Our Team

• Aisha Balogun

  Aisha Balogun is a second-year Master of Urban Planning student and a Georgina and Charlotte Bloomberg Public Service Fellow. She comes to the Furman Center with professional experiences in regional homeless services coordination, philanthropy, and capacity-building for environmental justice groups. Motivated by her work with grassroots and mainstream organizations, Aisha is interested in bridging the gap between institutions and communities to co-create solutions for housing affordability and urban inequality. Aisha holds a BS in Engineering (Architectural Design) and a BA in Sociology from Stanford University.

• Manal Bawazir

  Manal is a master of Urban Planning student at NYU Wagner and a Gallatin Global Fellow in Urban Practice. She is interested in housing justice, equitable economic development, and wants to use her research and data analysis skills to help advance place-based and grassroots methods of planning and community empowerment. Manal is a member of the Paterson Mapping Project (PMP), a collective of researchers, community organizers, and students whose work seeks to collect and democratize data on housing and policing. Her main work with the collective involves researching and employing counter-narratives to inform community-centered practices in Paterson, New Jersey.

• Tony Bodulovic

  Tony Bodulovic is a first-year student at NYU Wagner pursuing an MPA in Public and Non-Profit Management and Policy. He received his B.A. in Political Science from Columbia University, where he focused on American Politics and International Relations. Before joining the Furman Center, Tony worked in various capacities in local government, with prior positions at the City Council and OMB. He is particularly interested in using data to develop and inform housing solutions in New York, with a focus on queer, trans, and other marginalized communities.

• Chloe Fauber-Lyle

  Chloe is an office assistant at the NYU Furman Center. She is currently studying Public Policy jointly at NYU Wagner and the NYU College of Arts and Science in the Department of History. She is interested in further examining housing policy and research regarding land use. 

• Shannon Flores

  Shannon Flores is a first-year Master of Public Administration candidate and Bloomberg Public Service Fellow at NYU Wagner. She comes to the Furman Center from Sacramento, California, where she was a legislative aide in the California State Assembly. Shannon has staffed legislation to increase affordable housing and reduce homelessness, and has secured over $500 million for state and local programs through the state budget process. She is interested in the impact of state and local policies on affordable housing production and equitable community development. Shannon holds a B.A. in Political Science and a certificate in Education Studies from Yale University. 

• Jerrell Gray

  Jerrell Gray is a recent Master of Urban Planning student at NYU Wagner. He is interested in community development and improving local government. He most recently worked in the NYC Mayor's Office of City Legislative Affairs and NYC Mayor's Office of Operations where he kept track of the most pertinent issues that NYC residents are facing and worked on projects to improve the efficiency and transparency of City government agencies. Prior to Wagner, Jerrell graduated with a B.A. in Political Science and Urban Studies from the University of Rochester.

• Ben Hitchcock

  Ben Hitchcock is a second-year MPA student at NYU Wagner. He is interested in the connection between urban policy and climate, as well as the role the media and communications play in urban policy-making. Before starting at NYU, he was the editor of C-VILLE Weekly, the local newspaper in his hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia. His writing about land use and housing has been published in The Washington Post, City Limits, and more. He is currently the editor of Wagner’s student-run policy journal, The Wagner Review. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 2019. 

• Sarah Internicola

  Sarah Internicola is a second-year Master of Urban Planning student at NYU Wagner. Her interests are in affordable housing, equitable community development, and using data analysis to support grassroots and community organizations. Last summer, she worked as an intern with the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, where she analyzed and visualized open data to create reports for ANHD’s small business and affordable housing coalitions. Prior to Wagner, Sarah graduated from the University at Buffalo in 2021 with a B.A. in Urban and Public Policy and a minor in Environmental Design.

• Shira Kogan

  Shira Kogan is a current student at NYU Wagner receiving her MPA in Public and Nonprofit Management and Public Policy. She is passionate about shaping inclusive cities that empower residents of all backgrounds and identities to live happy, healthy, fulfilling lives. Shira's background is primarily in cross-sector partnerships, most recently serving as the Director of Corporate Partnerships at The Trevor Project, a non-profit focused on suicide prevention for LGBTQ young people. Through her studies at NYU Wagner and work at the Furman Center, Shira strives to apply her experience in driving collaborative impact to local government -- bringing together diverse stakeholders to advance effective urban and housing policy solutions. Shira graduated from Harvard University, where she studied History and Literature.

• Ceinna Little

  Ceinna Little is a first-year Master of Urban Planning student at NYU Wagner interested in affordable housing policy and strategies to mitigate gentrification and displacement.  She previously interned in New York City with the Fortune Society as a Housing Advocacy Intern and conducted independent housing research throughout her time as an undergraduate. Ceinna graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2022 with a BBA in Business Honors and Management and certificates in Social Entrepreneurship & Nonprofits and Creative Writing. 

• Liz Miller

  Liz Miller is a first-year student in the MPA program specializing in Policy at NYU Wagner. She previously served as an AmeriCorps math fellow assisting middle schoolers at Great Oaks Charter School (GONYC). At GONYC, Liz also had the opportunity to intern as a data associate, analyzing and visualizing student and teacher performance data. Her interests include understanding the changing dynamics within urban areas, equitable development, affordable housing, and the usage of data analysis in research. Liz graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2020 with a BA in Economics. 

• John Overstreet

  John is a second-year student at NYU School of Law and the Treasurer of the school’s Real Estate and Urban Policy Forum for 2023-2024. He is interested in the potential of land use policy reforms to alleviate housing affordability crises in New York City and other metro areas. John received a B.A. in International Politics and Economics from Middlebury College in 2018 and worked for several years as a paralegal at a firm specializing in employment-based immigration law.

• Andrew Paraiso

  Andrew is a second-year Master of Urban Planning candidate at NYU Wagner and the Fall 2022 Furman Center Wagner Fellow. He is particularly interested in the intersection of urban planning and economic development, with focuses on housing and international development planning. Prior to his enrollment at Wagner, he worked as Project Assistant at Shelter Centre, a humanitarian NGO that specializes in emergency and transitional settlement post-crises across the globe. Andrew received his B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley in the Spring of 2020. 

• Eva Phillips

  Eva is a first-year Master of Urban Planning student and Georgina and Charlotte Bloomberg Public Service Fellow. She is interested in understanding the impact of housing and community development initiatives on neighborhood- and resident-level outcomes, such as upward mobility and neighborhood change. Previously, Eva worked as a Senior Data Analyst at Enterprise Community Partners where she contributed to the design and evaluation of housing and economic mobility programs across the country. Before moving to New York, she worked at the Urban Displacement Project on developing models to predict gentrification and displacement risk, and at the City of Oakland on efforts to increase transportation equity. Eva holds a B.A. in Urban Data Analytics from the University of California, Berkeley.

• Camille Preel-Dumas

  Camille Preel-Dumas is a Master of Public Administration candidate at NYU Wagner specializing in public policy analysis. Camille joins the Furman Center from MDRC, where she was a Technical Research Analyst in the Economic Mobility, Housing, and Communities policy area working on randomized controlled trials, impact evaluations, and descriptive analyses of projects in housing stability, mixed income communities, housing vouchers, and workforce training. She is interested in using data science, open data, and participatory research to improve urban policy and support local housing goals. Camille holds a BA in Political Science from McGill University.

• Henry Rodgers

  Henry is an office assistant at the NYU Furman Center. He is an undergraduate student studying Data Science and Economics at the NYU College of Arts & Science. He is interested in policy and research surrounding housing, land use, and transit-oriented development.

• Alex Roth

  Alex Roth is an MPA-PNP student specializing in Advocacy and Political Action at NYU Wagner. With seven years of experience in communications, events and partnerships, she aims to apply her education and professional background toward expanding access to opportunity and equity. Alex grew up in Hawaii and currently resides in Brooklyn, which she considers home. Alex holds a B.A. in Communications and Japanese from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and an M.B.A from Argosy University Honolulu. 

• Blake Salesin

  Blake Salesin is an Undergraduate Office Assistant at the NYU Furman Center. He is pursuing his B.A. in Politics and Peace & Conflict Studies from the College of Arts & Sciences at New York University and is entering his final year. Blake is interested in housing affordability and tenant’s rights, specifically centering around New York City’s migrant and asylum seeking communities.

• Patrick Spauster

  Patrick Spauster is a MS Candidate in Urban Planning at NYU Wagner and a Georgina and Charlotte Bloomberg Public Service Fellow. Patrick joins NYU from the Urban Institute, where he was a research Analyst in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Center working on quantitative and qualitative projects in homelessness, housing affordability, housing vouchers, housing discrimination, fair housing, and zoning. He's interested in the power of research, data, and communications to transform housing policy. Spauster holds a BA in Public Policy and a Minor in Economics from Davidson College, where he was a leader in the service community on campus.

• Ashleigh Stepanyan

  Ashleigh is an office assistant at the NYU Furman Center. She is currently studying Politics at the NYU College of Arts and Science and is pursuing a minor in Public Policy & Management jointly at NYU Wagner and NYU Stern. She is interested in real estate and plans on attending law school post graduation. 

• Iris Zhao

  Iris Zhao is an office assistant at the NYU Furman Center. She is an undergraduate student studying Economics and double minoring in Linguistics and Business Studies.  She is interested in learning more about economic policy on housing and its impact on low-income communities in New York City.

• Emily Zhu

  Emily is a second-year student at NYU School of Law, who is interested in affordable housing, anti-displacement strategies, and hopes to use their legal education to support grassroots organizing for housing and economic justice. This summer, Emily will be working as a legal intern with Abolitionist Law Center. Prior to law school, Emily supported grassroots tenant and worker organizing in Boston Chinatown. Emily graduated from Harvard College with a joint degree in Sociology and Statistics and a minor in Ethnicity, Migration, and Rights, and wrote their honors thesis on the carceral system as a site of health and environmental injustice.