Dian (Eric) Xia
Dian (Eric) Xia is an Associate Junior Researcher and Graphic Designer at CUDRR+R.
Eric is an urban planner with interest in urban data analytics, built environment resiliency, and international planning. He holds a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s degree in Geography from the University of California, Berkeley. His thesis focused on climate and social resilience of the transit systems in New York City. As an environmental planner, Eric is working on environmental impact evaluation and resilience assessments for development projects and is interested in combining international planning with resilience development. With experiences in graphic design, at CUDRR+R he is responsible for the design of research project outputs and website updates.
Hui Chen
Hui Chen is an Intern Researcher at CUDRR+R.
Hui is an urban planner with a focus on sustainable mobility, urban data analytics, and resilience planning. She holds a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s degree in Urban Forestry from the University of British Columbia. With a background in urban forestry, she brings an ecological perspective to urban resilience research, linking landscape systems, environmental planning, and climate adaptation strategies.
At CUDRR+R, Hui contributes to research on climate-resilient urban systems and supports data visualization for project communications.
Akhil Akash Vadlamudi
Akhil Akash Vadlamudi is an Intern Researcher at CUDRR+R.
Akhil Akash Vadlamudi is an urban planner and landscape architect specializing in community development and urban analytics. He is particularly interested in ecological and environmental planning, with a focus on nature-based solutions that build climate resilience. Akhil has a Master’s in Urban Planning from Columbia University, and Master’s and Bachelor’s in architecture from Vijayawada, India.
Akhil’s research focuses on applying spatial analytical techniques to climate-related data in order to support informed decision-making on climate change and urban planning. At CUDRR+R, Akhil recently supported the project on Traditional Housing Design with Natural Cooling Techniques as part of a partnership with SEEDS for Priority 3 of the 2025 G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group.