Research & Projects
Taking up Space: Finding Queerness in Columbus
My most recent project, my senior capstone, is a history of LGBTQ+ life in Columbus, Ohio through a spatial lens. I grappled with defining what "Queer Space" meant and looked like in a place like Columbus while mapping and documenting locations of special interest, organizations, healthcare, etc. I used ArcGIS Storymaps to create this visualization. Here's what it looks like in a phone:
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Click here to see "Taking Up Space:" https://arcg.is/1KvyGT0
Modeling a Central Ohio Food Network For Sustainable Outcomes
During the summer of 2021 I had the opportunity to participate in Ohio Wesleyan University’s Summer Science Research Program (SSRP) alongside Dr. Ashley Allen towards mapping a central Ohio regional food network.
We had the goal of creating a “Food Mapping Data Hub” in order to visualize the current food systems of the Columbus metropolitan area with the intention of moving towards a more just system of food distribution. To do this, we have collected spatial data of all food access points within the central Ohio region, as well as other contributing factors to food accessibility such as socioeconomics and transportation information. We have also conducted surveys of current central Ohio residents to better understand their food accessibility. We have gathered this information into a Food Mapping data hub that has revealed areas of lower socioeconomic status tend to have less access to grocery stores which increases reliance on food with low nutritional value. These findings support previous research (Hosler, 2018) that posits residents in marginalized neighborhoods have higher access to foods that, after long consumption over time, can lead to chronic health issues.
I presented this research at Ohio Wesleyan University's 2021 Summer Science Research Symposium, which you can read more about here: summer-science-research-program
Heat and Housing Inequity: A Socio-Spatial Analysis of
Environmental Racism in Detroit
In response to a nationwide housing shortage in the 1930s, government housing policies were created, and with them, these policies explicitly segregated Black Americans. A discriminatory practice that would deny Black Americans lending and investment services in certain neighborhoods was created by the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation (HOLC). HOLC created “residential security maps” of major U.S. cities. These maps, composed of a color coded gradation of neighborhoods by mortgage lending risk level, would document how banks and real estate professionals would prevent Black Americans from accessing real estate in the suburbs. This discriminatory practice would be known as redlining.
In this work, I seek to better understand whether the long-term effects of Detroit’s racist housing policies include environmental alterations that follow redlining patterns. I utilize Landsat-8 satellite imagery (2019) to estimate LST (land surface temperature) and calculate NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) to relate quantitative spatial information to the effects experienced by these redlined districts.
This research reveals that, during this period, the environmental wellness of redlined neighborhoods does show spatial inequities. Areas graded as “Hazardous” tend to have higher LST, with temperatures greater than 95 ℉, as opposed to their non-redlined counterparts who experience concurrent temperatures less than 85 ℉. These “Hazardous” areas also are found to have a lower NDVI compared to non-redlined regions. This research reveals that historic racist practices sponsored by the U.S. government may be to blame for the climate and environmental inequities that urban residents experience.
Mapping Perceptions of Risk: Identifying Vulnerability and
Building Resilience.
Awarded: March 2020
Intended Date: December 2020
Ohio Wesleyan Theory to Practice Grant
In 2020, myself along with another student were awarded $8,500.00 by Ohio Wesleyan University's Theory to Practice Grant committee to study flood risk and risk perception in Bahia Ballena, Costa Rica, a small coastal town at risk of flooding due to sea level rise and increased precipitation events, potentially harming their mostly tourism-based economy. Our project objectives were:
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Acquire Remotely Sensed Data by conducting Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flights then, using OWU’s Remote Sensing Lab mainstream the data collection process by incorporating and documenting a more efficient methodology; one that can easily be replicated for multiple purposes and individuals.
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Strengthen Collaborative Relationships with community members and build on previous data collection efforts. This would have been the sixth trip since 2015 to develop a long-term relationship with community members, the local water authority (ASADA), and the local non-governmental organization, GeoPorter.
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Generate Flood Risk and Perception Maps to aid communities in hazard management and provide critical data that can be integrated into future work as part of our ongoing research and collaboration project.
Unfortunately this research has been postponed indefinitely due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite this, I learned a lot about the grant writing process, as well as research project development and budgeting, from this experience.