Peter Haas, PhD

Chief Research Scientist

Peter joined CNT in 1994, and has revolutionized the geographic analysis of social, environmental and economic data to produce ground breaking tools for measuring sustainability in urban areas. Peter has been integral in the development of CNT’s location efficiency metrics, and developed its Housing + Transportation (H+T ®) Affordability Index, co-produced with the Brookings Institution. He acted as the Analytical Director for the 22-member CNT Research Team producing a greenhouse gas emissions inventory and 33 mitigation strategies for the Chicago Climate Action Plan, and served as lead analyst on CNT’s subcontract to develop the Location Affordability Index and related web tool for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Department of Transportation. His work in GIS, web development and data analysis have come together into the Geographical Research and Information Department (GRID) at CNT, where he and his colleagues work to provide technical, geographical and analytic input to all of CNT’s programs.

Prior to CNT, Peter was a systems manager at Sieben Energy Associates, Adjunct Faculty at the William Rainey Harper College, and post-doctoral researcher at Cornell University’s Laboratory for Nuclear Studies, and The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

Peter has a Ph.D. in particle physics from Ohio State University.