CREATING RESILIENT ENVIRONMENTS Geodesign

Since 2014, the Spatial Sciences Institute has offered USC undergraduates an opportunity to experience and apply geodesign principles and practices in intensive comparative international contexts. Under the leadership of Darren M. Ruddell, associate professor (teaching) of spatial sciences, and Laura C. Loyola, assistant professor (teaching) of spatial sciences, students In the summer course SSCI 350: International Geodesign have worked with local governments, community members and urban design practioners to create plans for a mixed-use green zone in the Amstelland region of the Netherlands, a renewable energy program for residents in Amsterdam Noord, and an urban renewal strategy that both increases density and green space in the Schallmoos district of Salzburg, Austria. In the summer of 2023, Guoping Huang, associate professor (teaching) of spatial sciences, has joined Professors Ruddell and Loyola in expanding future SSCI 350 locations to China, Africa and South America.

Cass Kalinski (M.S. GIST ’ 18) won the 2019 UNIGIS Academic Excellence Prize and the 2020 Esri Education Development Center Student of the Year Award for his thesis “Building Better Species Distribution Models with Machine Learning: Assessing the Role of Covariate Scale and Tuning in Maxent Models.” Using the bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) as his example species, Kalinski developed a novel approach that has contributed to the advancement of species distribution models currently used by a diverse community of biologists, land and wildfire managers, environmental scientists and others working to protect endangered species.

Guoping Huang and Robert O. Vos are 2023 USC iPodia Faculty Fellows, selected by the USC Office of the Vice Provost of Academic Programs, to develop new pedagogical approaches to offer SSI’s global geodesign curriculum and experiential learning opportunities to students and faculty at partner universities around the world.

In recognition for her perfect 4.0 GPA, Jasmine Siyu Wu (B.S. GeoDesign ’22 , Minor in Architecture, summa cum laude) received the 2021 USC Emma Josephine Bradley Bovard Award, given to graduating senior women who have attained the highest grade point average and contributed the most extracurricular service to the university. Jasmine was also recognized as a USC Discovery Scholar, a distinction that recognizes graduating seniors who have excelled academically while making a meaningful contribution to their field of study through exceptional new scholarship. She pursued research interests in urban informatics, spatial data science, environmental justice, and sustainable design and transportation planning.

She co-authored the article “Locations of Licensed and Unlicensed Cannabis Retailers in California: A Threat to Health Equity?,” published in Preventive Medicine Reports (September 2020), with co-authors Robert O. Vos and members of the faculty with the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Her internship experiences included working as a GIS/Data Analyst for the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation, providing analytical support for Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “Vision Zero” program, the datadriven initiative to eliminate traffic fatalities in Los Angeles by 2025

Jasmine is completing a Master of City Planning at the University of Pennsylvania.

Alexa Weintraub (B.S. GeoDesign ’22 , magna cum laude) was one of 10 finalists in the student category of the 2020 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), sponsored by GIS technology company Esri and the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network to increase awareness of the SDGs and to foster action towards their achievement.

Alexa’s StoryMap “Eating on the Streets: A New Pandemic Lifestyle” focuses on SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth and the impact of outdoor dining in New York City as an adaptation method due to COVID-19. Alexa posits that altering the layout of one of the world’s busiest cities by adding outdoor dining to restaurants will produce a mix of positive and negative impacts, including consequences that will play out for years to come. She produced her StoryMap as the final project in SSI’s course SSCI 402 : Geospatial Technology Management for Sustainability Science taught by Leilei Duan