Dr. Carol Lewis

Dr. Lewis is an Associate Professor in Transportation Studies and Director of the Center for Transportation Training and Research at Texas Southern University. She is responsible for educating students in fundamentals of transportation and urban transportation issues, as well as conducting operational and policy related transportation research. Lewis was recently named TSU’s Principal Investigator for the Department of Homeland Security’s National Transportation Security Center of Excellence for Petrochemical Transportation Security. Since 1992, she has conducted research for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) recently completing a study regarding regionalizing public transportation. Lewis’ work for TxDOT also includes research about Smart Growth, Land Use and Development, Strategic Planning, and Land Value Effects of Elevated and Depressed Freeways. Dr. Lewis was the research supervisor for FHWA’s Noise Compatible Land Use Brochure and workshop series on this topic. Her funded research also includes corridor feasibility studies for major Houston area freeway corridors, analysis of options to better manage freeway lanes and an assessment of the external influences on transit-oriented development.

Prior to joining Texas Southern University, Dr. Lewis spent 15 years as manager and director of planning at the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County. She belongs to a number of professional organizations including the Transportation Technical Committee of the local Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Red Cross Transportation Advisory Committee. In 2004, Houston’s Mayor Bill White appointed her to the Office of Mobility, an advisory function of the Mayor’s Office and as Chair of the City’s Planning Commission. At the suggestion of Mayor White, she was appointed to the Governor’s Task Force on Emergency Evacuation following the 2005 hurricane season. Dr. Lewis served two years on the board of the Metropolitan Transit Authority as an appointee of, then, Houston Mayor Lee Brown and six years as the national academic advisor for the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials. Dr. Lewis holds a Ph.D. from the University of Houston in Political Science and M.A. and B.A. from the University of Iowa.