Scholarship | Olmsted Scholars Program
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Showing 77 Results for 2016
- Azzurra Cox grew up in Florence, Italy, and Charlottesville, Virginia, which gave her a deep appreciation of vastly different notions of landscape. Now in her final semester of the MLA program at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, Azzurra is interested in the power of landscapes to shape collective narratives; and in landscape architecture as an engaged, political discipline. She has researched the links between landscape, politics, and culture in multiple contexts, including the Lake Titicaca watershed and post‐industrial American cities, and aspires to expand the narratives that designers consider part of the conversation. After completing her B.A. in social studies at Harvard College, Azzurra’s professional experiences included behavioral‐economics research in Chennai, India; education‐reform grantmaking at Carnegie Corporation of New York; and editorial work at The New Press. She hopes to continue working across disciplines to design powerful spatial experiences, encourage environmental stewardship, and foster meaningful engagement with a place and fellow citizens.
2016 National Olmsted Scholar
Azzurra Cox
Harvard Graduate School of Design
MLA Candidate Casey Howard’s interests are deeply rooted in environmental values which drive her work and span a broad series of topics related to environmental justice, biodiversity, environmental education and restoration. She volunteered as a project manager for the University of Oregon’s Center for the Advancement in Sustainable Living (CASL) where she was responsible for the budget, fundraising, volunteer coordination, and hands on construction. Her skills evolved further as the leader of the winning team of the 2015 Biomimicry Global Design Challenge for which she led the research, design, and communications as the only undergraduate. Casey is continuing her involvement in the competition’s next phase, during which she will consult with professionals in related fields to complete a working prototype and business model. She plans to continue her work in innovative design and further her education in environmental studies in order to broaden her knowledge of educational landscapes.
2016 National Olmsted Scholar
Casey Howard
University of Oregon
BLA CandidateJorge ‘Coco’ Alarcon is a co-founder of the Informal Urban Communities Initiative (IUCI), an MLA candidate at the University of Washington, and has 10+ years of experience leading design, construction and research of architectural and landscape architectural projects in neglected communities with a community-participatory approach. His current projects include designing for urban resilience to climate change, fog water farms in Lima, Peru, and research on how landscape architectural interventions can impact human and ecological health including addressing water quality, vector-borne diseases, nutrition and mental health and wellbeing. Coco is currently exploring relationships between landscape architecture and vector-borne diseases for his thesis, as well as implementing a project in the floating communities of Iquitos, a city in the Peruvian Amazon. His long-term goals are the promotion of research, design and activism in landscape architecture, specifically within developing countries in Latin America and globally.
2016 National Olmsted Scholar Finalist
Jorge Alarcón
University of Washington
MLA CandidateKate is in her final semester of the Bachelors in Landscape Architecture program at SUNY-ESF. Studio projects have included “hope+certainty”, strategies for biodiversity in blighted communities, and “work+spectacle”, bringing events and creating a working landscape at a historic site. She led the Red Cup Project in picking 17,500 party cups off of university neighborhood streets. Her off-campus thesis focused on the dynamics of an innovative school being developed by an international artist in a favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Current studio work in Jackson, MS engages DIY urbanism with the urban forest to transform a corridor. She looks forward to working in Ithaca, NY with a progressive group of landscape architects. Favorite past times include hiking to waterfalls, gardening, exhibition planning, watching independent movies, and picking up trash to create public art.
2016 National Olmsted Scholar Finalist
Kathryn Chesebrough
State University of New York
BLA CandidateAn ardent student of the humanities in his early years, David Duperault has worked in residential construction for more than a decade. He recently followed his passion for sustainable design, community involvement, and inspirational places to pursue a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture. Prior to his return to school, David worked with community development organizations and with Habitat for Humanity as a project manager, teaching building skills and working alongside community members to produce quality affordable housing. He has continued to find opportunities to work at the grassroots level while in school, as well as to contribute his knowledge and experience in support of younger students in the program with him. Upon graduation, David intends to work toward professional registration, with an eye toward an advanced degree in the future and a continuing role as an educator in the field of landscape architecture.
2016 National Olmsted Scholar Finalist
David Duperault
North Carolina A&T State University
BSLA CandidateAn MLA student at Boston Architectural College, Olivia Fragale is interested in how landscape planning and ecological systems can influence the design of space. Her previous studies in environmental science and ecology at the University of Vermont have led her to try to further understand the landscape by investigating how patterns in and on the land can reveal opportunities for landscape interventions and her work in cataloging ant species through a comprehensive series of field expeditions in the Western Providence of South Africa, enabled her to highlight the ecosystem benefitsof biodiversity. Her interest in biomimicry technology has led her to explore living wastewater design interventions. She believes that these systems offer a transformative approach linking humans with the regenerative capacity of natural systems. Olivia hopes to continue to broaden her understanding of the synthesis of applied ecology and applied art as a means to bridge science and the design professions. She believes landscape architecture can help to facilitate the creation of mutually beneficial habitats for both humans and all biotic species.
2016 National Olmsted Scholar Finalist
Olivia Fragale
Boston Architectural College
MLA CandidateLyna Nget will be graduating from the University of Washington with a BLA and three minors in architecture, environmental studies, and urban design & planning. She aspires to create therapeutic, inclusive, and resilient places that creatively address the issues of human and environmental health. She believes that landscape architecture is uniquely positioned to advocate for and address deeply entrenched and ignored issues of social justice, inequity and evolving demographics through the creation of places. For her future research and career goal, she wants to focus on evidence-based design for vulnerable populations – to design for, empower, and create accessible places for those suffering from mental, physical, and social health disabilities.
2016 National Olmsted Scholar Finalist
Lyna Nget
University of Washington
BLA CandidateEllen Oettinger White is a landscape designer, certified planner, transportation planner, and GIS analyst, with an interest in transportation infrastructure. Her work combines macro-scale analysis, landscape history, ecology, and design. While at Rutgers, Ellen has used research grants to explore green infrastructure implementation, document road history in the Appalachian Mountains, and conduct research on the built environment implications of connected and autonomous vehicles. Prior to her MLA studies, Ellen received a master’s in urban planning from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and worked as a transportation planner, helping communities design better transit systems and streets. Ellen is a member of the Transportation Research Board’s Landscape and Environmental Design Committee.
2016 National Olmsted Scholar Finalist
Ellen Oettinger White
Rutgers University
MLA CandidateGrowing up, Michael Abate was fascinated with architectural design and the built environment. As he grew, his interest in design combined with a love for the outdoors. Initially his studies in high-school focused around the built environment. Landscape design was presented as another route to travel that he decided to pursue because he saw it as a vehicle to directly impact people’s lives on a day-to-day basis. Michael is currently a senior at The University of Massachusetts where he serves as vice president for the UMass Chapter of the Boston Society of Landscape Architects. He is currently working towards obtaining his LEED Green Associate credential. Some of his long-term career goals include attending graduate school, becoming a licensed landscape architect, and one day becoming a Fellow of ASLA. His other interests include football, baseball, fishing, kayaking, fitness, and music.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Michael Abate
University of Massachusetts Amherst
BSLA CandidateKeni Althouse is completing her MLA at Utah State University. She holds a BS degree in Residential Landscape Design and Construction also from USU. Her background in residential design has guided much of her interest in utilizing permaculture theory within the design process. At USU, she taught juniors in the BLA program for two consecutive years about permaculture design theory and the importance of integrating its practices for a sustainable outcome. Keni hopes to make a contribution to the field of landscape architecture by helping existing and future communities integrate local agriculture and sustainable growing practices into everyday life. She believes local agriculture and cultivation can provide communities with economic growth, healthy social interaction, therapeutic recovery, teaching opportunities, and instill a love and appreciation for nature and all that it offers. Following graduation, Keni will continue her advocacy for permaculture design theory through her work within the private design sector.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Keni Althouse
Utah State University
MLA CandidateJeremy Auer was born and raised in the greater Seattle area. Growing up, he was never far from nature, or far from the urban fabric of our cities. This instilled in him a love of nature and the natural world that was fed by his experiences in his high school’s horticulture program, where he was first introduced to the landscape architecture and found his passion. Serving as a student ambassador for his university and as president of his student chapter of ASLA have helped him expand his horizons and shown him how the field can shape the world around us.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Jeremy Auer
Washington State University
BLA CandidateBridget Ayers Looby is completing her final year of the MLA program at the University of Minnesota and holds a BA in Portuguese and Spanish. Her previous work in language and culture has led Bridget to believe that an immersive experience is the most effective way to learn and collaborate, and she carries this forward in her design ethic. With this focus, she has led teams to indigenous communities in Peru, Washington, and Minnesota, collaborating on locally-led projects as catalysts for cultural exchange. She is also developing a design immersion experience for students to work with a Maasai community in Kenya. Through her capstone project, Bridget is currently designing a dynamic, educational, immersive public realm within a wastewater treatment plant to cultivate a new relationship with critical infrastructure.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Bridget Ayers Looby
University of Minnesota
MLA CandidateHannah Barefoot is pursuing an MLA degree at the University of Virginia from which she holds a bachelor’s degree with high honors in studio art and english. Her background in printmaking and sculpture has informed her thesis work on the function of aesthetics and groundcover. Her research involves investigating the integral role of flowers as cultural and aesthetic associations within the landscape. In addition to her thesis work, Hannah is involved in an ongoing project cataloging American southeastern rural counties which led her to participate in an in-depth study of Alamance County, NC during the summer of 2015. She looks forward to working and living in North Carolina after school; planting flowers and advocating for particular, intimate and just design for the rural environment.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Hannah Barefoot
University of Virginia
MLA CandidateMicaela Bazo is an MLA candidate at the University of California, Berkeley. She is interested in process-oriented designs for playful, culturally rich and ecologically robust environments. Micaela’s award-winning projectsinclude a sand-quarrying/water-harvesting development scheme for a community in Singapore; a participatory design project for a play area in rural Peru; and a university campus in California. Prior to graduate school, Micaela worked at a waste/water engineering firm and received a BA in Urban Studies from Vassar College. Micaela hopes to continue developing landscape-based strategies for coastal adaptation, particularly in the Pacific Rim.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Micaela Bazo
University of California, Berkeley
MLA CandidateBorn on the plains of Kansas and raised in the concrete jungle of Los Angeles, Melanie Bowerman is currently enjoying an adventure in the south as an MLA student at the University of Georgia. Her research is focused on permaculture and food forest design in urban public space. Prior to her graduate studies she received a BA in Art from UCLA, worked as an environmental educator and greywater systems installer, and ran her own edible landscaping company. She feels lucky to have also spent three months exploring all of the national parks west of the Mississippi and to have traveled and worked in many inspiring landscapes including Iceland, Australia and Jordan. Her most rewarding work has been the creation of edible gardens with her students and neighbors in South Central Los Angeles. After school, she hopes to work with municipalities to design and implement more public edible green spaces within urban areas.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Melanie Bowerman
University of Georgia
MLA CandidateDerek Brandt will soon complete his MLA degree from the University of Colorado Denver with a focus on ecology and social justice. After receiving his bachelor’s in environmental studies in 2009, he worked in landscape construction and maintenance where he honed his understanding of public spaces, and the potential that the built environment has to inspire users to reflect on elements of life that are bigger than themselves. His graduate studies have presented opportunities to work as a graduate assistant with The Big Sandbox of Philadelphia, researching green stormwater infrastructure specifically related to the City’s schoolyards. Most recently, he has cultivated a passion for community engaged design processes that utilize participatory research, collective impact models, and civic innovation to influence the field of landscape architecture.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Derek Brandt
University of Colorado Denver
MLA CandidateKate Cannon was first drawn to the field of landscape architecture by her admiration of art and nature. Along with her degree courses, Kate has enjoyed studying psychology and participating in extra-circular activities at Cal Poly. Her undergraduate accomplishments include being the director of the LAbash 2015 Planning Committee, an ambassador for the College of Architecture and Environmental Design, and a leader of Cal Poly’s student chapter of ASLA. She also has volunteered with local elementary schools and with rescued animals. For her senior project, Kate is retrofitting an abandoned zoo on Belle Isle Park in Detroit, MI. Her design is focused on conservation of Michigan native wildlife and immersive environmental education for residents of Detroit. Kate would like to pursue a graduate degree in environmental or comparative psychology and her long-term goal to is manage her own firm and/or become a college professor.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Kathryn "Kate" Cannon
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
BLA CandidateJonathan Cardenales-Rolón was born and raised in Aibonito, PuertoRico. He graduated from the Department of Drama at the University of Puerto Rico, where he was awarded the Alfonso Ramos Prize for his service, dedication, and contribution to the university’s theatrical arts program. Since that time, he has become one of the most sought after young actors on the island, accumulating experience in theatre, television, radio, and cinema. Influenced by his upbringing in the central mountains of Puerto Rico and wishing to bring his artistic talent to larger physical spaces and broader audiences, Jonathan subsequently entered the Graduate Program in Landscape Architecture at Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico. In his landscape architecture studio there, his designs have been influenced by the experiences of his youth, acting skills and his sensitivity to the design of human space in harmony with nature. Paying attention to the phenomenological aspectsof landscape, Jonathan hopes to improve his Caribbean context with a multidisciplinary approach.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Jonathan Cardenales
Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico
MLA CandidateJames Carroll is currently completing his final semester of the MLA program at the City College of New York. By pursuing a degree in landscape architecture, James feels he is combining his previous pursuits in horticulture and fine arts as well as his love of history. Through the William D. Rieley Fellowship in Virginia, he completed a historic landscape research document on the George Washington Masonic National Memorial for the Garden Club of Virginia. James believes landscapes have the opportunity to enrich the cultural heritage of communities, empowering the lives of those who live there. This belief has led him to his proposal to transform the farmhouse and grounds of Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. in Staten Island into a rich public space to promote the importance of landscape architecture and provide amenities to the surrounding neighborhood and city at large.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
James Carroll
City College of New York
MLA CandidateRy’yan Clark is a fourth year BLA student enrolled in the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture at Louisiana State University and pursuing a minor in horticulture. He currently is the RRSLA Student Chapter president-elect and believes that this opportunity will provide invaluable insight on leadership and organizational skills. He also is enrolled in the distinguished communicator program which is designed to improve student’s verbal, written, graphic, and technological abilities. He is interested in stormwater management, urban redevelopment and cultural patterns in the urban environment – interests which are heavily influenced by his early life in New Orleans. Living through devastation and learning through research the history of the impacts of storm events in the southeast region has forced him to realize how vital water management will be in defining the future of the region and the lives of the residents.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Ry'yan Clark
Louisiana State University
BLA CandidateRichard Conte is pursuing a BLA degree from the Stuckeman School at The Pennsylvania State University. Within five years he has developed a strong interest in urban design and how it can influence human convergence and contemplation. During his travels throughout Europe and Asia his knowledge base has matured into recognizing the importance of fostering the human and social benefits that design can offer. His explorations have directed him towards the urban fabric and how it coexists within the historical palimpsest. The urban plaza he designed in Köln, Germany functions to reveal the historical Roman city underneath the bustling city fabric, thus revealing Köln’s history and adding an image to this place. Throughout professional endeavors, he plans to utilize sustainable techniques to create contemplative spaces of historical importance that enhance social structure and promote human interaction.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Richard Conte
The Pennsylvania State University
BLA CandidateKearney Coupland is in her final year of the MLA program at the University of Guelph. Upon completing her undergraduate degree in international development studies she explored sustainable design across a breadth of scales and a variety of cultural contexts. Her on-the-ground experiences, combined with the theoretical skillset of a landscape architect, offer her a comprehensive understanding of what the future could look like if we empower people to design their future environments. The focus of her graduate research explores how landscape architects are contributing to the Public Interest Design Movement to make good design accessible. She believes that the profession of landscape architecture needs a formal strategy for making sustainable design and planning accessible to the public, regardless of their socioeconomic situation. She hopes to collaborate with firms and professionals to further promote a culture of public-interest design through sustainable landscape design and community empowerment.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Kearney Coupland
University of Guelph
MLA CandidateGarrett Craig-Lucas is in his final semester at Cornell University and will be graduating with a degree in landscape architecture and a minor in urban and regional studies. He believes in design that is multifunctional and grounded in place. An active member of the design community at Cornell, Garrett has served as president for the student chapter of ASLA and is a founding member of Medium Design Collective, a multi-dimensional platform that initiates dialogue among design disciplines at Cornell. Through ASLA and Medium, Garrett has launched publications to foster discourse around design thinking. His current research focuses on developing methods for the design of urban waterfront sites considering parameters defined by program and climate change, with Catskill, NY as the geographic constraint for testing these concepts. Through research and practice, he hopes to continue to address issues related to climate and identity along urban waterfronts.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Garrett Craig-Lucas
Cornell University
BSLA CandidateThackston Crandall is originally from Greenville, SC. He is currently a BLA candidate at Clemson University. Thackston’s education has included a fellowship at the Charles E. Daniel Center for Building Research and Urban Studies in Genoa, Italy as well as professional experience in Boston, MA. Both experiences instilled in him a newfound passion for the urban environment and urban-based projects. In his final semester at Clemson, he is completing a research and design based thesis titled “Disrupted Continuity: Sea Level Rise in Boston.” This final thesis is a culmination of multiple interests and aims to not only mitigate flooding related to sea level rise but also allow for education and visualization of sea level rise through the creation of didactic landscapes. Upon graduation Thackston will continue his research and studies next fall by pursuing an MLA from Cornell University.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Thackston Crandall
Clemson University
BLA CandidateBorn and raised on the shores of Lake Michigan, Hannah Cusick has always had a connection to nature and its interaction with the built environment. This connection, between man and nature, has driven her studies at the University of Illinois Urbana‐Champaign, where she will receive her BLA this May. Upon graduating, Hannah will attend the Harvard Graduate School of Design in August. There, she will continue to explore this connection she has experienced throughout her life and attribute it to her work. The idea that the landscape is always changing is one that drives Hannah to constantly be in a position to learn. Albert Einstein said, “Once you stop learning, you start dying.” Learning is paramount in advancing the profession. Hannah hopes to drive the profession forward by teaching, practicing, and ultimately become a leader and voice of landscape architecture in the years to come.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Hannah Cusick
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
BLA CandidateJose Devora is currently pursuing a BSLA from Cal Poly Pomona. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. His curiosity about landscape architecture emerged from this heterogeneous urban landscape. As a designer he is interested in looking beyond traditonal methodologies of landscape architecture in search of new opportunities within the discipline. This has allowed him to develop a speculative design approach that is concerned with linking issues of culture, ecology, economics, politics, and technology as a means for a more sustainable future. Jose aspires to become a future researcher and professor.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Jose Devora
Cal Poly Pomona
BSLA CandidateYi Ding is currently enrolled in the BSLA program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she is also pursuing an art certificate. She is from Qingdao, a seaside city in the northeast of China. Yi incorporates her interest in art into the landscapes that she designs. She has been inspired by her independent study in environmental psychological and biophilic design, and hopes that her future work will enable her to strengthen the bond between people and nature. After graduating she plans to work for a non-profit organization promoting the enhancement of these integral relationships.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Yi Ding
University of Wisconsin, Madison
BSLA CandidateD. Scott Douglas is an MLA candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Hereceived his BLA from the University of Georgia and has 15 years of practice experience as a landscape architect. His pursuit of an MLA degree is fueled by his desire to become a professor and train the next generation of landscape architects. His research interests focus on productive landscapes and the relationships between design and the long-term maintenance of projects. He is a member of the UIUC Landscape Architecture department’s Student Advisory Committee and a student member of a university-wide Sustainability Working Advisory Team (SWATeam) for water and stormwater management. Thewater/stormwater SWATeam is one of six teams developing plans for making the UIUC campus carbon neutral by the year 2050. He also served as a research assistant in the 2015 Landscape Architecture Foundation Case Study Investigation program.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
David Scott Douglas
University of Illinois
MLA CandidateLee Eubank received his MLA in December 2015 from the University of Arizona. His graduate work focused on resilient design in urban areas. Highlighted projects presented to stakeholders include: a stormwater management plan for the Rillito Bend Neighborhood; an EPA Campus Rainworks Challenge submission for the University of Arizona’s Science Concourse; and a downtown revitalization project for the city of Tucson. His Master’s Report focused on a campus design that emphasized green infrastructure, multi-functional outdoor spaces, and pedestrian circulation. Lee served on the student council as the first-year representative, secretary, and interim-president; co-directed a student design group that helped secure funding for a track and soccer field at a local elementary school; and worked at a non-profit organization that designed and installed community water harvesting projects. As a landscape architect, he would like to advance resilient planning and design on an academic campus or botanical garden.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Lee Eubank
University of Arizona
MLA CandidateMolly Fancler is in her final year of the Master of Landscape Architecture + Urbanism program at the University of Southern California. Molly has a background in geography and environmental studies and works to combine environmental systems thinking with experiential design. She has worked across scales on landscape and urban design projects in Los Angeles and abroad. Her work focuses on alternative mobility and the integration of infrastructure and public space in the urban environment. Her final year design‐research thesis project addresses agricultural waste in California’s San Joaquin Valley where she proposes an integrated system of compost facilities and public open space along the existing railroad lines so that agricultural waste and previously unapproachable waste topographies can be utilized as both agricultural and public resources.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Molly Fancler
University of Southern California
MLA CandidateFangzhou Miao is a third-year graduate student of landscape architecture and a graduate assistant for both teaching and research at Iowa State University. He has a bachelor’s degree in landscape Aachitecture from Inner Mongolia Agricultural University in China. Fangzhou grew up in Wuhai China, a small town known for calligraphy and grapes. He is interested in how sustainable landscapes improves quality of life, and how green infrastructure facilitates energy flow in cities. Fangzhou is passionate about how landscape architecture inspires people, and provides the world with more possibilities. He believes traveling and exploring are the best ways of learning and experiencing the landscape and discovering the source of its creation. In the future he would like to return to China and improve the living environment in his hometown.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Miao Fangzhou
Iowa State University
MLA CandidateMariel Fink is currently pursuing her BSLA with Honors Research Distinction. Beginning with a foundation of specialized studies in science and mathematics, she was initially attracted to landscape architecture’s versatility in encompassing social, performative, and visual functions. From her academic studies, involvement within the culturally diverse community of Del Paso Heights in California, and research of sacred and memorial landscapes in Cambodia she developed an interest in dissolving the dichotomy between aesthetic success and communal and ecological performance, maintaining that landscape design efforts should express equally humanitarian and ecological perspectives. Her experiences as an educator at the GEO Academy, an intern at Landworks, and president of OSU’s SCASLA have framed her approach to landscape architecture at the intersection of practice and engagement. She aspires to maintain her habits of leadership by continuing to approach landscape architecture as a bridge between humanitarian and aesthetic necessities.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Mariel Fink
The Ohio State University
BSLA CandidateEmily Finley is currently pursuing a BLA from Mississippi State University, with plans to graduate in May 2016. She has completed two internships, one with Lambert’s Landscaping Company in Dallas, Texas and one at JBHM Architects in Tupelo, Mississippi. Emily grew up in the deep south of the United States where she saw great need for the development and growth of rural communities. She believes that by implementing sustainable ecological systems, fostering economic growth, and providing healthy, active lifestyle infrastructure, landscape architecture can be the driving force that revitalizes communities in the rural south. Emily intends to advance in her career toward specializing as a consultant for revitalization in communities throughout the southern United States to improve societal health and resilience through the discipline and art of landscape architecture.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Susan "Emily" Finley
Mississippi State University
BLA CandidateAnezka Gocova is in her final year of the MLA program at University of British Columbia, having previously obtained a professional planning degree from the University of Waterloo where she specialized in urban design and geographical information systems. Her research and explorations have focused on urban issues, including food access, and rainwater management. More recently she has taken an interest in transformative education. She believes that a landscape architect can function not only as a designer of systems which improve social, economic and environmental conditions, but also as a storyteller imprinting landscapes with a narrative which entices the public to become better stewards of the environment. Her eclectic work experience (ranging from graphic communication for a not-for-profit environmental journal, to field studies and a subsequent project on urban agriculture in Cuba, to her Vancouver’s Greenest City Scholar project) has deepened her belief in the capacity of well-designed, audience-oriented communication to change perspectives, convictions and eventually actions.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Anezka Gocova
University of British Columbia
MLA CandidateRaised in Hampton Roads, Virginia, Carter Gresham is fascinated with the diverse mix of people in the area, both visitors and locals, military and original families. Their diverse stories create his memory of home, and inspired him to study landscape architecture. His understanding of place has informed his current work which focuses on first developing an understanding of a city or community, then building on that vocabulary to continue the narrative set forth by the place. After graduation in May of 2016, he plans on pursuing work in urban design where he would like to effect change in how citizens view and experience their cities. When he is not designing, he can be found running along any trail he can find; glued to CNN election coverage; or sitting in the sand at the edge of the Atlantic, wondering where he wants to go next.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Carter Gresham
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
BLA CandidateJinhee Ha is an MLA candidate at Cornell University. She holds a BA from Carleton College, where she became interested in storytelling and narratives through artifacts and materials. After her undergraduate studies in history and studio art, she worked in exhibit preparation, installation, and design at the Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum in southwest Colorado. Jinhee’s current work explores how history, local knowledge, and community vernaculars can be synthesized with ecological principles to design beautiful, ephemeral and productive landscapes. She has also led and developed Design Teach, a youth outreach program introducing local students to landscape architecture, in Ithaca, New York and organized Landscape Architects Address Equity & Identity, a student group examining and reflecting on design work that acknowledges identity, ethics, and culture. Professionally, Jinhee aspires to practice research-based landscape architecture and collaborate through public engagement, fieldwork, exploratory representation, and fabrication.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Jinhee Ha
Cornell University
MLA CandidateMolly Hendry is currently completing her MLA at Auburn University. She fell in love with the landscape as a child exploring the piney woods of her home in rural Alabama. This childhood love of the natural world led her to study horticulture at Auburn, where she had the opportunity to travel to many gardens across the U.S. and Europe. Inspired by these experiences, her graduate research has centered on reestablishing the garden as a valuable part of the profession. In a culture which seeks convenience and efficiency, she believes the garden is an important individual expression and connection to place. Molly’s research advocates that the garden is poised to become a vital facet of sustainability by capturing the hearts and imaginations of people. Molly is hopeful her understanding of how people intersect with their environment can continue to inform her design decisions on all scales of practice.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Molly Hendry
Auburn University
MLA CandidateElise Hunchuck is a philosopher and researcher training as a landscape architect whose work focuses on bringing together fieldwork and design in collaborative practices in order to facilitate cross-disciplinary exchanges of representational methods and research methodologies. Her site-specific research questions notions of agency, research, and information, all the while insisting that open access, multivalent knowledge exchanges are critical in establishing an understanding of environmental design as an ongoing project, not limited to the aftermath of emergency.
She is currently based in Toronto, Canada, where she is completing her thesis in the MLA program at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, University of Toronto.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Elise Hunchuck
University of Toronto
MLA CandidateKim Jacobs’ unique upbringing in post-apartheid South Africa instilled in her an unfailing determination to create a world in which all people, regardless of social status, gender, or skin color, have equal access to beautiful landscapes. At a young age, she dedicated herself to making a difference in the world, creating lasting impacts, and enacting widespread social changes. She believes that beautiful green spaces and defensible school and housing environments hold the power to dramatically change lives. Her research on the effects of green space on academic performance as well as her field experience working with underserved communities in West Baltimore have inspired her to explore affordable housing design. She plans to lead the way in the field toward a deeper understanding of the importance of green space on all aspects of human health and wellbeing, and expanding landscape services to all humans alike.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Kim Jacobs
University of Maryland, College Park
BLA CandidateAustin Javellana is a BLA candidate at Iowa State University with a minor in general business. His work is focused on meeting the needs of people at the local scale and how the materiality, form, and organization of landscape enhances environmental health and culture. Passionate about service and philanthropy, Austin raised over $444,000 for a local children’s hospital as executive director of Iowa State’s largest student-run philanthropy effort and was a design/build intern at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women, receiving the 2015 ASLA Award of Excellence in Community Service for the project. Upon graduation, Austin will begin his professional career as a designer for Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. in Brooklyn, New York. He hopes to one day teach and practice with students to explore how landscape architecture may influence local economies, culture, and form.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Austin Javellana
Iowa State University
BLA CandidateGisele Kennedy is a third-year landscape architecture student at Morgan State University. She has a keen interest in sustainable design, which has led to her involvement in a number of initiatives. She spearheaded the 2015 AIA B-More Resilient Rowhouse Competition; helped implement Parking Day 2015; and authored an article on the sustainable design of a new building at Morgan State which was included in the first edition of the Maryland ASLA fieldbook, co-leading a tour of the facility for local students. She is a strong proponent of the use of best management practices and the development of environmental justice policy to deliver exceptional design solutions in urban spaces. Gisele’s ideology centers on the recognition of how social DNA, movement and space sharing impact design.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Gisele Kennedy
Morgan State University
MLA CandidateBeth Krehbiel is pursuing her MLA from Kansas State University and is currently a graduate teaching assistant in the program’s site design studio. She holds a BA in history and philosophy & religion from McPherson College, a small liberal arts college in the Midwest. She recently completed internships with Fletemeyer & Lee Associates in Niwot, Colorado and the Aggieville Business Association in Manhattan, Kansas. Drawing on her experience volunteering internationally and working cross-culturally, she intends to pursue work that specifically engages memory and identity in communities to gain greater insight into the role landscape architecture might bring to creative acts of conflict resolution. She believes that the skills and sensitivities honed in the practice of landscape architecture have a place atoning for disconnects between people and the landscape through adapted ethnographic methods of inquiry, mapping, and design in places of conflict.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Beth Krehbiel
Kansas State University
MLA CandidateShannon Loewen is a graduate student in landscape architecture at the University of Manitoba, where she also completed her undergraduate degree in environmental design specializing in landscape and urbanism. She grew up in southern Manitoba on a family farm where the landscape still bears the distinct traces of dill production generations ago. Her upbringing in a species rich environment fostered a love for the structural qualities of planting materials, as well as their limitations. This body of thought is reflected through her recent contributions to a national standard of plants and living materials. Her future work will focus on growing the national standard to include regional aspects that discuss detailed lists of local species and their present growing environments. Shannon has worked as a teaching assistant at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and is currently working to capture an oral history of landscape architecture in Manitoba.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Shannon Loewen
University of Manitoba
MLA CandidateRachelle McKnight spent her formative years in Kentucky, creek splashing and horseback riding in the hills and forests of the rural south. After spending a number of years working as a scenic artist in New York City, she decided to pursue a career in landscape architecture, where she combines her creative abilities with scientific inquiry and ecological systems planning. She became fascinated with wildlife corridors and habitat connectivity early in her graduate career – an exploration which eventually led her to Bulgaria, where she spent months conducting a home range and habitat survey of a herd of rewilded Konik horses in the Eastern Rhodope mountains. She hopes to take her equine and botanical expertise to the American west, where she will work with researchers to understand how wild horse populations and livestock utilize these vast landscapes, in an effort to reconcile the needs of wildlife with those of ranchers and public land managers.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Rachelle McKnight
State University of New York
MLA CandidateSana Mirza is a first generation, Pakistani-American, completing the MLA program at Clemson University. Her upbringing has greatly influenced her design and research interests. Through her designs, Sana aims to bridge the gap between socioeconomic and environmental disparities in marginalized communities. Sana worked on the development of a food hub in a resource-poor setting in Greenville, SC by partnering with a local non-profit. Through the partnership, she aimed to improve the local food system through community participation and on-site community gardens at local gas stations. These gas station community gardens were designed to increase access to healthy and culturally-appropriate food choices within convenience stores across the city. Sana plans to continue her professional development, applying interdisciplinary research and civic participation to design solutions so that they may become a catalyst for social change.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Sana Mirza
Clemson University
MLA CandidateAmina Mohamed is a dual-degree landscape architecture and community planning master’s candidate at the University of Maryland, College Park. She received her BLA in 2012: her senior capstone project examined food deserts in Washington, D.C. Her graduate work focuses on social and environmental issues ranging from sea-level rise to urban vacancy. She has presented collaborative works at three conferences since 2013. In 2014, she was a member of the 1st place team for the Urban Land Institute’s Hines Competition. She has experience as a teaching assistant and as a research assistant, examining youth perceptions of local watersheds. Her master’s thesis examines how urban vacancy is defined and manifests in the urban landscape. She is currently developing a method of reclassifying and spatially identifying patterns of vacancy found in Baltimore, Maryland. Amina hopes to continue her research, working with local partners in Baltimore.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Amina Mohamed
University of Maryland
MLA/MCP CandidateHannah Moll is an undergraduate in the Honors program at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas. Her background includes set design, carpentry, photography, painting, horticulture and volunteer work. She believes that landscape architecture brings together these interrelated fields through the composition of sustainable working landscapes. As president of the University of Arkansas ASLA Student Chapter, she strives to connect many disciplines on campus and in organizations throughout Fayetteville through service projects that directly affect the greater community. These service projects educate the public about the growing scope and future of landscape architecture. In future, she hopes to use her leadership skills and environmental design knowledge to promote and protect the vital symbiosis between people and nature.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Hannah Moll
University of Arkansas
BLA CandidateLeslie Moma is completing her MLA at Mississippi State University. She recently held an internship in the Community Development Office at the City of Starkville, MS. Previously, she received a BA in environmental studies from Winthrop University minoring in Art History. At present, she is abroad studying urbanism at Amsterdam University of the Arts.
Through her service on local boards and commissions, Leslie has seen first-hand the societal benefits derived from community problem solving. Her thesis work on the City Biodiversity Index has honed her belief that cities should serve both nature and people, and she feels that community focused activities can solve ecological issues currently affecting the health and well-being of local communities. She hopes to continue working at the local level where she can apply her knowledge of urban ecology and skills in landscape architecture to solve complex urban problems.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Leslie Moma
Mississippi State University
MLA CandidateInspired by her passion for studying native plant communities and restoring and re-purposing degraded landscapes, Caitlin Morrissey is pursuing an MLA degree with a focus in ecological restoration at Temple University’s School of Environmental Design. She obtained a BA in biology with a focus on ecology from Washington & Jefferson College. At Temple, Caitlin has been intricately involved in the Society for Ecological Restoration student group. She serves as the president of the club, which takes on hands-on restoration projects on campus, organizes trips to restoration sites, and hosts networking events. For her capstone project, Caitlin is exploring how to build upon the current body of research surrounding utility right-of-way management. She is applying this knowledge to restore and knit together the fragmented landscape at Shenks Ferry Wildflower Preserve, which is bisected by powerlines that threaten the site’s special ecology.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Caitlin Morrissey
Temple University
MLA CandidateJeremy Munns is in his final year of the MLA program at Cal Poly Pomona. He has a BA in advertising and worked in educational publishing for nearly a decade. His decision to shift careers was prompted by a growing passion for ecological design, watershed health, and the desire to take his talents beyond the printed page to create a lasting, positive impact on the physical world. He has interned for several government agencies, assisting with revitalization efforts along the Los Angeles and San Gabriel rivers, open space preservation, and urban greening. His MLA capstone project is testing the potential of participatory design/build in disadvantaged neighborhoods to act as a catalyst for more equitable urban river revitalization planning. Professionally, he hopes to continue to work in the public sector, pursuing design solutions that deliver mutualistic benefits for vulnerable human and ecological communities.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Jeremy Munns
Cal Poly Pomona
MLA CandidateCody Myers is from Macungie, PA. He is currently a student at Philadelphia University where he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture. Once he has completed his studies, he intends to work on the sustainable design of urban communities. In particular, he would like to focus his efforts on Allentown, PA where citizens and local government are working to revitalize the city.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Cody Myers
Philadelphia University
BLA CandidateSarah Newton is in her second year of a three-year MLA program at the University of Tennessee. She holds a B.S. degree in Biology from Elon University where she conducted plant ecology research in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. After completing her undergraduate education, she taught AP biology and environmental studies, which allowed her to explore the landscape through local projects relating to watershed awareness, biodiversity, and food production. During her graduate experience, Sarah has evolved this understanding of systems-based thinking and is pursuing research on water quality, biodiversity and agriculture. With the quantity of cattle farms in Tennessee, her focus has been on protecting the water resources on which this type of farming depends. In her career, she hopes to promote healthy ecological systems that are fully integrated with the cultures and societies that depend on them.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Sarah Newton
University of Tennessee
MLA CandidateKeegan Oneal is an MLA candidate at the University of Oregon. He holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from U.C. San Diego and spent several years working for the International Rescue Committee on food security and community health initiatives for refugees. Keegan has worked extensively with urban agriculture and food justice organizations, spearheading San Diego’s first high school garden-to-cafeteria programs. His interests in the practice of landscape architecture lie at the interface between urban design, green infrastructure, and social justice. As a graduate student, Keegan has led community design projects, taught an original course entitled Design Activism, and served as ASLA chapter president. Guided by the belief that good design is the synthesis of local and professional knowledge, his current research centers on participatory design and the application of a human-centered approach to public space development. Keegan hopes to craft landscapes that reconcile social function with ecological necessity as a practicing professional.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Keegan Oneal
University of Oregon
MLA CandidateBriana Outlaw is completing her MLA degree at North Carolina State University. She received a BA in environmental design in architecture and a BArch from NC State. Her background in architecture and travels to Europe and Africa have shaped her thinking, and led her to explore the interrelationships between people and their environment, and how these relationships influence the sustainability of natural and cultural systems in landscape architecture. She is an award winner, and president of the student chapter of ASLA at her school. Briana is currently engaged in a graduate research and design project that focuses on investigating how to preserve the cultural integrity of communities that have been impacted by population change in such a way that it prevents displacement and supports place-based socio-cultural ecosystems.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Briana Outlaw
North Carolina State University
MLA CandidateA student at Purdue University, Jordan Pawlik is working to complete her studies in landscape architecture. In her design work, she strives to tackle current issues, illustrated by her capstone project which examines the decline of pollinator species, and works to develop guidelines to help design and restore healthy habitats. Jordan enjoys problem solving and has applied her efforts to topics which include energy harvesting technologies, storm water management, and the psychology of healthy play and living. She is excited to take the leadership and teamwork skills she has developed through her studies and collegiate soccer, and apply them in the profession. To Jordan, being a landscape architect entails being a critical thinker who can provide creative solutions that will not only solve a problem, but also benefit the current user, the environment, and future generations.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Jordan Pawlik
Purdue University
BSLA CandidateAlex Pisha is in his final year of the MLA and MCRP programs at The Ohio State University. His experience working in design firms in Germany and fieldwork in Kraków and Rome have intensified his interest in sites composed of obscured cultural and ecological histories which present opportunities to reveal layers of cultural, social, and environmental conditions. He believes landscape architects can bring attention to changing environmental conditions through a clearer understanding of the user as co-producer and co-manager of the landscape. His current research and design work is situated in Rome at Monte Testaccio where his proposed intervention reveals the site’s unnatural nature by expressing the layers of vital material, dynamic history, and continual transformation that define an ancient landfill. Alex also holds his BArch from the University of Tennessee.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
William "Alex" Pisha
The Ohio State University
MLA/MCRP CandidateMolly Plummer is pursuing an MLA degree from University of Texas at Arlington. She holds a BA degree from University of Colorado with a double major in printmaking and art history. As the current vice president of the Student ASLA chapter and a 2015 Myrick Scholar, Molly endeavors to be a strong voice throughout the student design community. Her design priority is to facilitate environmental justice, creating green spaces in metropolitan settings by taking advantage of the latest research on bioregionalism and best ecological and environmental practices. She currently is active in research, determining the suitability of plant species for the creation of native plant polycultures that will persist over time and provide a balance of aesthetic, environmental, and ecological services. Her goal is to be an advocate for green infrastructure in urban communities and to design landscapes that foster environmental justice and societal health.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Molly Plummer
University of Texas at Arlington
MLA CandidateGrowing up in a Southern Ontario farming community, Miriam Porter was captivated by nature and ecological processes. With a passion for design with nature, Miriam graduated from a landscape design diploma program in 2014. She is currently completing a BLA at the University of Guelph. Miriam’s schooling and work experience has enhanced her understanding of the importance of a healthy environment for quality of life within the urban environment. Her thesis work is focused on how design can affect urban populations’ happiness, and on how spatial surroundings affect individuals at a cognitive level. Miriam plans to continue her research through an MLA, focusing on mental, physical, and social well-being. Her future research will bring understanding to how the human brain perceives space at psychological and cognitive levels. Miriam plans to build a career on advocating for design of places that contribute to quality of life.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Miriam Porter
University of Guelph
BLA CandidateGrowing up in an inner-city neighborhood in Jersey City, Breanna Robles has been heavily influenced by the immigrant populations who have shaped her worldview. Her undergraduate G. H. Cook Honors thesis explores the landscape of the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn. Through this research, Breanna has expanded her interests to include the landscape of the underprivileged. Breanna will graduate from Rutgers with a BSLA in May 2016 and will complete her MLA the following year. With her work, she aspires to change the lives of people living in underprivileged neighborhoods by changing the landscape they live in.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Breanna Robles
Rutgers University
BSLA CandidateAlba Rodriguez is committed to designing urban landscapes for underrepresented communities, rejecting typical gentrifying approaches. She has developed a design methodology that utilizes human-behavior research strategies to discover the most effective tactics to improve neighborhood health and well-being. For her capstone project, Alba selected a low-income neighborhood in north-central Phoenix to test her strategies. Her design process included conducting visual assessments, an inventory of alternative transportation infrastructure, and site observations to understand how people currently use their public spaces. She also conducted a survey of the households in the neighborhood in search of shared perceptions of the public realm. Her research pointed to the need for egalitarian public spaces throughout the neighborhood to serve as magnets of activity, potentially increasing walking and biking frequency, as well as increasing social interaction.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Alba Rodriguez
Arizona State University
MLA CandidateAndrew Sargeant is a landscape architecture student at Temple University. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, he immigrated to America as a child, and settled in Englewood, New Jersey. His close proximity to New York City sparked a fascination with urban landscapes and design. During his studies, Andrew has held leadership roles in student groups and school events. As president of the Student Chapter of the ASLA, Andrew created internal and external learning opportunities for students while working with industry professionals. He has taken part in service projects abroad in Rome, and at home, actively leading the design/build of community gardens in Philadelphia. In his career Andrew hopes to use his talents in urban design to influence positive social and economic change. Through his own travels and internship opportunities, he has seen first-hand how small or large interventions of community gardens, parks, playgrounds, and plazas can make a significant difference in the well-being of urban communities.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Andrew Sargeant
Temple University
BLA CandidateVeronika Schunk was born in the agricultural Black Forest region of southern Germany and is currently pursuing her MLA degree at Florida International University. Her professional landscape design work includes sustainable landscape spaces, green roofs, and gardens in Miami and Valparaiso, Chile. She has been recognized for her design work by Gensler and by the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation. She is a member of the Tau Sigma Delta Honor Society and her education spans studies in music and law. Her research in sustainable landscape practices hopes to transform the way we approach physical and social infrastructure through landscape architecture. Her “highway-carpet” project proposes adding performance features to transportation infrastructure to promote plant growth and treat stormwater runoff, and her community garden work reduces a community’s carbon footprint while at the same time creating vital social infrastructure.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Veronika Schunk
Florida International University
MLA CandidateMicah Stanek is completing a MLA and MArch dual degree at Washington University in St. Louis. He previously earned a BS in film at Northwestern University. Micah became captivated by landscape research after working as a docent and farmhand at Nadvanya Biodiversity Conservation Farm in northern India. Micah believes that landscape architecture is uniquely positioned to interpret our human-made environment and create groundbreaking precedents that will define our future environments. His projects engage disused and in-between urban spaces in St. Louis City, unearthing turbulent social and ecological histories of development, demolition, and renewal. His thesis project positions the practice of landscape architecture at the center of an interdisciplinary dialogue aimed toward the production of ecologically rich public commons out of vacant urban space. Micah worked in summer 2015 with SCAPE Landscape Architecture and will continue seeking professional opportunities to collaborate on critical ecological works.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Micah Stanek
Washington University in St. Louis
MLA/MArch CandidateOriginally from the Houston, TX area, Kaitlin Stein is a fourth-year landscape architecture student at Texas A&M University. She is interested in historical revitalization and finds the possibility of making a space functional again without losing its core meaning intriguing. Outside of her studies, Kaitlin enjoys playing golf and taking pictures. After graduating she plans to go straight into the workforce, and is excited about the chance to live in and travel to new places.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Kaitlin Stein
Texas A&M University
BLA CandidateNeive Tierney’s love for plants grew while accompanying her botanist mother doing fieldwork in the California mountains. She became an environmentalist on the streets of New York as an undergraduate at New York University. In New York, her fascination with bringing ecological functioning systems back into the city emerged while studying the environmental impact of the urban landscape. It was not until after college, while in South America, that her goal to work in a career of climate-change adaptation developed after witnessing extreme flooding in Brazil. Before returning to school, she worked for the City of Santa Barbara managing the commercial recycling and composting programs as public liaison. Neive is a second year MLA candidate at the University of Texas at Austin. As research assistant last summer for the LAF Case Study Investigation, she harnessed the tools for measuring landscape performance that she sees as crucial to designing resilient landscapes.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Neive Tierney
University of Texas at Austin
MLA CandidateYu Tong received a BLA from Huazhong Agricultural University, and is currently completing the second of three years in the MLA program at Texas A&M University. Her perspective on landscape architecture is deeply rooted in her love of experiencing a harmonious relationship between humans and nature. Her work experiences has given her an awareness that landscape architects can make a great difference in environmental protection and restoration. Her interests include sustainable stormwater management and ecologically-focused design using native plants in urban areas. She has applied these ideas in her projects: the Spearman Ranch and Grisby Square Revitalization. For her final project she will explore ways to implement low-impact development in urban settings.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Yu Tong
Texas A&M University
MLA CandidateBradley Turner was born and raised in the Ohiopyle, PA-area where he enjoys hiking, biking, rafting, climbing and various other explorative activities. He is currently a senior in the undergraduate landscape architecture program at West Virginia University and hopes to someday become a registered landscape architect. In practice he would like to specialize in the design of explorative landscapes that engage visitors to learn from their surroundings. Naturally curious, he plans to travel extensively in order to expand his design skills and learn more about the ways people interact with the landscape around them. He hopes to create places that offer unique experiences to all who visit them.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Bradley Turner
West Virginia University
BLA CandidateStephen Ulman is pursuing his MLA at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He previously studied at the University of Florida and received his MS in landscape architecture at Washington State University where he studied geography, urban regional planning, and special topics within the field of landscape architecture, including: consensus building, regenerative design, planting design, and regional design vernaculars. He seeks to realize the potential of new technologies to transform the design process and elevate the relevance and ability of his generation of landscape architects to be indispensable to the 21st-century city. His past experiences include numerous landscape internships, stormwater inspector, regional planner, urban farmer, and worm rancher. In his spare time, he volunteers at the Plant, a green business incubator and vertical farm in Chicago; tends to his home aquaponic system; and spends time on Lake Michigan with his dog, Leo.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Stephen Ulman
Illinois Institute of Technology
MLA CandidateHailey Wall is completing her BLA with a minor in sustainable systems at Utah State University. Heavily influenced by her exposure to different landscapes and cultures throughout her life, Hailey recognized early on the importance of the relationship between people and their environment. Her love of the West has led her to focus her research on exploring strategies for better resilience in arid climates. Throughout her landscape architecture career at Utah State she has worked with sociologists, environmental engineers, horticulturists, real estate developers, artists and investment bankers and firmly believes that the way forward requires an all-hands-on-deck approach to build consensus and support across disciplines. Living in Germany instilled a love of dense urban walkability, public transit and environmental stewardship. Professionally, she hopes to focus her efforts on the public realm and implement projects that will help heal our environment and enhance quality of life.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Hailey Wall
Utah State University
BLA CandidateNelle first became aware of the potential to transform neglected urban spaces into multifunctional, healthy, and beautiful spaces through urban permaculture design. Permaculture exposed Nelle to the global environmental/humanitarian crisis which led her to direct her career towards serving the public and the environment through landscape architecture. Twentieth-century urban history has left voids and pockets of underutilized, residual spaces within the urban fabric. For Nelle, the transformation of these spaces within sprawling, automobile-oriented cities, creates a promising opportunity for transdisciplinary intervention. Nelle is currently pursuing an MLA at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to further develop her expertise in ecosystem service-based planning and design, and to contribute to creating sustainable communities within resilient landscapes. Nelle is the lead-singer and guitar player in her band Black Sky. She is also an active member of a meditation group.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Nelle Ward
University of Massachusetts Amherst
MLA CandidateChase Weaver is completing his MLA degree at The Pennsylvania State University where he also obtained his BS degree in biology. His undergraduate studies focused on ecology, plant sciences, and the importance of sustainable agriculture, an area of interest he has carried through to his time as a graduate student. Currently, his graduation project explores alternate forms of agriculture for villages along the Udzungwa Mountains National Park in Tanzania, Africa. The goal is to enhance the livelihood of local people through sustainable land management and design, increase agricultural yields, and guard the biodiversity of the park from village encroachment. After graduation, he hopes to play an active role in the progress of this project as well as pursue a career in property and estate management and design: He hopes to cultivate a sense of stewardship and environmental responsibility in landowners.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Chase Weaver
The Pennsylvania State University
MLA CandidateCresha Wee is pursuing her BLA at Michigan State University, graduating in December 2016. While in school, her interest in philanthropy and environmental preservation has influenced her to lead many volunteer events. As an artist and activist, she strives to diversify the field through connecting the natural aspects of green environments to the social aspects of built spaces. Specifically, she plans to focus on the design of green spaces within the healthcare environment. She believes that just as plazas and parks need certain elements in order to provide ecological and socially sustainable areas, healthcare buildings are in need of established natural environments for people to use.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Cresha Wee
Michigan State University
BLA CandidateNate Wooten is in his final semester of the MLA program at the University of Pennsylvania. Following a BArch from Syracuse University in 2011, he worked as an architect in the New York City area. After observing the cultural shifts in the region before and after Sandy, Nate’s work responds to the need for greater synthesis of scientific research, design imagination, and adaptive planning to bring greater symbiosis between social and ecological systems. His design explorations while at Penn have included the hybridization of urban and agricultural infrastructure in the developing periphery of Tangiers, Morocco, as well as the strategic repurposing of limestone quarries in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. Currently he is working on a project heightening the identity and access of the South Bronx waterfront. After graduating he looks forward to continuing research projects while working in the Philadelphia area.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Nate Wooten
University of Pennsylvania
MLA CandidateWhen she was young, Ka Ying Yang liked to draw scenes from nature, making small house models out of a notebook cover. She is currently majoring in landscape architecture at the University of Rhode Island with a minor in community planning. She will receive her BLA in May. Landscape architecture is a career path that allows her to combine her interest in art with a desire to make an impact on others. She is a member of a small ethnic group called Hmong from Thailand and is first in her family to attend college. She plans to pursue her master’s degree after spending a few years working. Ka wants to start her own business in the future and become a resource that younger people can reach out to.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Ka Ying Yang
University of Rhode Island
BLA CandidateBoya Ye will complete her BSLA at the University of California, Davis in June, 2016. Having been heavily influenced by her personal experience of living through urban environmental crisis in Shanghai, she believes in the power of resilient urban green infrastructure to turn cities in crisis into lively and culturally rich communities. She is interested in designing for resilient novel ecosystems that adapt to the current market-oriented economies, accommodate mobile urban cultures, and restore degraded ecosystems. Boya is currently exploring the speculative futures of flooded polders in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in California. She intends to help Delta communities to envision their future landscape. In the future, she will incorporate her findings into practice, developing bold and creative visions of urban green infrastructure design that open up more discussion about sustainable landscape planning.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Boya Ye
University of California, Davis
BSLA CandidateMichelle Ye is in her fifth year at North Carolina State University, where she is completing her BLA with minors in mathematics and horticulture. Her experience growing up in Shenzhen, China and cities throughout the US sparked her interest in urban design and planning. Michelle’s passion is creating sustainable cities where people can thrive along with nature. Her experience with nonprofit partnerships between cities and their residents has included leading urban projects in Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina which involve and invest in local communities. Currently, Michelle is studying green infrastructure and its role in both ecological and social systems within the city. She hopes to be a leader in implementing green infrastructure as a way to bridge neighborhoods, connect environmental systems, and inspire appreciation and stewardship of nature.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Michelle Ye
North Carolina State University
BLA CandidateTianyi Zhang is currently seeking a MLA degree at Louisiana State University’s Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture. Previously she received a BA in environmental art design from Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, China. Tianyi is a graduate assistant at LSU Hilltop Arboretum, working on site maintenance and the Arboretum’s Boy Scouts program. Her graduate study interests include global water issues, water crisis in developing countries, and sustainable water management and restoration in urban, agricultural, and natural systems. Her current work focuses on investigating and restoring potable water, sanitary, and stormwater systems in New Delhi, improving sustainable water management practices for croplands of nearby Southern University, and designing the ecological remediation of its adjacent Baker Canal. Travel experiences have formed her distinctive natural and cultural understandings and established her as an advocate for global landscape communication and cooperation. Her future plans include becoming an educator and registered landscape architect.
2016 University Olmsted Scholar
Tianyi Zhang
Louisiana State University
MLA Candidate
Meet the 2017 Olmsted Scholars
Blog Feature: Guest posts from 2017 Olmsted Scholars
