Alumni

Rachel Bickel received her B.A. in cultural anthropology from Mount Holyoke College (2007). She joined the Laboratory for Contemporary Urban Design (LCUD) as a research assistant to Dr. Tali Hatuka 2010. Her main interests concern the intersection between aethetics and ethnography and the use of non-fiction media to explore the built world and social environments within it.

Jessica Fain received her Master in City Planning from MIT (2011), where she focused on city design and development. She previously worked for the New York City Design Commission. She is specifically interested in public art and artist spaces, environmental remediation and equitable urban planning practice.

Assaf Frances is an honors BA student in Tel Aviv university studying Political Science and Geography with an emphasis on city planning and an interest in the effect of politics and society on urbanism and architecture. A member of the Merchav movement for Israeli urbanism since 2009. Joined the laboratory for contemporary urban design (LCUD) in 2010 and is currently starting a research project on urban parks near the Tel Aviv sea shore.

Devin Glowinski received his B.Arts degree in Urban Systems and Political Science from McGill University, Canada (2004). He completed his M.Arts in Town and Regional Planning from the University of Sheffield, UK (2005). Devin works on developing sustainable approaches to transportation planning and has previously worked on a city centre regeneration project in Toronto. Devin has practiced urban planning at the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, Canada, since 2008.

Priyanka Kapoor received her B.Arch degree from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi (2006), after which she worked as an Architect in Singapore for 2 years. In 2008 she joined the S.M.Arch.S. Architecture + Urbanism program at MIT. She is interested in using urban design as a tool to understand social, ecological and economic issues. During the summer of 2010 she joined LCUD as a summer research fellow.

Nathan Prevendar received his B.Arch degree (Cum Laude) from University of Southern California (2006). In 2009 he joined the S.M.Arch.S. Architecture + Urbanism program at MIT. Interests include research about reclamation of industrial zones in the urban fabric, conflict space, and the combination of musical theory and spatial analysis. During the summer of 2010 he joined the Laboratory for Contemporary Urban Design (LCUD) as a summer research fellow.

Christopher Rhie is a dual degree student at MIT, studying city planning and real estate development. He is a former energy manager with a background in political science. Christopher joined LCUD in summer 2012 to research industrial urbanism as a potential redevelopment strategy in new towns.

Alexis Wheeler received her B.Arch and B.S. in Building Sciences from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2002) after which she spent nine years practicing architecture in Seattle on projects ranging from large-scale international mixed use to domestic affordable housing. Currently a graduate candidate for a Master in City Planning and beginning a Master of Science in Real Estate Development in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT, Alexis is a visiting scholar in the lab conducting research into prototypical strategies for the retrofitting of New Towns.

Miryam Wijler has been a student of the Adi Lautman Interdisciplinary Program for Outstanding Students since October 2008. Her main interests are philosophy, sociology and arts, with an emphasis on spatial and visual acts and definitions. In 2009, Miryam joined the Laboratory for Contemporary Urban Design (LCUD) as a research assistant to Dr. Tali Hatuka.