The OU Data Institute for Societal Challenges (DISC) has awarded $2,410.95 in seed money to support a research team that includes Shu Sun, an instructor and Ph.D. student in the Division of Landscape Architecture. The team is conducting the project “Urban Landscape: Eco-social interactions and park configurations influencing human exposure to ticks in Oklahoma City.”
The project aims to bridge knowledge gaps surrounding neighborhood park exposure and risk to tick-borne disease. The team will investigate how tick abundance relates to different landscape composition and configurations in parks. The project will also estimate the potential risk of human-tick exposure based on human behavior in parks.
Shu Sun and her team will be carrying out their research in 16 park sites in Oklahoma, where ticks are known vectors of human disease. The seed grant from DISC will allow the team to purchase ethanol, microcentrifuge tubes, and dry ice for tick preservation and storage. The team will also be purchasing insect repellent for engaging with park visitors and providing tick-borne disease education.
The project has until August to use their funding and will receive monthly support and progress check-ins from their assigned DISC mentor.
The University of Oklahoma College of Architecture is proud to announce that Model Schools in the Model City, authored by Director of the Institute for Quality Communities, Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., has been named one of ten finalists for the 2026 ASALH Book Prize for Best New Book in African American History and Culture.
This semester, students in the LA 5535 Studio: Ecological Planning and Design, led by Prof. Afsana Sharmin, took on an ambitious hypothetical project to redesign key parts of the OU campus. Their mission: to tackle the critical real-world challenge of stormwater management through innovative green design.
Petya Stefanoff, Chair of the Educational Committee with the American Planning Association, Oklahoma Chapter (APA-OK) and Gibbs College PhD candidate, has developed a new training program for local government officials. The program, focused on land use, zoning principles, and land development, recently certified its first graduates with Certified Citizen Planner status.
