Laura Musacchio

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.