UF Landscape Architecture Bulletin - May 2025 | Department of Landscape Architecture

UF Landscape Architecture Bulletin – May 2025

With the spring semester behind us, we’re excited to highlight some of the amazing work and achievements from across our department.

Congratulations to all our graduates! 🎓

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UF Landscape Architecture Recognizes Student Achievements at Year-End Event

Three smiling people stand indoors holding certificates, posing for a photo at an event. Other people and tables are visible in the background, creating a celebratory atmosphere.

The department celebrated the end of the academic year with an event held at Cypress and Grove Brewery in Gainesville. Faculty, students, staff and friends celebrated over dinner, drinks, and a student awards ceremony.

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Two students from the University of Florida Department of Landscape Architecture were recognized in the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s (LAF) 2025 Olmsted Scholars Program, which recognizes students in the field who exhibit exceptional leadership qualities.

Megan Laffey was selected as an LAF National Olmsted Scholar Undergraduate Finalist, and Marc Grossberg was selected as a 2025 LAF Olmsted Graduate Scholar. This is the second consecutive year the department has had a student named a finalist in the program.

A woman presents to an audience in a room, showing slides titled COMPLEMENTARY DESIGN with maps on two large screens. Attendees sit on white chairs, facing the presenter and screens.

Senior landscape architecture students at the University of Florida presented their capstone projects in a two-day final review held April 24–25, 2025 marking the culmination of a rigorous year-long design project that blended research, analysis, and creative problem-solving.

Two images side by side show students presenting architectural projects to an audience, with large posters and design plans displayed on the wall behind them.

University of Florida landscape architecture and architecture students presented innovative neighborhood redevelopment proposals during their final review held at the end of the 2025 Spring semester. Through an interdisciplinary Urban Design Studio, undergraduate students focused on inclusive design strategies and housing models for special needs populations at two sites adjacent to Depot Park.

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University of Florida landscape architecure students presented planting designs for the historic grounds of the Matheson History Museum to museum board members, advisory group members, as well as the City of Gainesville Parks and Recreation staff and the public during their final review for the 2025 Spring semester. The work was part of a community-engaged studio co-taught by Dr. Jiayang Li and Dr. Gail Hansen for sophomore landscape architecture students.

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Congratulations to Bryce Donner (BLA ’18, MLA ’24), Dr. Jules Bruck, and Professor Dan Manley. Their collaborative paper, “Generating Green Infrastructure Strategies for the Coastal City of Lewes, Delaware”, developed from Bryce’s Graduate Terminal Project, has been honored with the 2025 Best Paper Award by the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA). This prestigious recognition will be formally celebrated at the EDRA Banquet on May 29.

Students, Faculty and Staff From the UF Center for Landscape Conservation Planning To Attend Corridor Connect Summit

The Corridor Connect Summit, organized by the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation, will be held June 3-5, 2025 and is a biannual meeting that convenes conservation partners from across the academic, government, and private sectors to find solutions for balancing Florida’s growth while protecting the state’s critical natural and rural resources and way of life.

The Center will be sharing information about the science and outreach products being developed at UF and with other partners, including online conservation planning tools and an art exhibition (due to open in September 2025). Staff will also be assisting with or leading multiple sessions focused on strategic conservation and development threats, corridor compatible trails, transportation, cross-state landscape management and conservation, and providing a “state of the science” address as part of the main stage kickoff at the beginning of the conference.

This work builds on the Center’s broader mission of developing science to support strategic land conservation and green infrastructure planning in Florida. Visit the conference website HERE and learn more about the Center by clicking the button below.

Learn More

University of Florida Center for Landscape Conservation Planning and Florida Wildlife Corridor Research Team Awarded 2025 ESA Sustainability Science Award

A man in a blue short-sleeve shirt stands on a wooden boardwalk overlooking green foliage, with a clear blue sky and wispy clouds in the background.

Tom Hoctor, Director of the UF Center for Landscape Conservation Planning, received the 2025 Sustainability Science Award from the Ecological Society of America alongside a team of researchers for their paper, “Marshaling science to advance large landscape conservation,” which examines the efforts to preserve wild Florida through the creation, management, and expansion of the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

Five people stand in front of a Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture banner, smiling and posing with one arm extended forward in a playful manner. They all wear conference badges.

Through her groundbreaking commitment to community-engaged action research, our newest faculty member is advancing design communication in landscape architecture. Read more about Shankar’s journey to UF and her current research below.

Students and faculty from the UF Department of Landscape Architecture recently traveled to Portland, Oregon to attend the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture Conference and present their research.

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