Julie Arbit

Julie Arbit serves as a research specialist for the Center for Social Solutions. She works on all phases of community-centered and data-driven projects, including cursory research, data collection and analysis, and final products. Julie also helps with coordination of research and team members both within the CSS research team, and more broadly. Having completed her master’s in Environmental Policy in Planning at UM in 2021, Julie’s research centers on pursuing equity in systems governing food, water, housing, and more. These interests stem from undergraduate and graduate research experience with rural development, alternative food systems, geospatial modeling, and urban stormwater design. She further expanded into the intersection of data-centric research and community partnerships through an internship with the Great Lakes Observing System, and a fellowship with the Midwest Big Data Hub where she focused on ecosystem services and environmental justice along the Rouge River in Detroit. In her time away from work, Julie is an avid bridge player, volunteers for multiple organizations in differently-abled and access-restricted communities, and is pursuing dreams of small-scale homesteading.