Remembering Hannah King
It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Hannah King, a PhD student in the UCLA Department of Urban Planning and a cherished member of our UCLA ITS community. Hannah’s contributions, both academic and personal, left a lasting impression on us.
Hannah was a constant presence and generous colleague, always willing to lend a helping hand on projects. She had a unique combination of talents, excelling as both an exceptional writer and a GIS and statistics guru. Her sense of humor added much-needed levity to even the busiest of days. And her steadfast commitment to social justice and equity — not just within transportation but in all aspects of life — fueled her approach to work and everything she did.
Hannah’s research interests focused on transportation finance, changing commute behavior, and challenges facing public transit. Her dissertation was exploring critical questions around fare-free transit and other transit fare policies, studying the distributional effects of taxation and pricing in the public sector and what this means for social equity.
Since joining the UCLA PhD program in 2017, Hannah co-authored more than 10 academic articles, in leading journals such as the Journal of the American Planning Association (JAPA), Transportation, and the Journal of Transport Geography. One of her articles — Jobs-Housing Balance Re-Re-Visited — was recognized as the best JAPA article in 2021. She also contributed to two peer-reviewed book chapters and more than a dozen reports and other publications. She earned numerous other accolades during this period, including being a five-time Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellow.
Beyond her research, Hannah was a passionate educator and mentor. She served as instructor and teaching assistant for a variety of courses, consistently earning praise from professors and students alike for her engaging lectures and commitment to helping students learn statistics, transportation planning, and much else.
Our community will miss Hannah’s sharp intellect, unwavering dedication, and one-of-a-kind wit and humor.
Hannah’s friends and coworkers are invited to share stories and anecdotes via the comment box below.Â
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I never knew Hannah well, never had her as a TA or research collaborator, but I saw her with some regularity just because she showed up for a lot of thing. For me, what Hannah did that was so valuable was to help us laugh at ourselves. Sometimes it came from a place of exasperation or disappointment, sometimes just from a place of bemusement. But always, her humor about life in the department and in the university came from a place of caring and commitment. I will miss her a lot.