Taylor Cain: Equitable Decision Making for Boston’s Streets and My Summer as a MONUM Fellow
When I applied for the summer fellowship with the Boston Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, I knew that I would be asked to do more than think. While daunting, this shift in orientation was also exciting, and I braced myself for a summer where I might bridge my world of scholarly contemplation with my desire to directly […]
CO2 Fertilization in an Urban Green Roof
Principal Investigator Earth & Environment Ph.D. candidate Sarabeth Buckley will conduct a study on the impact of increased levels of CO2 on green roofs in urban areas. Specifically, Sarabeth will purposefully expose the plants on edible green roofs to increased CO2 by directing waste carbon dioxide (produced by human respiration) from the inside of buildings […]
Celebration of Diversity Amidst Privilege: A Study of the Suburbs
Principal Investigator Sociology & Social Work Ph.D. candidate Whitney Gecker will conduct an ethnographic study of young people, beginning with members of the Newton youth council. Gecker seeks to understand how young people in an affluent suburb experience and respond to racial and economic insularity, and make sense of diversity and privilege. She will use […]
2017 Urban Research Awards: Crime and Public Housing
Crime and Public Housing: A General Equilibrium Analysis Economics Ph.D. candidate Jesse Bruhn seeks to quantify the impact of ambitious public housing redevelopment projects—specifically the Plan for Transformation project in Chicago—on the distribution of criminal activity within city limits. The Plan for Transformation project was a part of the federal government’s shift in support for […]
Agglomeration Economies in the Information Age
Principal Investigator Economics Ph.D. candidate Andrew Busey aims to test the popular theory in urban economics that variations in population density, both temporally and geographically, occur because of agglomeration economies. As part of his larger dissertation, Busey uses an innovative econometric strategy to provide causal estimates of the impact of population density on labor productivity […]
Protecting our Urban Water Sources: Developing a Solar Energy-Activated Reduction Catalyst
Principal Investigator Chemistry Associate Professor Linda Doerrer with Ph.D. candidate Jessica Elinburg seeks to adapt her invention, an NO3– reduction system, for implementation in urban water sources to prevent harmful algal blooms and to make available clean water sources for urban residents in an affordable, environmentally-friendly way. Doerrer and Elinburg will conduct this research on […]
3D Models and Virtual Reality Techniques for Mapping & Analyzing Above and Underground Urban Infrastructures (UIMAGE)
Principal Investigators Co-Principal Investigators Earth & Environment Ph.D. candidate Yaxiong Ma, in collaboration with Earth & Environment Professors Sucharita Gopal and Nathan Phillips, will design and build a prototype model using 3D Models and Virtual Reality Techniques for Mapping & Analyzing Above and Underground Urban Infrastructures. The model, called UIMAGE (Underground Infrastructures Mapping Analyzing Geospatial), […]
Impact of Air Pollution and Climate on Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes
Principal Investigator School of Public Health Ph.D. candidate Lindsey Butler will investigate the the impacts of maternal exposure to traffic related air pollution (TRAP) and extreme ambient temperatures on the risk of structural birth defects and stillbirth, particularly those resulting from placental dysfunction. Lindsey will serve as the project’s PI in collaboration with four co-PIs […]
Hidden Problems in Secret Corals: Exploring Microplastic Abundance in Local, Temperate Corals Along an Urban Gradient
Principal Investigators Research Assistant Professor Randi Rotjan, in collaboration with Associate Professor Juanita Urban-Rich from the University of Massachusetts-Boston, Assistant Professor Koty Sharp from Rogers Williams University and Associate Professor Sean Grace from Southern Connecticut State University, will study New England coral to determine the extent and impact of microplastics and microbial biofilms. Specifically, she […]
Examining the Role of Crime, Race, & Politics in City‐Level Crime Control Outputs
Principal Investigator Assistant Professor Shea Cronin will construct a cross‐sectional dataset of large cities which can be used to test questions about crime concentration, segregation and crime control outputs. Professor Cronin will address the following research questions: To what extent are measures of the geographic concentration of crime (compared to the absolute levels of crime) […]