Three Penn undergraduate students received the 2024 Lawrence C. Nussdorf Student Award, presented by the Penn Institute for Urban Research (Penn IUR) at the 19th Annual Urban Leadership Forum on April 5. The awardees are Joey Jung, Marielle Kang, and Khalid Mohieldin.

The award is named for the late Lawrence C. Nussdorf, a founding Penn IUR board member, who deeply valued the brilliance and enthusiasm of Penn’s undergraduate students in Penn’s Undergraduate Urban Research Colloquium (UURC) and the Penn IUR fellows in urban leadership program. Both programs seek to enrich students’ exploration of cities and the urban landscape in the classroom and the field.

Penn IUR co-directors Eugenie Birch and Susan Wachter presented the Nussdorf Student Award to the three graduating students who have all exemplified the goals of the award. The winners are:

Joey Jung, C’24, is majoring in urban studies and political science and minoring in public policy and data analytics. With his mentor, Yeonhwa Lee, he conducted research on gentrification through the UURC program in 2022 and was a 2023-2024 Penn IUR Undergraduate Fellow in Urban Leadership. He was also a former president of Wharton Undergraduates in Public Policy. Mr. Jung previously worked at the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations and Econsult Solutions in Philadelphia and the Charter Cities Institute in Washington, D.C. Mr. Jung is primarily interested in public policy, urban planning, and city diplomacy and plans to do urban policy-related work following graduation.

Marielle Kang, C’24, is studying environmental studies with a concentration in sustainability and environmental management with minors in urban studies and economic policy. She explored her interest in climate risk management and resiliency with mentor and Penn IUR faculty fellow Simon Richter as a participant in the spring 2024 UURC. Her research focused on Cebu City, Philippines and private sector participation in relief efforts following Typhoon Odette in 2021. After graduation, Ms. Kang will join J.P. Morgan as a credit risk analyst.

Khalid Mohieldin, C’24, is majoring in urban studies and minoring in history and Africana studies on the pre-law track. Attentive to global urbanization trends and the intersections between urbanization, displacement, and public health, he has specific interests in African and southern European nations. With his mentor Heidi Artigue, a doctoral student in Wharton’s applied economics program, his spring 2023 UURC project aimed to map and analyze poverty changes in America’s major metropolitan areas and its impact on job distribution and affordable housing for low-income population. He has also worked as a research assistant for Penn IUR faculty fellow Domenic Vitiello. Mr. Mohieldin hopes to be working as a paralegal or legal assistant following graduation.

The Nussdorf Student Award commends the work of “all of students serving as models, who seek out opportunities to better understand how cities work,” Dr. Wachter said. “Their work considers how we might address the critical issues cities face for a better future for all.”