Hometown: Memphis, Tennessee
Before Kylie McDowell began her junior year in the Sustainable Urban Environments (SUE) program, she and her SUE cohort brainstormed a hands-on research experience that would allow them to apply their academic work in sustainability and urban spaces into a real-life research project. A tight-knit group, McDowell and her classmates created the school’s first study-away program of its kind that allowed the students to study and collect data on walkability and sustainability in Shanghai, China. As program developer and logistics coordinator, McDowell transformed an idea into action and joined her classmates as they explored the relationship between a city’s walkability to its sustainability.
For McDowell, this act of translating her academic work into real-life solutions and applications comes naturally. Since she started her degree at NYU Tandon, she co-founded the NYU Tandon Undergraduate Council’s Sustainable Solutions Committee and served as a project coordinator. She received NYU’s Office of Sustainability Green Grant to conduct research in Shanghai, as well as the Josh Goldfaden Award that honors students who impact the learning and writing development of their fellow students.
Having selected NYU Tandon for its “challenging programs in an engaging city and academic environment,” McDowell is also implementing her training in urban sustainability into actionable applications through her minor in social and public policy. “My experience in the SUE program is very valuable to me. Thanks to the professors, the department and other students, my interests have been fostered and have flourished,” she said. “I have worked on projects ranging from writing a plan for a neighborhood focusing on resilience and social equity to projects that require collecting data in the field.”
McDowell will continue her passion for sustainability and urban policy with a graduate degree from NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and will focus on urban planning and international development.