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Faculty Recruiting Doctoral Students

Recruitment Plans for

Fall 2025

Thank you for considering the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University for your doctoral studies. We invite you to learn more about the faculty in our school currently looking to recruit doctoral students for the upcoming academic year. Please contact the faculty members for more information by referring to the contact information indicated.

Please note, this list is not exhaustive. Opportunities to work with other faculty may still be possible depending upon the circumstances. If you apply to work with someone who is not actively recruiting students, your application may still be considered. However, if you apply and do not identify anyone to work with, your application may not be considered.

Dr. Maura Allaire

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Maura Allaire

Faculty Name: Dr. Maura Allaire

Email: Maura.Allaire@asu.edu 

Students Applying to: PhD Geography or PhD Urban Planning

Looking to Recruit: 1-2 Doctoral Student(s)

Research Interest(s): Water Resources Planning, Environmental Economics, Flood Risk Mitigation, Infrastructure Resilience

Current Research/Research Projects: I am recruiting PhD students to work on several funded projects focused on drinking water governance and resilience of wastewater systems. One project addresses the policy drivers and community impacts of wastewater failure under current and future climate conditions. A second examines the effectiveness and public acceptance of various management entities for modular water infrastructure in underserved communities. Projects are funded by the Environmental Projection Agency and the National Science Foundation.

Desired Qualifications & Skills: Ideal candidates will have experience conducting quantitative analysis, with backgrounds in environmental science, urban planning, geography, public policy, economics, or related fields.

Dr. Meagan Ehlenz

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Faculty Name: Dr. Meagan Ehlenz

Email: mehlenz@asu.edu

Students Applying to: PhD Urban Planning

Looking to Recruit: 1 Doctoral Student

Research Interest(s): Anchor Institutions, Affordable Housing, Community Development

Current Research/Research Projects: I am interested in a doctoral student who could focus on one of two research agendas: 1) scalability of shared equity homeownership models, including CLTs, and other affordable housing strategies; 2) examining anchor institution models across the US (and beyond), including a broad survey assessment and detailed analysis of investments, motivations, and outcomes.

Desired Qualifications & Skills: A planning background is preferred with experience in (or ability to develop) mixed methods research skills, including survey design and interviews. Experience with GIS and large datasets would be preferred.

Dr. Kelli Larson

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Faculty Name: Dr. Kelli Larson

Email: kelli.larson@asu.edu

Students Applying to: PhD Geography

Looking to Recruit: 1 Doctoral Student

Research Interest(s): Urban and Landscape Sustainability, Human-wildlife interactions, Conservation Planning

Current Research/Research Projects: While my group continues to work on questions related to the causes, consequences, and feedbacks of urban and residential land systems, I am increasingly focused on human dimensions of wildlife conservation and management. I particularly will be focusing on human-carnivore conflicts and coexistence in cities across the U.S. through interviews, surveys, and interdisciplinary geospatial approaches.

Desired Qualifications & Skills: Ideal students have research experience with social-ecological dynamics of urban systems, particularly research and/or conservation planning related to human-wildlife interactions and landscape sustainability. Training in the biophysical and social sciences is ideal, as is knowledge and interest in statistical and geospatial analyses that facilitate interdisciplinary knowledge and approaches.

Dr. Sara Meerow

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Faculty Name: Dr. Sara Meerow

Email:  sara.meerow@asu.edu

Students Applying to: PhD Geography or PhD Urban Planning

Looking to Recruit: 1 Doctoral Student

Research Interest(s): Urban Resilience, Climate Change Adaptation, Green Infrastructure, Urban Heat

Current Research/Research Projects: My current funded projects focus primarily on urban heat resilience planning.

Dr. Lindsay Oluyede

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Dr. Lindsay Oluyede

Faculty Name: Dr. Lindsay Oluyede

Email: loluyede@asu.edu 

Students Applying to: PhD Urban Planning

Looking to Recruit: 1 Doctoral Student

Research Interest(s): Transportation Insecurity; Public Involvement in Planning; Transportation and Resilience

Current Research/Research Projects: My current research agenda centers on understanding people's lived experiences with transportation and exploring ways to integrate those insights into planning processes to foster more equitable and resilient communities. Ongoing projects include examining transportation barriers to health care, studying the challenges of biking in extreme heat, and exploring innovative public involvement strategies.

Desired Qualifications & Skills: A background in planning with a strong interest in transportation. Experience with qualitative and community-engaged research is preferred. 

Dr. Deirdre Pfeiffer

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Faculty Name: Dr. Deirdre Pfeiffer

Email: deirdre.pfeiffer@asu.edu

Students Applying to: PhD Urban Planning

Looking to Recruit: 1 Doctoral Student

Research Interest(s): Housing, Neighborhoods, Health, Social Equity

Current Research/Research Projects: I am the PI of the Arizona Research Center for Housing Equity and Sustainability (ARCHES). I am currently leading research on racially coded language in local housing opposition and exploring the potential for addressing housing challenges through single-family home garages and driveways.

Desired Qualifications & Skills: Strong interest in issues related to housing, neighborhoods, and social equity, desire to pursue the Urban Planning PhD, interest in qualitative methods like interviewing, discourse, and content analysis or quantitative methods like descriptive statistics and statistical modeling.

Dr. David Sailor

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Faculty Name: Dr. David Sailor

Email: dsailor@asu.edu

Students Applying to: PhD Geography

Looking to Recruit: 1-2 Doctoral Student(s)

Research Interest(s): Urban Climate, Energy Balance Measurements, Urban Building Energy Modeling

Current Research/Research Projects: I have research projects that are looking at building and neighborhood scale impacts of urban heat mitigation technologies and strategies. This requires students who have expertise in either modeling (e.g., building to microscale) or measurements (e.g., experience with radiation, convection, and conduction measurements in urban settings).

Desired Qualifications & Skills: Building energy simulation experience with EnergyPlus. Observations experience with datalogging weather stations, heat flux sensors, net radiometers, etc.