Community Engaged Work

Dr. Colleen Hammelman
• Associate Professor • Geography MA Coordinator • CHARP Director
Urban Geography, Food Justice, Immigration

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Dr. Fushcia-Ann Hoover
• Assistant Professor
Green Infrastructure, Environmental Justice, Urban Planning, Socio-ecological Systems

Biography Dr. Fushcia-Ann Hoover is an interdisciplinary researcher specializing in social-ecological urban systems. She employs a range of approaches and perspectives from the fields of planning, engineering, social and environmental sciences. Her research centers environmental justice, green infrastructure planning, and relationships between people, place and the environment. Dr. Hoover joined the department in 2021 as […]

Dr. Katherine Idziorek
• Assistant Professor
Community Resilience, Urban Heat Mitigation, Social Infrastructure, Urban Design, Transportation Equity

Katherine Idziorek, AICP, PhD, is a community-engaged researcher who examines the role of social networks and social infrastructure in community-scale resilience and disaster preparedness. Bridging the disciplines of hazard mitigation, urban geography, and urban planning, Katherine’s research explores the role of place-based resources in supporting community resilience and wellbeing.  Dr. Idziorek leads the Charlotte Heat […]

Dr. Isabelle Nilsson
• Associate Professor • Geography Ph.D. Director
Economic Geography, Transportation, Firm Location, Housing

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Dr. Heather Smith
• Levine Scholars Program Director • Professor
Urban Social Geography, Community Engaged Scholarship

Teaching and Research Interests Urban & Social Geography Immigrant Settlement & Adjustment Globalizing Cities & New Gateways Urban Revitalization & Gentrification Socio-spatial Polarization Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Read More

Dr. Deborah S.K. Thomas
Associate Vice Chancellor for Research • Professor
Disasters, Environmental Health, Global Health, Human-environment Interaction
McEniry 312 (Research Office)

Deborah Thomas, PhD, is Professor and Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Research. I arrived at UNC Charlotte in August 2018 from the University of Colorado Denver, where I was a faculty member in geography and environmental sciences for 18 years and department chair for the last 3-1/2 years. I was also one of the founding […]

Dr. Michelle Zuñiga
• Assistant Professor
Neighborhood change, Latinx communities, Community Planning, Environmental Justice
McEniry 308

Michelle E. Zuñiga, AICP (she/her/ella) holds a PhD in Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy from the University of California, Irvine. Since 2012, Michelle has focused her research on Latinx communities particularly, low-income, immigrant communities and how they experience and respond to environmental injustice and threats of displacement. Michelle explores their perspectives and experiences in […]