Laura Geronimo Ph.D. ’24 has been awarded the 2024 ACSP Barclay Gibbs Jones Award for Best Dissertation in Planning, as announced by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) on August 13.
The award acknowledges exceptional scholarship in a doctoral dissertation completed by a student enrolled in an ACSP-member school. The selection committee looks for originality, clarity, methodological elegance, relevance to central planning issues, and practical guidance for planners or governments. This annual award is funded by Cornell University.
Geronimo's dissertation, “Prioritizing federal investments for coastal adaptation,” examines the political economy of coastal climate adaptation, focusing on the competition for power and resources among various interest groups. Climate change impacts are global, and coastal zones offer a unique perspective on human adaptive responses. With economic opportunities and amenities drawing billions to low-lying areas prone to sea level rise and severe storms, these regions face significant hazards that could lead to mass migration and displacement. Despite recurrent flood losses, many communities resist relocation. Conflicts arise over appropriate actions due to the widespread nature of coastal hazards, high initial costs for infrastructure adaptation, and competing interests across different scales.
Currently, Geronimo is a postdoctoral associate with Rutgers University’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.
Since its inception in 1998, Geronimo is the seventh recipient affiliated with Rutgers University's Bloustein School to receive this award. Previous recipients include:
- 2016: Elizabeth Hewitt, Rutgers University
- 2015: Kelcie Mechelle Ralph, University of California, Los Angeles (Bloustein School faculty)
- 2008: Ralph Buehler, Rutgers University
- 2006: Philip Ashton, Rutgers University
- 2005: Kurt G. Paulsen, Rutgers University
- 1998: Grant Saff, Rutgers University (co-recipient)
