For the past few weeks, five student researchers from the University of Washington have been working with Housing Now Seattle to do research into affordable housing. The topics they're studying include cost analysis (land and construction), a literature review focused on the policies and politics of affordable housing in other cities, and comparison of costs between Seattle and Washington DC. Their work will contribute to the (soon to be released) Family Housing Cost Model and to various reports and written materials to be published on the Housing Now website.
Above: Five students plus Alex, Ian, and Kate at our first planning meeting.
Bellow the jump are the names and bios of the five researchers:
Rohan Aras, also studying Informatics and Math, is highly interested in Urban Science at the intersection between data science and urban studies. In the future, he hopes to apply these skills to studying and developing smart cities. Rohan is a former UW Data Science for Social Good Fellow and has worked with King County Metro's Access Paratransit division by helping to optimize routing. Rohan enjoys participating in hackathons and ideathons related to the city to build social good.
Yingying Huang is studying economics as well as CEP. She has a year of experience as the FeetFirst Walkable Washington Program Coordinator and three months of experience as the Affordable Housing Research intern at the Zhuhai Urban Planning and Research Institute (China). Yingying is currently interning at the Seattle Department of Transportation, where she is responsible for public outreach report development, data analysis, and Racial and Equity toolkit drafting. Yingying practices taekwondo and has an interest in photography and the music.
George Winn takes a special interest in community development, housing, and place-making. Building upon community work abroad, George is engrained into the Beacon Food Forest and First Hill Improvement Association in Seattle, working to increase public access to open spaces in our densifying inner city. An avid cyclist, climber, and yogi, you can often find George planning for the next adventure or stir-fry.
Ryan Cook is a Geography major with minors in Urban Design and Planning and Music. Ryan has ArcGIS experience and has worked with the city of Mukilteo's engineering department for the last three summers on data collection and inventorying. Ryan is interested in transportation systems, affordable housing issues in the Seattle area, and urban development. He plays trumpet and guitar and dabbles with audio mixing and music production.
Sarah Gallagher, a senior, has minors in Anthropology and Urban Planning. Her interests include Community Engagement, City Development and Redevelopment, Open Spaces, and Transportation. She is currently interning at Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) on parking management in the central Downtown area of Seattle. Sarah enjoys hiking and photographing the beautiful Pacific Northwest.