by public transit,” said Rozhkov. “We're working to understand the relationship between TOD and affordable housing, using California as a testbed for exploring how it can improve.”