Friday, June 29, 2007

Graduate Student Receives Scholarship to Assist in New Orleans Historic Home Mitigation

Rachel Robinson, a rising second year student in the Masters in Urban & Environmental Planning program, is one of four students nationally to receive the Help Rebuild New Orleans Foundation Scholarship from the American Planning Association. Robinson is using the scholarship this summer to work for the City of New Orleans in the Office of Recovery Management where she is managing a group of historic residences that will require Section 106 Review before they can be mitigated. ?While this project represents but one small piece of the much larger Unified New Orleans Plan (UNOP), it highlights my interest in preservation planning and uncovers many of the questions and challenges that the city faces as it recovers from one disaster and prepares for the next,? she said. Robinson is a member of a team performing hazard mitigation that is led by Dr. Earthea Nance, Manager of Infrastructure and Planning, and including representatives from the city of New Orleans, state of Louisiana, and FEMA.