Scholarship Application Details

E-mail:
jbelai2@uic.edu

Phone:
512-289-5960

Address:
845 W Taylor St (M/C 066)
Chicago, IL 60607

University Enrolled:
University of Illinois at Chicago

Enrollment Type:
Graduate

Degree Program:
PhD program, Department of Biological Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Dean:
Dr. Brian Kay (Department Head)

Dean's E-mail:
bkay@uic.edu

Visa:
N/A

How my attendance/participation will contribute to my educational experience:
I am looking forward to attending this conference for several reasons. I have recently joined a PhD program as a doctoral fellow in the Landscape, Ecological, and Anthropogenic (LEAP) program at University of Illinois at Chicago. My academic pursuits are dedicated to questions about social-ecological systems, particularly in urban areas, and using multi-disciplinary methods to help answer those questions. I expect this conference to provide me with ideas about innovative tools and creative approaches that will help me tackle challenging questions in the landscapes of our present and future cities. My professional goals, ultimately, include a position where I am able to: 1) teach at a university, AND 2) conduct research and/or develop tools that will directly help on-the-ground professionals (e.g., landscape architects, civil engineers, architects) and city/county/state agencies make better decisions about land use and management at various scales. Generally, I am interested in patterns in urban landscapes as they relate to ecosystem services. My interests range from issues in stormwater management (how do spatial configuration of site-scale green infrastructure practices provide watershed-scale benefits?) to social networks of scientists, conservation organizations, and planning professionals (how does social network structure affect the provision of specific ecosystem services?) to urban bird biodiversity (how do patterns in surrounding land use affect species richness?). In sum, this scholarship will make it possible for me to attend the Emerging Issues Along Urban-Rural Interfaces conference, an event that will help me get my feet wet in this field and allow me to meet and learn from professional researchers, practitioners, and policy makers from across the world. This conference will ultimately help strengthen my foundation of knowledge in social-ecological systems, give me a fresh perspective on the work being done today, as well as guide and inspire my ideas for future research.

Title and authors of my oral/poster proposed for conference: