With over six years of experience designing, managing, installing, and maintaining projects for Curry Landscaping, Inc., I am very familiar with the practical processes of the trade.  I am well versed in team-based design, as well as communicating design ideas to clients. 

      On May 14th, 2012, I graduated Summa Cum Laude from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey with a B.S. in Landscape Architecture.  During my time at Rutgers, I collaborated with students on projects of varying scales--from backyards to watersheds.  My designs seek to connect people with the world around them, acting as an interface between the built and natural environment.  With an understanding of the ecological intricacies of the landscape, I have designed projects that are both educational and functional--beneficial to the system in which they exist.  I excelled in the Landscape Architecture Program, earning a Student Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects.  In January of 2012, I was named a University Olmsted Scholar for my vision and leadership both in, and out of the classroom. 

     Outside of Rutgers, my passion and strong personal drive have pushed me to excel in some unlikely fields.  As a landscape photographer, my work has been featured on many websites, including that of Cherry Grove Organic Farm, a prominent New Jersey establishment.  My creativity also extends to music--as a singer-songwriter, I have performed original work at a number of venues. 

     In the Summer of 2011, I decided I would put my love of ecology and biology to work as a graduate research assistant.  I volunteered to assist herpetologist and doctoral candidate Jeremy Feinberg with his dissertation, which concerned leopard frogs in the New York metropolitan area.  My responsibilities included photographing and audio-recording leopard frogs, as well as determining habitat health and collecting and measuring specimens.  This project led to the discovery of a new species of leopard frog in Staten Island, NY, the holotype of which I collected last November.  My photograph of the holotype was featured on the National Geographic website, as well as printed in the New York Times.  This project is ongoing, and I will be a co-author on the final dissertation, to be published in late 2013. 

       In September of 2011, I was asked to design a memorial kiosk and trail system for the late Charlie Kontos Jr.  Kontos, a wildlife biologist, passed tragically at the age of thirty-three.  I was honored when his parents voiced their desire for me to design and construct his “physical legacy.”  I have worked closely with the family, Rutgers facilities, and professors on this project, and the structure will become the new gateway to the Rutgers Ecological Preserve.  Demonstrating new ideas and innovative construction methodology, the kiosk will encourage young visitors to think sustainably.  I, with help from a friend and Kontos’s father, am building and installing the structure, which will be completed by late October 2013.