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Ann-Margaret Esnard, PH.D.
Director
Ann-Margaret Esnard joined FAU’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning in August 2005 as an Associate Professor and Director of the Visual Planning Technology Lab (VPT Lab)
Dr. Esnard’s expertise encompasses GIS/spatial analysis, coastal vulnerability assessment, land use planning, and disaster planning. She has designed GIS course curriculum and has taught GIS to students and professionals with diverse academic backgrounds since the early nineties. She has been involved in a number of related research initiatives and is the Principal Investigator for a 3 year National Science Foundation grant (2007-2010) to study hurricane-related population displacement, housing and land development policy issues in eight coastal states (North Carolina to Texas). She is the co-author of the Hypothetical City Workbook and has written on topics that include geospatial technologies, GIS education, public participation GIS, spatial analysis of New York metropolitan urban expansion, vulnerability assessments of coastal and flood hazards, quality of life and holistic disaster recovery and environmental justice.
Dr. Esnard has served on a number of local, state and national committee including: the Steering Committee for Evaluation of the National Flood Insurance Program [directed by the American Institutes for Research on behalf of FEMA]; the Disasters Roundtable of the National Academy of Sciences; the review committee for the Institute for Business & Home Safety’s Award for Scholarship in Planning and Natural Hazards; and is currently a member of the State of Florida Post-Disaster Redevelopment Planning initiative.
Dr. Esnard holds degrees in Agricultural Engineering (B.Sc., University of the West Indies-Trinidad), Agronomy and Soils (M.S., University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez) and Regional Planning (Ph.D., UMASS-Amherst). She also completed a two year post-doc at UNC-Chapel Hill.
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Asher Soldwedel
Coordinator
An Auburn University graduate (BME), Mr. Soldwedel has many years experience in both graphic design and project management in non-profit organizations. After teaching for three years, Mr. Soldwedel moved into the corporate world where he focused on project management, organizational issues, and information technology. In 1998 he returned to non-profit agencies creating design materials and presentations for the City of Dania Beach and the FAU Catanese Center. He joined the Department’s Visual Planning Technology Lab in 2000 and in 2001 became the Coordinator.
While co-coordinating research at the Lab, Mr. Soldwedel also serves as the financial officer, the IT manager, and designs interactive web sites for non-profit organizations including: the Fort Lauderdale CRA, the Fort Lauderdale DDA (now revised), the City of Boynton Beach (now revised), and the VPT Lab. Furthermore, he runs the very successful VPT Lab training program. |
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Aubrey Craun
Web Developer
Aubrey Craun, an FAU graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Architecture, is the webmaster for the College of Architecture, Urban & Public Affairs. His responsibilities are creating and maintaining all department websites within the college. He has many years of experience in web design. He has created other websites within the university including layout design for FAU Broward Campuses, Flash videos, and other miscellaneous jobs. He is happy to help wherever he can.
Outside of FAU, he has created websites for The Kids Ecology Corp. in Fort Lauderdale, Anthony Abbate Architect, PA in Fort Lauderdale, Good Shepherd UMC in West Palm Beach, the Fort Lauderdale CRA, and is currently working on The Goodman Company website in West Palm Beach.. |
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Christopher Chagdes
Research Assistant
Christopher Chagdes is a first year graduate student in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at FAU. Chris earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. He also holds two Certificates along with his degree in Urban Planning and Urban Studies.
He has interests in Urban Design and environmental sustainability. Chris also has a background in computers with an interest in GIS and hopes to be able to further develop his skills in the VPT Lab working on the new NSF Hurricane Displacement research project. |
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