Matthew Magaletti and Jennifer Love MUEP projects earn recognition

Matthew Magaletti and Jennifer Love, both recent graduates of the Masters of Urban and Environmental Planning, recently earned recognition for outstanding work on their capstone professional projects.

Matthew Magaletti, who completed his degree in Summer 2009, carried out his capstone project while working as a research intern for the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy - Sonoran Institute Joint Venture. The Lincoln Institute has just published his report as one of its Working Paper series. The report deals with the challenges of managing areas where urban areas have grown to meet protected natural lands such as national, state and local parks. It summarizes research on managing the urban-public lands edge, and identifies best practices for treatment of these edge areas.

The report is entitled On the Edge: Best Practices for Managing the Urban-Protected Public Land Edge Interface in the West, and is co-authored by Matthew Magaletti and Susan Culp, Project Manager of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy - Sonoran Institute Joint Venture.

Jennifer Love, who completed her degree in Spring 2009, won the Parsons Brinckerhoff annual technical paper competition for a paper based on her masters project, Improved Thermal Comfort Through Urban Design. Parsons Brinckerhoff, where Jennifer works as a Senior Planner, sponsors this competition among its employees. The competition is open to all of the company's more than 14,000 employees, most of whom are engineers -- a tribute to Jennifer's accomplishments as a planner.

Australian and Middle Eastern research organizations have also expressed a strong interest in explanding on Jennifer's research in this area.

For more information about Jennifer's research, and an illustrated project summary, see Recent Projects by MUEP Students.

Dr. David Pijawka chaired the graduate committee of both students.