Announcing Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Summer 2023 Graduates
By Genesis Leong
On behalf of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and its ‘ohana, congratulations on this momentous occasion! We are honored to have you all as DURP graduates and incredibly proud of your accomplishments. We hope you all took away ideas, experiences, and relationships to cherish as you continue your journey, and your DURP years will be among the most memorable ones in your lives. Stay in touch!
Dr. Priyam Das,
Chair, Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Dr. Poya Harirchi
Poya is a Summer 2023 PhD graduate and works as the Assistant Director and Academic Coordinator of the Pacific Summer Transportation Education Program (PAC-STEP) as well as a Research Assistant with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His research focuses on the intersection between evaluations, climate change adaptation, and hazard mitigation planning. In addition to an engineering background, he has over ten years of experience with GIS applications in community and transportation planning.
Dr. Roberto Porro
Roberto is a Summer 2023 PhD graduate and works as the Coastal Program Manager at the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He is an urban planner and licensed engineer with a passion for coastlines and their communities. His research focuses on the planning products, processes and context that influence adaptation-relevant planning in U.S. island jurisdictions (Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands). The study leverages mixed methods to evaluate the quality of coastal management and hazard mitigation plans for achieving adaptation objectives, as well as gather practitioner perspectives of adaptation progress and challenges across islands.
Kinzang Dorji
Kinzang is a Summer 2023 MURP graduate, an ADB fellow at the East West Center and a research assistant at the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center. His master’s thesis research focuses on developing a framework for community resilience planning using the GIS-based Multi-Criteria Approach to help state and local governments identify sites for community resilience hubs in Oahu and other island communities. He is a licensed architect and planner and has been working in the central government of Bhutan for over eight years overseeing the formulation and implementation of urban development plans and policies and providing technical advice to other government agencies and stakeholders on issues concerning planning, disaster preparedness, and community resilience.
Jakob Thelle
Breaking Down the Barriers to a One Water Approach in Los Angeles, California - A Plan Evaluation
Jakob is a Summer 2023 MURP graduate and an award winning University of Hawai'i Men's Volleyball athlete. During his time at UH, he became a two-time National Champion, 3-time All-America and received the Player of the Year in the NCAA in 2023. He obtained his BS in Global Environmental Science from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in Spring 2022, and is set to complete his Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning this Summer. To sum up his years in the program, Jakob says; “Nothing is more important than the community we are a part of. Planning has taught me valuable lessons for how to be a better leader of the community and my life. I hope to come back to Hawai’i working in the planning field to give back to the community in a meaningful way”.
Lisa Webster
Social Vulnerability Indices and Their Application in Disaster Management
Lisa is a Summer 2023 MURP graduate and works at the State of Hawaiʻi Office of Planning and Sustainable Development as a Coastal Zone Management Project Analyst, with a background in biomedical research. She has experience with project management, geospatial data analysis, and meeting planning. Planning professional with a Bachelor's Degree focused in Biological Sciences from University of California, Davis, and a professional certificate in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her interests are in social vulnerability and coastal hazards mapping and modeling.
University Students of Urban and Regional Planning Student Council (USURP)
The University Students of Urban and Regional Planning Student Council (USURP) is a University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa departmental student council composed of Department of Urban and Regional Planning (DURP) students. Our mission is to empower DURP students by improving student well-being and academic experience through peer support, extracurricular endeavors, leadership opportunities and a forum for innovative ideas.