Miriam Solis, PhD, MCP, is an Assistant Professor of Community and Regional Planning at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on infrastructure planning and design, specifically how infrastructure can reinforce racialized inequality. She highlights organizational, procedural, and policy strategies that advance social justice. Dr. Solis’s ongoing research projects involve partnerships with nonprofit organizations and local government, including EcoRise and the Austin Department of Public Works. She is a 2020-2022 UT Austin Humanities Institute Fellow for her work on youth perspectives on racial justice and decarbonization.

Dr. Solis teaches courses on racism and the built environment and the social implications of sports stadiums. She also teaches practicums and research design, core courses in the UT School of Architecture’s Community and Regional Planning graduate student curricula. Her most recent practicum consisted of a partnership with Austin Water. Students provided analysis and recommendations on how to advance racial equity through the agency’s policies and programs. The project received the American Planning Association-Texas Award for Advancing Diversity and Social Justice.

Raised in California’s Central Valley, Dr. Solis is a first generation college graduate and the proud daughter of working-class Mexican immigrants. She received her doctorate in City and Regional Planning, as well as undergraduate degrees in Ethic Studies and Geography, from the University of California, Berkeley. She also holds a Master of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to her faculty appointment, Dr. Solis was a Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation Environmental Fellow, and worked for the cities of San Francisco, New York, and Richmond, CA.