UF Department of Landscape Architecture Recognizes Student Achievements at Year-End Event

The University of Florida Department of Landscape Architecture recently 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. 

The event followed the conclusion of the department’s final capstone reviews earlier in the afternoon, where landscape architecture students presented their capstone projects in front of faculty, peers, and a panel of industry professionals. The department held final reviews during the last two weeks of classes for both undergraduate and graduate students.

The event’s student award ceremony recognized the achievements of our amazing students over the course of this year. Check out some photos of these student award recipients below. 

Over the past year, students and faculty from the department have achieved numerous milestones and shared their research at several conferences. Check out a summary of just some of the department’s accomplishments below: 

– Undergraduate student Megan Laffey was named an Undergraduate Finalist in the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s 2025 Olmsted Scholars Program, which recognizes students with exceptional leadership qualities. This is the second year in a row that the department has named a finalist, with the previous being Juan Perez. 

– Graduate student Marc Grossberg was honored as a 2025 Graduate Scholar in recognition of his outstanding leadership.

– Tom Hoctor, Director of the UF Center for Landscape Conservation and Planning, was the recipient of the Ecological Society of America’s Sustainability Science Award alongside a team of researchers for the paper “Marshaling science to advance large landscape conservation”, which focuses on the Florida Wildlife Corridor’s protection and expansion. 

– Bryce Donner (BLA ‘18, MLA ‘24), Dr. Jules Bruck, and Professor Dan Manley were awarded the “Best Paper Award” by the Environmental Design Research Association ahead of their 2025 conference for their paper “Generating Green Infrastructure Strategies for the Coastal City of Lewes, Delaware. The paper was based on Donner’s Graduate Terminal Project. 

– Students and faculty from the department attended the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture Conference in Portland to present their research to others in the field.