Dr. Nick Compin graduated in 1988 from CSU Chico with a B.A. degree in English. He worked for the California Journal, a public affairs magazine, and at State Net, the nation´s largest legislative tracking firm (1990-93), both in Sacramento. He returned to academia at the University of California, Irvine, receiving an M.A. degree in Social Ecology in 1996 (Rail Transit Station Development and the Municipal Land-Use Decision-Making Process) and a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning in 1999 ( The Four Dimensions of Rail Transit Performance: How Administration, Finance, Demographics, and Politics Affect Outcomes).
Nick began working as a transportation planner for the California Department of Transportation in 2000 and is currently on loan to the California Transportation Commission in Sacramento where, among other projects, he is helping to spearhead a project to include performance measures in the process used to program California´s transportation projects. In the past, Nick worked for a private consulting firm, was involved in numerous qualitative and quantitative research projects and taught transportation planning courses at UC Irvine. Currently, he teaches the graduate level MTM 215 – Transportation Systems Planning and Development – at SJSU´s Mineta Transportation Institute.
Nick has written academic papers and articles and delivered presentations on the inclusion of transit-oriented development (TOD) in areas near transit stations in California and the incorporation of transportation-related performance measures into existing governmental decision-making processes. His research interests focus primarily on the practical introduction, implementation and impact of transportation planning concepts in government.
He is a longtime member of the American Planning Association and the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers.