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LAF is proud to invest in the people and ideas that will drive the future of the landscape architecture discipline.

Each year, LAF selects a six-member cohort of Fellows and recent LAF Olmsted Scholars for the LAF Fellowship for Innovation and Leadership, a year-long transformation program to develop ideas that have the potential to create positive and profound change in the profession, environment, and humanity.


2024-2025 LAF Fellows

The eighth fellowship cohort runs from June 2024 to June 2025.

  • David Buckley
    David Buckley Borden Fuller Design Fellow, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
  • Anya Domlesky
    Anya Domlesky Director of Research, SWA Group, Chicago, IL
  • Aaron Hernandez
    Aaron Hernandez Associate, Reed Hilderbrand, Cambridge, MA
  • Brad Howe
    Brad Howe Design Director, SCAPE, New York City, NY
  • Forbes Lipschitz
    Forbes Lipschitz Associate Professor, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
  • Amy Whitesides
    Amy Whitesides Design Critic , Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA

2023-2024 LAF Fellows

The seventh fellowship cohort runs from June 2023 to June 2024.

  • Meg Calkins smiles
    Meg Calkins Professor, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
  • Kathryn Finnigan smiles
    Kathryn Finnigan MLA Candidate, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO
  • Kimberly Garza smiles
    Kimberly Garza Principal, Atlas Lab, Sacramento, CA
  • Johnny Macon smiles
    Johnny Shakir Macon Lecturer, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD
  • Betsy Peterson smiles
    Betsy Peterson Owner, August Design Collaborative, Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom
  • Douglas Williams smiles
    Douglas Williams Lecturer and Film/TV Artist, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

2022-2023 LAF Fellows

The sixth fellowship cohort ran from June 2022 to June 2023. See the final presentations from each of the six Fellows at the 2023 LAF Innovation + Leadership Symposium here.

  • Headshot of Phillip Fernberg
    Phillip Fernberg PhD Student, Utah State University, Logan, UT
  • Headshot of Christopher Roth Hardy
    Christopher Roth Hardy Senior Associate, Sasaki, Watertown, MA
  • Headshot of Joseph James
    Joseph James, RLA, ASLA Principal, Joseph James Landscape Architecture, Bristol, RI
  • Headshot of Erin Kelly
    Erin Kelly Director of Special Projects, Rumspringa, Detroit, MI
  • Headshot of Robert Morrow Levinthal
    Robert Morrow Levinthal PhD Student, City and Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
  • Headshot of Daniel Winterbottom
    Daniel Winterbottom, RSLA, FASLA Professor, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

2021-2022 LAF Fellows

The fifth fellowship cohort ran from June 2021 to June 2022. See the final presentations from each of the six Fellows at the 2022 LAF Innovation + Leadership Symposium here.

  • Olivia Bussey headshot
    Olivia Bussey Landscape Designer, Curtis + Rogers Design Studio, Miami, FL
  • Linda Chamorro headshot
    Linda Chamorro Assistant Professor, Florida International University, Miami, FL
  • Deb Guenther, FASLA headshot
    Deb Guenther, FASLA Partner, Mithun, Seattle, WA
  • Jim A. LaGro Jr., PhD headshot
    James A. LaGro Jr., PhD Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
  • N. Claire Napawan headshot
    N. Claire Napawan Associate Professor, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA
  • Ellen Oettinger White headshot
    Ellen Oettinger White PhD Candidate, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ

2020-2021 LAF Fellows

The fourth fellowship cohort ran from June 2020 to June 2021. See the final presentations from the virtual 2021 Innovation + Leadership Symposium Part 1 (Edmundo, Andrea, Diego), and Part 2 (Alison, Alexa, Roxi).

  • Diego Bermudez
    Diego Bermudez Principal and Partner, Bermudez Arquitectos, Bogotá, DC, Colombia
  • Edmundo Colon-Izquierdo
    Edmundo Colón Izquierdo Principal, ECo, San Juan, PR
  • Alison Hirsch
    Alison Hirsch Associate Professor and Program Director, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
  • Andrea Johnson
    Andrea Johnson Research Director, Terreform Center for Advanced Urban Research, New York, NY
  • Roxi Thoren
    Roxi Thoren Associate Professor and Department Head, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
  • Alexa Vaughn-Brainard
    Alexa Vaughn Landscape Designer, OLIN, Los Angeles, CA

2019-2020 LAF Fellows

The third fellowship cohort ran from June 2019 to June 2020. See the final presentations from the virtual 2020 Innovation + Leadership Symposium Part 1 (Jeffrey, Liz, and Diana), and Part 2 (Nick, Pierre, Hans).

  • Hans Baumann
    Hans Baumann Independent Landscape Architect, Santa Monica, CA
  • Pierre Belanger
    Pierre Bélanger Landscape Architect, Urban Planner, & Settler Scholar, OPEN SYSTEMS / Landscape Architecture Lab, Boston *, MA
  • Liz Camuti
    Elizabeth Camuti Landscape Designer, SCAPE, New Orleans, LA
  • Diana Fernandez
    Diana Fernandez Associate, Sasaki, Watertown, MA
  • Jeff Hou
    Jeffrey Hou Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
  • Nicholas Jabs
    Nicholas Jabs Designer, PORT Urbanism, Philadelphia, PA

2018-2019 LAF Fellows

The second year of the LAF Fellowship for Innovation and Leadership ran from May 2018 until June 2019. See the final presentations from each member of the cohort here.

  • Pamela Conrad headshot
    Pamela Conrad Principal, CMG Landscape Architecture, San Francisco, CA
  • David de la Cruz headshot
    Daví de la Cruz Project Manager, Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, Los Angeles, CA
  • Lauren Delbridge headshot
    Lauren Delbridge Landscape Designer, Land Design, Charlotte, NC
  • Maisie Hughes headshot
    Maisie Hughes Owner, Design Virtue, Washington, DC
  • Karl Krause headshot
    Karl Krause Senior Landscape Architect, OLIN, Philadelphia, PA
  • Andrew Sargeant
    Andrew Sargeant Landscape Designer/Visualization Specialist, Lionheart Places, Austin, TX
  • Sanjukta Sen headshot
    Sanjukta Sen Senior Associate, James Corner Field Operations, New York, NY

2017-2018 LAF Fellows

The inaugural year of the LAF Fellowship for Innovation and Leadership ran from May 2017 until May 2018. See the final presentations from each member of the cohort here.

  • Harriett Jameson Brooks
    Harriett Jameson Brooks Landscape Designer, Hawkins Partners, Alexandria, VA
  • Scott Douglas
    Scott Douglas Director, Hahn Horticulture Garden, Blacksburg, VA
  • Claire Latane
    Claire Latané Senior Associate, Mia Lehrer + Associates, Los Angeles, CA
  • Brice Maryman
    Brice Maryman Director of Landscape Architecture, MIG l SvR, Seattle, WA
  • Alpa Nawre
    Alpa Nawre Assistant Professor, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
  • Nicole Plunkett
    Nicole Plunkett Landscape Architect, Cotleur & Hearing, Jupiter, FL

The LAF Fellowship for Innovation and Leadership was launched in 2016 thanks to the generous support of donors to the LAF: 50 & Forward Campaign. We would like to specially thank the following organizations for their leadership and significant commitments to this campaign.

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