MSU Construction Management graduate student earns $2,500 Irvin Yackness Foundation Fellowship to attend program in Washington, DC

Shay Chakraborty, a CM graduate student in SPDC earned a $2,500 fellowship from the Irvin Yackness Foundation, which enabled her to travel and attend an urban development executive program related to her master’s research at George Washington University.

Photo of Shay Chakraborty.
Shay Chakraborty, a construction management graduate student, who received a fellowship from the Irvin Yackness Foundation.

Shay Chakraborty, a construction management graduate student in the School of Planning, Design and Construction, earned a $2,500 fellowship from the Irvin Yackness Foundation. This fellowship enabled her to travel and attend an urban development executive program related to her master’s research at George Washington University in Washington, DC on Nov. 1-2, 2018.

The two-day program is called “The Walkable Urban Development and Place Management,” which is related to her current research on “The Role of Infrastructure in Urban Revitalization” that she’s working on with Matt Syal, PhD, professor in construction management.

“My interest in residential domain and infrastructures led me to the association with researchers under the Housing Education Leadership Program (HELP) grant. I am thankful for the opportunity from the HELP grant to present the results on a previous research work (Role of Infrastructure on Residential Development in Urban Areas).”

“That association finally paved this opportunity for the fellowship, which will help me continue the research further in new directions. This program will allow me to connect with eminent urban developers from the country, and I hope to discuss the research with them and gain their insights,” Chakraborty said.

Chakraborty was nominated by the MSU construction management faculty and endorsed by Bernie Glieberman, a housing advisory board member, who is a trustee of the Irvin Yackness Foundation. According to Syal, after Glieberman saw Chakraborty’s presentation at the Housing Advisory Board meeting in early October, he encouraged them to nominate her.

“I am overwhelmed to get the recognition, and I consider it to be my responsibility to make the best use of this wonderful opportunity,” she said.

“I am especially thankful to Prof. Syal for introducing me to the research work and Dee Hardekar [a 2018 Michigan State University alumna] who co-authored the report on which the presentations were prepared.

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