Students

Current

Doctoral Dissertation Committee Chair/Co-Chair

  • Ibrahim Altasan – Planning, Governance, and Globalization
  • Sadhana Manthapuri – Planning, Governance, and Globalization
  • Yugasha Bakshi – Planning, Governance, and Globalization
  • Pardis Akbari – Planning, Governance, and Globalization

Doctoral Dissertation Committee Member

  • Efon Epanty – Planning, Governance, and Globalization
  • Zuleka Woods – Planning, Governance, and Globalization
  • Shahidur Rashid Talukdar – Public Administration & Public Affairs
  • David Okereke – Public Administration & Public Affairs
  • Sara Lamb Harrell – Architecture and Design Research
  • Chi A. Nguyen – Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Jessica Hardy – Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education
  • Dominic Mike Kamlomo – Urban and Regional Planning, Mzuzu University, Malawi

Master’s (Thesis) Committee Chair

  • Bashair Almatani – Masters of Urban and Regional Planning

Master’s (Thesis) Committee Member

  • Keneil Gordon – Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Aida Cricco Doldan – Sustainable Biomaterials
  • Olga Perez Pelaez – Masters of Urban and Regional Planning

Former

2021

Doctoral Dissertation Committee Member

  • Manik Ahmed (Civil and Environmental Engineering) “Assessing the Performance of Public-Private Partnership Highway Projects: From Anecdotes to Comprehensive Evidence”
  • Kaidi Wang (Planning, Governance, and Globalization) “The Dynamics of the Impacts of Automated Vehicles: Urban Form, Mode Choice, and Energy Demand Distribution”

2020

Doctoral Dissertation Committee Chair

  • Jessica Agnew (Planning, Governance, and Globalization) “Demand-Side Factors that Affect the Potential of Market-Based Approaches to Alleviate Micronutrient Malnutrition in Mozambique”
    • 2021 Richard E. Zody Award for Outstanding Dissertation in Planning, Governance, & Globalization
    • Buy2Thrive
    • 2018-19 AAUW International Doctoral Fellowship
  • Luis Felipe Camacho Carvajal (Planning, Governance, and Globalization) “Technology, Participatory Management Practices (PMP), and Dignity at Work: Negotiating the Use of Technology in a Plastics Packaging Firm”
  • Raj Kumar G.C. (Planning, Governance, and Globalization) “Exploring the Potential of Multiple Use Water Services for Smallholder Farmers in the Western Middle Hills of Nepal”

Doctoral Dissertation Committee Member

  • Armin Rahimi-Golkhandan (Civil and Environmental Engineering) “Characterization and Assessment of Transportation Diversity: Impacts on Mobility and Resilience Planning in Urban Communities”
  • Lindy Cranwell (Planning, Governance, and Globalization) “University Comprehensive Internationalization (CI): Faculty Meaning-Making, Motivations, and Perceptions for Engaging Globally”

2019

Doctoral Dissertation Committee Chair

Master’s (Thesis) Committee Chair

  • Fan Mo – Urban and Regional Planning

Master’s (Non-Thesis) Committee Member

  • Jenny Huarhua – Urban and Regional Planning
  • Joseph Fraker – Urban and Regional Planning
  • Morgan Dean – Public Administration

Academic Advisor (General)

2018

Master’s Thesis Committee Member

  • Kaitlyn Spangler (Geography) – ““When he comes home, then he can decide”: Male out-migration, the feminization of agriculture, and integrated pest management in the Nepali mid-hills.”

Master’s (Non-Thesis) Committee Member

  • Kelly Fomenko (Urban and Regional Planning) – “Curbing Cul-de-sac Development and Promoting Smart Growth: A Case Study of Albany County, New York.”
  • Henry Ayakwah (Urban and Regional Planning) – “An Analysis of Water Scarcity in the Nandom District of Ghana, and an Exploration of the Possible Remedies.”

2017

Doctoral Dissertation Committee Chair

  • Marc Fialkoff – Planning, Governance, and Globalization, 2017 (expected). “Assessment of the Jones Act on Freight Transportation Networks Experiencing Disruption and Critical Infrastructure Resilience.” (Co-chair with Prof. Ralph Buehler.)

Doctoral Dissertation Committee Member

  • Behshad Ghadimi – Civil Engineering, “Impact of project delivery method on stakeholder issues and involvement practices in megaprojects: evidence from fixed crossing case studies”
  • Ann Hartell – Institute for Multi-Level Governance and Development, WU/Vienna University of Economics and Business, “The Link between Housing Affordability and Transport Costs: Implications for Transport Agencies in an Environment of Accountability.”

Master’s Thesis Committee Member

  • Armin Jeddi Yeganeh – Building Construction / Urban and Regional Planning, “An Equity Analysis of the U.S. Public Transportation System Based on Job Accessibility.”
    • Received the ACSP 2017 Marsha Ritzdorf Award for a journal article he based on his research.

Academic Advisor (General)

  • Erica O’Donnel – Wayne and Claire Horton Fellowship Applicant

2016

Doctoral Dissertation Committee Chair

  • Selma Elouardighi (Planning, Governance, and Globalization), “Greening the Cement Industry in Morocco: The Role of Multinational Corporations.” (Co-chair with Prof. Edward Weisband.)

Master’s (Non-Thesis) Committee Chair

  • Kemuel Stephen Cox II (Urban and Regional Planning), “Recommended Revisions to the New River Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Public Participation Plan.”
  • Joshua Lee (Urban and Regional Planning), “A Behavior Change Framework for Handwashing With Soap.”
  • Darnell Parker II (Urban and Regional Planning), “Energy Efficient Home Enhancements For Moldova Built Vernacular.”

Master’s Thesis Committee Member

  • Allison Homer (Urban and Regional Planning), “Burdens, Benefits, Perceptions, and Planning: Developing an Equitable Environmental Justice Assessment Model (EEJAM 2016) for Long-Range Transportation Planning in Roanoke, Virginia.”
  • Ashley Taylor (Mechanical Engineering and Public Health), “Innovating for Global Health through Community-Based Participatory Research: Design of Mechanical Suction Machines for Rural Health Clinics in Malawi.”

Master’s (Non-Thesis) Committee Member

  • Xusheng  He (Urban and Regional Planning), “GIS Based Green Space Planning for the City of Zhuhai, China.”
  • Wenzhuo Pan (Urban and Regional Planning), “Air Quality Dispersion Modelling in Changzhou City, China.”
  • John Settle (Urban and Regional Planning), “Miller-Southside Residential Historic Overlay District Design Guidelines Handbook.”

Academic Advisor (General)

  • Nneoma Nwankwo – 2014 Austin Michelle Cloyd Scholar, Undergraduate, VT Honors and the 2016 Undergraduate Student of the Year.
  • Subha Subha Banerjee (Urban and Regional Planning).
  • Charles Chirwa (Mzuzu University), “Pit Latrine Fecal Sludge Resistance Using a Dynamic Cone Penetrometer in Low Income Areas in Mzuzu City, Malawi.”

2015

Doctoral Dissertation Committee Chair

Master’s (Non-Thesis) Committee Chair

  • Paul Ngo (Urban and Regional Planning), “Stroubles Creek Heritage Trail Concept Plan.”

Master’s (Non-Thesis) Committee Member

  • Amanda Magee (Urban and Regional Planning), “A Food Access Assessment:Mapping food access in the City of Roanoke.”
  • Li Tan (Urban and Regional Planning), “Can the Experiences of Congestion Pricing Schemes in Successful Cities Apply to Other Cities? A Case Study of Beijing.”
  • Xiaoran Li (Urban and Regional Planning), “Assessing Development Pattern along Texas Coast from 2001 to 2011: A Coastal Hazards Vulnerability Perspective.”

2014

Doctoral Dissertation Committee Member

  • James Bryce (Civil Engineering), “Applying Pavement Life Cycle Assessment Results to Enhance Sustainable Pavement Management Decision Making.”
  • Mark Seiss (Statistics), “Improving Survey Methodology Through Matrix Sampling Design, Integrating Statistical Review Into Data Collection, and Synthetic Estimation Evaluation.”

Master’s Thesis Committee Member

  • Efthymios NIkolopoulos (Sloan School of Business, MIT). “The Contribution of Published Sustainability Indexes to the Construction of Practical Useful Metrics for Comparing Strengths and Weaknesses for Achieving Sustainability Among Countries.”

Master’s (Non-Thesis) Committee Member

  • Nathalie (Graham) Owen (Natural Resources), “Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging Waste in the United States.”
  • Jorge Ventura  (Practicum  – Urban and Regional Planning), “Urban Expansion Analysis focused on Infrastructure Investments: Case Study – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.”
  • Casey Gresham ( Urban and Regional Planning) “The Spread of Knowledge: A Spatial Correlation Assessment of Conservation Agriculture Knowledge Flow through the Chimbo Watershed of Ecuador.”

2013

Doctoral Dissertation Committee Chair

  • Emily Van Houweling (Planning, Governance, and Globalization), “Gender, Water and Development: The Multiple Impacts and Perceptions of a Rural Water Project in Nampula, Mozambique.”
    • Recipient of the Richard E. Zody Award for Outstanding Dissertation in Planning, Governance & Globalization.
    • Received an “Honorable Mention” in the category of Outstanding Dissertation in Social Sciences, Business, Education and Humanities at Virginia Tech.

Master’s Thesis Committee Chair

  • Jennifer Thangavelu (Urban and Regional Planning), “Considerations for Informed Pursuit of Zero Waste: Lessons from Two Case Studies.”
  • Yakhya Aicha Diagne (Urban and Regional Planning), “Planning for Sustainable Development in Senegal.”
  • Erin Puckett (Urban and Regional Planning), “Parking Strategies for Suburban Mixed-Used Developments.”

Master’s Thesis Committee Member

  • Joseph Arcella (Civil and Environmental Engineering), “A Comparative Analysis of Current Performance-Based Maintenance Procurement Methods to Improve Virginia Highways.”

Master’s (Non-Thesis) Committee Chair

  • Steven Wingate (Urban and Regional Planning), “Partnering Internationally, Growing Locally Sister Cities’ Expanding Role into Economic Development.”

Master’s (Non-Thesis) Committee Member

  • Jeffrey Cucinotta (Urban and Regional Planning), “Urban Planning in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area: Deciding Together or Divided Forever?”
  • Xiaoxuan Peng (Urban and Regional Planning), “Recent Development of Land Reform in China: Urban-Rural Integration Experiment in Sichuan Province.”
  • Yuan Zhang (Urban and Regional Planning), “Implementing Area-based Congestion Pricing Schemes in the United States.”

2012

Doctoral Dissertation Committee Member

  • Sara Marks (Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University), “Water System Sustainability in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa: Participation, Sense of Ownership, and Performance.”
  • Anamaria Bukvic (Planning, Governance, and Globalization), “Climate Change Relocation as an Adaptation Strategy: from Taboo to Opportunity.”

Master’s Thesis Committee Member

  • Sarah Lyon-Hill (Urban and Regional Planning), “Building Governance Capacity in Rural Niger: A Study of Decentralization and Good Governance Policy as Experienced in a Local Village.”
  • Julie Erickson (Urban and Regional Planning), “Decentralization and Hospital Governance in Rural Paraguay.”
  • Laura Zseleczky (Public and International Affairs), “Gender and Pest Management in Ghana: Implications for the Introduction of an IPM Program for Tomato.”

Master’s (Non-Thesis) Committee Member

  • Leslie Tate (Urban and Regional Planning), “The International Tourism Industry: Why Isn’t it Working as a Tool for Development in Developing Countries and How Can It?”
  • Meghan Barrier (Public and International Affairs), “Growing In(ter) Dependence Re-imagining the Power in Food, Community, and Democracy.”

2011

Master’s Thesis Committee Member

  • Joshua Owens (Urban and Regional Planning), “Peace Corps Service to Develop Community Capacity for Sustainability Planning: The Experience of Areguá, Paraguay.”
  • Crysta Highfield (Civil and Environmental Engineering), “Sustainable Pavement Construction: Developing a Methodology for Integrating Environmental Impact into the Decision-Making Process.”
  • Megan Byrne (Public and International Affairs), “Gender and Pest Management in the Ecuadorian Andes.” [Megan’s thesis won the 2011 VT Interdisciplinary Research Honor Society’s Award for Exemplary Interdisciplinary Research.]

Master’s (Non-Thesis) Committee Chair

  • Abby Boggs (Urban and Regional Planning), “An Internal Ecotourism Review for Primland Resort.”
  • Stephen Bzomowski (Urban and Regional Planning), “Land Cover and Water Quality in the Laguna Redonda Watershed, Miches Basin, Dominican Republic: The Creation of a Geographic Information System (GIS).” [Stephen applied for and won a series of high resolution satellite images from the GeoEye Foundation to support his practicum research.]
  • Matthew Walker (Urban and Regional Planning), “Water and Sanitation in Bunkpurugu, Ghana: An Analysis of Current Resources and Options for Community Action.”

Master’s (Non-Thesis) Committee Member

  • Emily Barry (Public and International Affairs), “What is ‘Development’? A Curriculum and Praxis-informed Reflection on how ‘Development’ is Framed at the International, NGO and Individual Levels.”
  • Jenn Gooding (Public and International Affairs), “In the Food Ghetto and the Urban Garden: Food Deserts, Community Gardens, and Participatory Democracy.”
  • William Sutton (Urban and Regional Planning), “Floodplain Management: Concept and Practices. Case Studies on Houston, Texas and Miami-Dade County, Florida.”
  • John Eddy (Natural Resources), “The Transition Movement in the United States: Relevance, Growth, Challenges, and Recommendations.”

2010

Master’s (Non-Thesis) Committee Chair

  • Nurmawaiti (Urban and Regional Planning), “Toward Banda Aceh Green City: Scrutinizing Opportunities and Challenges on the Implementation of ‘Urban Forestry’ as a City Development Tool in Post Tsunami Disaster.”
  • Maria Garcia (Urban and Regional Planning), “An Analysis of the Rainwater Harvesting System for St. Therese Hospital, Hinche, Haiti.”
  • Elizabeth Stuecheli (Urban and Regional Planning), “The Desirability and Feasibility of a Global Governance System.”

Master’s (Non-Thesis) Committee Member

  • Sindhuja Ganesh (Civil and Environmental Engineering), “Organizational Assessment of Water and Sanitation Non-Governmental Organizations Working in Resource-Limited Settings: Application of Lessons Learned from Partners in Health.”
  • Julie Chop (Urban and Regional Planning), “Haiti’s Vulnerability to Natural Disasters: Reduction Strategies Post 2010 Earthquake.”

VT Honors Students – Academic Advisor

  • 2010 – Kara Dodson – Austin Michelle Cloyd Scholar

2009

Master’s (Non-Thesis) Committee Member

  • Sarah Swenson (Urban and Regional Planning), “Ecological Sanitation Creating Sustainable Benefits for Jaipur, India.”
  • Brendan Brink-Holloran (Urban and Regional Planning), “Decentralization in Guatemala: Searching for Democratic Local Government.”