Yonah Freemark

Education, Teaching, Awards, Grants

Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge MA | 2016-2020

  • PhD in Urban Studies, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
  • Successfully defended, July 14, 2020
  • Edward H. Linde (1962) Presidential Fellow
  • Dissertation project description
  • Passed comprehensive exams in two fields: City Design and Development, and Politics and Planning of Metropolitan Infrastructure
  • Graduate Student Affiliate, Harvard Center for European Studies
  • Member, MIT Urban Mobility Lab

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge MA | 2010-2013

Yale University
New Haven CT | 2004-2008

  • Bachelor of Arts in Architecture, with Distinction

Hillside High School
Durham NC | 2000-2004

  • Valedictorian, National Merit Scholar, International Baccalaureate Diploma

Teaching

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge MA | 2017-2020

  • Winner: Excellence in Teaching by a Teaching Assistant, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning Student Council, 2018.
  • 11.201: Gateway: Planning Action (Fall 2017)
    • Teaching Assistant, under Professor Jason Jackson.
    • Led weekly recitations, which included lectures and discussions. Graded student work.
    • Download student evaluations.
  • 11.THG: Thesis Prep (Spring 2018)
    • Teaching Assistant, under Professor Bish Sanyal.
    • Provided individual assistance to students developing their master’s thesis proposals.
    • Download student evaluations.
  • 11.201: Gateway: Planning Action (Fall 2018)
    • Teaching Assistant, under Professor Jason Jackson.
    • Led weekly recitations, which included lectures and discussions. Graded student work.
    • Download student evaluations.
  • 11.201: Gateway: Planning Action (Fall 2019)
    • Teaching Assistant, under Professor Jason Jackson.

Roosevelt University
Chicago IL | 2013-2014


Awards

Grants and Fellowships
  • MIT Edward H. Linde (1962) Presidential Fellow; funding for doctoral program; 2016-2020.
  • Harvard Center for European Studies Dissertation Research Fellowship; 2019-2020 (declined).
  • Moody Foundation Research Grant; Funding for research at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library; 2019.
  • Lynne Sagalyn and Gary Hack Fund Research Award; funding for dissertation research; 2019.
  • Harold Horowitz (1951) Student Research Award; funding for dissertation research; 2019.
  • MIT Center for International Studies Summer Study Fellowship; funding for dissertation research; 2019.
  • MIT International Policy Lab (with Professor Jinhua Zhao); engagement with municipalities on preparations and regulations related to autonomous vehicles; 2018.
  • MIT William Emerson Travel Grant; archival research examining the history of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1962, at the New York City Public Library and the Rutgers University Archives; 2017.
  • MIT William Emerson Travel Grant; archival research examining the history of New York’s Urban Development Corporation, at the Yale University Library and the University at Buffalo; 2012.
  • MIT William Emerson Travel Grant; archival research examining New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, at the Rockefeller Archive Center and the New York City Archives; 2011.
  • Yale Gordon Grand Fellowship; post-graduate interview-based research studying housing development and community response in Paris; 2008-2010.
  • Yale Mellon Fellowship; archival research on New York City housing, specifically on the history of Roosevelt Island; 2008.
  • Yale David W. Baer Fellowship; site-based research examining the modernist architecture movement in France; 2007.
  • Yale Leitner Research Grant; interview-based research studying decisions made about transit system construction in Charlotte, North Carolina; 2006.

Research Assistantships

Working with Professor Jinhua Zhao on projects related to self-driving vehicles and shared vehicle use (2016-2020).

Worked with Professor Lawrence Vale on American public housing history (2010-2013). Aided in the research for Professor Vale’s book Purging the Poorest. Currently working with Professor Vale on research related to the history of public opposition to Baron Haussmann’s work on the redevelopment of Paris (2018-2020).

Worked with Professors John Attanucci and Nigel Wilson on London’s Underground (2011-2013).


Service
  • Peer reviewer, Urban Affairs Review, Housing Policy DebateInternational Journal of Housing Policy, Journal of Public Health, Journal of Urban History, Housing Policy, Transportation Research Board, Transportation Research Part D, The Milbank Quarterly, Political Geography, 2015-present
  • Member of Global Planning Educators Interest Group (GPEIG), Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, 2019-present
  • Member of Student Advisory Team, MIT Urban Mobility Lab, 2017-2019
  • Member of Kevin Lynch Award Selection Jury, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2018
  • Member of PhD committee, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2017