2026 CSI Teams and Projects Announced
Thirteen faculty Research Fellows and ten high-performing landscape projects have been selected for LAF's 2026 Case Study Investigation program.
Now in its 16th year, Case Study Investigation (CSI) is a unique research collaboration and training program for faculty, students, and practitioners. LAF-funded faculty-student research teams work with designers to document the impacts of exemplary, high-performing landscape projects. Teams develop methods to quantify the environmental, social, and economic benefits of built projects and produce Case Study Briefs for LAF’s Landscape Performance Series.
Research Fellows lead the CSI collaboration and receive funding to support a student Research Assistant. The academic teams work with liaisons from design firms to evaluate and document each project. LAF provides training, supporting materials, and feedback throughout the process.
Among the projects selected for the 2026 program are a water conservation garden in Salt Lake City, a pilot project for HUD-funded coastal resilience in coastal Louisiana, a former golf course turned ecological restoration in southern California, a school in Delaware designed for its students’ unique needs, and a regional mega-park in Kentucky.
The geographically diverse projects also include the visitors’ center for a Puerto Rican national forest, a series of reimagined vacant lots in Chicago, an urban nature preserve that supports New York City’s first net-zero community, an iconic sponge city wetland park in Harbin, China, and a world-class Massachusetts museum landscape.
The 2026 CSI program kicks off in February and runs through early August. We look forward to working with the teams to document this diverse array of outstanding projects and their impacts!
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
+ True Nature Design
CSI Research Fellow: Aaron Liggett
Student Research Assistants: Hannah Huntley and Morgan McNeff
Project: The University of California, Santa Barbara North Campus Open Space, Goleta, CA
Harvard University
+ Reed Hilderbrand
CSI Research Fellows: Max Piana, PhD, and Gary Hilderbrand, FASLA, FAAR
Student Research Assistant: Anya Sheldon
Project: The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA
Illinois Institute of Technology
+ Lamar Johnson Collaborative
CSI Research Fellow: Ron Henderson, FASLA
Student Research Assistant: Julian Stanfield
Project: PopCourts! Series, Chicago, IL
KU Leuven
+ Turenscape
CSI Research Fellow: Kelly Shannon, PhD
Student Research Assistant: Zhuhui Bai
Project: Qunli Wetland Park, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
Louisiana State University
+ CARBO Landscape Architecture
CSI Research Fellows: Fabiana Trindade da Silva, PhD, and Yao Wang, PhD
Student Research Assistants: Catherine Frampton and Laura Ramos Ramirez
Project: Gretna City Park, Gretna, LA
Rutgers University
+ Starr Whitehouse
CSI Research Fellow: Myla F.J. Aronson, PhD
Student Research Assistant: Brooke Lyn Belmonte
Project: Arverne East Nature Preserve, Far Rockaway, NY
Universidad Ana G. Méndez
+ Marvel Architects
CSI Research Fellows: Luis A. Pérez Rivera and Michelle Lee Delgado Wallace
Student Research Assistants: Sahyly Meléndez Figueroa and Samary Cruz Ponce
Project: Portal de El Yunque Rain Gardens, Río Grande, PR
University of Delaware
+ ForeSite Associates
CSI Research Fellow: Anna Wik, RLA
Student Research Assistants: Cate Boettger and Aleena Sabir
Project: The Pilot School, Wilmington, DE
University of Kentucky
+ WRT
CSI Research Fellow: Tracey Miller, PhD
Student Research Assistants: Robert Anthony Lonnemann and Liz Feight
Project: The Parklands of Floyds Fork, Louisville, KY
Utah State University
+ Studio Outside
CSI Research Fellow: Huaqing Wang, PhD
Student Research Assistant: Simin Gholami
Project: Water Conservation Garden at Red Butte Garden & Arboretum, Salt Lake City, UT
