Landscape Architecture

Areas of Focus:  Sustainability (Built Environment Resilience) Research explores low-cost, resilient landscape infrastructure for water management. Bio: Alpa is Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at University of Florida and the Executive Director of ‘Critical Places’, a non-profit based in India that works with marginalized communities for developing solutions to issues of the built environment. Alpa is passionately committed to advocating for and developing the role of landscape architecture in creating socio-culturally integrated solutions to water issues, and designs of human habitats in developing countries through her research, practice and teaching. Her scholarship on vernacular water infrastructure systems of water management in India has been published in diverse venues such as Journal of Landscape Architecture, Landscape Journal, Ground Up, Thresholds, and similar. Alpa’s research and creative scholarship has been supported by grants such as the Dumbarton Oaks Mellon Fellowship in Urban Landscape Studies, and the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s (LAF) Fellowship for Innovation and Leadership. Alpa teaches the Advanced Graduate Landscape Design Studio and the Undergraduate Urban Design Studio in addition to capstone/terminal project seminars. She is a recipient of the UF DCP International Educator of the Year Award, and Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) Award for Excellence in Design Studio Teaching. Trained as an architect, landscape architect and urbanist, Alpa brings a rich, multi-disciplinary lens to her work. She holds a post-professional Masters degree in Urban Design from Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), a Masters degree in Landscape Architecture from Louisiana State University, and a Bachelor in Architecture from NIT, Raipur, India. She is a licensed landscape architect in Kansas, a licensed architect in India, and a LEED AP, and has worked internationally in design offices in India, USA, UAE and Switzerland. Alpa serves as co-chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion research track of CELA and on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Architectural Education JAE, the Alumni Council of Harvard GSD, and the Board of Directors of the LAF.

Areas of Focus: Sustainability (Built Environment Resilience) My work is focused on a variety of topics related to climate change and resilient design, including regional conservation planning as the Associate Director of the Center for Landscape Conservation Planning (http://conservation.dcp.ufl.edu/), community resiliency as a partner with Florida Resilient Cities (https://dcp.ufl.edu/frc/), and as a founding member of the Climate-wise Landscape Initiative (https://dcp.ufl.edu/landscapechange/) focused on providing actionable climate change information for landscape architects and educators. Bio: Michael Volk is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture, Associate Director of the University of Florida Center for Landscape Conservation Planning, and a Florida registered Landscape Architect (currently inactive). He has a Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Florida and a degree in Architecture from the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. Michael currently teaches courses in planting design, landscape management and ecology, environmental and ecological policy, and ecological issues and sustainability in collaboration with faculty in the Departments of Landscape Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning. Michael’s work with the Center for Landscape Conservation Planning (http://conservation.dcp.ufl.edu/) includes applied research with conservation partners throughout Florida on land use, regional conservation planning, and urban green infrastructure; the impacts of sea level rise on natural resources and coastal communities; and climate change adaptation strategies and information needs for landscape architecture students and professionals (https://dcp.ufl.edu/landscapechange/). Michael is also a partner with Florida Resilient Cities (https://dcp.ufl.edu/frc/), an initiative which works with communities across Florida to be more prepared for and resilient to increased risk and future changes.