The RCHI Team
.
.
PAST COLLABORATORS
Prof. Suzanne Harris-Brandts is an Assistant Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at Carleton University. She completed her PhD in Urban Studies and Planning at MIT in 2020.
Jonathon Tarleton runs a consulting practice called All Commons, and resides in Nairobi, Kenya. He completed his Master’s in City Planning at MIT in 2018.
Annemarie Gray is the Executive Director of Open New York, New York-based non-profit advocacy organization focused on addressing metropolitan New York's housing shortage. She received a Master’s in City Planning from MIT in 2014
Esther Chung Byun is the Director of Development with Berkeley Investments, Inc., a Boston-based full service real estate investment and development company with a focus on urban residential, commercial, and mixed-use properties. She received a Master's in City Planning from MIT in 2016
Prof. Lawrence J. Vale is Ford Professor of Urban Design and Planning at MIT, where he is Director of the Resilient Cities Housing Initiative (RCHI). He previously served as Head of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning from 2002-2009 and is currently Associate Dean of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Vale is the author of many books examining urban design and housing, including Architecture, Power, and National Identity (Spiro Kostof Book Award), From the Puritans to the Projects (Best Book in Urban Affairs, Urban Affairs Association), Reclaiming Public Housing (Paul Davidoff Book Award, Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning); Purging the Poorest: Public Housing and the Design Politics of Twice-Cleared Communities (Best Book in Urban Affairs, Urban Affairs Association; Best Book on United States Planning History, International Planning History Society); and After the Projects: Public Housing Redevelopment and the Governance of the Poorest Americans (Oxford University Press, 2019). He is also co-editor, with Thomas J. Campanella, of The Resilient City: How Modern Cities Recover from Disaster.
Prof. Zachary Lamb is an Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley. Prior to this he was a Lecturer in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. His work focuses broadly on the intersection of public policy, design, and environmental change. He completed his PhD at MIT in 2018 and held a Mellon postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton during 2018-2019. His dissertation research examined the evolving spatial and design politics of flood infrastructure in the delta cities of New Orleans and Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is also co-founder and principle of Crookedworks, a research and design firm whose work was featured in the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale and has received wide recognition, including awards from AIA New Orleans, AIA Western Massachusetts, and the Animal Architecture Awards. Prior to completing his doctoral studies, Zach received a Master of Architecture degree from MIT and a Bachelors of Arts degree in art history, architectural history, and environmental studies from Williams College. His previous work has included environmental policy analysis, green building and design, design-build education, energy efficiency, climate change adaptation, affordable housing, and post-disaster community development.
Prof. Shomon Shamsuddin is an Associate Professor of Social Policy and Community Development at Tufts University, where he conducts research and teaches courses in the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning. He completed a PhD in Urban Policy and Planning at MIT DUSP in 2013. Commencing with his time as a postdoc at MIT in 2014, Shomon served as an Associate Director of RCHI for several years.
Prof. Kian Goh is an Associate Professor of Urban Planning at UCLA. She completed her PhD in Urban and Environmental Planning at MIT DUSP in 2015, and served as Associate Director of RCHI for several years. Drawing on her dissertation, she authored Form and Flow: The Spatial Politics of Urban Resilience and Climate Justice (MIT Press, 2021). She is also co-editor of Just Urban Design: The Struggle for a Public City (MIT Press, 2022).
Mora Orensanz completed the Masters in City Planning at DUSP MIT in 2021. Before joining DUSP, she studied Architecture and Urbanism in the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP) in Argentina, where she worked in research related to urban landscapes and sustainability. Soon after, Mora joined Balmori Associates, a landscape and urban design firm based in NY. Her joint master’s theses with Fiorella Belli was focused on understanding the focalization process of Techo Propio, the main social housing program in Peru. This work led them to co-found La Firme, a startup that works towards making architecture and engineering services affordable for low- and middle- income families in Latin America. Mora started collaborating with the RCHI initiative as a Research Assistant during her master’s program, working on different projects related to design politics and housing
Smriti Bhaya is a current second year Master’s in City Planning Candidate at MIT. She is currently working on her social venture titled Purifyx, that provides low-cost grassroots solutions for clean drinking water in rural India. Purifyx is currently part of the Design X 2023 Cohort, Harvard Innovation Lab, Sandbox Innovation Program and the PKD IDEAS Cohort. She’s a current MIT Legatum Fellow. Prior to this, she has worked on architectural, urban design and policy projects in India, and has a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture and Environmental Studies, Mumbai.
Nick Kelly is a Senior Fellow at the Boston Housing Authority. He completed his PhD in Urban Studies and Planning at MIT in 2021.
Dr. Shinwon Kyung is a Lecturer at Seoul National University, Korea. She is a housing and urban regeneration specialist. She was a SPURS Fellow/Researcher at MIT (2014-2016).
Prof. Jessica Debats Garrison is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Department of Urban Planning & Public Policy at the University of California, Irvine. She completed her Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from MIT 2016.
Billy Ndengeyingoma is an advisor for Urban Development for the Rwanda Ministry of Infrastructure and a PhD candidate at the London School of Economics. He received his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering in 2015, and his Master's in City Planning in 2017, both from MIT.
Prof. Colleen Chiu-Shee is an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She completed her PhD in Urban Studies and Planning at MIT in 2021.
Prof. Linda Shi is an Assistant Professor at Cornell University’s Department of City and Regional Planning. She completed her PhD in Urban and Regional planning from MIT in 2017.
Callahan (Callie) Seltzer is a Principal at HR&A Advisors, real estate, and development organization. She completed her Master’s in City Planning from MIT in 2015.
Prof. Laura Sara Wainer is an Assistant Professor at the City College of New York’s Spitzer School. She received her PhD in Urban Studies and Planning at MIT in 2022. Previously, she was a SPURS Fellow at MIT (2015-2016)
Kassie D. Bertumen is the Director of Evaluation at BRIDGE Housing Corporation, where she oversees the organization’s research and evaluation efforts. She obtained a Master’s in City Planning from MIT in 2015
Diana Searl is a Technical Assistance Provider and Project Manager at Civix, a consultancy that provides software and services to public sector organizations. She received her Master’s in City Planning from MIT in 2016.
Ipshita Karmakar completed her Master of City Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2023 and was a Fulbright Fellow from India. She is currently working as a consultant with the World Bank. She was trained as an architect from KRVIA, Mumbai and has 6 years of work experience working as an architect, urban designer and urban planner in South Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe