A paper exploring planning strategies for adapting to global climate change, by Himanshu Grover, a master of urban planning student at Texas A&M, has recently earned two special recognitions.

Grover’s work earned the “Best Paper Award,” in a special session on Global Climate Change at the Ecological Integration Student Research Symposium help April 1 at Texas A&M. Additionally, Grover was invited to present the paper at the Planners for Tomorrow Forum (P4T), in June 2006 at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

Grover’s paper included research conducted by the Environment Planning and Sustainability Research Unit (EPSRU) of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center at the Texas A&M University College of Architecture. The research was supported by the Institute for Science, Technology & Public Policy at the Bush School of Government and Public Service, also at Texas A&M.

“While the recent scientific findings validate the changing climate, the field of urban planning has so far remained insensitive to the issue,” Grover said. “This research incorporates climate change research within local planning initiatives for urban sustainability, and identifies specific tools and measures that can help urban settlements adapt to changing climate.”

A native of India, Grover earned a bachelor’s degree in physical planning at School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi. He worked for six years with a non-governmental organization in India before beginning urban planning studies at Texas A&M.

The MUP program, he said, “offers a unique opportunity to integrate research on urban and regional planning, natural hazard management and sustainability. ”

This June’s P4T Forum in Vancouver, is the annual meeting of the Canadian Association of Planning Students CAPS. This year, CAPS invited planning students from around the world to help generate student recommendations that were presented at the World Planners Congress and the United Nation ’s World Urban Form on Planners for Tomorrow, both held in June 2006.