
Meet Our SURGE Participants
Changing The Landscape of Research and Practice
2018 Cohort
Muritala Adegoke
Civil Engineering,
Morgan State University

Lilian Bui
Urban Studies and Planning
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Miriam Commodore - Mensah
Social Work
University of Nebraska at Omaha

Sahar Derakhshan
Geography
University of South Carolina

Isaiah Higgs
East Carolina University
Urban Planning

Rashon Lane
Medical Sociology
University of California, San Francisco

Covel McDermot
Urban Ecology
University of Delaware

Farah Nibbs
Disaster Science
University of Delaware

Génesis Álvarez Rosario
Social Policy and Human Services Management
University of Puerto Rico - Río Piedras

Shanasia Sylman
Urban Planning
Harvard University

2019 Cohort

Luz E. Agudelo
Environmental Studies
College of Charleston

Paula Buchanan
Emergency Management
Jacksonville State University

Gillian Maris Jones
Anthropology and Africana Studies
University of Pennsylvania

Julian Jones
Food and Nutritional Sciences
Tuskegee University

Ashley J. Méndez Heavilin
Social Planning
University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras

Karen Montes-Berríos
Disaster Science and Management
University of Delaware

Danielle Nicholson
Industrial Engineering
Florida A&M University

Christina Kaululani Sun
Global Health Epidemiology
University of Washington

Mehari K. Tesfay
Architectural Engineering
University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Morolake Omoya
Civil Engineering
University of California Los Angeles

Olivia Vilá
Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management
North Carolina State University