About Us

Chicago Studies

Chicago Studies makes it easier for the University of Chicago College to forge genuine bonds with our amazing city. They offer O-Week and Welcome Week programming, sponsor classes and city-based research initiatives, and share resources to help you be more than a visitor while you're here, so you can better understand (and have a positive impact on) your new home.

Parker Otto

Parker Otto is the Senior Project Manager and founder of the Chicago Urban Heritage Project. He also serves as the Graduate Research Coordinator for the Chicago Studies Program and is working on his master's in city planning at the University of Pennsylvania. The underlying code and computational workflow that makes the Chicago Urban Heritage Project possible was developed by him in May of 2024 as part of the GIScience Practicum course at the University of Chicago and refined over his time as the inaugural Herbert Zarr Post-Baccalaureate Fellow in GIS with the University of Chicago Library's Center for Digital Scholarship.

Chris Skrable

Chris Skrable is the inaugural Executive Director of Chicago Studies and Experiential Learning and Assistant Dean of the College. In that capacity, he works to co-create respectful academic projects and partnerships that help the College learn from and with the communities of the city in which it makes its home.

Student Workers

The Chicago Urban Heritage Project would not be possible without the efforts of its outstanding student research assistants.

Active Cohort (Summer 2026)

Assistant Project Manager: Sophia Liu
Student Researchers: Yixin Chen, Sergio Marquez, Sebastian Altomare, Ezra Ellenbogen, Thomas Sang, Juliana Dick.

Partners

Dr. Emily Talen's Urbanism Lab
Dr. Emily Talen's Historical Preservation Class
Summer Institute in Social Research Methods (SISRM)

Alumni

Alex Arnell (Summer '25 - Spring '26)
Ana Estupinan (Spring '25 - Spring '26)
Hannah Chen (Spring '25)
Nick Emerton (Winter '26 - Spring '26)
Griggs Fuller (Spring '25 - Winter '26)
Nathalie Lam (Summer '25)
Ella Montgomery (Summer '25)
Elena Osse (Summer '25 - Fall '25)
Dave Rotblatt (Spring '25 - Summer '25)
Shiv Shamdasani (Summer '25)
Micah Sheinberg (Summer '25)

Inaugural Cohort (Spring 2025):

Dave Rotblatt, Griggs Fuller, Hannah Chen, Sophia Liu, Yixin Chen, Ana Estupinan.

UChicago Library Center for Digital Scholarship

This website was designed with help from the Center for Digital Scholarship with special thanks to Digital Scholarship Librarian, Taylor Faires. The Center for Digital Scholarship is a resource hub for digital methods in research and learning. They provide consultations and services on digital projects, data, and research dissemination.