Mel Langness
Research Assistant
About
Mel Langness (they/them) is a Master of Urban Planning and Policy student at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) specializing in Community Development while attaining the Geospatial Analysis and Visualization certificate. Broadly, their work interrogates questions of racial equity, housing justice, gender equity, and environmental resiliency amid regional transformation. Mel worked as an analyst in the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy (2019-2022) and Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy (2022-2023) research centers in Washington, D.C. before pursuing higher education at UIC. While at Urban, Mel developed extensive mixed-methods research experience across several projects relating to community wellbeing and the built environment while specializing in community-engaged research methods. Originally from North Carolina, Mel earned a Political Science B.A. from UNC Chapel Hill in 2019, where they graduated with highest distinction and honors as a Morehead-Cain scholar.