Hannah Aronson

Hannah Aronson (she/ella) is a Masters of City Planning student in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) and a Research Assistant for the Resilient Communities Lab under the direction of Dr. Janelle Knox-Hayes at MIT. Before coming to DUSP, she was most recently working in New York City as a health care access coordinator for the Department of Homeless Services. 

Hannah grew up in and around the D.C. area and graduated from Davidson College with a BA in Sociology (just like Steph Curry!) and a minor in Data Science. While an undergraduate, Hannah was awarded a Freeman Fellowship to work in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, with Recollectiv (former Liberty Shared), supporting frontline NGOs with data management and sharing information, expertise, and best practices on anti-trafficking. Hannah then spent a semester abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she studied social movements and human rights and completed an independent research project with La Comunidad Diaguita Calchaqui Pucara Angastaco on the realities of reproductive health, motherhood, and child rearing for Indigenous women. 

Since then, she has also been a teacher in Richmond, VA; Nagasaki, Japan; and Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia and briefly, a restaurant manager.  

Within the field of urban studies and city planning, her research interests include Indigenous Environmental Planning (IEP); climate change, demography and migration; and public health.