Daniela Leon is currently a first-year Master of Urban Planning student at the University at Buffalo, and a graduate of UB’s Environmental Design program. She is interested in the role of economic development as a lever for positive change in urban communities. Her experiences as research assistant at the Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab have fostered her passion for equity and social justice among people of color and other marginalized communities in cities. Her research has focused on identifying opportunities for the integration of informal markets to the urban milieu, specifically street vending. While Buffalo has been home for many years now, she hopes to someday return to the New York City area and contribute to the innovative strategies that advance local economies and small businesses.
Category Archives: Our Team
Nirupama Stalin
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Nirupama is a first-year Master of Urban Planning student within the University at Buffalo’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning. Prior to enrolling in the program, Nirupama received her Bachelor’s Degree in Planning from the School of Planning and Architecture in Vijayawada, India. While attending school in Vijayawanda, Nirupama wrote her thesis on the environmental implications of non-communicable diseases due to urban air pollution. Nirupama also worked across a variety of planning projects, including a Regional Development Plan for Wayanad, India, and interned with Jones Lang Lasalle to develop a plan for a new bus terminal in Tamil Nadu, India. Nirupama also volunteered with organizations in Tamil Nadu to plan for reverse osmosis water systems within the region. Nirupama began working at the Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab in February 2019. In the lab, Nirupama works across global projects, and seeks to learn about the intersection of planning and policy creation. She is also interested in integrating food systems into plans and policies around the world. Outside of the lab, Nirupama enjoys playing badminton, cooking, and learning new languages, such as Korean.
Sylvia Kelly
Sylvia Kelly is a Master of Urban Planning and Public Health student at University at Buffalo, and a WNY Prosperity Fellow. She engages in action-oriented research to address issues of food justice in the face of globalization, urbanization, and climate change. Sylvia works as a research and evaluation intern on the ‘Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health’ project through Cicatelli Associates Inc. (CAI), allowing her to draw on both public health and urban planning experience to continue improving food access for marginalized groups within Buffalo. Sylvia also serves as the Educational Outreach Committee Co-Chair for Science Demands Action, a local non-profit that seeks to partner with communities in using science for social good.
Kristopher Walton
Kris is a first-year Master of Urban Planning Student within the University at Buffalo’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning. Prior to enrolling in the graduate program, Kris attended Illinois State University, where he received a degree (BA) in Geography. After two years working in community food systems, Kris attended Syracuse University, where he completed a certificate of advanced study in Food Studies. Kris began working in the Food Lab in September of 2018. As a member of the Food Lab team, he hopes to pursue his research interests in food justice in communities of color and the impact of urban renewal by engaging communities within the Western New York region and promoting health and wellness via the food system.
Bianca Davis
Bianca Davis is a recent graduate, earning her Masters in Dietetics. Her interest in dietetics is rooted in the various opportunities it provides to improve the eating behaviors and food environments of
underserved communities worldwide. Through academic studies, she has gained extensive knowledge in nutrition, while developing skills in research, proposal writing, project coordination, and education. Her thesis research explored the intersection of environmental inequality through the lens of food environments, and the level of support they provide for healthful eating behavior. Bianca joined the Food Lab in the fall of 2019, prepared to strengthen her professional skills, build purposeful connections, and to manifest change. For leisure, Bianca enjoys adventure, urban farming, meditation, and
documentaries on this extraordinary world. In the near future, she will pursue her doctorate degree in a field that will further leverage her ability to intervene the shortcomings of our local and global food systems.
Domonique Griffin
Domonique Griffin, a proud Buffalo native, is a Park Faculty Development Fellow at The Park School of Buffalo, an Arthur A. Schomburg Fellow (UB), and a second-year Master of Urban Planning student with a concentration in Neighborhood Planning and Community Development at the University at Buffalo. Domonique graduated cum laude from Trinity College (Hartford, CT), where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Educational Studies and American Studies. Domonique was named the President’s Fellow for American Studies, received The Richard K. Morris Book Award for Excellence in Education, and was awarded The Steven D. Levy ’72 Urban Programs Senior Research Prize for her senior thesis, “They Were Never Silent, You Just Weren’t Listening: Buffalo’s Black Activists in the Age of Urban Renewal.”
Domonique gained initial experience in research and education during her undergraduate career by interning with the Hartford Hospital Anxiety Disorder Center at the Institute of Living and The Santa Rosa Homework Centre in Arima, Trinidad. She continues to follow her passion for research, education, and youth development through her academic and professional activities. As a research assistant in the Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab, Domonique serves as the team lead for projects that promote food equity and entrepreneurship in Buffalo, NY.
Micaela Lipman
Micaela F. Lipman is a PhD candidate in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University at Buffalo. Lipman’s work draws on queer crip and anti-adultist theoretical frameworks to (re)imagine systems of inclusion/exclusion within urban and regional planning, and more specifically within food system planning. Lipman views food as connective tissue across communities and uses the food system as a lens through which to examine equity. As a disabled scholar, Lipman is especially interested in unraveling how chronic illness is experienced via food system entanglements. Lipman enjoys teaching at the University at Buffalo and unpacking the ethics of engaging with local communities in planning studies. Lipman has worked in academia and the nonprofit sector for over ten years exploring creative solutions at the nexus of adolescent development, food policy, disability justice, and community engagement. Prior to the University at Buffalo, Lipman graduated from Cornell University with a BA in Development Sociology with minors in International Development and Applied Economics.
Samendy Brice
Samendy is a first-year Master of Architecture student at the University at Buffalo. Her academic interests include designing low-income housing, small businesses, and researching developing countries within the Caribbean. Prior to joining the Food Lab, Samendy earned her Bachelors in Architecture with a minor in Education from the University at Buffalo. Samendy joined the Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab as a volunteer research associate in July of 2018. Samendy is currently involved in research and design across Lab projects to aid diverse communities through education, food, and inclusion. This work has helped supplement her current education through understanding planning from a community and food perspective. Outside of the Food Lab, Samendy enjoys painting and biking.
Alexandra Judelsohn
Dr. Alexandra Judelsohn is an assistant professor of urban and regional planning who pursues community-based research at the intersection of urban planning, public health, and environmental studies, centering the voices of community members. Her interests lie in how cities facing austerity urbanism market themselves to potential residents, and her current research examines the role of refugee-led community organizations in U.S. refugee resettlement, as well as the gaps these organizations fill in delivering services.
Judelsohn has been published in numerous journals, including the Journal of the American Planning Association, the Journal of Planning Education and Research, Journal of Refugee Studies, and Community Development. She is a co-editor on a book, Planning for Equitable Urban Agriculture in the USA: Future Directions for a New Ethic in City Building. Before coming to the University at Buffalo, she earned her PhD in urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan.
Cassandra Granville
Cassandra Granville is an Emerson National Hunger Fellow at the Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab. Prior to the Food Lab, Cassandra graduated with a BA in Community and Global Public Health from the University at Michigan. During her time at the University of Michigan, she gained public health research experience supporting the work of agencies local to Southeast Michigan and national health systems such as Kaiser Permanente. Her urban planning coursework during her junior and senior years were transformative in her decision to pursue a career as a city planner. After graduation, she worked as a research assistant at the Ford Policy School where she conducted research and made recommendations to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services on strengthening work supports, reducing benefit cliffs, and utilizing two-generation approaches to poverty alleviation. In the Food Lab, Cassandra supports the work of an evaluation project through the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County and General Mills Foundation.