Graduate Students

PSLA Graduate Students

Meet our graduate students!

Please visit our Landscape Architecture Graduate Students page to meet our LARC & LACP students.

Graduate Students	Email Address	Program	Research Focus	Lab
Broadway Alex	asb001@g.umd.edu	PLSC
Brilliant Asamoah	basamoa1@g.umd.edu	AEED	Extension Education Urban Agriculture Program Planning and Evaluation Behavior/Technology adoption Extension stakeholder engagement
Prince Ashina	pashina@g.umd.edu	LARC	Prince earned a B.S in Landscape Design and Management from the Department of Horticulture at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology [KNUST], Kumasi, Ghana.
Lillian Austin (LinkedIn)	laustin4@g.umd.edu	LARC	Lillian earned a B.A. in History and Minor in Art and Architectural History from Texas A&M University.
Innocent Byiringiro	ibyiring@umd.edu	PLSC	Plant genome engineering Metabolic pathways engineering	Qi Lab
Paulson Carl	cpaulso1@umd.edu	PLSC	Wheat genetics Wheat transformation	Tiwari Lab
Joshua Clem	jclem@umd.edu	PLSC	Plant genome engineering DNA repair CRISPR/Cas systems	Qi Lab
Isabel Cedeno (LinkedIn)	isabelc@umd.edu	LARC	Isabel's research focuses on developing a resilient landscape design for Anacostia Park that addresses the challenges of tidal flooding while enhancing ecological and social functions. By integrating flood-adaptive strategies, the project aims to create a dynamic park environment that remains accessible and functional despite rising sea levels and increased storm surges. The design will restore native wetland habitats to improve ecological health and flood mitigation, while also establishing diverse community engagement zones that encourage recreation, education, and environmental awareness. Through this approach, the project seeks to transform Anacostia Park into a model of climate-adaptive urban greenspace that balances environmental protection with public use.
Spencer Craig	scraig@g.umd.edu	LARC	Spencer earned a Bachelors degree in Criminology from Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA. Spencer completed an Internship in Landscape Architecture with LandDesign, Summer 2024. Spencer has served as a Teaching Assistant for LARC 489R: Fundamental Graphics. https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencer-craig2017/
Haag Edward	ehaag24@g.umd.edu	PLSC
Rachele Franceschi	rfrance1@g.umd.edu	AEED	Urban Agriculture Extension Education Educational Framework Development
Caitlin Garlow	cgarlow@g.umd.edu	LARC
Simran Goyal	sgoyal13@g.umd.edu	PLSC
Quentin Grotheer	qgg7dx@g.umd.edu	LARC	Quentin earned a Bachelor of Science in Architecture with a Minor in Architectural History from University of Virginia, School of Architecture, Charlottesville, VA.
Samantha Hasselholf	samhass@g.umd.edu	PLSC	Small fruit pathology Focused on understanding the impact that planting latently infected strawberry plants with fungal pathogens has on fruit production in the mid Atlantic region.	Hu Lab
Felix Hernandez	feh@g.umd.edu	LARC	Felix, a LACP candidate, earned a Bachelor’s in Modern Language and Linguistics, Spanish Writing and Literature from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Adam Hopper	ahopper@umd.edu	PLSC	Metabolomics of crop surfaces influence on plant-microbe associations Reduction of enteric pathogen colonization on crop surfaces using a metabolomics approach Examination of physiological and morphological traits that drive enteric pathogen attachment/colonization	Micallef Lab
Claire Hudson	clhudson@umd.edu	PLSC	Exploration of the role of endophytic microorganisms and plant defenses against pathogenic bacteria Influence of plant associated microbiota on plant exometabolome and the metabolome of the host Abiotic and biotic elicitation of antimicrobial secondary metabolites in leafy greens as a means to improve food safety. Abiotic elicitation and the impact on shelf life and microbiome shifts in leafy greens. Internalization of enteric pathogens on leafy greens in response to factors such as changes in environmental conditions, metabolome and microbiome.	Micallef Lab
Melissa Jensen	mjensen6@g.umd.edu	LARC
Amelia Johnson	ajohn107@g.umd.edu	LARC
Anmol Kajla	akajla97@umd.edu	PLSC
Leyu Kalkidan	lkalkida@umd.edu	PLSC	Studying the effects of the use of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation on red skin color development, phenolic compounds and food safety on commercially important apple cultivars during post-harvest.	Farcuh Lab
Gabrielle Kessel	gkessel1@g.umd.edu	LARC
Diksha Klair	diksha@umd.edu	PLSC	Investigation of the Influence of PGPR on plant metabolome under abiotic stresses. Enteric pathogen-plant interactions influencing transcriptomic and metabolomic profile of plant.	Micallef Lab
Erin Kremer	ekremer@g.umd.edu	LARC	Erin earned a B.A in Communication with a Concentration In Media Studies and a Minor in Graphic Communication from North Carolina State University. Erin is a passionate and determined student working towards a career in landscape architecture and urban design. She aims to create built environments with a sense of place through intentional design.
Shaylan Kolodney	kolodney@g.umd.edu	PLSC	Evaluating optimal cultivation strategies for switchgrass to maximize biomass production, enhance carbon sequestration, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.	Tully Lab
Vaibhav Kumar	kvaibhav@g.umd.edu	PLSC
Joseph Lagner	jlagner@umd.edu	PLSC	Application of CRISPR-based disease detection.	Qi Lab
Naomi Lefkovitz	naomibl@g.umd.edu
Bruce Levine	levinebj@g.umd.edu	PLSC
Hongjin Lu	lhj817@g.umd.edu	PLSC
Gracie Mason	gracies@g.umd.edu	AEED
Artemis Maziarski (LinkedIn)	ajmaz@g.umd.edu	LARC	Artemis earned a B.S. in Health Science from Northeastern University in Boston, MA and an A.A.S. in Horticulture Technology (Landscape Design Specialization) from Northern Virginia Community College in Sterling, VA. She has several years of public gardening experience, and has served as a Teaching Assistant for AGST 130: Did Yeast Create Civilization?, PLSC 111: Intro to Horticulture Lab, and LARC 230: Design Fundamentals Studio at UMD. Her areas of interest include improving access to green spaces, data visualization, and reducing the urban heat island effect.
Md Miah Shipon	shipon@g.umd.edu	PLSC	Fruit quality, physiology and and molecular biology Pre-harvest ethylene regulators on physiological disorders of fruit Fruit quality and key-related metabolic pathways during post-harvest storage condition	Farcuh lab
Ian Moot	imoot@g.umd.edu	PLSC
David Ramos	ramos@g.umd.edu	LARC
Anshul Rana	arana1@g.umd.edu	PLSC	Understanding the association between weed-originated Colletotrichum nymphaeae and strawberry anthracnose Determining microbiome seasonality in strawberries and nearby weeds Understanding the impact of herbicide applications on the change of disease inoculum levels Also, please find my picture attached.
Jacob Rasmussen	jrasmuss@umd.edu	AEED
Kelly Rasmussen	kmacmurr@g.umd.edu	LARC
Noah Raspler	nraspler@g.umd.edu	LARC
Jacqueline Repp	jrepp@g.umd.edu	PLSC	Small fruit pathology Understanding fitness costs associated with important genetic mutations conferring fungicide resistance in the Botrytis fruit rot pathogen utilizing RNP based CRISPR/Cas9 system.	Hu lab
Caitlan Rice	crice128@g.umd.edu	LARC
John Samura	jsamura@g.umd.edu	AEED
Alison Schulenburg	aschul98@g.umd.edu	PLSC	Determining soil ion dynamics under restoration grass species on coastal agricultural fields experiencing saltwater intrusion (SWI). Analyzing the current use of easement programs on the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland and understanding how they will change with sea level rise and SWI. Monitoring the implementation and measuring the benefits of easement programs on fields experiencing multiple stages of SWI. Evaluating optimal cultivation strategies for switchgrass to maximize biomass production to create an alternative source of revenue (e.g., for anaerobic digestion).	Tully Lab
Morales-Salva Arielis	amoral13@umd.edu	PLSC	Wheat Genetics	Tiwari Lab
Kelly Sieberts	sieberts@g.umd.edu	LARC	Kelly earned a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Louisville, Louisville, KY. Among her significant work background, Kelly experiences include providing professional services consulting, including performing quantitative and qualitative program research using project management, performance assessment, and data analysis software. Kelly has served as a Teaching Assistant for LARC 151: Urban Agriculture: Designing and Assessing Edible Landscapes and LARC 162: Environmental Justice: Same World, Different Built Environment
Kendall Soriano	ksoriano@g.umd.edu
Meg Smolinski	msmolins@umd.edu	AEED
Nathaniel Spicer	nspicer@umd.edu	PLSC	Evaluating the impacts of sea level rise on carbon and nitrogen cycling in agricultural fields and forests on the Eastern Shore.	Tully Lab
Laura Sweeney	lsween33@g.umd.edu	LARC
Uday Kumar Thera	uthera@umd.edu	PLSC	Turfgrass pathology and Sustainable Turfgrass Maintenance	Shahoveisi Lab
Louis Thorne	lthorne@umd.edu	PLSC	Phytoremediation in soils with high phosphorus	Fiorellino Lab
Connor Tucker	lsween33@g.umd.edu	LARC
Newton Vienna	vnewton@g.umd.edu	PLSC
Sydney Wallace	swallac1@g.umd.edu	PLSC
Ruiting Wang	rtwang28@g.umd.edu	PLSC
Evan Whalen	ewhalen3@g.umd.edu	LARC
Michael White	mwhite2@g.umd.edu	LARC
Erin Wiegman	ewiegman@g.umd.edu	PLSC	Plant Developmental Genetics; Genome Editing; Trait Development in Biotech.	Rawat lab
Joseph Wong	jwong111@g.umd.edu	LARC
Yuwei Xiao	ywxiao93@g.umd.edu	PLSC	Fruit development through two different plant systems: wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca) and Arabidopsis thaliana.	Liu Lab
Thomas Young	tyoung47@g.umd.edu	PLSC
Tasmia Zaman	tzaman@g.umd.edu	LARC
Minting Zeng	mintingz@g.umd.edu	PLSC