Dr. Lay James Gibson
Professor, Geography & Regional Development
Director, Economic Development Research Program

The University of Arizona
The Office of Arid Lands Studies
1955 E. 6th Street
PO Box 210184
Tucson, AZ 85719-5224
Phone: 520-621-7899 FAX: 520-621-3816
E-Mail:ljgibson@ag.arizona.edu

An active researcher and consultant, Dr. Gibsonfocuses on projects which are designed to inform public and private sector decision makers who are seeking efficient locations for facilities or who are concerned with implementing strategies to more effectively manage regional systems. Typical projects deal with regional growth including analyses of economic impacts of project development, facility feasibility studies, project development and implementation strategies, target industry studies, research on economic base theory and central place theory, and studies of regional comparative advantage. His client list includes corporations, government agencies, chambers of commerce, and Indian Tribes in Arizona, elsewhere in the United States, and overseas too.

He is a member of the American Economic Development Council (AEDC) and he is a strong supporter of AEDC programs. He serves as the Course Director of the Arizona Economic Development Course held each year in Tucson, and is an ex-officio member of the AEDC Board of Regents for Educational Programs. AEDC has awarded him both the Richard Preston and Howard Roepke prizes for his contributions to the development profession. He is also active in AAED, the Arizona Association for Economic Development, which has presented him with the William W. Lampkin Long-Term Excellence in Economic Development Award.

Dr. Gibson is the Past President of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI). Additionally, he serves on the Board of the Pacific Regional Science Conference Organization; he is a Life Fellow and Board Member of the Western Regional Science Association. Professor Gibson is a long-time member of the Association of American Geographers. He is the 1993 recipient of that Association’s James Anderson Medal for his work in applied geography. In 1997 he was awarded the "Médaille d’or du FIG et de la ville de Saint-Dié-Des Vosges." This "gold medal" of the Festival and the City of Saint-Dié honors special guests involved deeply with the Festival International de Géographie in France. Gibson also served on the Arizona State Land Board for three terms; he was appointed to this Board by Governor Bruce Babbit.

Gibson’s graduate degrees are in Geography andare from the University of California, Los Angeles. He studied industrial location, regional analysis, land economics, and regional/economic development. He currently serves as Professor of Geography and Regional Development and Director, Economic Development Research Program at the University of Arizona, Tucson. He is the author of numerous books, professional publications, reports and articles, including works for The Economic Development Review, Economic Geography, Growth and Change, Applied Geographic Studies, and the Annuals of the Association of American Geographers. He is co-author of Economic Geography published by Prentice-Hall, and co-editor of Impactos Regionales de las Relaciones Economicas Mexico-Estados Unidos (El Colegio de Mexico), The U.S. and Mexico; Borderland Development and the National Economies (Westview Press), and Regional Structural Change: Experience and Prospects in Two Mature Economies (Regional Science Research Institute).