Far left: Laura Geronimo (PhD ’24) received the award for best dissertation. Third from left: Jeffrey Low (PhD, ’01) received an award for service.
Laura Geronimo Ph.D. ’24 is the recipient of the 2024 ACSP Barclay Gibbs Jones Award for Best Dissertation in Planning. The Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) announced the award on August 13.
The award recognizes superior scholarship in a doctoral dissertation completed by a student enrolled in an ACSP-member school. The committee seeks a thesis that is original, well written, employs methods elegantly, offers lessons pertinent to central issues in the field of planning, and provides guidance about how planners or governments should make choices. This award is generously funded on an annual basis by Cornell University.
Her thesis, “Prioritizing federal investments for coastal adaptation,” explores the political economy of coastal climate adaptation, or the struggle for power and resources between competing interest groups. Climate change is having widespread impacts around the world. The coastal zone is a dynamic place to study how humans collectively respond and adapt. Drawn by economic opportunities and coastal amenities, billions of people have settled in low lying areas exposed to sea level rise and increasingly intense storms. Coastal hazards pose an existential threat to many communities and will likely force mass migration and displacement in the coming decades. At the same time, many communities are resisting relocation despite repetitive flood losses. Given the diffuse nature of coastal hazards, large upfront costs for adapting physical infrastructure, and competing interests across spatial and temporal scales, conflicts emerge about the proper course of action in diverse local contexts.
Laura is presently a postdoctoral associate with Rutgers University’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.
Since its establishment in 1998, Laura is the seventh Bloustein-affiliated recipient of the award. Previous recipients include:
- 2016 Elizabeth Hewitt, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
- 2015 Kelcie Mechelle Ralph, University of California, Los Angeles (Bloustein School faculty)
- 2008 Ralph Buehler, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
- 2006 Philip Ashton, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
- 2005 Kurt G. Paulsen, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey
- 1998 Grant Saff, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (co-recipient, inaugural award)
In addition, in 2010, Bloustein graduate Mi Shih (currently on the Bloustein School faculty) was awarded the Gill-Chin Lim Award for the Best Dissertation on International Planning.