Rewa Phansalkar

Research and Outreach Specialist, New York Water Resources Institute

Extension Associate, Biological and Environmental Engineering

Email: rp589 [at] cornell.edu (rp589[at]cornell[dot]edu)

Rewa is an urban planner, architect and researcher based in Ithaca, New York. She obtained her Bachelor of Architecture in 2017 from Academy of Architecture, Mumbai, after which she worked as a project architect and researcher at Case Design, Mumbai and the School of Environment and Architecture (SEA) before pursuing a master’s degree in Regional Planning at Cornell University. Her undergraduate thesis, 'Storytelling through Architecture,' won the National Association of Students of Architecture's Ethos trophy for academic excellence, and she later received the John Reps Pioneer award for her master’s Exit Project on Indigenous Adaptation Approaches in the U.S Pacific Northwest, and the Mellon Collaborative Fellowship for studies in Architecture, Urbanism and the Humanities. In the past, she has worked with the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat, NYS Water Resources Institute at Cornell and Urbz Research Collective based in Dharavi, Mumbai - on projects that integrate sustainable urban design, policy and governance planning for community resilience. She has contributed to publications such as Indian Architect and Builder and the Council of Architecture India newsletter, and is interested in map-making, graphic communication, and spatial and inferential statistics for climate adaptation planning. Long term, she aims to pursue a career in international development, with a focus on designing and planning for coastal communities and cultural landscapes in the wake of climate change.