Renee LoSapio Presents on GIS Project at Southeast Student Planning Conference

MURP student Renee LoSapio recently presented on the topic "Toward a Ubiquitous City: Wi-Fi Signal Survey and Mapping for the Town of Blacksburg" at the Southeast Student Planning Conference (SESPC) in Columbus, GA.  The paper highlighted a collaborative project with the Center for Geospatial Information Technology and Virginia Tech's Urban Affairs and Planning Program.

More than 60 students from 10 different schools registered for this inaugural conference.  Planning schools represented at the program included Virginia, Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth, UNC-Chapel Hill, Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Auburn, Florida, and Florida State.

This was the first Southeast Student Planning Conference that has been held, according to Bruce Stiftel from the Georgia Institute of Technology and part of the planning team, and it was organized by the Georgia Planning Association and Georgia Tech in conjunction with Georgia Planning Association (GPA) meetings.  Twenty-two students presented papers on a range of themes: Human Factors in Transportation Planning, Creating and Tracking Urban and Rural Jobs in the New Economy, Technology in Urban Planning, Public Participation that Works, Remaking Places and Developing Destinations, International Perspectives, and The Heartbeat of Healthy Communities. 

Stiftel also credited the organizing committee for the conference's success.  The Student Program Committee was chaired by Garrett Hyer (Georgia Tech) and included Dominick Ardis (Florida State University), Juan Castillo Jr. (University of Florida), Darren Cooper (Georgia Tech), Justine Crighton (University of Georgia), Richelle Gosman (Georgia Tech), Anna Harkness (Georgia Tech), Lamar Jabar (Virginia Commonwealth University), Renee LoSapio (Virginia Tech),  Spencer Moore (Auburn University), Abby Ness (University of Virginia), Christopher Pettit (Clemson University), Ted Ranney (Georgia Tech), Ashley Robertson (University of North Carolina), Christina Span (Georgia Tech), and Travis Voyles (Georgia Tech).   GPA members Brad Davis of Robert and Company and Bruce Stiftel, FAICP, of Georgia Tech advised the group.   Nisha Botchwey of Georgia Tech, Adam Hazell of Georgia Mountains Regional Commission, GPA President Laura Keyes of Atlanta Regional Commission, Jen Price of Sycamore Consulting, Rebecca Retclaff of Auburn, and Bruce Stiftel of Georgia Tech moderated the student sessions.   Stiftel also said GPA Conference Committee Chair Corey Hull and Conference Manger Elizabeth Trombetta were instrumental in organizing the conference. 

 

The South Carolina Chapter of the American Planning Association and Clemson University will host the next SE Student Planning Conference in Fall 2013 and it will take place in conjunction with SCAPA’s annual fall conference.

Visit the conference website at http://www.planning.gatech.edu/news/first-ever-southeast-student-planning-conference-co-organized-georgia-tech for more information about the program and the presentations.