DSUP: Student Profiles

Jim P. Allen

Degrees: BS Agricultural Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX; Master of Strategic Studies, U.S. Army War College, Carlisle, PA
Research Interests: transportation planning and modeling, strategic sustainability, infrastructure resilience
Description of Research: Sustainable transportation planning, metrics, and modeling for disaster relief and contingency operations. Utilizing infrastructure assessment and remote sensing to inform decision.

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Deniz Ay

Degrees: BA Economics, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), Sabanci University (SU), tanbul, Turkey (2008); MSc Economics, The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), London UK (2009)
International Summer School in Forced Migration, Summer 2012; Refugee Studies Centre/Department of International Development, University of Oxford, UK
Research Interests: International development, urban renewal, residential displacement, community development, knowledge and policy mobility, resilience planning, transnational planning
Description of Research: My research broadly engages with issues of urban development and community development. I focus on the interplay between the institutions, organizations and communities in the process of development planning. I am interested in exploring how urban development policies are constructed; how policy ideas travel and how communities spatially react especially when the basic principles of democratic planning are undermined. As an economist by training, I have encountered a systematic negligence of social costs in the process of development planning. As a scholar in Urban Planning, I investigate the mechanisms building up the socially undesirable by-products of ostensibly well-intentioned development practices while I use my training in economics as a tool for my critical thinking.

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Sergio Contreras

Degrees: BA Business Management, Universidad Catolica del Norte (UCN); MBA, Loyola Chicago University
Research Interests: Regional economics, microenterprises,
Description of Research: My research interests focus on Regional Economics, in particular, microenterprises performance evaluation and policy implementation. I am also interested in the role of e-business as a tool for regional growth and inequality reduction. My passion for this topic comes from my previous work experience, where I was involved in the policy making process in Chile. There I realized that most of the policies enacted at that time were not as effective as expected. In addition to my research, I am a member of the I STEM initiative. This unit is responsible for the ongoing evaluation of a $121,000,000 National Science Foundation investment titled "Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE)," Award number 1053575. Responsibilities include development of an on demand metrics dashboard to be used by program stakeholders-including NSF representatives.

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Minshu Du

Research Interests: urban economics, regional economic development, housing analysis, energy policy, econometrics and statistical modeling

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Maximilian Eisenburger

Research Interests: Regional economic development, workforce development, "reshoring" and "advanced manufacturing" policy

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Efadul Huq

Degrees: B.S. in Civil Engineering Technology (Minors in Mathematics and Creative Writing), Georgia Southern University; Master of Urban Planning, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Research Interests: Gentrification, displacements, transnational solidarities, planning theory, insurgent planning, decolonization, urban political economy
Description of Research: I am interested in urban informalities, transnational solidarity networks and insurgent planning that uphold housing and labor rights of marginalized communities. I have worked with several communities and student organizations that focus on issues of affordable housing, immigrant-friendly communities, economic justice, and human rights. I am particularly interested in how low-income urban dwellers negotiate with state and private entities to assert their right to the city. I am a multimedia storyteller interested in mixed-media interventions that combine qualitative and quantitative research methods in planning. Currently, I am working on a project to study and document the insurgent Midwest. I am also reflecting on the grassroots practices I witnessed in Albany Park, Chicago, practices that resist displacement by gentrification.

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Zach Kennedy

Degrees: BA Economics, UIUC; MUP Urban Planning, UIUC
Research Interests: Small town planning, land-use planning, planning support systems
Description of Research: My research concerns Planning, economic development and land-use policy in small towns and rural communities. I am interested in developing and/or adapting practical planning support systems that can be implemented in smaller communities. This research will allow smaller communities, many without the resources to have their own planning staff, to engage in data-driven decision making which in turn can lead to increased quality of life for community residents. In addition to my PhD work, I am a Community and Economic Development Specialist with the University of Illinois Extension.

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Sang Lee

Degrees: BS Sociology, UIUC; MUP Urban Planning, UIUC
Research Interests/Specializations: Community Development, social justice, immigration and diversity, qualitative methods
Description of Research: My research concerns the impact of immigration in new destinations in the US. I examine how growing ethnic and racial diversity in the Midwest is understood and utilized by cities that have seen a significant increase in immigration. I also look at the community development efforts of immigrant community based organizations. Through this research we can better understand how immigrants get integrated socially and politically, which immigrant populations get incorporated, and which are marginalized.

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Esteban Lopez Ochoa

Degrees: BA Business Management, Universidad de Tarapaca (UTA); MS Regional Science, Universidad Catolica del Norte (UCN); MS Applied & Agricultural Economics, University of Illinois (UIUC), May 2016
Research Interests: housing displacement, housing price indices, residential mobility, location choice, housing demand
Description of Research: In 2011 I started my PhD studies in the US, which has been focused on studying housing market dynamics in different perspectives. In particular, my research has been devoted to providing current perspectives on well-known housing issues that have been changing with our current society dynamics. In this context, I have concentrated my efforts in the understanding of the role of attributes on the demand for housing in developing countries, the estimation of housing price indices, and the role of revealed preferences on residential mobility and location choice under context of housing displacement. Additionally, I have collaborated in different research projects with different faculty members at the University of Illinois such as Geoffrey Hewings, Andrew Greenlee and Daniel McMillen. Besides my PhD work, I have served as the Student “General” in charge of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL) at UIUC, as well as the treasurer of the Doctoral Students in Urban Planning (DSUP) at UIUC.

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Andrew J. McMillan

Degrees: BA English, Oberlin College; MS Urban Studies, Cleveland State University
Research Interests: housing, regionalism, quantitative spatial analysis
Description of Research: My research focuses on the effects of national economic trends on regional and local housing markets. In particular, I am interested in how housing markets in regions and neighborhoods have recovered--or have failed to recover--in the wake of the foreclosure crisis. Identifying the processes and characteristics that lead to a robust recovery can help planners and policymakers pursue equitable and long-lasting recovery strategies.

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Troy Mix, AICP

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Haozhi Pan

Degrees: BE Landscape Architecture, Tongji University, China
Research Interests: Land use modeling, complex urban systems, planning support systems, strategic sustainability assessment
Description of Research: My research focuses on developing planning support models for complex urban systems. I work on introducing latest statistical models into urban system modeling, including spatial non-parametric Generalized Linear Models and variable selection techniques. To address the challenge of complexity of urban systems, I am also exploring parallel models that fit in the framework of high-performance computing environment.

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Aaron Christian Petri

Research Interests: Urban and regional systems modeling with an emphasis on energy and water, alternative wastewater treatment systems as a new form of green infrastructure, merging interests in energy and water with ecosystem service modeling

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Natalie Prochaska

Degrees:
2015 M.A., Urban Planning, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign; Thesis title: "Bristol Place Neighborhood Plan: Urban Renewal in Post-Kelo Fiscal Policy Space"
2009 B.A. Political Science, University of Chicago
Research Interests: Housing development finance, land use law, P3, community based land use control alternatives (community land trusts, community development financial institutions), social and spatial inclusion
Description of research: My research focuses on municipal public private partnerships in mixed income affordable housing development and mixed use commercial development. I am particularly interested in the new fiscal decision making spaces that have evolved post-2008, often driven by P3 project contracts, and how local communities and regions can fight the mobility and dominance of capital interests in neighborhood development.

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Stephen Averill Sherman

Degrees: BA English and American Studies, University of Iowa; MUP, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Research Interests: policing, anchor institutions, gentrification, mixed-methods and qualitative GIS, political economy
Description of Research: I research the role of the police in neighborhood and citywide economic development, with particular attention to the police's role in place-making, securitization, and gentrification near urban anchor institutions. While a humanist by education, my work also uses a range of GIS and quantitative methods. I am currently wrestling with how GIS can be used to better understand the subjectivities of police/citizen encounters, along with a project on urban hospitals' community development function. As a community member, I am part of the Education Justice Project, a community of educators, students, and activists within the University of Illinois and the Danville Correctional Center.

Sofia Sianis

Research Interests: State and local finance and governance

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Shruti Syal

Degrees: BSc Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada (2005-2009); MSc Environmental Studies, TERI University, New Delhi, India (2011-2013)
Research Interests: environmental planning, urban informality, public infrastructure, ecological education, socio-environmental entrepreneurship
Description of Research: An ethnographic-cum-action research-based study on the provision and management of alternative sewage treatment infrastructure in informal settlements scattered along a network of open drains in New Delhi, India. Coursework and preliminary research this past year funded by a Campus Research Board grant received April 2014.

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Norihiko Yamano

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Chenxi Yu

Research Interests: Regional economics, spatial econometrics and statistics

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