On May 3, I successfully defended my dissertation at WU/Vienna University of Economics and Business. I am very pleased, but also feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to take an extended period of time to make an in-depth exploration of an important topic. The dissertation includes two quantitative papers and one qualitative paper on the topic of location affordability. When the dissertation is processed by the doctoral office, I’ll post more about the content here.

Many thanks to my wonderful dissertation committee, all of whom attended the defensio either in person or via Skype:

• My excellent first supervisor Prof Gunther Maier (read about his work HERE)
• Second supervisor Prof Dieter Gsatch (his page is HERE)
• External committee member Prof Evelyn Blumenberg of UCLA (her page at the Luskin School of Public Affairs HERE)
• External committee member Prof Ralph Hall of Virginia Tech (his blog is HERE)

Several of my great WU colleagues also attended, and there was a good discussion of the work after my presentation.  I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to submit the final, bound volume in the coming weeks and formally complete my studies.

A red-letter day!