Laura Musacchio
Associate Professor
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I teach several courses at the undergraduate and graduate level in these topics, and I encourage students to develop an interdisciplinary perspective that facilitates the integration of science, art, and practice. I also facilitate classroom experiences to help students explore the pluralistic meanings of ecology and culture and to delve into how these meanings might inform their approach to their studies. Students from a variety of disciplines take my courses including landscape architecture, architecture, urban design, conservation biology, natural resources, urban and regional planning, public policy, sustainability, humanities, and the arts. I am also affiliated with the Urban and Regional Planning program in the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and Conservation Biology program in the College of Food and Natural Resource Sciences.
My portfolio of projects also includes interdisciplinary work. My research projects include participation on an interdisciplinary research team-funded by NASA-that investigated how city size and shape influenced severe weather, urban pollution, and canopy transition patterns in the Great Plains. My work with this project looked at bridging land change science to green infrastructure practice for sustainable and resilient metropolitan regions. My fellowship with Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota investigated the topic of boundary management as an approach in the sciences to better connect theory and application in planning, policy, management, and design.
I am an emeritus editorial board member of Landscape and Urban Planning. I was also an editorial board member of Landscape Ecology and Biodiversity and Conservation. In addition, I am a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
Credentials
B.L.A., Magna Cum Laude, State University New York, Syracuse
M.L.A., State University New York, Syracuse
Ph.D., Urban and Regional Science (Emphasis areas: Landscape Systems and Environmental Planning and Policy), Texas A&M
Selected Scholarship
Publications
- Musacchio, L. 2018. Ecologies as a complement to ecosystem services? Exploring how landscape planners might advance understanding about human-nature relationships in changing landscapes. Landscape Ecology 33:847–860
- Musacchio, L. 2013. Key concepts and research priorities for landscape sustainability (introduction to special issue). Landscape Ecology 28:995–998
- Musacchio, L. 2013. Cultivating deep care: Integrating landscape ecological research into the cultural dimension of ecosystem services. Landscape Ecology 28:1025–1038
- Musacchio, L. 2011. The grand challenge to operationalize landscape sustainability and the design-in-science paradigm. Landscape Ecology 26:1–5
- Musacchio, L. 2011. The world's matrix of vegetation: Hunting the hidden dimension of landscape sustainability. Landscape and Urban Planning 100:356–360
- Musacchio, L. 2009. The scientific basis for the design of landscape sustainability: A conceptual framework for translational landscape research and practice of designed landscapes and the six Es of landscape sustainability. Landscape Ecology 24:993–1013
- Musacchio, L. 2009. The ecology and culture of landscape sustainability (Introduction to special issue). Landscape Ecology 24:989–992
Teaching
- LA 3204 Holistic Landscape Ecology and Bioregional Practice
- LA 5204 Metropolitan Landscape Ecology
- LA 5705 Regreening Minds, Cities, and Regions seminar
- LA 8301 Research Issues and Methods
Selected Honors and Awards
- Fellow, Institute on the Environment (2016–present)
- Resident Fellowship, Institute on the Environment (2012-2016)
- College of Design Outstanding Research Award (2010)
- Planetizen’s 2006 Top 10 Books Designing Small Parks: A Manual Addressing Social and Ecological Concerns Designing Small Parks (by Ann Forsyth and Laura Musacchio)
- Roy Jones Award for Outstanding Research (2005)
