CALL Fellows Steering Committee

Lee Altman

Lee is an architect and urban designer based in NYC. She is an associate at SCAPE, where she draws on her experience in city government as well as her past work with artists, scientists, and public health professionals to form a multifaceted perspective in managing urban design and infrastructure projects. In addition to her work at SCAPE Lee is an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia University's Graduate School for Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, where she coordinates an urban design studio focused on the Hudson Valley region.

Shiva Chandra

After graduating from Rutgers Business School, I started working in a coverage group at SMBC that focuses on infrastructure and renewable investments. Seeing the financing process for these kinds of deals (public private partnerships, concessions, RFPs) has been a great learning experience for me and has made me realize that there are other ways to get involved and make a difference in your local community. What drew me to CALL is the interdisciplinary approach it uses to bring together people from all walks of life and to empower them to make a real impact on the pressing issues of our time. My prior experience working with non-profits includes serving on the executive committee of the Somerset Youth Council.

Petra Kempf

Petra Kempf, Ph.D is an architect and urban designer based in New York City. She is teaching architecture and urban design at Columbia University and Rhode Island School of Design. She serves on the advisory board of the Journal of New Frontiers in Spatial Concepts and is the founder of urbantransits. Prior to her academic career, she worked for the Department of City Planning in New York City, the Project for Public Space, and Richard Meier and Partners. She has lectured throughout the US, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East, and her work has been exhibited in museums, galleries and institutions in the US and Europe. She is the author of You are the City – Observation, Organization and Transformation of Urban Settings.

Zach Youngerman

I am passionate about making cities greener and climate-resilient, while enhancing democratic involvement in the design and stewardship of the public realm. Conducting outreach for the New York City's green infrastructure program (the country's largest at $1.5B) and planning how to retrofit our city over the past year and a half has been incredibly rewarding. I am a New York native, with over 10 years of professional experience in city planning, including in post-Katrina New Orleans and more recently in Toronto, Canada. I believe that understanding the natural and human forces that have shaped the places we live enriches our lives and makes us more powerful to shape them in turn.