LAF Announces 2022 Olmsted Scholars and National Winners
5/15/2022Leave a Comment
The Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) has announced the 89 exceptional student leaders honored in its 2022 Olmsted Scholars Program, including the two national winners and six finalists.
Kathryn Finnigan, Student ASLA, a master’s student at the University of Colorado Denver, was selected as the graduate 2022 LAF National Olmsted Scholar, winning the $25,000 prize. Katie has a commitment to public service and passion for inclusive spaces that support physical and mental health. Building from personal experiences and volunteer work with youth and disability resource programs, Katie plans to use the award to undertake community-engaged research on design interventions that can create sensorially supportive outdoor environments for neurodivergent populations.
Trecia Cintron, Student Affil. ASLA, a student at The Ohio State University, is the undergraduate 2022 LAF National Olmsted Scholar and winner of the $15,000 prize. With a firm understanding of the link between public health and environment, particularly as they relate to race and systemic negligence, Trecia will use the award to further her research which involves gathering health histories from families in Black and Hispanic communities that live adjacent to landfills and other contaminated sites along the Mississippi River to create an Environmental Injustice Atlas of the Midwest.
Also honored are six National Olmsted Scholar Finalists. The graduate finalists, who each receive a $5,000 award, are:
- Robert Douglass, Assoc. ASLA, Cal Poly Pomona
- Kate Flaherty, Student ASLA, Cornell University
- Daniel Kletzing, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
The undergraduate finalists, who each receive a $3,000 award, are:
- Megan Adams, Student ASLA, Iowa State University
- Avery Haynes, Student ASLA, Louisiana State University
- Leigh Muldrow, Student ASLA, University of Delaware
Two independent juries selected the winners and finalists from a group of 50 master’s and 39 undergraduate students nominated by their faculty for their exceptional leadership potential. The nominees earned the designation of 2022 LAF Olmsted Scholar and join the community of 981 LAF Olmsted Scholars named since the program’s inception in 2008.
Now in its fifteenth year, the LAF Olmsted Scholars Program is the premier leadership recognition program for landscape architecture students. It is made possible with support from: Deeproot, Design Workshop, EDSA, HOK, IRONSMITH, LandDesign, OJB, OLIN, Sasaki, Steven G. King, FASLA, and Bill and Kathy Main, Hon. ASLA; Promotion Partner: American Society of Landscape Architects.
The 2022 Olmsted Scholars will be honored at LAF’s 37th Annual Benefit on Friday, November 11 in San Francisco, held in conjunction with the ASLA 2022 Conference on Landscape Architecture.