Emerging Planners Network: A Student Webinar Series

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About the Emerging Planners Network

APA is excited to announce its new webinar series, the Emerging Planners Network. Tailored specifically for students, this series features expert panelists from APA's chapters and divisions, each session focusing on different topics based on your interests and needs.

These interactive discussions will provide valuable insights and practical knowledge, from sustainable development and community engagement to planning technologies and career pathways.

Join us to connect with professionals, ask your burning questions, and shape your future in planning.

Upcoming Webinars

From Classroom to Career: Navigating Planning Internships

Thursday, January 22, from Noon-1:00 pm CST

Internships can be a powerful bridge between planning school and professional practice — but only if you know how to approach them strategically.

Join us for a panel discussion featuring a planner who hires interns, a former student who leveraged an internship into a job, and an academic who helps students access internship opportunities. Together, they'll unpack what makes a strong internship experience, how students can position themselves for success, and how relationships built during internships can shape early career pathways in planning.

This session is designed for planning students who want practical guidance, honest advice, and a clearer picture of how internships fit into the broader planning profession.

Panelists

Niru Gaire is a Transportation Planner at NV5, where her work primarily focuses on developing and supporting master transportation plans, along with transportation studies supporting the NEPA process, traffic impact assessments, freight analysis, and transportation network analysis, using GIS and data-driven approaches. Before transitioning into planning, she worked for over two years as a licensed architect, which gave her a strong foundation in land use, urban form, and how design decisions shape mobility. She holds a Master's degree in Community and Regional Planning from Iowa State University, along with a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems. She brings together design thinking and technical analysis to help shape transportation systems that are sustainable, equitable, and meaningfully serve communities.

Mitch Glass is a lecturer in the Departments of Landscape Architecture and City and Regional Planning at Cornell. He teaches graduate and undergraduate studios and workshops that focus on the regeneration of urban neighborhoods in Rust Belt cities through community-based planning, green infrastructure strategies, and neighborhood visioning. Mitch is Director of the tRUST-lab, a research and action-oriented platform at Cornell that assists governmental agencies in Cleveland, OH, with brownfield revitalization. Mitch has also been the program coordinator for the Keithley Fellowship program since 2020, placing over 50 Cornell students in the City of Cleveland and non-profit organizations focused on planning, design, and vacant land re-use. Mitch is the Faculty Advisor for the ULI Hines Student Urban Design Competition, a Faculty Fellow with the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, an Engaged Cornell Faculty Fellow, and was a member and Chair of the City of Ithaca's Planning and Development Board from 2018 to 2024.

George M. Kramer, AICP, is the President of Inspire Placemaking Collective, Inc., an interdisciplinary firm of Planners, Designers, and Landscape Architects with offices in Boston, Durham, Atlanta, Orlando, Tampa, and Miami. George holds a Master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Florida. Strategy and implementation are at the forefront of George's approach to planning. He has a keen understanding of technical, administrative, and political issues and specializes in the successful execution of complex projects. George is committed to an interdisciplinary approach to Placemaking that emphasizes collaboration across professional disciplines to deliver innovation and value to clients.