EDUCATION
Master of Architecture | Columbia University | New York, NY | May 2009
independent study: Ornamental Connectivity: Form, Fabrication, and Data Environments
Master of Science in Urban Planning | Columbia University | New York, NY | May 2006
masters thesis: The Quasi-Public Good: The Ethics of Information in New York City Planning
Bachelor of Arts in Art: Architecture and Urbanism | Smith College | Northampton, MA | May 2002
special studies: The Pruitt-Igoe Paradox
special studies: set design for The House of Bernarda Alba
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health, New York University | New York, NY | November 2010 - present
Junior Research Scientist
Analyzes raw geographic data toward mapping an ethnographic approach on tourism ecologies in Sosua, Dominican Republic.
Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture, Columbia University | NYC | Feb 2009 - April 2011
Adjunct Associate Research Scholar
Researched the status of public housing as a built social infrastructure in the United States, organizing an idea-generating charette leading to the creation of Public Housing: A New Conversation and working as the lead researcher, GIS analyst, and co-author of The Buell Hypothesis: Rehousing the American Dream.
Spatial Information Design Lab, Columbia University | New York, NY | February 2006 - May 2009
Research Assistant
Performed geographic information systems analysis and map design within various projects in the SIDL. Major projects included Architecture and Justice and an investigation of recidivism in post-Katrina New Orleans.
Network Architecture Lab, Columbia University | New York, NY | July 2007 - May 2009
Research Assistant
Book projects included The Infrastructural City and The Philip Johnson Tapes. Additional work within the lab has consisted of fulfilling day-to-day operations and research needs, including drafting a press-pack for the NetLab.
Smith College Department of Art | Northampton, MA | September 1999 - May 2000
Research Assistant
Researched 19th-century Boston firm Peabody and Stearns through written and graphical materials. Compiled and archived findings in a searchable database.
SELECTED ADDITIONAL WORK EXPERIENCE
PRE-Office | New York, NY | June 2008 - present
Founding Partner
Design, strategize, and execute project in an architecture and planning design collaboration. Run several day-to-day operations.
Geographic Information Systems Analyst and Cartographer | New York, NY | May 2006 - present
Consultant
Analyze raw geospatial information using GIS software and design maps for various clients. Maps have been produced for book and magazine publication as well as for public education and advocacy purposes.
Urbanscale | New York, NY | August 2011 - present
Cartographer, GIS Specialist
Research, design, and execute cartographic and GIS-based solutions for various projects.
"Underdome" at Van Alen Institute | New York, NY | February 2010 - August 2010
Project Manager
Researched, documented, and helped organize Erik Carver and Janette Kim's Fellowship Project, Underdome.
URBAN Magazine | Columbia University | New York, NY | December 2004 - December 2005
Editor
Chose the topic explored in each issue. Coordinated writers and staff. Selected and edited articles. Oversaw production, redesigned magazine layout and website.
NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development | New York, NY | June 2005 - December 2005
Intern
Compiled and managed vacant land and current project inventories. Created presentation materials, including GIS maps and graphics. Assisted project development and programming.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
GIS Instructor | Ethnographic Mapping in Tourism Areas in the Dominican Republic: HIV Transmission in Sosua, with Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, PhD, LCSW | New York University | Summer 2011
Teaching Assistant | Advanced Architectural Studio | Columbia University | Fall 2009
Teaching Assistant | GIS and Planning Support Systems | Columbia University | Spring 2009
Teaching Assistant | Geographic Information Systems | Columbia University | 2006 - 2008
Teaching Assistant and Writing Instructor | Architectural History | University of Limerick | 2008
Teaching Assistant | Introduction to GIS | Columbia University | Fall 2005
Additionally, Leah has participated as a juror on course reviews (GIS, architecture, and real estate development) at Columbia's GSAPP and The Cooper Union and has appeared as a guest lecturer at Columbia and NYU.
PUBLICATIONS (authored, contributed, or featured work)
Martin, Reinhold, Leah Meisterlin, and Anna Kenoff. The Buell Hypothesis: Rehousing the American Dream. New York: The Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture, 2011.
Browning, Gavin, ed. The Studio-X New York Guide to Liberating New Forms of Conversation. New York: The Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University, 2010.
Kottas, Dimitris. Contemporary Digital Architecture: Design and Techniques Barcelona: Links, 2010.
Hurley, Amanda. "New Practice, Un-Practice." Architect. February 2010: cover, 44-49.
Holl, Steven. Urbanisms: Working with Doubt. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2009. [maps contributed]
The Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture. Public Housing: A New Conversation. New York: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2009.
Meisterlin, Leah, et al. "The Stimulus Studio." Urban. Spring 2009: 7-9.
Davis, Aaron and Leah Meisterlin. "Upset Ethics." Crisis, Urban China Bootlegged by C-Lab for Volume. February 2009.
Varnelis, Kazys, ed. The Infrastructural City: Networked Ecologies in Los Angeles. Barcelona and New York: ACTAR, 2008. [Maps by Leah Meisterlin]
Davis, Aaron and Leah Meisterlin. "Upset Ethics." Urban China. September 2008.
Varnelis, Kazys and Leah Meisterlin. "The Invisible City: Design in the Age of Intelligent Maps." Adobe Think Tank. July 2008.
Meisterlin, Leah. "Fair Play and Forced Forfeiture." URBAN. Spring 2006, 23-25.
Meisterlin, Leah and Clare Newman. "New New Orleans vN.x: An attempt at Rational Planning." The Question of New Orleans. Ed. Columbia University GSAPP. New York: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2006. 22-23.
Meisterlin, Leah. "Advocacy on Madison Avenue." URBAN. Fall 2005: 14-15.
Meisterlin, Leah. "The Tie that Binds [editors' introduction]." URBAN. Fall 2005: 16-17.
Meisterlin, Leah. "Defining the Disaster Plan: Predicting, Preempting, Recovering, Rebuilding [editors' introduction]." URBAN. Spring 2005: 18-19.
Kays, Elizabeth and Leah Meisterlin. "It's All About the Spin." URBAN. Spring 2005: 40.
WORK FEATURED IN EXHIBITION
"Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream" at the Museum of Modern Art. New York, 2012.
"194X-9/11: American Architects and the City" at the Museum of Modern Art. New York, 2011-2012.
Currid, Elizabeth and Sarah Williams. "Geography of Buzz" at Studio-X: New York, 2009. [GIS research associate on the project]
"Design and the Elastic Mind" at the Museum of Modern Art. New York, 2008. [GIS work contributed to featured Spatial Information Design Lab project as SIDL research assistant]
"Urban China" at the New Museum. New York, 2008. [featured Crisis, with Aaron Davis]
Spatial Information Design Lab. "Architecture and Justice" at the Architectural League. New York, 2006. [SIDL research assistant]
"Venice Biennale." Venice, IT, 2006. [student contributor with Clare Newman]
"New Orleans Now." New Orleans, LA, 2006. [student contributor with Clare Newman]
"BuildBoston." Boston, MA, 2001. [student contributor]
TALKS
"GROW[ing] Up: SLOW[ing] Down" at the 2011 AIA Georgia Design Conference, Athens, GA, 2011. [with Aaron Davis]
"RAPID RESPONSE: Spontaneous Architecture" at Studio-X: New York, NYC, 2010 (monthly).
"Entrepreneurial Architecture in Five Easy Steps" at the Forum for Urban Design, NYC, 2010. [with Zachary Colbert]
"PRE-Office: Conversations with Architects" at Studio-X: New York, NYC, 2009. [with PRE-Office]
AWARDS & POSITIONS
William Kinne Fellowship Columbia University | Spring 2009
Spatial Information Design Lab Fellowship Columbia University | Summer 2006
Charles Abrams Urban Planning Thesis Prize Columbia University | Spring 2006
Smith College Academic Honor Board, chair | 2001-2002
STRIDE Scholar Smith College | 1998-2000
SKILLS
Software and Computer Languages
ESRI ArcGIS; MapBox TileMill; Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Acrobat, Dreamweaver, Premiere, AfterEffects, and Flash; Autodesk AutoCAD and 3dsMax; Rhinocerous; Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and Access; SPSS; Mastercam; HTML; ActionScript; Python
Languages
Working knowledge of written and spoken Spanish; proficient in first-order/predicate logic and propositional logic
Miscellanea
Arc Welding; Basic Carpentry; CNC milling
(CV updated October 2011)