Michael Nicholas 16’s journey from an undecided college first-year student to a senior planner in the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development is a story of academic exploration, dedicated mentorship, and a passion for urban planning and climate resiliency.
Member of Adelphi University’s 10 Under 10
College of Arts and Sciences, Department of English
Senior Resiliency Planner, New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development
Nicholas’s decision to attend Adelphi University was heavily influenced by his acceptance into the Honors College, which allowed him to explore multiple disciplines and ultimately discover his calling.
“The core curriculum and small class sizes were very appealing to me as someone who entered college without having decided what I wanted to do after graduating,” he said.
Two faculty members played pivotal roles in Nicholas’s intellectual development: Craig Carson, PhD, associate dean for academic affairs, and Nicole Rudolph, PhD, associate dean for student engagement. It was through conversations with Dr. Rudolph and a summer research project on urban planning in New York City under her guidance that Nicholas was introduced to the field. “As a senior, I took her Honors College seminar, ‘Domestic Politics: The Public Life of the Private Sphere,’ which solidified my interest,” he recalled. After graduating, Dr. Rudolph’s encouragement led him to pursue graduate school, setting the stage for his current career.
Dr. Carson’s influence was equally significant. “His classes in the literature department really prepared me to think critically and write effectively,” Nicholas said. He particularly remembered the impact of Dr. Carson’s 18th-century novel class. This passion for literature continued post graduation, with Nicholas contributing to various publications such as The Atlantic, The Baffler and the New York Review of Architecture.
Nicholas pursued a master’s in urban planning at CUNY Hunter College, where he gained practical experience through internships at the Regional Plan Association and Ascendant Neighborhood Development in East Harlem. He also worked as an Association of Neighborhood & Housing Development Morgan Stanley Community Development Fellow at Banana Kelly CIA in the Bronx. These experiences culminated in receiving the APA Outstanding Student Award at Hunter, leading to his first role in city government as an urban planner at the Office of the Manhattan Borough President.
Today, Nicholas is a senior planner on the Climate and Social Resiliency Planning & Policy team at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). His work involves reviewing proposals for affordable housing to ensure they meet HPD’s climate design standards, working on federally funded studies for city resiliency projects, and developing policies to ensure affordable housing can withstand current and future climate risks, including flooding and extreme heat.
“Getting to be a part of New York City’s planning efforts for climate change has been incredibly rewarding,” Nicholas said. Over the past year, his agency has updated design standards to account for future climate projections. “For example, we now use coastal flooding standards for the 2080s when developing new affordable housing and also account for stormwater flooding,” he explained. Implementing these requirements has been a significant achievement for Nicholas, as New York City leads the way in these standards.
Reflecting on his time at Adelphi, Nicholas said, “The education I got at Adelphi, and in particular in the Honors College, gave me the skills to pursue anything I wanted to after graduating.” The rigorous Honors College classes prepared him to succeed in a master’s program in a discipline other than English, his undergraduate major.
Nicholas’s advice to current students and new graduates is to explore classes outside of their major or anticipated career path: “You never know what might spark another interest or influence you in some way down the line.”