Jane Gross, jgross27@illinois.edu, is a third-year Ph.D. student in the (in)Secure Landscapes Lab. She has a B.A. in Environmental Sciences from Northwestern University and a MS in Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences from the University of Illinois. Jane is interested in research around aging infrastructure, environmental health, and equitable land use and redevelopment in Illinois and the Midwest more broadly. For her M.S., she examined the evolving standards for ethylene oxide, and the regulatory process for hazardous air pollutants in Illinois. For her Ph.D., she is working under the NSF-funded Co-Producing Community to examine agriculture governance and policy in Illinois.
Juliana Rubiano Lizarazo is a second-year Ph.D. student in the (in)Secure Landscapes Lab. She has a BA in Anthropology and an MS in Applied Economics from Universidad de los Andes (Colombia). Juliana is interested in the intersection between development, environmental governance, illicit economies, and armed conflict. For her PhD, she is working under a NASA-funded project to analyze socio-political drivers of land use change and land use conflicts in Colombia and their implications for peacebuilding. She is also interested in the environmental and socioeconomic effects of organized crime activities in the Global South. Past research involved local resource sharing and collective action dilemmas, socio-ecological impacts of the expansion of illicit economies, and coca crop substitution programs in protected areas and collective territories.
Angela Urban is a first-year Ph.D. student in the (in)Secure Landscapes Lab. She has a Master’s in Urban Planning with a minor in Global Studies from the University of Illinois. Working for the US Army Corps of Engineers the past decade, Angela’s research has focused on military and civil works environmental resilience efforts spanning air quality, alternative clean energy, water quality, and waste. She is a combat veteran, and as a civilian, she has deployed multiple times as a first responder in support of Humanitarian Assistance Disaster Relief missions. Angela is interested in research at the intersection of environment and security with an emphasis on social justice and peacebuilding.