LUFA | Meet the Team

Meet the LUFA Team

LUFA is a research group led by Dr. Jess Vogt at DePaul University, located in the beautifully-treed neighborhood of Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois. We are based in the Department of Environmental Science & Studies and frequently collaborate with people from around the Chicagoland area and beyond! Learn more about individual members of our team below.

Principal Investigator

Dr. Jess Vogt

CV & More About Jess

Jess is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Studies (ENV) at DePaul University (Chicago, Illinois). She received her PhD, MPA, and MSES from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana), and her B.A. in biology and environmental studies from Lawrence University (Appleton, Wisconsin). As leader of LUFA, she studies tree planting, neighborhoods, and urban social-ecological systems through the lens of sustainability science. She is passionate about creating spaces in which everyone can find their place to contribute to creating a world where all can thrive and flourish. Her quest is to answer the question, How can we create more resilient communities of humans and nature?

AT LEFT: Jess is standing in front of to a propped up dead tree branch in Dongling Park in Shenyang, Lioning, China, during the Urban Forests and Sustainability International Symposium in May 2016.

Current Students

Margaret Abood

Margaret graduated in June 2018 with a major in environmental studies and minoring in sociology. Her principal interest is how community-based research can impact urban environmental justice. Margaret is continuing to work on a manuscript that examines stakeholder motivations and desired outcomes of the community tree planting program, CommuniTree. She is also working with Dr. Christie Klimas on a subcontract for the U.S. Forest Service to disseminate their newly developed modeling program iTree Landscape.

Rebecca Brokaw

Becca graduated in June 2018 with an environmental science major and a minor in food studies. Her passion is in environmental education and connecting people with the natural world. She loves spending time outside doing just about anything--running, kayaking, hiking, going to the farmers market, identifying trees, the list goes on and on. As part of her senior thesis, Becca worked on the volunteer survey component of our CommuniTree project, helping to assess the impact of tree planting in Northwest Indiana on the volunteers who participate in those efforts. During summer and fall 2018, she will be continuing to participate in writing up the manuscript based on this research.

Jaclyn Meyers

Jaclyn graduated in June 2018 with a major in environmental studies and concentration in sustainability. With a passion for sustainability and a connection to the natural world, she desires to create safe and just spaces for generations to come. She loves spending time outside, running, hiking, going to farmers markets, planting trees, and educating people about the benefits ecosystems provide. She plans on pursuing a career in the sustainability field applying sustainable strategies for businesses and products. She hopes to advance her education by enrolling in a graduate program in the future. During summer 2018, Jaclyn is excited to finalize the LUFA projects she's been working on: the document analysis for the Urban Forestry in the Anthropocene project and our newest project, conducting a survey of Openlands TreeKeepers.

Mimi Payne

Mimi graduated in June 2018 with an environmental studies major. She is interested in bridging the gap between environmental science and sociology and is currently working on finalizing a project focusing on urban forestry in the Anthropocene. During her time at DePaul, Mimi also worked on analyzing soil samples for Dr. Montgomery’s “What’s in Your Soil?" project and is hoping to develop a connection in soil contaminants relative to socioeconomic background. In her free time, Mimi is often outside on walks and in as many natural areas she can find within the Chicago city limits. At left: Mimi is standing in Wicklow National Park in Ireland on a Study Abroad trip during the summer of 2017.

Kaitlyn Pike

Kaitlyn graduated in June 2018 with an environmental studies major and is beginning her Master's in Sustainable Management. In summer of 2017, she conducted field research in Dolton, IL for a larger project which aimed to analyze urban forestry resources in underserved communities. Currently, Kaitlyn is working to establish DePaul University as a recognized Tree Campus USA by the Arbor Day Foundation. This spring she will be finishing a complete inventory of DePaul's urban forest. In her spare time, Kaitlyn enjoys volunteering for Openlands' TreeKeeper and Space to Grow programs, as well as the Forest Preserves of Cook County. Since fall 2017, Kaitlyn has worked as a research intern in urban forestry for the City of Highland Park, where she has been designing and conducting various research project, including comparing survival rates of contractor- versus city-planted street trees, and investigating the condition of large heritage trees on private property through construction projects. Kaitlyn is the recipient of the 2018 DePaul University Environmental Science & Studies Outstanding Student of the Year, a 2018 Garden Club of American Urban Forestry Fellowship, a scholarship from the TREE Fund, and an AREA Student Travel Grant to present her research at the August 2018 International Society of Arboriculture Conference. She will also be participating in the Byron Fellowship this coming August 2018.

Cecilia Shoopmann

Cecilia is a rising junior Environmental Science major at DePaul University. She loves learning about and exploring the natural world. When she isn’t in class, Cecilia can be found either outside with her camera or indoors, making bread. She is excited to be working on LUFA’s Climate Change project.

Nora Westman

Nora is a rising senior Environmental Science major with a Physics minor at DePaul University. When she graduates from DePaul, she would like to have a job where she can travel and be outside. She is working on LUFA's Climate Change project, conducting a comparative document analysis of Chicago-area municipal climate change and urban forest plans. Later this year, she will also be doing interviews with municipalities, in order to learn about gaps between climate change action and urban forest management.

Rasa Whittaker

Rasa is a rising senior majoring in both Environmental Studies and Geography at DePaul University. Unsure of what she’d like to do after graduating, she’s been taking advantage of many opportunities to explore what she can do with her education. This has included researching renewable energy in Iceland, interning at FEMA to conduct data analysis and data visualization, and more recently, assisting the founder of the National Vegetarian Museum with various organizational and promotional tasks. Her academic efforts and passion lie in telling stories of environmental issues with maps using GIS. When she’s not in class or working, you can find her walking around the neighborhoods in Chicago or trying out a new recipe at home. With LUFA, Rasa is currently digitizing the tree locations from paper maps in order to complete the DePaul Campus tree inventory.

Past LUFA Students

Sam Conrad (BS ENV '17)

Sam graduated from DePaul in Spring 2017 with a bachelor's of science in environmental science. For his senior thesis, Sam worked with the Village of Glenview Forestry Department, evaluating their urban forestry program in regards to sustainability and adaptability to climate change. Sam currently works for Nels Johnson Tree Experts in the Chicagoland area, getting field experience in plant healthcare and creating GIS maps.

Erik Espeland (BS ENV '17)

Erik graduated from DePaul in Spring 2017 with a bachelor's of science in environmental science and a minor in geography. During his research with LUFA for his undergraduate thesis, he investigated urban forest practitioner response to climate change induced drought and flooding within the Chicagoland area. Erik is passionate about the sustainability of the urban forest, and had the opportunity to pursue his passion of urban tree care with an internship at The Care of Trees in the summer of 2016. Erik is currently working for Plan-It Geo in Colorado. You can connect with Erik on LinkedIn.

Nick Olson (BA ENV'17)

Nick graduated from DePaul in Spring 2017 with a bachelor's of arts in environmental studies. With a focus in environmental communication, during his time with LUFA, he performed a document analysis of climate change and urban forestry policy documents in the Chicago region. Nick has a passion for field research, he plans to go on to graduate school and continue his studies on our local ecosystems. Nick is often found saying, "I would rather be outside."

Alli Preble (BA ENV '17)

Alli graduated from DePaul in Spring 2017 with a B.A. in environmental studies and minors in studio art and American Sign Language. Over summer 2017, she worked with LUFA to inventory street trees in order to research the usefulness of Google Street View as an urban forestry tool. In addition to her work with LUFA, she assisted Dr. James Montgomery on the"What's in Your Soil?" project.

Ben Rohr (BA ENV '17, MSSM '18)

Ben graduated from DePaul in Spring 2017 with a B.A. in environmental studies with a sustainability concentration. He is currently completing his final year in the M.S. Sustainable Management program at DePaul, and hopes to enroll in a Ph.D. program in the near future. During his time with LUFA, Ben developed a protocol for conducting a tree inventory of DePaul University's campus.

Greg Skora (BS ENV '18)

Greg is currently an undergraduate DePaul ENV student majoring in environmental science while pursuing a GIS certification. In his LUFA research, he investigated how the characteristics of a community affect the general well-being of the urban forest, specifically focusing on the effects the community on the survival of tree planting and the effect of tree planting projects on the communities themselves. He is interested in the management of urban natural resources and is planning to pursue a graduate degree in the field in the near future.