Bridging the worlds of academia and practice, Dr. Alfonzo is the Founder and CEO of State of Place, an AI-driven urban design data and predictive analytics software that helps citymakers make more effective, cost-efficient, bottom-up, transparent, and accountable citymaking decisions to create livable, equitable, sustainable places all people can access and love. State of Place grew out of Urban Imprint, an urban design-behavior research and consulting firm, Dr. Alfonzo established in 2005, via which she worked with a range of private and public sector real estate stakeholders translating data into evidence-based design, development, and planning guidance. An expert on the value of urban design, Dr. Alfonzo focuses on how the relationship between the built environment and behavior impacts health, broadly defined to include physical, mental, social, community, environmental, and fiscal health, within the context of community change. In the Fall of 2014, she was recognized as one of Urban Land Institute’s 40 under 40 best young land use professionals around the globe. Additionally, Dr. Alfonzo was awarded a Fulbright to examine walkability in China in the Fall of 2013, where she focused on the socio-cultural and policy challenges to implementing walkable development. Dr. Alfonzo is a Research Assistant Professor at New York University, where she’s been since 2011, and has taught courses around entrepreneurship, career, and leadership development, as well as urban design. Dr. Alfonzo has a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning with an emphasis on Urban Design and Behavior, as well as a professional Masters in Urban Planning, from the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture and Psychology from the University of Miami.