M. Hashim Pashtun
Dr. Hashim Pashtun is a seasoned Infrastructure Planning and Development Analyst with over 15 years of multidisciplinary experience at the intersection of transportation systems, environmental engineering, and community development. His work spans a wide range of sectors including transit planning, infrastructure assessment, strategic planning, economic development, and environmental sustainability. Pashtun brings a rare combination of technical expertise and social insight, leveraging tools such as Social Return on Investment (SROI), monitoring and evaluation (M&E), stakeholder engagement, and data-driven impact analysis to inform public policy and infrastructure solutions. He is a certified SROI Analyst and has led several socio-economic assessment projects.
Pashtun holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with a specialization in Infrastructure Planning and Environmental Engineering from Ohio University, where he also earned his Master's degree. He received his Bachelor's in Civil Engineering from Pune University in India. Dr. Pashtun has contributed in both academic and policy-oriented roles. He served as an Assistant Professor and Associate Director of the Water Research Institute at Kabul University in the Civil Engineering Department. Earlier, he worked as a Research Engineer at the Ohio Research Institute for Transportation and the Environment, supporting infrastructure evaluation and sustainable transportation projects. Furthermore, Dr. Pashtun held several key technical and managerial positions, including Head of Research and Development at the Ministry of Transport and Public Works and as Interim Director of the Cities Investment Program, a World Bank-funded initiative focused on municipal infrastructure, urban service delivery, and community development.
Currently, at the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service, Dr. Pashtun is working with the Economic Development team on a range of regional and county-level initiatives across Central and Southeast Ohio. His work focuses on infrastructure assessments, strategic planning, and the socioeconomic and environmental evaluation of public programs and investments. He has contributed to feasibility studies and development strategies for Appalachian counties, and led impact evaluations and Social Return on Investment (SROI) studies related to affordable housing, transit services, health and educational services.
Dr. Pashtun has worked across a range of interdisciplinary projects involving transit and mobility planning, environmental assessments, infrastructure improvement, and community development. His experience includes integrating technical, social, and economic considerations to support effective planning, stakeholder engagement, and policy analysis in both urban and rural settings.
He has also shared his perspectives as a TEDx speaker and is fluent in six languages, which has supported his work in cross-cultural and international contexts. Over the years, his efforts have been recognized through academic and leadership honors at Ohio University, including the Outstanding Doctoral Student of the Year and the Charles J. Ping International Student of the Year awards.