Major: Landscape Architecture
Minor: Community Planning
Hometown: Boothbay, ME
What makes the College of Arts and Sciences at URI unique?
Landscape architecture is about creativity in meaningful designs, collaboration for unlocking true design potential, and diversity for serving all people. The College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Rhode Island is unique because it cultivates these elements of creativity, collaboration, and diversity and truly nurtures an open community. Landscape architecture is where culture and nature unite – a true connection of art and science. The breadth of curriculum and multitude of disciplines within the College all demonstrate these connections too, and it is that unique narrative that continues to stimulate dialogue and illustrate our distinctive, synergetic educations we have received while at the University of Rhode Island.
What accomplishments and/or activities are you most proud of while at URI?Landscape architecture can simply be described as the design of spaces to achieve both aesthetic and functional outcomes. These outcomes are a service for people, they understand socio-behavioral benefits, environmental revitalization, and human psychology and health. The Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Rhode Island stands on pillars of service-learning, educating through projects that provide altruistic, real-world services for local municipalities. It has allowed me to engage with real people and real communities on real issues. Participating in this process holds some of my most impactful accomplishments, whether that be in reimagined mixed-use development for South Kingstown, sea level rise and storm surge mitigation for Charlestown, or healing, accessible landscapes for veterans in Natick, Massachusetts.
Engagement exemplified by our service projects is equally as important within our Department studio. I have worked as an office administrative assistant, sustainable design author, and academic liaison. I have continually served as an educator, assisting in teaching digital design media and plant identification and instructing a graduate-level digital drafting workshop for the Masters of Environmental Science and Management program. Nearing the end of my education, I also had the opportunity to become certified in green roof system assembly design.
The American Society of Landscape Architects is the professional association and fellowship for landscape architecture across North America. While at the University of Rhode Island, I have been fortunate to serve as the student chapter Secretary, chapter ex-officio member, and student chapter President for Rhode Island. In these roles, I have hosted workshops and events, worked as a welcome representative, and continue to be active as the Department social media manager and content coordinator. From my academic endeavors here at the University of Rhode Island, I have been inducted into Sigma Lambda Alpha, the national honor society for landscape architecture, and most notably have received the RIASLA Student Award of Honor and was named an Olmsted Scholar in the national Landscape Architecture Foundation.
What research projects, internships, and/or study abroad programs did you participate in at URI? How did they enhance your education?
Outside the studio, I furthered my education through internships in design and horticulture. To gain hands-on field experience and understand the inner systems of design, I worked with the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. There, I worked collaboratively on the implementation of their capital expansion, honed skills in planning and horticultural practices, and served as a docent and ambassador in patron education. I applied these skills in design internships at Activitas, Inc., notable for their work with the New England Patriots and New England Revolution, and at Terrence J. DeWan & Associates, notable for renewable energy design and visual assessment. Out of these, I was able to broaden my scope of design after working on athletic, recreational, and residential development.
In an independent study, I had the opportunity to work with Professor Angelo Simeoni and Dr. Jane Buxton, two members of our incredible faculty, on the Little Compton Coastal Initiative. This service-learning project observed the town of Little Compton and studied the effects of sea level rise, storm surge, and climate dynamics on the rural coastal gem. It allowed us to understand how to properly accommodate the town, design for it to effectively adapt, and identify the safest topographic locations of retreat.
What do you value about your liberal arts education?
The University of Rhode Island has provided me with the opportunity of being a part of such an influential and impactful department. Landscape architecture is quite an invisible industry, but is also a fundamental industry that catalyzes connections of people between people, people between place, and people between the environment – all forged by design. The Department of Landscape Architecture gave us a liberal arts education that allowed us to hone our abilities in humanitarianism that can serve all disciplines. This valuable type of education provides the ability to understand the diversity of the professional realm. It fosters our skills of engagement with communities to provide viable, long-term solutions for problems we all face as a whole.
What’s next for you?
I have always been immersed in medicine through family and community influence, so much so that I originally enrolled as a double major in Cell and Molecular Biology and Psychological Sciences on the pre-medical studies track. My ultimate change from medical studies into landscape architecture, however, fulfills my passion for community through healthcare in both industries. My interests examine biophilic design and phytotherapy in hospitals, prison grounds, and other civic landscapes, observing the ability to forge connections to nature while promoting accelerated healing and human psychology. While continuing to promote advocacy for landscape architecture, I plan to utilize design in the profession to connect communities while ensuring health and human welfare through green humanitarianism.