Alumni & Friends
New Alumni – Academic year 2008-2009
The following students completed their degree and graduated this past fall or spring. The title of the thesis is shown after the student’s name.
Laura Abernathy – The Suitability of Affordable Housing, ‘Smart Urbanism,’ and Informality: A Case Study of Rocinha, A Favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Andrew Batson – Rail Transit and Coordination in Orlando in the 1990s and 2000s: A Study in Contrasts
Briana Conlan – Relationships between Florida’s State Mandated Housing Element and the Federally Funded Continuum of Care Program, Addressing Homelessness in Alachua County and the City of Gainesville, Florida
Michael DiPalma – An Evaluation of the Principles of Sustainable Development: The Comprehensive Plan for Gainesville, Florida
Jason Travis Johnson – How Technology is Changing Third Spaces
David Kanarek – Assessing The Impact Of Transportation Infrastructure Barriers And Land Use With Respect To Downtown Redevelopment. A Case Study Of Stuart, Delray Beach And Vero Beach.
Katie Leonard Lasch – Barriers to a Healthy Lifestyle for Low-Income Minority Youth: A Case Study of the Cuyler Brownsville Neighborhood in Savannah, Georgia
Kaycee Mertz – Equitable Development Tools to Mitigate Residential Displacement due to Gentrification: Case Studies of Three Atlanta Neighborhoods
Stephanie Murray – Intermodal and Multimodal Transportation: Analysis of Policy and the Impact of Plans for Connectivity of Transportation Systems between Ports and Airports
Benito Perez – Public Transit Accessibility for Low-Income Workers: Case Studies of Curitiba, Brazil and Seattle, Washington
Andrew Persons – Overcoming Barriers to Fresh Produce: An Analysis of Three Neighborhoods in Southeast Gainesville
Jacob Petrosky – Impervious Surface and Water Quality in Wake County: A n Analysis of Recent Development, Impact and Opportunities
Chad Riding – Access Management as a Means of Accommodating Access, Accessibility and Mobility on an SIS Facility: The Case Study of State Road 26 through Newberry, Florida
Jeffrey Schmucker – How Does Urban Form Impact the Potential for Children to Walk and Bicycle to School: A Case Study of Orange and Seminole Counties in Central Florida
Alumni Stories – May 2009
Demian Miller
MAURP 2006
Demian Miller, class of 2006, has been appointed Director of Safety and Policy Planning Services at Tindale-Oliver and Associates, Inc. He has been with TOA since 2002 and, in his new position, will direct the activities and staff development of the Safety and Policy Planning teams. Demian specializes in multimodal transportation planning, GIS/data analysis, and urban planning issues. He led the development of GIS-based crash data management systems for government agencies throughout Florida.
Cheri M. Ehrhardt-Topper, AICP
MAURP 1992
Cheri M. Ehrhardt-Topper is a Natural Resource Planner for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The following is a Q & A with her about National Wildlife Refuge System Planning. Contact Ehrhardt-Topper at Cheri_Ehrhardt@fws.gov.
What is the National Wildlife Refuge System (Refuge System)?
Part of the US Fish and Wildlife Service within the US Department of Interior, the Refuge System manages the largest network of lands and waters for the protection of wildlife, including threatened and endangered species, migratory birds, anadromous fish, and certain marine mammals. That’s 550 refuges and 150 million acres spread across every state and five US territories. Chances are there’s one near you.
So, why plan?
In 1997 Congress passed the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act. Among other things, the Act provided a wildlife first focus for the Refuge System and required the development of 15-year management plans, Comprehensive Conservation Plans (CCPs), for all refuge units by 2012. For most refuges, the CCP process was the first time that they had gone out to the public about a comprehensive approach to future management. On a smaller scale, refuges had requested input on items such as a hunting program. But, other than in Alaska, refuges had not engaged the public, non-governmental organizations, special interest groups, tribal governments, and other governmental entities about the comprehensive management of a refuge. So, this planning process offered refuges the opportunity not only to engage these groups, but to actually take a step back to think with vision about future management. How can the refuge better serve the purpose(s) for which it was established? What will be the role of the refuge in the landscape in the future? For which species does the refuge play a key role? How can the refuge better manage for those species? How and where can the Refuge System grow strategically? Where are the opportunities for coordination with governmental partners to better serve common goals and objectives? Which appropriate and compatible wildlife-oriented public use activities might occur on the refuge in the future?
Where are we now?
Many plans are complete, but numerous plans are currently underway. You may have a CCP underway within or near your jurisdiction. We encourage your participation in the planning process to help us further common goals and objectives.
What happens after 2012?
CCPs are required to be reviewed and updated every 15 years. The plans developed in the early days are likely to require more work than those developed later due to the subsequent development of planning, biological integrity, and other policies. Also, units designated after 1997 will require the development of initial CCPs. These planning efforts would benefit from your involvement.
Job seekers?
If you are a student, especially one with a natural resource background, consider working for the US Fish and Wildlife Service. For graduates, consider a career in the federal government (all federal jobs are posted on USA Jobs and a recent search on “Planner” found many federal planning positions open to all applicants in various agencies across the country).
