Suzanne Lanyi Charles is an Assistant Professor of Urban Planning at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. Dr. Charles's scholarly and teaching interests include residential redevelopment and neighborhood change, the design of housing and urban environments, and real estate finance and development. Her current research examines gentrification in postwar suburban neighborhoods. She has presented her work at academic conferences nationally and internationally, and she is currently working on a book based upon her doctoral dissertation "Suburban Gentrification: Residential Redevelopment and Neighborhood Change."

Dr. Charles's research has received several honors including a Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and research grants from the Real Estate Academic Initiative at Harvard University. She was the John R. Meyer Fellow at the Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard's center for scholarly research on housing issues.

Prior to joining the University of Michigan, Dr. Charles served as a Lecturer in Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD). A licensed architect and a LEED Accredited Professional, she has worked as an architect at the Renzo Piano Building Workshop in Paris, France and as a Vice President at Booth Hansen Architects in Chicago. She received her doctorate in urban planning from the Harvard GSD.