National Society of Black Engineers

The future of landscape architecture is bright with emerging stars like the six-member team of the DMV National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Jr. Chapter. ASLA is proud to partner with NSBE to support the team who will tackled intersections between landscape architecture and robotics for the VEX IQ Competition. 

The team of middle school girls, or S.T.E.A.M Stars, developed designs for an accessible, sustainable and fun playground on the campus of Howard University in Washington, DC. The project focus was for students to learn about the relationship among the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. Each season, one of the fields is featured providing the students with an opportunity to learn more about how it relates to robotics and how what they are learning in the classroom has a practical application in their lives.  

The S.T.E.A.M. Stars won the "STEM Research Project Award" at the DC State Championship. Using robotic equipment, the team investigated how math (measuring the slope of a slide, ADA requirements -sidewalk dimensions and turn radius-, measuring to scale, dimensions of the site and playground equipment) is used in the design process and to determine if the playground is accessible and meets ADA requirements. 

The S.T.E.A.M. Stars won the "STEM Research Project Award" at the DC State Championship. 

Adrienne McCray, ASLA/Senior Associate at ºleeandassociatesinc was on hand at the ASLA Center for Landscape Architecture to reinforce how landscape architects approach the design process with civil engineers using ºleeandassociatesinc’s NoMa Swampoodle Park project. ASLA looks forward to future opportunities to support NSBE and its members.