Scholarship Winners

APA congratulates the recipients of the 2021 Charles Abrams, APA Foundation, and Judith McManus Price scholarships.


APA Foundation Scholarship Winners

APA Foundation scholarships make the planning profession more diverse and accessible to individuals with limited means and help attract the most talented individuals to the profession.


Anthony Bui
University of Michigan

Anthony Bui 

Thanks to your generosity, I am one step closer to making our urban areas accessible for all. Transportation policy has a tendency to promote unwelcoming streets solely for the benefit of drivers, but it can also be used as a remedy to encourage a street for all users. Thus, I will promote and protect public transportation to bridge our communities, connect all types of people with opportunities, and stimulate economic potential in the urban environment.

Will Cao
Columbia University

Will Cao

The necessity for a collective mission towards confronting health and climate disasters could not have been more apparent over the past year, as well as the role of planners to encourage and mitigate outcomes. With the generous support from this scholarship, I am able to continue my education towards the goal of responsibly building greater resilience and climate justice for communities that have been underrepresented in the processes of planning and developing the built environment.

Kameice Francis
Tufts University

Kameice Francis

Thank you to all who made this possible. This scholarship has made a world of difference for me. The
opportunities offered by the APA Foundation Scholarship will undoubtedly ensure that I have the
financial resources to finish my Master’s in Environmental Policy and Planning. After graduation, I aspire
to return to my home country, Jamaica, to develop effective national climate change mitigation and
adaptation strategies. Once again, thank you.

Qian He
The University of Texas at Arlington 

Qian He

My career goal is to become a research-driven planner and educator. Through my research, teaching, and service, I am committed to creating an equitable environment for people and communities from all backgrounds. The APA Foundation scholarship will help me finishing the final phase of my doctoral degree. This scholarship will allow me to share my research and cultivate professional planning networks at national and international level. The recognition of the APA Foundation Scholarship will be a tremendous encouragement as I work to achieve my goal of advancing equity in urban planning.

Fatha Sharif
University of Minnesota

Fatha Sharif

I am beyond grateful and excited at the opportunity to have received a 2021 American Planning Association Foundation Scholarship. I have begun my studies at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs as part of the Master of Urban and Regional Planning program, and hope to complete a concentration in housing and community development. I aspire to lead a planning career in the public sector that centers and empowers communities that have historically experienced marginalization, a lack of representation, and access to influence decisions made in regards to their own neighborhoods and homes.

Charles Abrams Scholarship Winner

This scholarship program is for citizens of the United States who are enrolled or have been accepted for enrollment at the graduate planning programs of Columbia University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New School University, or the University of Pennsylvania.


Sara Arman
Harvard University

Sara Arman

I wanted to sincerely thank you for awarding me the Charles Abrams Scholarship. This scholarship will be directly applied to my tuition and will help support my graduate studies. At the Graduate School of Design my focus within Urban Planning is Housing, Neighborhood, and Economic Development. After graduation, I hope to work in my hometown- Chelsea, MA either at a local CDC or in the city planning department to help create more affordable housing. I am so grateful for the APA to helping make this career a reality for me!

Judith McManus Price Scholarship Winner

This scholarship fund was created to encourage women and minorities to enter the field of planning, and to help planning students who have demonstrated financial need.


Kaitlyn Kong
University of California, Berkeley

Kaitlyn Kong

Receiving this scholarship will allow me to further my research and studies on: Transportation Planning and Equity, Active/Multi-Modal Transportation, Public Transportation, Green and Complete Streets, Streetscape, Sustainable Development, Public Spaces, Green Spaces, Sustainable Cities, Livability. As a woman of color, I am so excited for the opportunity to improve the built environment and achieve a more accessible, equitable, and sustainable future.

Since 2015, the APA Foundation has awarded $113,000 in scholarships to deserving planning students who will be leaders and advocates in their communities. Support the APA Foundation today to help us empower the planners of tomorrow.

Donate

 

Previous Winners

APA Foundation Scholarship

2020


Andriani Atmadja headshot
Harvard University

Andriani Atmadja

Your generosity helps me to further my mission in enhancing climate resilience planning for vulnerable communities that seek social justice and equity in its practice. As a woman in the future planning profession, I am also hoping to generate strategies to ensure equitable collaboration through empowerment of women, children, elderly, and underrepresented communities to actively participate in the planning process.

Shekhar Chandra headshot
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Shekhar Chandra

I was born in a remote village in north India of mostly below-poverty-line households with a low literacy rate and where the majority of households depend on farming activities for their livelihoods. The experiences of my youth inculcated a genuine passion for acquiring scientific knowledge and a deep desire to influence the policymaking process so that I could someday make a difference for those who were less fortunate than me.

Cecley Hill headshot
Harvard University

Cecley Hill

We are in a critical moment where the demand for Urban Planners has become increasingly evident across a variety of landscapes and in a myriad of roles. As a second year graduate student preparing to transition into this field professionally, I look forward to building on my personal knowledge and educational experiences to create more equitable cities internationally, and to help meet this demand.

Amal Muse headshot
Rutgers University

Amal Muse

Thanks to your generous support I am the first in my family to attend graduate school. Growing up in a less privileged community has not only offered financial and academic challenges, but has also helped me realize the value of a higher education. My plans at this stage are to complete my Masters in City and Regional Planning and concentrate in environmental policy.

Whytne Stevens headshot
Harvard University

Whytne Stevens

Receiving this scholarship allows me to continue my studies at Harvard and look more deeply into subjects within urban planning such as people centered urban design, participatory planning, community development and community building, finding the intersection of art and urban planning, and social equity based approaches to urban planning.

Marius Williams headshot
Rutgers University

Marius Williams

As a City and Regional Planning student I plan to concentrate on international design and development. I believe that the practice of both local and international planning and design can reveal and spread innovative best planning practices across regions and cultures.

2019


Priscila Coli
University of California, Berkeley

Priscila Coli

Priscila Coli is a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley's City and Regional Planning PhD program. Coli spent six years working as an urban planner in Rio de Janeiro and focused on sustainability, zoning parameters for affordable housing, and redressing disparities in urban infrastructure. She hopes to contribute to the development of urban policies and legislation that could regulate new actors while also empowering residents from the peripheries, facilitating and strengthening equitable civic participation.

Alexandra Duprey
TufTs University

Alexandra Duprey

Alexandra Duprey is a graduate student at Tufts University's Master's in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning program. She plans to build upon her experience as an intern for a sustainable development nongovernmental organization (NGO) in India, and as a transportation planner in Florida observing the disparity between the people proposing development plans and the people being affected by the plans, to champion diversity and social and environmental justice in the planning profession.

Valeria Henao Cano
University of Colorado, Denver

Valeria Henao Cano

Valeria Henao Cano is a graduate student at the University of Colorado, Denver Master's of Urban and Regional Planning program. She has worked as an architect in Colombia and has experience developing projects that improve quality of life in marginalized communities. As a planner, she plans to work on improving informal areas that serve marginalized populations.

Claire Jaffe
University of Pennsylvania

Claire Jaffe

Claire Jaffe is a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania Master's of City Planning program. She is working on bicycle and pedestrian planning and is interested in how multimodal networks create safer spaces. Jaffe has organized spaces for women and LGBTQ folks who are in the planning field or interested in urban planning issues to come together, network, and build connections.

Laier-Rayshon Smith
Harvard University

Laier-Rayshon Smith

Laier-Rayshon Smith is a graduate student at the Harvard University Master's of Urban Planning program. Smith's vision for equitable communities includes working at the intersections of social interaction, policy, design and the decision-making processes that formulate the built environment. Living in Pittsburgh and working at non-profit organizations in the city helped to shape this vision.

Charles Abrams Scholarship

2020


Sharon Velasquez headshot
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Sharon Velasquez

Thanks to you, I am set for success as I develop the critical planning and leadership skills that will empower me to lead an economic development organization in my future.

2019


Vanessa Toro Barragan
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Vanessa Toro Barragan

Vanessa Toro Barragan is a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Master's in City Planning program. Barragan plans to leverage her complex identities as a white-presenting Latina who was born in Colombia but raised in the United States to find opportunities for social transformation as a path towards equitable and just cities. Her thesis will focus on the youth from an Afro-Colombian Pacific territory and efforts to rebuild within the challenging context of structural violence, poverty, and environmental hazards.

2018


Harvard University

Gina Ciancone

Gina Ciancone is a graduate student at the Harvard University's Master in Urban Planning program. She will be pursuing solutions that mitigate natural disasters and climate change in Houston and New Delhi, India.

2017


Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Reed Jordan


2016

Joshua Davidson
University of Pennsylvania

2015

John McCartin
Harvard University

2014

Brett Roeth Peanasky
University of Pennsylvania

2013

Jennifer Lee
Harvard University

2012

Jinny Khanduja
Columbia University

2011

Maxwell Sokol
Columbia University

2010

Christina Ghan
Columbia University

2009

Chris Horne
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2008

Danielle Martin
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2007

John Reinhardt
University of Pennsylvania

2006

Tegin Leigh Teich
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2005

Katherine Scott
Columbia University

2004

Karen Hu
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2003

Annis Whitlow
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2002

Kristin Malia Garcia
Harvard Design School

2001

Kathy Diaz
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Judith McManus Price Scholarship

2018


Georgia Institute of Technology

Jasmine Jones-Bynes

Jasmine Jones-Bynes is a current graduate student at the Georgia Institute of Technology Master in City and Regional Planning program. She is passionate about the built environment's influence on public health and will be working on active transportation and parks and recreation challenges.

University of Illinois at Chicago

Kim Lovely

Kim Lovely is a current graduate student at the University of Illinois, Chicago Master of Urban Planning and Public Policy program. She will focus on making communities better for low-income and underserved populations.

University of California, Berkeley

Lily MacIver

Lily MacIver is a current graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley Master of City Planning program. She will be continuing her work exploring innovative planning interventions to reduce air pollution exposure.

Harvard University

Henna Mahmood

Henna Mahmood is a current graduate student at the Harvard University Master in Urban Planning program. She is studying urban analytics and international planning with plans to pursue a career in building global city resilience.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Kenyatta McLean

Kenyatta McLean is a current graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Master in City Planning program. She is studying how planning can support heritage conservation of black spaces challenged by real estate pressures.

University of California, Berkeley

Diego Rentería

Diego Rentería is a current graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley Master of City Planning program. He is studying brownfield and river restoration to develop regional park and open space systems in park-poor urban areas.

University of Michigan

India Solomon

India Solomon is a current graduate student at the University of Michigan Master of Urban and Regional Planning program. She is studying community development and design with a focus on equitable revitalization in Detroit's neighborhoods.

2017

  • Harvard University

    Carolyn Angius

  • University of Colorado at Denver

    Mayra Gonzales

  • Portland State University

    Madison Levy

  • Eastern Washington University

    Claire Miller

  • University of Southern California

    Rachel Mills-Coyne

  • Florida State University

    Hadley Peterson

2016

Obiamaka Ude
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Ana Bonilla
University of California — Los Angeles

2015

Fernando Montejo
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Jessica Myers
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2014

Amina Hassen
Hunter College

Ashleigh Johnson
University of Michigan

2013

Adriana Akers
MIT

Stefani Cox
University of California–Berkeley

Deyanira Martinez
University of Arizona

2012

Carlos Recarte
University of California–Berkeley

Julia Metz
Portland State University

Alexandria Murnan
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

2011

Chelsea Chee
University of New Mexico

Jocelyn Drummond
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Lauren Trice
University of Pennsylvania

2010

Avital Barnea
University of Minnesota

Stephanie Brown
Harvard Graduate School of Design

Sharon Wade-Ellis
University of Oregon

2009

John Arroyo
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tynisha Beard
Rutgers University

Yovana Perez
University of California–Los Angeles

Carrie Randall
Cornell University

2008

Marlynne Powell
Wayne State University

2007

Nichole Arbeiter
Arizona State University

Krista Trout-Edwards
University of Michigan

2006

Angela Trinh
University of California–Los Angeles

2005

Teresa Cameron
Eastern Washington University

Valerie Gingrich
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Maureen Hickey
University of California–Berkeley

2004

Alexia Kelly-Schwartz
University of Oregon

Nicole Clare
University of Pennsylvania

Vivian Castro
Columbia University

Gabriela Juarez
University of California–Los Angeles