Eric Heikkila, Ph.D., has been with USC since 1986. He is an economist by training and has been published extensively in three main areas of research: urban and regional development, urban information systems, and East Asian cities and cultures. His book, The Economics of Planning, was published by the Center for Urban Policy Research at Rutgers University. As co-founder and executive secretary of the Pacific Rim Council on Urban Development, Professor Heikkila has been instrumental in developing and maintaining a strong international network of scholars and practitioners who are involved in urban development throughout the Pacific region. As a recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, he spent an academic year with Beijing University’s Department of Urban and Environmental Sciences, where he undertook joint research on urbanization in China.