2026

Announcing the 2026 LAF Olmsted Scholars

heather — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 18:20:51 +0000

Announcing the 2026 LAF Olmsted Scholars

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The Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) is pleased to recognize 97 exceptional student leaders, including the two national winners and six finalists.

Named for Frederick Law Olmsted, the LAF Olmsted Scholars Program is the premier leadership recognition program for landscape architecture students. Now in its 19th year, the program honors students who are using ideas, influence, communication, service, and leadership to advance sustainable design and foster human and societal benefits.

The program recognizes one outstanding student from each accredited landscape architecture program in the U.S. and Canada. This year, 56 graduate and 41 undergraduate students were nominated by their faculty for their exceptional leadership potential. These students earn the designation of 2026 LAF Olmsted Scholar and join a community of 1,351 LAF Olmsted Scholars named since the program’s inception in 2008.

From the nominees, two independent juries selected the graduate and undergraduate national award winners and finalists, who receive financial awards and additional recognition. Students are both honored for past achievements and recognized for their future potential to influence the landscape architecture discipline.

2026 National Olmsted Scholars

Miriam Hernandez Medina, a master's student at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, is the graduate 2026 National Olmsted Scholar and recipient of the $25,000 prize. Miriam is a Mexican architect and third-year Master of Landscape Architecture student at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Trained at National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM, 2018) and shaped by her work at Tatiana Bilbao Estudio, she engages in territories where power, politics, and ecology collide. Her practice and scholarship centers contested borders and the waterways that define them, treating them as social and ecological systems rather than fixed lines. With this award, Miriam plans to continue building on a cross-border initiative that reimagines the Rio Grande/Bravo River as a shared landscape that links communities through repair and design. Through a collaborative research project and deep field engagement, Miriam aims to develop an unprecedented digital atlas and framework for designing connective waterways across borders and landscapes.

Henry Ley, a student at Cornell University, is the undergraduate 2026 National Olmsted Scholar and recipient of the $15,000 prize. Henry's upbringing in Asheville, North Carolina and the natural world drew him to landscape architecture and the opportunity to design spaces that foster connection to the built world. He has developed a strong interest in resiliency design, and his senior thesis addresses river flooding in Western North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene. With the support of the Olmsted scholarship, Henry hopes to expand on his thesis research and provide landscape practice solutions for how communities can adapt to climate risk, economic transition, and growing inequity. Through organized workshops of stakeholders-- including local officials, community members, ecologists, and design professionals-- Henry will facilitate informed conversations surrounding the potential that landscape architecture can have on the future of resilient cities.

National Olmsted Scholar Finalists

The three graduate finalists (top row) each receive a $5,000 award, and the three undergraduate finalists (bottom row) each receive a $3,000 award.

Alejandro Bechtle
University of Oregon
Kevin Enriquez
Louisiana State University
Josh Kover
Rutgers University
Ahmaud Carroll-Tubbs
Ball State University
Eveleen Jiang
University of Connecticut
Dhruv Lokhande
University of Wisconsin - Madison

2026 LAF Olmsted Scholars (Graduate)

In addition to the winner and finalists, the graduate nominees from each university are recognized as 2026 LAF Olmsted Scholars, which denotes distinguished student leadership in landscape architecture.

First row: Victor Almaraz Murguia, University of Texas at Arlington | Jawan Bani Yaseen, Iowa State University | Emily Beach, University of Georgia | Matthew Bell, Morgan State University | Andres Beltran, Florida International University | Martin Benzinger, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry | Shristi Bhandari, Kent State University | Veronica Cancio, University of Florida | Kat Chavez, Cal Poly Pomona | Indra Clark, Boston Architectural College

Second row: Devin Derr, University of Michigan | Ian Dilla Mora, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | Bryn Distler, Virginia Tech | Akum Emeka-Maduka, University of Manitoba | Mehri Farnaz, Texas Tech University | Nina Fritsch, University of Massachusetts Amherst | Caitlin Garlow, University of Maryland | Shima Goodarzi, North Dakota State University | Ben Hancock, Mississippi State University | Holly Hearn, University of New Mexico

Third row: Caitlin Holt, Auburn University | Muhaiminul Islam, Kansas State University | Md Farhan Asef Jit, Arizona State University | Kristen Juen, University of Texas at Austin | Andie Kennedy, University of Pennsylvania | Amanda Kesler, Washington University in St. Louis | Kai Koopman, Clemson University | Lara Kurosky, University of Toronto | Rasha Lama, Rhode Island School of Design | Kate Latimore, University of California, Berkeley

Fourth row: Ash Limes Castellana, Temple University | Margaret Marando, University of Tennessee | Musa Matiwane, City College of New York | Stephen McCausland, University of Calgary | Erik Norwood, Illinois Institute of Technology | Sarah Obra-Nakata, University of Hawaii at Manoa | Adrian Ochoa, University of Oklahoma | Andrea Padilla Guerrero, North Carolina State University | Renée Peters, University of Arizona | Gabrielle Ragusa, University of Cincinnati

Fifth row: Oscar Rios, Texas A&M University | Alberto Salgado, Cornell University | Piper Sallquist, University of Washington | Maëlis Sankou, University of Montreal | Ramtin Shafaghati, University of Guelph | Ruth Shatkay, University of Virginia | Abby Shaw, Ball State University | Ashley Stephens, University of Southern California | Allison Swanka, The Ohio State University | Rachel Thody, University of Colorado Denver

Sixth row: Kevin Wong, University of British Columbia | Eli Woodward, Utah State University

2026 LAF Olmsted Scholars (underGraduate)

In addition to the winner and finalists, the undergraduate nominees from each university are recognized as 2026 LAF Olmsted Scholars, which denotes distinguished student leadership in landscape architecture.

First row: Rachel Bowers, Mississippi State University | Yuke Cai, Iowa State University | Lisa Cohen, Boston Architectural College | Laura Crocker, University of Maryland | Yasmeena Elmahdy, Rutgers University | Sophia Folwell, West Virginia University | Hayden Germanis, University of Florida | David Gomez, Texas Tech University | Louise Halaburt, Colorado State University | Cameron Hill, Utah State University

Second row: Isabel Iocca, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | Aimee Jao, Texas A&M University | Soleil Jevtitch, Thomas Jefferson University | Serine Kao, Purdue University | Talya Karmen-Chan, Temple University | Ivan Keath, Cal Poly Pomona | Grace Kirkpatrick, University of Massachusetts Amherst | Amanda Lam, Clemson University | Calvin Lo, The Pennsylvania State University | Abbi McDonald, University of Arkansas

Third row: Treasa McHugh, University of Georgia | Makena McLaughlin, Virginia Tech | Lindsay McSweeney, University of Delaware | Anna Melchers, University of Kentucky | Chloe Meyer, Oklahoma State University | Kamron Neal, North Carolina A&T State University | Mikala Noonan, Louisiana State University | Josie Paik, University of Oregon | Emily Pham, University of Guelph | Kaitlyn Ray, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Fourth row: Ella Roney, Washington State University | Matt Saulino, University of Rhode Island | Beth Sessions, University of Nebraska- Lincoln | Tatum St. Louis, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry | Haley Trolio, The Ohio State University | Emma Weir, University of Washington | Ava Yon, Michigan State University

Thank you to our sponsors

The LAF Olmsted Scholars Program is made possible with support from: Design Workshop, EDSA, Field Operations, Hart Howerton, HOK, IRONSMITH, LandDesign, OJB, OLIN, Sasaki, Stantec, SWA, Steven G. King, FASLA, and Bill and Kathy Main, Hon. ASLA.

Thank you to our 2026 juries

The jurors for the graduate awards were:

Alexa Bush, Director of Planning and Development, City of Detroit/ President, Landscape Architecture Foundation
Gretchen Wilson, Principle and co-founder, Dig Studio/ President-Elect, ASLA
Sara Hadavi, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, The Penn State University
Gary Sorge, Vice President, Stantec
Issam Azzam, 2025 National Olmsted Scholar (Graduate)

The jurors for the undergraduate awards were:

Elaine Kearney, Managing Principal, TBG/ President-Elect, Landscape Architecture Foundation
Kona Gray, Principal, EDSA
Sanjukta Sen, Associate Partner, Field Operations
Astrid Hoffman, Principal, EDSA
Jason King, Writer, Walker Macy
Daniel Ortega, Director + Professor, University of Nevada
Olive Tang, Landscape Designer, LPA/ 2025 Olmsted Scholar (Undergraduate)

2026 Deb Mitchell Research Grant Awarded

heather — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:10:38 +0000

2026 Deb Mitchell Research Grant Awarded

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Powell Butte Elementary in Portland, Oregon before working with Depave to remove the asphalt and transform the space into a nature-play area (Image: Depave)

The Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) is pleased to announce the 2026 recipient of our $25,000 research grant.

The LAF Research Grant in Honor of Deb Mitchell is awarded annually to support a research project that is relevant and impactful for the professional practice of landscape architecture. This year's winning proposal is Depaving: Interventions and Innovations to Scale a Critical Climate Practice.

One of the most pressing challenges—and opportunities—for urban climate adaptation is addressing the vast extent of pavement across streets, sidewalks, parking lots, and even schoolyards. Decades of planning policies, including minimum parking requirements and roadway expansion, have contributed to widespread pavement, with significant impacts on public health, biodiversity, and spatial equity. Today, roughly one-third of urban land is paved, contributing to flooding, degraded waterways, and urban heat island effects—burdens that disproportionately affect low-income communities and communities of color. As climate change intensifies heat and rainfall, the need for wide-scale depaving is increasingly urgent. It represents a fundamental landscape challenge and a defining design opportunity for landscape architecture.

Starting in fall 2026, Principal Investigators Mary Pat McGuire and Ted Labbe will:

document the current state of depaving practice across community organizations, municipalities, and design firms;
analyze successful project models to understand how depaving moves from idea to implementation;
identify tools and frameworks needed by designers and partners to initiate, guide, and implement depaving projects more effectively; and
translate research findings into practical guidance that supports adoption by landscape architects, municipalities, and community-based organizations.

Through case study analysis, a national practitioner survey, semi-structured interviews, and a cross-sector virtual workshop, the researchers will generate a robust evidence base translated into field-ready guidance through a Depaving Practice Toolkit as well as associated publications and presentations. Ultimately, the researchers aim to generate cross-sector knowledge exchange and a national network of practitioners, municipalities, nonprofits, and educators, helping to build shared language and momentum for continued collaboration and depaving implementation.

“What set this project apart was its ability to translate a familiar challenge into a widely applicable, actionable framework. The jury was especially compelled by its scalability and its potential to influence everyday decision-making across the profession – a great fit for the Deb Mitchell Research Grant,” said Lauren Leighty, PLA, LAF Vice President of Research and Vice President and Campus Planning Studio Leader at SmithGroup. "We look forward to seeing this impressive team’s process and results."

Project Abstract

Urban pavement represents one of the largest yet least mobilized opportunities for climate adaptation in cities. Vast areas of streets, oversized parking lots, schoolyards, and other excessive hardscapes intensify urban flooding, extreme heat, ecological degradation, and public health inequities. The deliberate removal of unnecessary pavement—depaving—has not yet been codified as a repeatable, design-led best practice within green infrastructure or municipal infrastructure planning. This research asks: What actionable models of practice, partnership, and design decision-making would enable landscape architects and their partners to more effectively initiate, guide, and implement depaving in urban contexts? Through a national survey, case study analysis, interviews, and a cross-sector workshop, this research will identify barriers, opportunities, and emerging models that advance depaving from exception to norm. The research will culminate in an open-access practitioner toolkit, webinar, presentation, and professional publications that provide guidance on site identification, design and engagement frameworks, approvals, construction, and evaluation. This project aims to scale depaving as a trusted, community-centered, and climate-responsive adaptation approach.

Principal Investigators

Mary Pat McGuire, PLA, is a licensed landscape architect and Associate Professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She founded Depave Chicago through design research on stormwater, urban landscapes, and community engagement. Her work spans academia and practice, supported by major grants, with leadership roles in regional water initiatives and publications across academic and public media.

Ted Labbe is Finance and Partnerships Manager at Depave and has been involved since 2008. He leads grant writing, partnerships, policy advocacy, and hands-on depaving. A trained habitat biologist, he has worked with tribes, nonprofits, and state agencies, focusing on land use, wildlife conservation, and stormwater impacts on aquatic ecosystems.

LAF Ignite Expands to Indigenous Students

heather — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000

LAF Ignite Expands to Indigenous Students

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In 2022, the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) launched LAF Ignite, a multi-year program for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) landscape architecture students to help them overcome prevalent barriers during the period between entering college and entering the workforce. Ignite provides participants with an annual $10,000 scholarship, paid summer internships, and access to mentors throughout their educational path.

The program was designed to expand over time, initially focusing on Black/African American students, which allowed LAF to establish a strong shared‑identity community, learn from their experiences, and create targeted supports that reflect the challenges and opportunities they identified. From the inaugural cohort of four students, the program has grown to serve 10-15 participants each year.

With this solid foundation, the LAF Ignite program will be open to Indigenous students starting with the 2026-27 cycle. To be eligible, students must: (1) identify as Indigenous to the United States, Canada, or Mexico with an ancestral connection to the territory and to their ancestral Indigenous community and (2) be a citizen of the U.S. or Canada, a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. or Canada, or a current U.S. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program recipient.

The LAF Ignite program continues to be open to Black/African American students, defined as: citizens of the U.S. with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa, whose families have lived in the U.S. for generations, and are often descendants of formerly enslaved people.

Applications will open March 31 and be due May 18 for the fifth cycle of the program, which starts in September 2026.

“We are thrilled to be able to move the LAF Ignite program into this next phase,” said Rachel Booher, Deputy Director of LAF, who led the process working with the LAF DEI Committee and members of the Indigenous Collective Group. “With LAF Ignite, we continue to be deliberate and committed to a process for expanding the program that allows for learning, discussion, and building with intention and integrity. A process that understands and respects the role that LAF has in supporting the next generation.”

Over the course of two years, LAF worked diligently to prepare and plan for this expansion with care to ensure that the program has the structure, cultural understanding and representation, and lived experience to support the needs of different identities. LAF recognizes and shares its deep gratitude to the members of the Indigenous Collective Group (ICG) — a network of Indigenous landscape architects, designers, and allies dedicated to weaving Indigenous voices, knowledge, and lifeways into the field of landscape architecture — who have helped to inform and support this expansion through their time, dedication, sharing of knowledge, and by providing insights for program opportunities.

As the program continues to build and is expanded to other students of color in future years, LAF will continue this process by seeking out partners and landscape architects from specific racial/ethnic groups to more fully understand and address the particular barriers and provide focused opportunities for each community.

Perspectives: Anita Bueno

ryan — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 17:14:34 +0000

Perspectives: Anita Bueno

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Anita Bueno is a licensed landscape architect and a certified Feldenkrais practitioner®.

Anita has integrated the two professions, exploring the relationship between thought, movement, and the internal and external environments. For 10 years, she designed recreation areas for the US Forest Service, and for another decade she founded and directed BuenoLuna Landscape Design, a residential design/build firm primarily focused on mitigating climate change through ecologically designed landscapes. Chronic illness shifted her path, leading to her practice of mindful self-awareness and to teach the Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Education. Anita now uses embodied learning to inform her creative work, her relationship with herself and others, and generally, her overall approach to life.

MARCH 2026

What drew you to landscape architecture?

My path, like most organic things, was not linear. I did many things before I became a landscape architect. I grew up in NYC within an extended Dominican immigrant family and thanks to affirmative action, I escaped my redlined neighborhood for college in rural upstate NY, where I earned a degree in philosophy, religion and Asian studies. I followed my curiosity, which manifested, at various times, as a gardener, a bike mechanic, a welder, a sculptor, a wilderness backpacker, a commercial fisherman and a world traveler. My desire for landscape stewardship, for perceived influence, and to be outdoors drew me to seek an MLA in landscape architecture.

What is driving you professionally right now?

I am drawn to process; becoming has always been more interesting than what things become. This is fitting because landscape IS the unfolding of process! My current challenge is analyzing how landscape architects work. How do we design, relate to our clients, our sites, our collaborators and contractors? If we truly embodied being interconnected with all beings, would that change how we work?

What challenge(s) is landscape architecture allowing you to address right now?

The challenge of catalyzing culture change from separation to interconnectedness.

Over the past few years, I started to question my relationship to land and landscape architecture itself. Here is a profession I love, yet I'm realizing it might be fundamentally flawed. How we practice creates an ever widening disconnect between humans and nature, between practitioner and site. We are seduced by speed and convenience (which is true of modern culture in general). Many of us are drawn into the profession by a deep connection to the natural world and then as professionals we spend all our time indoors on screens. We forget that even the best models and maps are only representative simplifications of our infinitely complex reality. To truly connect we need embodied experience. We believe, and with the best intentions, that we can “fix” issues and design “solutions., yet even the language we casually use separates us from land. For example, “ecosystem management,” or “natural resources” assumes an anthropocentric arrogance of power and control, manipulating and commodifying land. We tend to embrace academic elitism so that we sound professional and intelligent, but that language excludes other types of intelligence and the many ways of knowing reality. I wonder, what new, or old sustainable environments could we enable where we let go of ego and the quest for accolade, and instead live in spirit, cultivating humility and deep listening skills to assist and support landscape?

In this light, I am using my networks and experiences from 20+ years of practice to spread tiny seeds of culture change, with the hope that something will land and germinate.

What challenge would you give emerging leaders?

Leadership is tricky. To be a good leader you need to be a good follower, you need to listen to your inner authority and to the human and non-human people around you. You need to be authentic, or few will willingly follow you. You need to be vulnerable and be ok with failure (yours and other’s) because that is how you learn. I challenge everyone to be themselves without fear, recognition, or judgement. Be kind. Be comfortable with uncertainty. Be generous and trust in the goodness of others.

Where do you think the profession needs to go from here?

The profession has changed a lot since I started practicing, but one thing that has not been addressed much is the need for new business models that move away from billable hours. Despite all the talk about self-care, in many settings, resting is still a subversive act. Do you want a fast response or a good response? Fast is sometimes necessary, but it's never better and rarely good. Getting to good answers starts by asking good questions. What if we created a professional environment that welcomed slowing down to allow for something new to emerge? What if we got our hands dirty and were a little messier and more connected to the land and the human and non-human people who build and maintain and use the spaces we create? What if we were to acknowledge the ways in which we are complicit in the culture of separation and othering, and then explore new, more creative and integrative ways of being?

LAF's Perspectives interview series showcases landscape architects from diverse backgrounds and identities discussing how they came to the profession and where they see it heading. Any opinions expressed in this interview belong solely to the author. Their inclusion in this article does not reflect endorsement by LAF.

To stay up-to-date on future Perspectives articles as well as LAF programs, events, and funding opportunities, subscribe to LAF emails.

Kenneth Brooks Honored for Exceptional Service to CELA and LAF

ryan — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 19:36:56 +0000

Kenneth Brooks Honored for Exceptional Service to CELA and LAF

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Educator Kenneth R. Brooks was presented with the Forster Ndubisi Professional Service Award at the CELA Awards Dinner on March 20, 2026.

LAF's Deputy Director Rachel Booher (left) and Senior Program Manager Megan Barnes (right) present the Forster Ndubisi Professional Service Award to Kenneth R. Brooks.

The Forster Ndubisi Professional Service Award was created in 2022 by the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) and the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) to honor an individual who has provided exceptional service to both organizations to significantly advance the discipline of landscape architecture. The award is named after former Texas A&M University landscape architecture professor and department head Forster Ndubisi, a longtime thought leader and friend of LAF who was given the inaugural award posthumously.

Kenneth R. Brooks, FASLA, FCELA, PLA, is Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture in The Design School in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University, where he has taught and served in various capacities since 2004. Prior to that, he taught for 22 years in the Department of Landscape Architecture / Regional and Community Planning at Kansas State University and for 5 years at Washington State University. Ken was President of CELA in 2003-2004 and served multiple terms as a Regional Director. Ken has also served on boards and committees of the American Society of Landscape Architects and its Arizona Chapter, the Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board, the Sigma Lambda Alpha honor society, and the American Planning Association.

Ken has long been a strong proponent for advancing the landscape architecture discipline and its effectiveness through applied research. He championed landscape performance and integrating coursework on the measurable benefits of landscape solutions across built environment disciplines. He received Landscape Performance Education Grants from LAF in 2014, 2015, and 2016, helping to build a set of sample syllabi, readings, exercises, and other teaching materials for others to use.

In 2021, he established the Kenneth R. Brooks MLA Research Scholarship, offered through LAF, to provide financial support so that master's students can focus on a rigorous, evidence-based research project that contributes to advancing the discipline. In 2025, he established the companion CELA Kenneth R Brooks MLA Travel Fellowship, which provides funding for the scholarship winner to present their thesis or capstone project at the CELA annual conference.

“Ken Brooks is an energetic and diligent educator and thought leader, who is always advocating for students and working to improve landscape architecture education through service and collaboration,” said LAF CEO Barbara Deutsch. "He was an early champion of LAF’s vision to integrate landscape performance into education, design, and advocacy and has been a great sounding board for us, providing input and a wealth of perspective and background. If it pertains to landscape architecture education, pedagogy, or the discipline at large, Ken has thought deeply about it!"

Through his 50-year career of teaching, leadership, and service as well as his enduring investment to create the Brooks scholarship and travel fellowship, Ken has helped to evolve and strengthen the landscape architecture discipline and prepare future generations of designers.

LAF at the 2026 CELA Conference

ryan — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 21:28:01 +0000

LAF at the 2026 CELA Conference

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The Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) looks forward to the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) conference March 18-21 in Cincinnati, Ohio. This annual gathering is a chance to learn about new research, pedagogical innovations, and trends affecting academic institutions. It is also a great opportunity to catch up with landscape architecture faculty and students from universities across the United States and Canada as well as other parts of the world.

LAF's Megan Barnes will participate in a special lunch panel discussion about CELA's and LAF's shared goals to connect research and practice through the Landscape Architecture Research Exchange initiative. LAF will also co-present the Forster Ndubisi Professional Service Award and provide updates to the CELA Board of Directors and the administrators of each university landscape architecture program.

CELA-LAF Landscape Architecture Research Exchange (LARX) Initiative: Insights, Opportunities, and Trajectories

Special Lunch Panel Discussion, Thurs, March 19 1:00-1:55pm EDT
Join representatives of CELA, LAF, and Landscape Journal to reflect on the Landscape Architecture Research Exchange (LARX), a recent initiative developed in collaboration between CELA and LAF. The initiative – including a webinar and live virtual event connecting academic and professional practitioners around shared research interests in landscape architecture – received significant interest among participants. Panelists will discuss the types of knowledge most needed by the discipline – especially in professional practice – and how CELA, LAF, and other allied organizations might support collaborative research through efforts like the LARX. Panelists will also share insights, opportunities, and potential trajectories for the LARX as well as broader implications for teaching, research, and practice.

Megan Barnes, Sr. Program Manager, Landscape Architecture Foundation
James A. LaGro Jr, PhD, PLA, University of Wisconsin-Madison Emeritus | Editor-in-Chief, Landscape Journal
Taner Ozdil, PhD, University of Texas at Arlington | CELA President
C.L. Bohannon, PhD, FASLA, University of Virginia | CELA President-Elect

The conference also includes several sessions with past LAF Fellows expanding upon their Fellowship work and recent LAF Case Study Investigation (CSI) participants sharing their research and findings.

Greening on the Inside

Concurrent Session (Presentation 1 of 3), Fri, March 20, 11:45-13:00 EDT
Daniel Winterbottom, University of Washington
(2022-23 LAF Fellow for Innovation and Leadership)

Designing Dignity: Carceral Landscape Studios, Processes, Stakeholder Engagement, and Navigating the Complexities

Concurrent Session (Panel), Sat, March 21, 8:30-9:45 EDT
Daniel Winterbottom, University of Washington
With Dan Cronan, Sohyun Park, and Radhika Dinesh Sarda
(2022-23 LAF Fellow for Innovation and Leadership))

Catching the wave or playing Catch-up? Integrating AI into teaching, learning, and professional practice

Concurrent Session (Presentation 5 of 5), Fri, March 20, 10:15-11:30 EDT
Phillip Fernberg, Utah State University
With Brent Chamberlain, Heather Braiden, and Benjamin George
(2022-23 LAF Fellow for Innovation and Leadership))

A Tree is a Tree is a Tree: State Policy Interpretations of Federal Roadside Vegetation Guidance Using Content Analysis

Concurrent Session (Presentation 2 of 3), Fri, March 20, 11:45-13:00 EDT
Ellen White, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
(2021-22 LAF Fellow for Innovation and Leadership)

Pollinators as Performance: Standardizing observation methods to bridge design intent and ecological evidence

Concurrent Session (Presentation 4 of 4), Sat, March 21, 8:30-9:45 EDT
Anthony Fettes, University of New Mexico
Kailani Gorman, University of New Mexico
(2025 CSI Faculty Fellow and student Research Assistant)

LAF Welcomes New Staff

ryan — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 19:00:49 +0000

LAF Welcomes New Staff

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LAF's newest staff members Devin McCue and Ryan Alston

The Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) is excited to announce the addition of two members to the staff.

Ryan Alston joins LAF as the Director of Communications and will work to expand LAF’s communications capacity to further LAF’s impact across the landscape architecture field. As a creative communicator with experience in graphic design and brand development, Ryan is passionate about expanding access and equity through thoughtful storytelling and design. Previously, Ryan worked as the Communications Director for the Baltimore Tree Trust, a tree planting nonprofit in Baltimore, MD, where she developed and oversaw branding, communications, and outreach initiatives that helped increase the city’s tree canopy across Baltimore’s least-green communities. While working with the Tree Trust, Ryan represented the organization’s urban forestry programs throughout local and regional outlets, with features including NPR’s Science Friday and The Weather Channel.

Hailing from Prince George’s County, Ryan planted roots in Baltimore City where she earned her Master of Arts in Integrated Design from the University of Baltimore. In her spare time, she enjoys all things crafting, trying new recipes, and taking scenic walks with her puppy.

Additionally, we welcome Devin McCue back to the team as a Senior Development Associate. Devin previously served as LAF's Development Associate from 2018 to 2021 and returns in an expanded capacity to continue advancing LAF's fundraising efforts. His role includes managing sponsorships, donor cultivation and stewardship, and working with annual fund donors. Devin holds a Master of Management from Tulane University and has prior development experience working in New Orleans. Outside of LAF, he spends his days watching movies with his cat, Guwop, and crafting the perfect cocktails for friends.

These positions will be instrumental in helping LAF implement its newest strategic plan goals, foster new and existing partnerships, and further its reach among the landscape architecture discipline.

Research Exchange Gathering a Success

heather — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Research Exchange Gathering a Success

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On January 22, 2026, the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) and the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) hosted the Landscape Architecture Research Exchange, a first-of-its-kind virtual gathering for academic and professional practitioners to identify shared research interests, explore opportunities for collaboration, and begin to shape a responsive research agenda for landscape architecture.

After introductory remarks from the organizers, 105 participants joined 17 volunteer facilitators to discuss their research interests and needs during two small-group speed networking sessions. Each group was assembled using information attendees provided during registration, with each group having a mix of academic and professional practitioners. Participants hailed from not only across the United States and Canada but also from nine additional countries. They crossed all professional levels from early-career to mid-career, combining long-term perspectives with emerging research ideas and new energy.

Many participants reported successfully making new connections and exchanging contact information with others, achieving a key goal of this event to “matchmake” for potential future research collaborations.

Round 1 Conversations: Research Topics

The participants’ research interests showed strong alignment around a set of shared priorities, which provides a snapshot of the current most pressing topics for practitioners in landscape architecture.

Climate resilience and adaptation were a dominant theme, with participants expressing the desire to explore how landscapes can respond to increasing uncertainty, from extreme weather and sea level rise to drought and wildfire. Closely related interests included carbon, energy, and other mitigation strategies, reflecting a desire to better understand the role of landscapes in addressing climate change. Water systems and management were also prominent, including stormwater, flooding, and riverine and coastal processes, alongside interest in the long-term performance of blue-green infrastructure.

Many participants expressed growing interest in technology, data, and emerging tools, including digital modeling and artificial intelligence (AI), and how these tools can support better design and decision-making. Many participants are exploring how new tools can enhance insight while raising important questions about ethics, access, and applicability in practice.

Health, wellbeing, and social outcomes were also widely represented. Participants described interests in mental health, therapeutic landscapes, public space, and the role of design in supporting physical and social wellbeing — often alongside questions about how to measure and communicate these benefits effectively.

A significant number of registrants highlighted equity, justice, and community-centered research, emphasizing belonging, inclusive engagement, and the need to better integrate lived experience and social context into landscape research and practice.

Finally, many participants identified interests in ecology, restoration, materials, soils, and planting systems, including native plants, horticulture, habitat restoration, and regenerative approaches. These interests often navigated the gap between ecological science and implementation realities, reflecting a shared desired for more applied, practice-relevant research.

Round 2 Conversations: Opportunities and Constraints of Collaborative Research

While the first round of breakout groups was topic-based, the second round was centered around how collaboration between academic and professional practitioners actually happens and how it could be better supported.

Across the 17 breakout groups, participants consistently emphasized that a lack of interest in pursuing research is not what limits collaboration. Instead, conversations continually returned to structural barriers: lack of time, limited funding, misaligned incentives, and the absence of clear pathways for collaboration. Practitioners described wanting to engage more deeply with research but that they face tight fees, risk-averse clients, and contracts that do not reward post-occupancy evaluation or long-term monitoring. Academics, meanwhile, noted the tension between research rigor, publication timelines, and the realities of fast-moving projects and political change.

Several groups highlighted challenges related to access and limited feedback loops. Research findings are often inaccessible or inconveniently shared in journals, reports, or individual projects, with few mechanisms for sharing results broadly or learning from outcomes, especially when findings are uncertain or incomplete. Participants expressed frustration that valuable project-based research frequently “dies with the project,” rather than contributing to a shared body of knowledge the profession can build on.

Discussions around data, technology, and emerging tools reinforced this point. While participants saw major potential in AI, modeling, sensing, and visualization, they stressed that these tools are often used without sufficient validation or post-occupancy feedback. Without routine performance monitoring, confidence in simulations and projections remains limited. Many participants called for research that embeds evaluation into practice as a standard expectation supported by policy, permitting, and/or funding structures.

Another recurring theme was scale. Pilot projects and small research efforts were widely viewed as essential for experimentation and learning, but participants noted how difficult it is to scale promising ideas into broader practice or policy change. Smaller, more accessible research efforts were seen as more feasible than large, comprehensive studies, particularly for small firms or solo practitioners, but only if there are clear pathways for aggregation, dissemination, and long-term stewardship of results.

Across multiple groups, participants pointed to the need for stronger connective infrastructure: clearer guidance on how to initiate collaborations, access to funding and mentorship, shared repositories of case studies like LAF's Landscape Performance Series, and platforms for early feedback before research is finalized or published. Organizations like LAF and CELA were frequently cited as conveners, translators, and champions able to lower barriers, surface shared questions, and align research agendas with real-world needs.

Participants expressed strong interest in continued connection through future exchanges, resource libraries, matchmaking opportunities, and integration with existing professional gatherings. Many emphasized the value of developing a shared research roadmap, advocating for policies that require or incentivize post-occupancy evaluation, and learning from other disciplines, such as public health and medicine, that have more established research-practice pipelines.

Taken together, the second round of discussions indicates that the profession is ready to move beyond isolated efforts toward more coordinated, transparent, and actionable research collaborations. What’s needed now is not just enthusiasm, but the structures, incentives, and support systems to turn shared curiosity into sustained impact for the discipline.

LAF and CELA will be gathering feedback from the event and using the expressed research needs and interests to inform next steps, including a discussion at the 2026 CELA conference Catalyzing Connections in Cincinnati, Ohio in March.

A heartfelt thank-you to all facilitators and participants in this pilot event!

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Six Selected for 2026-27 LAF Fellowship for Innovation and Leadership

heather — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Six Selected for 2026-27 LAF Fellowship for Innovation and Leadership

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One senior-level professional, two mid-career, and three recent LAF Olmsted Scholars will form the ninth cohort of LAF Fellows.

The Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) is delighted to introduce the 2026-2027 cohort of the LAF Fellowship for Innovation and Leadership. This catalytic program, now entering its ninth cycle, was launched in 2016 to cultivate transformational leadership among landscape architecture professionals and support ideas that have the potential to create impactful change toward a healthier, more equitable, and sustainable world.

The mid-career and senior-level LAF Fellows will each receive a $25,000 award and dedicate 12 weeks of time over the course of the coming year to pursuing their proposed project. The recent LAF Olmsted Scholars receive a $5,000 award to further their ideas in preparation for future fellowship, partnership, or funding opportunities. The fellowship consists of this project work, supported by facilitated discussions, critiques, intergenerational mentorship, and explorations of transformational leadership that occur during three 3-day residencies.

The 2026-2027 fellowship year will commence in May and conclude in May/June 2027 with a final symposium to showcase their work. LAF is proud to make this investment in people and ideas that will drive the future of landscape architecture, and we look forward to working with the cohort as they tackle important challenges.

Meet the 2026-2027 LAF Fellows

Marybeth Campeau
(2023 LAF Olmsted Scholar)
Associate Research Scholar, Coastal Dynamics Design Lab, North Carolina State University
Raleigh, North Carolina

Climate-Responsive Conservation: Should We Help Plants and Animals Outrun Extinction?

As temperatures rise, many species are shifting their habitat ranges and moving across landscapes. This project examines climate-responsive conservation — an emerging approach that rethinks land management, design, and policy to account for climate-driven movement as species track their ecological niches. Through narrative inquiry, interviews, and data visualization, this work engages landscape architects, scientists, and land managers experimenting with ways to design for movement, permeability, and ecological change. Their efforts, from wildlife corridors and crossings to adaptive forest management and new planning tools, signal a departure from static conservation models. Marybeth proposes to develop these ideas into accessible stories for broad audiences, contributing to wider conversations about biodiversity, ecological flow, and landscape architecture’s evolving role in a changing climate.

Liska Chan
Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon

The Politics of Surface: Feminist Approaches to Fashion, Landscape, and Spatial Practice

This project explores how fashion films, campaigns, and runway shows use landscapes — such as ruins, deserts, and historic sites — to shape how we imagine climate change, nature, and the body. These visually striking settings often make the environmental crisis feel dramatic or beautiful while obscuring questions of labor, ecology, and power. Drawing on feminist and environmental theory, the project looks closely at how bodies and environments are staged in fashion media and asks whose stories and relationships to land are made visible, or erased. Through drawing, mapping, and speculative design, the project will create alternative images that reimagine how fashion might engage landscapes more ethically and relationally. The work culminates in the Landscape Lookbook, a visual publication that invites designers, students, and the public to rethink how images shape our understanding of environment and place.

Ilana Cohen
Landscape Architect, Atelier Roberta
Paris, France

A Roadmap to Reuse: Case Studies in Circular Landscape Policy and Logistics

According to the 2023 Circularity Gap Reporting Initiative, adopting circular economy principles could reverse the global carbon overshoot and reduce the need for further resource extraction by one third. Yet a major challenge in the site construction sector is the lack of needed infrastructure to facilitate material flows. This project uses a case study approach to assess the policy and logistics needed for the widespread implementation of a circular construction material economy in landscape architecture. It will probe how such an ecosystem is developing in Europe and specifically France where the circular economy is becoming increasingly robust, and landscape architects’ approach to materials is evolving in lockstep. The objective is to outline best practices and glean lessons on how to implement such strategies in the North American context.

Robert Colón
(2020 LAF Olmsted Scholar)
Resiliency Coordinator, Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental Resources Management
Miami Beach, Florida

Designing Leadership: Actualizing Nature-Based Resilience in the Land Between Two Waters

The transformation of South Florida’s landscape began in the early 20th century when the federal government drained the Everglades through the Central and Southern Florida Project. Engineered for stormwater control, this system is increasingly strained by sea level rise. Without major changes, it may no longer function by 2060. Adaptation efforts today are largely reactive, responding to immediate needs rather than long-term challenges. Compounding this issue, the federal government is now weakening the agencies responsible for maintaining and adapting the system it created. This uncertainty creates a rare chance to fundamentally reimagine the relationship with water in this urbanized area. This project explores how the field of landscape architecture can help lead this shift and empower South Florida residents to reclaim their role in determining the future of their landscape as climate change accelerates.

Catherine De Almeida, PLA
Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Washington
Seattle, Washington

Design with Waste: Toward Regenerative Futures

Waste is not inevitable — it is designed. Reframed as an abundant resource, it can catalyze repair, cooperation, collaboration, and regenerative futures. This project explores how landscape architects can lead a shift toward circular, regenerative practices, reducing the need for new extraction and minimizing disposal impacts on frontline communities. Through case studies and interviews with practitioners and community-based organizations, the project will document strategies for localized material reuse, deconstruction, and reconstruction that transform discarded materials into assets for design, construction, and community resilience. Presented as a resource guide, the work will culminate in a curated menu of materials, assemblies, and techniques that make these strategies visible, actionable, and replicable. Design with Waste will highlight how design decisions can contribute to more equitable and sustainable material systems and will position landscape architecture as a leader in shaping regenerative futures.

Davey Friday
(2022 LAF Olmsted Scholar)
Urban Planner II, City of Dallas Planning and Development Department
Dallas, Texas

Corridors of Legacy

Across American cities, streets named after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. commemorate ideals of justice, equality, and civic memory. Yet many of these corridors run through disinvested neighborhoods, are poorly maintained, and remain disconnected from the communities they were meant to honor. This contradiction between symbolic importance and material neglect raises critical questions about the role of design in shaping civic space. This project asks: What spatial forms, programs, and landscape strategies could transform these streets into platforms for participation, collective identity, and democratic life? Through a comparative study of MLK Boulevards in Dallas and Chicago that analyzes current conditions and proposes new typologies and design strategies, this project aims to show how architecture and landscape architecture can reshape symbolic streets into active civic spaces that support memory, equity, and engagement.

Thank You to Our Jurors

Michael Grove, FASLA, Principal, Sasaki
Alexis Landes, Managing Principal and Partner, SCAPE
Marc Miller, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Stuckeman School Associate Director for Access, Wellbeing, and Equity, The Pennsylvania State University
Lucinda Sanders, FASLA, Design Partner, President, and CEO, OLIN
Trinity Simons Wagner, Executive Director, Mayors’ Institute on City Design
Daniel Winterbottom, FASLA, Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Washington

Landscape Architecture Research Exchange Virtual Event

heather — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Landscape Architecture Research Exchange Virtual Event

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This highly interactive event is a chance to shape research questions, find collaborators, and discuss challenges and best practices for collaborative research.

This first-of-its-kind virtual gathering will be an interactive opportunity for academic and professional practitioners to identify shared research interests, explore opportunities for collaboration, and begin to shape a responsive research agenda for landscape architecture.

After introductory remarks, attendees will participate in a series of small-group, speed networking sessions based on their research aims and interests. Each group will be curated using information attendees provide on the event registration form. Groups meet in breakout rooms with an assigned facilitator to guide the discussion.

This event is for landscape architecture professionals and faculty members. It is not open to current students. (Students — stay tuned for future opportunities.) The event is free to attend, but space is limited and registrants will be divided into groups in advance, so please do not register unless you are committed to attending.

Thursday, January 22
1-2:30pm EST

Registration has closed for this event. If you have already registered, the link to join was sent to you by email from Zoom.

If you registered but can no longer attend, please contact Megan Barnes at mbarnes [at] lafoundation.org (mbarnes[at]lafoundation[dot]org).

Participant Resources [PDF]

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About the Landscape Architecture Research Exchange

The Landscape Architecture Research Exchange is an initiative of the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) and the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA), designed to connect landscape architecture professionals and academics around shared research interests. Key goals are to:

Improve shared understanding of the importance of research and how knowledge is generated, shared, utilized, and disseminated in landscape architecture
Create opportunities and dialogue across academic and professional practice to foster research partnerships and knowledge exchange while building community
Identify research areas, interests, and questions along with potential action items for collaboration between academic and professional practitioners