His research focuses on industry cluster analysis and policy, regional influences on process technology adoption in manufacturing, external economies and industrial productivity, regional distress and economic adjustment, and the development of improved data and spatial-analytical techniques for local development practice. The National Science Foundation, the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the Appalachian Regional Commission, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and state and local development agencies in eight states have funded his research. He is co-author of Understanding Local Economic Development, published by Rutgers' CUPR Press in 1999.