MRP- PAB Public Information

We assess student achievement by the many awards and accolades of our students, their service to the community, and by the professional achievements of alumni.  Some of our recent successes include:

• Each year, MRP students and faculty introduce city planning to roughly 50 High School students from the Springfield Honors Academy through studio-based class exercises, walking tours of Springfield neighborhoods, and student workshops held at the UMass Design Building.
• The Regional Planning Studio earned the MA APA student award in 2020 for Economic Development planning in the Town of Boxborough, MA.
• In 2021 and 2022 Regional Planning Studio partnered with Pioneer Valley Transit Authority on a FTA funded grant to study regional transit equity and accessibility.
• The Regional Planning Studios was awarded a two-year EPA grant to -year to assist the South Central Regional Council of Governments (SCRCOG) develop a Comprehensive Climate Action for the New Haven, CT region for 2023 and 2024.
• MRP student Jannell Franklin was awarded a 2023 grant from the Lincoln Land Institute to design scenario planning workshops exploring affordable housing opportunities for rural communities in Western Massachusetts.
• MRP/MS Civil Engineering student Henry Mulvey was awarded the American Public Transportation Foundation’s George M. Smerk Scholarship for 2020.
• MRP/MLA Marcos Gonzalez was nominated as a Frederic Law Olmsted Scholar in 2021.
• The department provides funding to support student attendance at national and regional APA conferences.
• We have over 400 graduates actively working in planning and related professions in the United States and abroad many of whom remain actively engaged with the department.
• LARP consistently ranks near the top of our college in Alumni fundraising, most of which is used to support student scholarships and program enhancement.
• Megan McDonough, a 2008 graduate of the Master of Regional Planning (MRP) program at UMass Amherst and Executive Director of the Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity, was selected as one of BusinessWest's 2024 Women of Impact.
• MRP students Amelia Lavallee, Charlotte Collins, Emily Hodos, and Prajakta Ghorpade received the 2024 Carol Thomas Memorial Scholarship to attend the Southern New England APA (SNEAPA) Conference.
• 4+1 MRP students Eva Bergloff and Maitri Chandrashekar were recognized as Sustainability Leaders for leading New2U's campus emergency response efforts in November 2025. Bergloff launched New2U, UMass Amherst's first-ever, student-run, campus thrift store in spring 2025.
• The 2024 MRP Studio, "675: Impact 2050," taught by Assistant Professor Camille Barchers, won the APA-MA 2025 student project award for their project, "Comprehensive Climate Action Plan – Municipal Emissions Reduction Playbook," which focused on climate adaptation planning in coastal Connecticut.
• Former MRP/MS3 student Lee Halasz published a 2025 paper with Associate Professor Theodore Eisenman and former Regional Planning PhD student Alicia Coleman in the peer-reviewed journal, Society & Natural Resources.
• The 2025 MRP Studio, "Deerfield River Valley RISE (Resilience in Shifting Environments)," taught by Assistant Professor Camille Barchers, was nominated for the APA Small Town and Rural Planning Division's James A. Segedy Award. The award recognizes the studio's outstanding efforts to develop equitable and lasting tools to help four southern Vermont towns adapt to climate-driven flooding risks.

Percentage of all graduates obtaining professional planning or planning-related positions within 12 months of graduation, graduating class of 2024.