Mirit Friedman, University of Michigan

Mirit (pronounced mee-reet) is a 3rd year doctoral candidate in the University of Michigan’s Urban and Regional Planning program. Prior to starting her doctoral program, Mirit received a bachelor of science in Environmental Science from the University of California, Berkeley and a master’s in City and Regional Planning from Georgia Institute of Technology. In between her bachelors and master’s degrees, Mirit worked for the National Park Service and at the Atlanta Regional Commission. From her work at a conservation agency and at a regional planning agency she grew fascinated by how people connect with nature in their cities and became increasingly worried about the impacts of climate change on cities. Mirit wants to learn more about how cities are working with different stakeholder groups to create climate change adaptations. Mirit’s research aims to understand how municipalities collaborate with community organizations and business partners on climate change adaptation projects. Mirit hopes to use social network analysis to understand how these collaborations shape the processes of designing and implementing adaptations.