Moira Zellner PhD., Assistant Professor
Moira Zellner joins the Urban Planning & Policy Program as an Assistant Professor in January of 2006. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Moira earned her undergraduate degree in ecology at the Centro de Altos Estudios en Ciencias Exactas, and pursued graduate studies in urban and regional planning and in complex systems at the University of Michigan. Before coming to the US, she worked in Argentina as a consultant on environmental issues for local and international environmental engineering firms and for the undersecretary of Environment in the City of Buenos Aires, in projects related to domestic and hazardous waste management, river remediation, industrial pollution control, and environmental impact assessments. She also participated in interdisciplinary and international research projects of urban air pollution and of the spread of tuberculosis through public transportation.
In the US, her professional and academic work includes greenway development and river restoration projects in Miami Beach and in California, transportation surveys, and more recently, agent-based modeling of land-use change and ecological impacts. In her dissertation she shows how such models can be useful exploratory tools to study the complexity of urban and regional processes affecting the sustainability of groundwater in Monroe County, Michigan.
1995 - Degree in Biology (Specialization in Ecology), Centro de Altos Estudios en Ciencias Exactas, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2000 – Master in Urban Planning, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
2003 – Certificate in Complex Systems, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
2005 – PhD in Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dissertation: “Generating Policies for Sustainable Water Use in Complex Scenarios: An Integrated Land-Use and Water-Use Model of Monroe County, Michigan.” Committee: Scott D. Campbell, Daniel G. Brown, Rick L. Riolo, John D. Nystuen.
Courses
UPP 537: Economic and Environmental Planning
UPP 554: Environmental Planning
Research
Current work involves using agent-based models as exploratory tools for policy analysis and implementation, addressing the complexity of urban and regional processes and their environmental impacts. Research focuses on the effects of public policy on individual and collective decision-making, and their impacts on land-use change, resource sustainability and human well-being.
Publications
Selected Publications
Brown, D. G.; Robinson, D. T.; An, L.; Nassauer, J. I.; Zellner, M. L.; Rand, W.; Riolo, R.; Page, S. E.; Low, B.; Wang, Z.; Forthcoming. Exurbia from the Bottom-Up: Confronting Empirical Challenges to Characterizing a Complex System. Geoforum.
Zellner, M. L.; Forthcoming. “Generating Policies for Sustainable Water Use in Complex Scenarios: An Integrated Land-Use and Water-Use Model of Monroe County, Michigan.” Environment and Planning B, Planning and Design.
Brown, D. G.; Page, S. E.; Riolo, R.; Zellner, M. L.; Rand. W.; 2005. “Path dependence and the validation of agent-based spatial models of land use.” International Journal of Geographical Information Science, Special Issue on Land Use Dynamics 19 (2): 153-174.
Zellner, M. L.; Riolo, R.; Rand. W.; Page, S. E.; Brown, D. G.; Fernandez, L. E.; 2003. “The Interaction Between Zoning Regulations and Residential Preferences as a Driver of Urban Form.” Proceedings of 2003 UTEP Distinguished Faculty and Student Symposium, Urban and Regional Planning Program, University of Michigan.
Selected Presentations
Zellner, M. L.; “Planning With(in) Complexity: Using Agent-Based Models to Cope with Uncertainty in Water Management.” Invited speaker at Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Cincinnati, February 2007.
Zellner, M. L.; “The Sustainability of Urban Environments: Perspectives from Industrial Ecology.” Invited panelist at New Dimensions of Mobility and Accessibility, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, November 2006.
Zellner, M. L.; “Planning With(in) Complexity: Using Agent-Based Models to Cope with Uncertainty in Water Management.” Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning 2005, Ft. Worth; November 2006.
Zellner, M. L.; “Planning With(in) Complexity: Using Agent-Based Models to Cope with Uncertainty in Water Management.” Illinois Water 2006, Urbana-Champaign; October 2006.
Zellner, M. L.; “Generating policies for sustainable water use: An application of agent-based modeling to integrated resource-use planning.” Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting 2006, Chicago; March 2006.
View full CV
Contact
mzellner@uic.edu
Room 227
312-996-2149