Lauren N. McCarthy, PhD, is the Senior Director of Research and Impact at the Shared-Use Mobility Center (SUMC). She oversees SUMC’s research programs and strategic impact, focusing on advancing innovative, equitable transportation solutions. Her expertise includes developing evaluation frameworks, studying innovation diffusion, and conducting needs assessments to inform program delivery. Lauren is a regular speaker at academic and practitioner conferences, having published her work in both peer-reviewed and journalistic outlets.
Before joining SUMC, she served as Program Manager at the Center for Transportation Public-Private Partnership Policy at George Mason University. In 2019, Lauren was selected as a Google Public Policy Fellow, concentrating on smart city technology diffusion and evaluation. She holds a BS in Business Administration and an MA in Geography from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She earned her PhD in Public Policy from George Mason University, where her dissertation explored frameworks to understand and plan for rapidly moving, innovative transportation solutions.