Dr. Jaap Vos

Dr. Jaap Vos is an Associate Professor and Director of the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Florida Atlantic University. His research interests include: the interaction between built, natural and social environment, equity and representation, sustainable cities and regions, and climate adaptation. He has served as the lead investigator on projects such as tracking and prediction of types and location of development trends in downtown Fort Lauderdale; inventory of economic, environmental and equity resources in southeast Florida; redevelopment alternatives for Overtown in Miami; and the impacts of transportation infrastructure on environmental resources. He has attracted and managed ongoing private gifts for student scholarships, Planning Abroad and a Solar Roof for the Higher Education Complex in which the School has its offices.  Finally, he serves as vice Chair of the Broward Public Arts and Design Committee and is on the Board of Directors of several environmental non-profit organizations among which the Kids Ecology Corps, the Wildlife Research Team and the Florida Earth Foundation.

Dr. Ann-Margaret Esnard

Ann-Margaret Esnard joined FAU’s School of Urban and Regional Planning in August 2005 as an Associate Professor and Director of the Visual Planning Technology Lab (VPT Lab). Esnard’s expertise encompasses GIS/spatial analysis, coastal vulnerability assessment, land use planning, and disaster planning. She has designed GIS course curriculum and has taught GIS to students and professionals with diverse academic backgrounds since the early nineties. She has been involved in a number of related research initiatives and is the Principal Investigator for a 3 year National Science Foundation grant (with FAU colleagues, Joyce Levine and Alka Sapat) to study hurricane-related population displacement, housing and land development policy issues in eight coastal states (North Carolina to Texas).  She is the co-author of the Hypothetical City Workbook and has written on topics that include geospatial technologies, GIS education, public participation GIS, spatial analysis of New York metropolitan urban expansion, vulnerability assessments of coastal and flood hazards, quality of life and holistic disaster recovery and environmental justice.

Esnard has served on a number of local, state and national committee including: the Steering Committee for Evaluation of the National Flood Insurance Program [directed by the American Institutes for Research on behalf of FEMA];  the Disasters Roundtable of the National Academy of Sciences; the review committee for the Institute for Business & Home Safety’s Award for Scholarship in Planning and Natural Hazards; and is currently a member of the State of Florida Post-Disaster Redevelopment Planning initiative.

Esnard holds degrees in Agricultural Engineering (B.Sc., University of the West Indies-Trinidad), Agronomy and Soils (M.S., University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez) and Regional Planning (Ph.D., UMASS-Amherst). She also completed a two year post-doc at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Dr. Yanmei Li

Dr. Yanmei Li joined FAU’s School of Urban and Regional Planning in July 2008 as an Assistant Professor. She holds a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the Ohio State University and a Master’s degree in Regional Economics from Beijing Normal University in China. Dr. Li has worked as an Assistant Professor for two years at Western Kentucky University and has taught various courses in Statistics, Geography and Urban Planning. She has actively participated in the plan-making process of local communities, and served on multiple advisory committees on planning in Bowling Green, Kentucky. She has led and involved in projects in adaptive reuse of historic buildings and Habitat for Humanity eco-village conceptual plan.

Dr. Li’s research interests focus on advanced quantitative methods of spatial statistics and econometrics, housing and community development, and real estate and urban economics and finance. She is very interested in policies related to affordable housing, sustainable community development, housing programs for people with special needs, historic preservation, and housing rehabilitation. She is also interested in the relationship between housing market, racial minorities and immigrants. She has conducted extensive research in residential mortgage default and foreclosure and its impact on neighborhood quality and stability. Her research on foreclosure and neighborhood stability has received significant attention from local media, policy makers, and research organizations.

Dr. Diana Mitsova

Diana Mitsova holds a Ph.D. in Regional Development Planning from the University of Cincinnati and a Master of Public Affairs from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Purdue University, Indianapolis. She joined the School of Urban and Regional Planning in August 2008 as an Assistant Professor. She has professional experience in geographic information systems applications, GPS data collection and image processing. She had worked on environmental and public health-related projects funded by the World Bank and the European Commission in her native Bulgaria.

Dr. Mitsova has a background in research design, statistical and spatial analysis, as well as geographic information systems. Her research focuses on historical and projected patterns of land cover change, open space conservation, water resource management, and environmental planning and modeling using geographic information systems, interactive computer simulation and spatial-statistical methods. Her expertise in spatial data analysis includes cellular automata, spatial regression modeling, Monte Carlo methods, geostatistics and integrated statistical/GIS models. Recently, she used a cellular automata – Markov chain model to project future patterns of urbanization in the Greater Cincinnati area and incorporated the principles of  “green infrastructure” in the modeling framework. She is also interested in locational patterns of urban activities, transportation and air quality, and environmental justice. She intends to examine the environmental policies in the post-socialist countries of Eastern Europe.

Dr. Asli Ceylan Oner

Dr. Asli Ceylan Oner joined the School of Urban and Regional Planning at FAU in August 2008 as an assistant professor. She received her Ph.D. from Virginia Tech in Environmental Design and Planning in 2008. She holds master degrees from the London School of Economics and Political Science in Cities, Space and Society; and from Ball State University in Architecture and MBA. She has Bachelors in Architecture from the Middle East Technical University in Turkey.

Dr.  Oner’s main research interests include globalization, locational strategies of transnational advanced producer service firms, planning and governance of global cities, and metropolitan growth and decentralization. She is also interested in comparative urbanization and European cities. Dr. Oner is a member of the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC), centered in the Geography Department at Loughborough University in England. In GaWC, she participated in various projects related to transnational firms and global urban networks. She also took part in different projects in the Metropolitan Institute of Virginia Tech related to metropolitan decentralization of US cities. Dr. Oner has taught introductory courses in urbanization and development and senior level courses in European urbanization.

Dr. Kasama Polakit

Dr. Kasama Polakit is an assistant professor, joining FAU’s School of Urban and Regional Planning (SURP) in 2007. Apart from teaching she also acts as a coordinator in collaborative programs between School of Architecture and SURP.

Dr. Polakit holds a Ph.D. in Urban Design and a master degree in Planning and Design (Urban Design) from the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is a registered architect in Thailand where she graduated Bachelor of Architecture (Hons) from Chulalongkorn University. Her research interests include these followings:

• Phenomenology of place, place identity, human perception and the built environment,
• Sustainable urban form with particular attention paid to tropical and sub-tropical areas, Community planning and design, Spatial syntax analysis, the role of the built environments in the production and reproduction of social and cultural capital,
• Architecture and Urban Design Theory, focusing on Post-modern Urbanism and the contemporary interpretations of the vernacular, and
• Cross-cultural, multi-disciplinary design and education of the built environment.   

Dr. David Prosperi

Dr. David Prosperi, a professor of the School of Urban & Regional Planning, has been with FAU since 1989. He holds a Ph.D. in Economic Geography from Indiana University and a master's degree from Temple University in Geography. His main interests include growth management, economic development, computer applications.

Daniel Walker Dunn, AICP

Mr. Dunn received his Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Florida Atlantic University and his Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Spanish from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  His professional planning experience includes physical site planning and landscape architecture with a focus on sustainable design.  Mr. Dunn’s academic interests include urban design, regional morphology, and critical theory.  His Master’s planning project on South Florida and postmodern urban form was selected to be presented at the annual Florida APA Conference. 

William E. Finley

For several decades, Mr. Finley, who holds A.B. and M.C.P. degrees in City and Regional Planning from the University of California at Berkely, has served in many senior leadership positions in the fields of city planning, regional planning, urban redevelopment, new town planning and development, university teaching and a variety of other public-private community developments.  He has also been a leader in promoting affordable housing in Palm Beach County since 1986. In addition, the US/AID sent him to Bulgaria to teach municipal officials how to manage and control city development after the fall of the Soviet Union.

In 2005, he launched a research project to discern the economic, social and environmental conditions of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the United States. The alarming findings of that investigation resulted in the book, Curing Urbanitis – The metropolitan Disease, published in 2008. The research efforts also addressed the complex, public-private financing and development solutions based on his decade-long experience in planning and developing the new town of Columbia, MD and other public-private projects.

Linda Friar, AICP

Linda Friar brings to the FAU Faculty special areas of interest and experience that include environmental policy, strategic planning, smart growth, environmental justice, growth management, everglades restoration, and integrated land, water and transportation planning.

Ms. Friar is an FAU alumnus with both a Bachelor of Arts and Masters in Public Administration. She earned her B.A. is in Political Science /Communications and was a graduate fellow through the FAU/FIU Joint Center for Environmental and Urban Problems where she earned a Masters with a specialty in Environmental Growth Management. She is a nationally certified planner through the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) a trained facilitator and active member of the state and local chapters of the American Planning Association.

Ms.Friar works full time for the United States Department of the Interior, assigned to the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force as External Affairs Officer and Project Manager for Strategic Planning. Ms. Friar has traveled Florida as a speaker and advocate for balancing the needs of economic, environmental and social systems through natural resource protection, integrated planning, improved community design, and intergovernmental coordination.

April Joy S. Macadangdang

Ms. April Joy S. Macadangdang recently (July 2008) joined FAU as an adjunct professor at the School of Urban and Regional Planning.  She holds a Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning and a Bachelor’s Degree in Agribusiness Management from the University of the Philippines.

Ms. Macadangdang worked for various Philippine developmental projects funded by the World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB).  Thereafter, she focused her career and consultancy work endeavors in the field of urban and regional planning in Mindanao, Philippines.

Her goal is to inculcate the love for learning and discovery to students.  Most importantly, that planning is a powerful tool to visualize and realize success in a highly evolving and fluid community, city, region, and to a much broader extent in a global scope.

Marilyn Mammano, AICP

Marilyn Mammano is a former member of the New York City Planning Commission. She came to South Florida in 1998 having completed a 25 year career as a professional planner with the City of New York Department of City Planning where she served as the Director of Zoning and Urban Design and the Director of Planning for the Borough of Staten Island. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and holds both a Bachelors Degree in Architecture and a Masters Degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Pratt Institute.

Marilyn has been teaching planning studio courses at FAU since 1999. These courses focus on planning process and design. She combines for her students the skills required of the practicing planner and the perspective of the decision maker.

She is a resident of Fort Lauderdale and a community activist. She is a member of the Community Appearance Board for the City of Fort Lauderdale. She has been the Chairwoman of the Annual Waterway Cleanup Committee since 1999. She was an officer of the Metro New York Chapter of the APA and is now an active member of the Broward Chapter of FAPA.

Marcie Nolan

Ms. Nolan practices in the area of government law, concentrating her practice on zoning and land use. Prior to becoming an attorney, Ms. Nolan worked as the Development Services Director of Davie, Florida. Ms. Nolan has appeared before state, regional and local agencies and has extensive experience in comprehensive plan amendments, rezonings, variances, conditional uses, special exceptions, and site plan approvals.  She has also been involved in the approval process for Development of Regional Impact Development Orders, binding letters, and essentially built-out agreements.  Ms. Nolan is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and currently teaches “Legal Aspects of Planning” to Masters in Urban and Regional Planning students at Florida Atlantic University.

Frank Schnidman

Frank Schnidman is an attorney with an LL.M. degree in Environmental Law who has spent more than 30 years dealing with sophisticated land policy and land use regulatory issues as both a practicing attorney and as an academic.  In 2005-2006 he served as the consultant founding Executive Director of the new North Miami, Florida Community Redevelopment Agency.  He has served as the Staff Director of the New York State Joint Legislative Committee on Metropolitan and Regional Areas Study, and as Executive Director of the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority. He was the founding Executive Director of the Downtown Fort Lauderdale Transportation Management Association. He has been involved in numerous redevelopment projects in both the United States and overseas.  He has also taught both planning law and land development law at a number of universities including the university of Virginia and George Washington University, and served two years as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School.  Prior to returning to Florida Atlantic University, Frank practiced law with the law firm of Greenberg Traurig after serving as Director of the University of Miami School of Law, Graduate Program in Real Property Development.  He is recognized for his knowledge of international land policy and land development issues, and is a prolific writer and frequent national and international speaker, and is frequently quoted in the media as a leading urban planning and law expert.  Frank is admitted of practice law in Florida, California, New York and the District of Columbia.

At Florida Atlantic University, Frank has taught courses in the areas of planning law and community and economic development. In addition, he serves as the Director of the “Redevelopment and Revitalization of Southeast Florida” Project, which is reported on the World Wide Web at www.cuesfau.org/cra  and he participates in research and technical assistance projects, in addition to chairing the annual “Hot Topics” seminar series for the FAU Institute of Government.

Frank’s redevelopment experience runs from college internships in the late 1960s with Neighborhood Legal Services and President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” Model Cities Program to the current debate on the appropriate use of eminent domain for economic development played out in June 2005 in the United States Supreme Court in Kelo v. City of New London.  Frank wrote the amicus curiae brief in the case for John Norquist, President of the Congress for New Urbanism, a brief that was cited by Justice Stevens in the Court’s majority opinion. Also, since 1984 Frank organizes and chairs the Annual ALI-ABA Land Use Institute, a national continuing legal education conference.  In addition, since 1991, he has been the program organizer for ULI-the Urban Land Institute Southeast Florida/Caribbean District Council redevelopment seminars, and organizes and chairs the annual FAU Institute of Government program, “The ABCs of CRAs.

Frank has been a ULI member for 30 years, and very active locally, nationally and internationally.  He has served as editor for a number of books for ULI, written numerous articles for Urban Land magazine, been appointed to many ULI committees and spent 3 years at Chair of the National Policy Council.  He was the Vice-Chair of ULI’s first International Committee. He was the second Chair of the Southeast Florida/Caribbean District Council and served in that role for 5 years (1988-1993).  He currently is the only non-resident member of the 60-plus member ULI Japan Council. In 1984 he was appointed as a ULI Fellow.

Michael Stamm

Michael Stamm has over six years of research and professional experience in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). He holds a Bachelor's degree in Public Management and a Master's in Urban and Regional Planning from Florida Atlantic University.

Mr. Stamm was a research assistant in the School’s Visual Planning Technology Lab where he worked on research projects which included: Florida International University Mobile Home Inventory, Port of Fort Pierce Master Plan, Florida Department of Transportation State Road 40 Feasibility Study, and Redistricting options for the Cities of Hollywood and Pembroke Pines, and Palm Beach County. 

Currently, Mr. Stamm is an Assistant Planner for the City of Pembroke Pines where in addition to his planning responsibilities, he maintains the City’s GIS. He also teaches the course entitled Introduction to Visual Planning Technology in the undergraduate program. His course teaches students about emerging technologies in the field of planning including computer applications,GIS and visualization.

Maria Quintero

Maria is senior secretary of the School and helps you with a smile. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from Santo Tomas de Aquino University in Bogota, Colombia.  She has worked for several companies in Colombia and was the coordinator for the Department of Psychology at Hogar San Jose where she helped 5-16 year old girls that had experienced domestic abuse.  Feel free to walk by her office if you need any help.

Linda Foster

Linda is the assistant to the Director of the School as well as to the Assistant Dean for External Affairs.  Linda comes from (CUES) the Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions at FAU, formerly called FAU/FIU Joint Center. She has worked in CUES since 1986. She has many years of experience in Office Assistant Practices, in which she pursued and achieved a certification at Broward Community School in 1978. Linda has also received basic education at Broward Community College.

Linda is having a wonderful time in SURP and is very happy working in the Academic structure of the university.

Daniel Morris

Daniel Morris manages all of the external affairs for the School, including communications, publications, alumni relations and development.  He holds bachelor's degrees in both finance and marketing from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Daniel has previously worked in development and external affairs at FAU and the University of Chicago. 

W. Asher Soldwedel

Asher Soldwedel, Coordinator of the School of Urban & Regional Planning's Center for Visual Planning Technology (VPT). An Auburn University graduate (BME), Mr. Soldwedel has many years experience in both graphic design and project management in non-profit organizations. After teaching for 3 years, Mr. Soldwedel moved into the corporate world where he focused on project management, organizational issues, and information technology. In 1998 he returned to non-profit agenicies creating design materials and presentations for the City of Dania Beach and the FAU Catanese Center. He joined the School’s Center for Visual Planning Technology in 2000 and in 2001 became VPT Coordinator. While coordinating research at the Center, Mr.Soldwedel also serves as an IT administrator and designs interactive web sites (www.boynton-beach.org, www.ddafll.com, www.vptlab.fau.edu, www.performanceproject.org) for non-profit organizations. Furthermore, he runs the very successful VPT Professional Development program.

Aubrey Craun

Aubrey Craun, an FAU graduate with a bachelor's degree in Architecture, is the webmaster for the College of Architecture, Urban & Public Affairs. His responsibilities are creating and maintaining all departments within the college. He has many years of experience in web design. He has also created other websites within the university including layout design for FAU Broward Campuses, Flash videos, and other miscellaneous jobs. He is happy to help wherever he can.

Outside of FAU, he has done websites for The Kids Ecology Corp. in Fort Lauderdale, Anthony Abbate Architect, PA in Fort Lauderdale, Good Shepherd UMC in West Palm Beach.