B. Architecture and Urbanism, Londrina State University, Brazil (1996)
M. Sc., University of Sao Paolo, Brazil (2001)
Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA (2016)

Prior to coming to the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2010, Dr. Emlinger taught for 11 years in several public and private universities in Brazil. Among the courses taught abroad are Landscape Design, People and the Environment, History of Architecture, Brazilian Residential Architecture of the years 1930-1940 and Cultural Landscape Design focusing on the work of Roberto Burle Marx. Dr. Emlinger currently serves as a Visiting Scholar in this department, teaching REGIONPL 591LC Planning for Climate Adaptation in Urban Areas online since the summer of 2013. She has also taught Introduction to Community Planning, The (Un)Just City and Cultural Geography at Westfield State University.

In addition to teaching, Emlinger’s professional practice in the field of architecture and urban planning in Brazil focused on housing for low income population, historic preservation and downtown revitalization. She has served as the Director of the Division of Planning for Preserving the Historic Patrimony in the Municipal Institute of City Planning – PLANURB, in Campo Grande, capital of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil in the years of 2009 and 2010. In US she worked with Dr. Elisabeth Hamin and other colleagues from UMass Amherst on a team during summer 2016 trying to integrate municipal planning issues into a wildlife-based climate action tool for the State of Massachusetts.

Dr. Emlinger has a special passion for international programs of students’ exchange. International education promotes the relationship building and knowledge exchange between people and communities that are necessary to solve global challenges. She has taught in the Latin America and Caribbean Program at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and has teaching and research connections with the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, in Brazil. Dr. Emlinger received several “Undergraduate Excellence Teaching” awards in Brazil from the University for the Development of the State of Pantanal, Campo Grande, MS and the University Center of the Big Dourados, Dourados, MS, Brazil. Her research expertise includes community engagement, urban greening as a way to promote social justice, sustainability and livability in cities and a particular focus in planning for climate change adaptation.