Nafisa Anjum

I am Nafisa Anjum, currently pursuing a PhD at Penn State University. Though my research interests span a broad spectrum, my primary focus is neighborhood inequalities, health disparities, social justice, public health policy, and urban sustainability. I am drawn to mixed-method research because of the depth of the insights about the research components, which allows me to establish causal relationships and facilitate data validation. I am also a graduate assistant for the Department of Geography at Penn State University.

Prior to joining Penn State, I completed a Master's in Community and Regional Planning from Iowa State University in 2022. My master’s research was on climate justice and building retrofitting, where I utilized advanced spatial analysis to create a vulnerability index and interviewed city officials to inform my work. Additionally, I hold another master’s degree in Urban and Rural Planning from Khulna University, Bangladesh, where I researched the dynamics of public spaces within urban neighborhoods that contribute towards sustainability. My bachelor is also from the Urban and Rural Planning Discipline of Khulna University.

My journey also includes roles as a Research Assistant for two and a half years at SHLC (centreforsustainablecities.ac.uk/), where my responsibility was to analyze health and education policies concerning sustainability (SDG3 & SDG4), neighborhood sustainability assessment, literature review, data collection through extensive fieldwork and data analysis. I also worked as Research Assistant and GIS Technician for the Institute of Design, Research and Outreach (IDRO) and Iowa State GIS Facility at ISU, where I was involved with different multi-scale projects.