Amy Hillier

Biography

B.A., Middlebury College
M.S.W., University of Pennsylvania
Ph.D., Social Welfare, University of Pennsylvania
Certificate in Urban Studies, University of Pennsylvania

Faculty co-director, Cartographic Modeling Lab
Senior Fellow, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics
Senior Fellow, Center for Public Health Initiatives
Faculty Associate, Philadelphia Collaborative Violence Prevention Center

Professor Amy Hillier teaches courses on the application of GIS in city planning, urban studies, public health and social work. Her research focuses on issues of geographic disparities and GIS applications in redlining and housing discrimination, affordable housing, and public health. Her dissertation, funded by the Department of Housing and urban Development (HUD), considered the impact of the Home Owner's Loan Corporation on lending in Philadelphia. She continued this research as a HUD Urban Scholars Post-doctoral Fellow. See http://cml.upenn.edu/redlining

Professor Hillier is a partner on the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's PhilaPlace project, a neighborhood and cultural history project focused on South Philadelphia and Northern Liberties. Dr. Hillier and her students are working on the mapping component, which includes static GIS maps and and an interactive mapping system that allows current and former residents to share stories about their neighborhoods. See http://www.hsp.org/default.aspx?id=1239

Professor Hillier's public health research has focused primarily on obesity. Her FED-UP project (Food and Exercise Diaries for Urban Places) looks at the availability of junk food near schools and how that might impact children's weight status. FED-UP will use interactive mapping and handheld wireless technology to allow children to show the route they take to school and the specific food items they purchase on the way.

She recently completed a study of outdoor advertising with students at Cheyney University and colleagues in four other cities (Antroinette Yancey, UCLA, PI). The study used GPS and digital cameras to record the location and content of outdoor advertisements in five zip code areas in Philadelphia and used GIS and spatial statistical analysis to document clustering of ads for unhealthy products around child-serving institutions. http://whyy.org/cms/news/health-science/2009/07/09/mapping-ads-in-philly-neighborhoods/11187

Prior to joining the faculty at PennDesign, Dr. Hillier worked at the University of Pennsylvania's Cartographic Modeling Lab (CML) where she was the director of research. While at the CML, she worked with faculty across disciplines to integrate GIS and spatial analysis into their projects relating to obesity, gun violence, pre-term birth, and injuries to children.

In 2006, Dr. Hillier was awarded the Michael B. Katz Award for Teaching Excellence in Urban Studies.