As Associate Director of Social and Behavioral Science Applications, Aaron identifies and facilitates new collaborations between the Center and social science researchers across NC State, and advances geospatial community engagement with an equity lens. His work considers how, where and why public built environments impact health behaviors such as physical activity and recreation. He develops crowdsourcing approaches and uses emerging sensor technologies to study and visualize the interaction between built environments and community health behaviors. He is currently using webcams, web apps, GPS, and accelerometers in data collection. Other interests include infrastructure that supports workplace health, park use and accessibility, and geospatial decision support systems.

Roles

• Fellows
• Instructors
• Leadership

Publications

• Applying Systems Thinking Approaches to Address Preventive Health Factors through Public Parks and Recreation Agencies (2022)
• Cultivating social capital in diverse, low-income neighborhoods: The value of parks for parents with young children (2022)
• GIS&T in Recreation Planning and Management (2022)
• Frequency of Neighborhood Park Use Is Associated With Physical Activity Among Adults in Four US Cities (2021)
• Land use diversity and park use in New York City (2021)
• Measuring Nature Contact: A Narrative Review (2021)
• The association between neighborhood quality, youth physical fitness, and modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors (2021)
• Urban Park Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Are Socially Vulnerable Communities Disproportionately Impacted? (2021)
• Automated High-Frequency Observations of Physical Activity Using Computer Vision (2020)
• Challenges recruiting diverse youth for physical activity research (2020)

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