STUDENTS

ACADEMIC PARTNERS: 
National University of Colombia, Medellin (COLOMBIA)
Columbia University, New York (USA) 
International University of Catalunya, Barcelona (SPAIN)
National University of Colombia, Bogotá (COLOMBIA)

National University of Colombia, Medellin (COLOMBIA)

LUIS ANGEL is a Civil Enginner
ALEJANDRO BOTERO is a Civil Engineer
ALEJANDRO GONZÁLEZ is an Economist
CAMILO GUARÍN is an Architect
CAROLINA LEDESMA is an Economist
NATALIE MONTOYA is a Lawyer
JAIME MORENO is an Architect
SANDRA RIOS is an Environmental Engineer
DIEGO SALAS is a Forester Engineer
ALBA SIGUENCIA is an Architect
JENNY SEPÚLVEDA is a Forester Engineer
HAMLET VALENCIA is  a Social Sciences Lic.
JOSÉ VALENCIA is a Lawyer
JUAN PABLO VALLEJO is a Sociologist
CARLOS VELÁSQUEZ is a Sociologist
DIEGO ZAPATA studied Political Sciences

Columbia University, New York (USA) 


NICOLE BUCHHOLZ (Teaching Asssitant) is a second-year urban planning student. Growing up in Venezuela and Texas, she was exposed early on to the tension between urban development and environmental protection, and filled with a passion to do something about it. After graduating from The College of William and Mary with a dual degree in environmental policy and sociology, she was a project manager for AidData, where she worked with development donors in Latin America. Over the past two years, her focus has been on the intersection between health and the environment, studying at the Yale School of Public Health and working at the GIS Center, NYC Department of Health. She currently works for One Nature, a landscape architecture firm that focuses on ecological restoration of urban and degenerated land.



LISSA BARROWS is a first year urban planning masters student at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation in New York City.  Her specialization is International Planning and Development. She completed her undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Japanese at Georgetown University in Washington DC. Previously, she worked in Doha, Qatar for two years as a mathematics teacher where she became inspired to study and pursue a career in urban planning based on the rapid urban development in Qatar.  She plans to write her thesis about city branding of Japanese cities.


LINGJUN [ROGER] BU  is a first year urban planning masters student at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation in New York City. A student from China, he attended the City University of Hong Kong, and received his bachelor degree in Surveying. Although he has had no full-time working experience before, he has interned in three cities: Hong Kong, Beijing and Qingdao







ELLIS CALVIN is from Muncie, Indiana, and is a first year in the MSUP program at Columbia University in the City of New York. He has a background in geography and graphic design, but is currently interested in spatial issues of environmental and especially cultural sustainability. If he had any free time, he would be spending it cooking and exploring different cities and neighborhoods in search of interesting history, architecture, bookstores, and groceries.




ANNE KRASSNER is completing her masters in Urban Planning at Columbia University. She was born and raised in Brazil and moved to NYC to go to college. She studied urban studies at Barnard College, where she explored issues of slum urbanization and economic segregation in Sao Paulo (and also learned some Japanese!). Before starting her graduate studies, Anne worked as a community organizer in NYC. Her job involved talking to small business owners and activating public spaces through free activities for the community. She is really passionate about cities and transportation. In her free time she enjoys exploring new places by getting lost and talking to the people that live there!




NATALIE QUINN was born and raised in Southern California, US. She completed her undergraduate degree at University of California, Santa Barbara with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and a minor in Geological Science. While pursuing her B.A. she held internships at the Santa Barbara chapter of Citizens Planning Association and CCBER (Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration).  Natalie recently lived in New Zealand for two years, the last of which she spent volunteering for WWOOF, Willing Workers On Organic Farms. Her concentration is in sustainable international development, with specific focus on transit oriented development and food production.




JET RICHARDSON grew up in eastern Washington State.  He completed his undergraduate studies in 2005 focusing on International Business and Marketing at Seattle Pacific University with a minor in European Studies.  After graduation, he worked in Chicago for an multinational logistics broker.  From 2008 – 2010 he was volunteer with the Peace Corps, serving in Senegal West Africa where he first developed an interest in urban planning.  Today he am a duel Masters candidate for Urban Planning and International Affairs.  He would like to focus his current studies on emergency management and disaster mitigation by looking specifically at the built environmental and planning adaptable, responsive cities with a special interest in the developing world.




GILLIAN SOLLENBERGER received a Bachelor of Architecture from Pratt Institute in 2008. During her education and subsequent work experience the intersection of architecture, urbanism and community has been the focus of her interest. Professionally, she has worked on a variety for project types from prefabricated/portable housing to building restoration to master plans for large institutional campuses.  I am interested in public health and the built environment, and want to focus on people.  She wants to understand how environmental, political, and cultural pressures have prevented certain populations from accessing the resources and knowledge they need to structure their lives in a way that will lead to healthy homes and communities.


International University of Catalunya, Barcelona (SPAIN)

LIA BRUN is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and graduated in International Relations and Social Communications with a specialization in Environmental Management. She has worked as a journalist for scientific publications and as a volunteer for global networks dedicated to education and nature conservation. She believes the success of urban development projects rely on the connection of the diverse actors involved and is eager to contribute as a facilitator in the translation of their common goals.


ANATOLIE CAPATINA is from Chisinau, Republic of Moldova and graduated as an Architect at the Technical University of Moldova. He has worked in various architecture and urban planning firms at home and abroad and is especially interested in the development of poor communities and informal settlements upgrading.





MONICA-MARIA CHIRIAC studied Sociology at the University of Bucharest, as well as Product Design at UNARTE Bucharest. She has worked in the conservation and restoration of historical monuments and also as a professor of early childhood centers. She has a particular interest in the role of architectural design in education and development.        




SHAREEN ELNASCHIE is from London and trained as a theatre scenographer at Leeds University before graduating as an Architect from London Metropolitan University. She has worked as an urban researcher for public realm projects and as an architect assistant on several school expansions. She currently researches ecological distribution conflicts in southeast Madagascar and will intern with TAO‐Pilipinas in Manila to work on relocation projects of informal settlements.



ALLISON KOORNNEEF is from Toronto, Canada and studied Environmental Design at OCAD U. She is interested in working with and for marginalized populations to improve their quality of life and to address issues of exclusion and injustice. Her thesis at UIC examines participatory data gathering processes in informal settlements, and she will be doing an internship with SPARC in Mumbai, India during spring 2013.




DIANA MARTÍNEZ is from Monterrey, México and graduated as an Architect in 2010 from Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey. She worked as a Communications Coordinator for Un Techo para mí País México, a youth led non-profit organization that seeks to overcome poverty in slums. Her interest in social issues and community involvement in architecture and the city planning led her to pursue this masters course.



RYAN MATTHEWS obtained his bachelor’s degree in geography and environmental science from McGill University. He has run primate research camps in central Africa, coordinated residential construction in Montreal, managed crew housing for the Burning Man arts festival in Nevada, traveled extensively, and built some ambitious art installations. Through this course he hopes to mitigate conflicts between preservation of the World Heritage Sites and vulnerable populations who rely on them.



BENJA MONRABAL graduated as an Architect from Politechnic University of Valencia in 2011. He has worked at Michelle Tonci & Associates in Rome and later in the engineering firm CMD Ingenieros in Valencia. In 2012 he collaborated in the restoration and development of a heritage project in Namur, Belgium. The experience of two summers in Massaya, Nicaragua, collaborating with the construction of wooden houses as a volunteer in a NGO, brought him to this masters course.



KIMBERLY PELKOFSKY has worked in architecture, construction, and development as a volunteer, employee, and consultant since completing her B.S. in Architecture in 2005. Between stints of employment she's managed to travel and meet new people which she enjoys almost as much as trying new foods and cooking old favorites. After completing her master Kimberly is looking forwards to the smell of cut wood, the sound of welding, and the look concrete filling up form work.



NATALY RAAB is a graduated Architect from London, UK. She has a professional background in sustainable architecture and has worked in Thailand and Argentina constructing and working with communities and NGOs. Last summer she worked with an interdisciplinary NGO in London, combining architecture and health to target medical issues through housing and design, which has led her to research the importance and function of interdisciplinary facilitation within humanitarian aid.



GISELLE SEBAG is from Atlanta, USA and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2008 with a BA in government and a BS in architecture. She has worked with organizations such as the Brookings Institution and Southface Energy Institute and served as a delegate to the 16th Conference of the Parties at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. She is passionate about urban planning and environmental public health and is committed to bridging the disciplines through current and future projects.


EWA SZYMCZYK is from Krakow, Poland and studied Architecture and Urban Design (Msc) at Krakow Technical University and at Manchester University (BA Hons). She has participated in international urban planning workshops in Europe and Africa and architectural workshops as a participant, organizer and as a member in international students association (IAESTE). Through this masters course she hopes to contribute to creating just urban development processes around the world.




TARA WHELAN graduated with a Bachelor of Architectural Science from Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, focusing on architecture as a stimulus to community interaction. She has experience working with sustainable architecture firms in Canada and Ireland, specializing in straw bale and natural building. She is taking this course in pursuit of a career in urban and social development in disaster prone areas.




National University of Colombia, Bogotá (COLOMBIA)

CAMILA CARREÑO is student of Architecture at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota. She is currently doing her final degree project. She is interested in spatial development of the territory and the participation of people in its construction. Has done community work, organizational and research in vulnerable sectors of Bogotá having as objective the development of new ways of conceiving and planning the territories, especially those are located at the edges of the city.



SEBASTIAN MATEUS is student of Architecture at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota. He is currently doing his final degree project about housing in the south-eastern border of Bogota. Hass worked in community and social organizations addressing the social construction of the territory in neighborhoods at the south-eastern border of Bogotá. He has worked with Professor Carlos A. Torres in developing the II International Seminar on Urban Informal Processes "Barrio Upgrading as response to a City for All" and the subsequent conformation of the International Network for Research and Action in Urban and Barrio Upgrading.


LORENA RUBIANO is student of Architecture at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota. She is currently doing her emphasis in Urban Project.

OSCAR ANTONIO VACA VELANDIA is an Architect and currently student at the Master program in Habitat at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. He is interested in understanding the relation between ways of living, social processes and environmental impacts. He is lecturer of industrial plants design studio at the undergraduate programme of Industrial Engineering. He is also consultant for industrial and regional planning projects at the Centre for Academic Extension at Faculty of Arts. He has served as director of housing upgrading programs in different NGOs and public institutions in Bogotá.

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