Sonia A. Hirt is the inaugural senior fellow at the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She is an associate professor of urban affairs and planning at Virginia Tech.
The institute’s senior fellowship program is designed to support faculty members who are pursuing an innovative research agenda that has strong potential for significant external funding. The program provides an opportunity for tenured faculty to prepare to lead a project by developing new expertise in a research area or further developing an existing area of research. Two or three senior fellowships will be available during each academic year through 2015.
Dr. Hirt will spend the semester as a senior fellow studying urban land-use policy and energy sustainability in urban areas. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in urban planning from the University of Michigan.