Maryland’s School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation welcomes Dr. Priscilla Ramalho Alves to the Urban Studies and Planning Program as the school’s newest postdoc this spring. Alves will be working with Assistant Professor Marccus Hendricks as manager of MAPP’s Stormwater Infrastructure Resilience and Justice (SIRJ) Lab.
An accomplished scholar in water resource modeling and engineering strategies, Alves recently earned her Ph.D. in Engineering on Centre Water Systems at the University of Exeter in the U.K. Originally from Brazil, her dissertation centered around an integrated spatial-participatory framework for flood risk mitigation in semiarid regions of Campina Grande, Brazil, working closely with 255 stakeholders to reduce the region’s vulnerability and build socio-environmental resilience. As SIRJ lab manager, Alves will coordinate and organize efforts of students, staff and faculty and will work with Hendricks to accelerate and expand the research coming out of the lab. Alves will join MAPP beginning February 1 for a two-year appointment, with the opportunity for a third-year renewal.
“Finding Priscila was serendipity and we are so excited for her to join our team,” said Hendricks, who connected with Alves after she responded to one of his posts on Twitter. “She has the skill sets that span both the physical and the social aspects of stormwater issues; it’s very rare to find someone with that dynamic.”
Meet MAPP’s New Postdoc: Q and A with Priscila Ramalho Alves
A little-known fact about me is: I’m Brazilian but I don’t know how to dance samba!
Best piece of advice you’ve ever received: “You pay nothing to ask, so why not try?!”
First thing you’d grab in the event of a fire: As an international living abroad, I would probably get my passport.
On Saturday mornings, you can find me: Probably having coffee in a nice cafeteria!
A tool or tech (other than your smart phone) that you couldn’t live without: My Apple Watch—or is it my fitness coach? Best acquisition ever!
I find inspiration in: My family and being in nature.
Twenty years from now, I hope I have: A bunch of kids, living in a nice place with my family, and finally settled in a permanent place!