Meet the Student Fellows! Yasmin Zaerpoor (Columbia)

In the Spring of 2011, ESIP welcomed it's first class of Student Fellows. The Fellows support ESIP collaboration areas that align with their graduate school research interest as one way to gain ‘real-world' experience. This series of posts will introduce you to the Fellows that you may meet on some of your telecons or at ESIP meetings. The next fellow in this series is Yasmin Zaerpoor.

Who is she? Yasmin will graduate from the MS in Urban Planning program in 2012, with concentrations in environmental and international planning. After receiving her BS in Animal Physiology and Neuroscience from UC – San Diego, she worked with several LA-based non-profits, taught in Ghana and then traveled to parts of southeast asia, south asia and middle east/north africa- a six month photography trip that piqued her interest in challenges faced by cities in developing countries. Most recently, she interned at the World Bank Institute where she researched Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) that could be used to empower the urban poor. Her Master's thesis is related to identifying technologies that can be used to ensure sustainable water management practices in developing countries.

How she found ESIP: Yasmin heard about opportunity to be an ESIP Student Fellow through a current AAAS Fellow who thought she might be interested given her background in Biology and her current interests in Planning.

What she's working on: As the Energy and Climate Change Cluster Student Fellow, she looks forward to integrating earth sciences data into her own studies and working towards more environmentally sustainable planning practices.