Dr. Chris Ellis joins us from Texas A&M University's College of Architecture, Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning. His scholarly interests include landscape architecture, landscape planning, landscape ecology, spatial modeling and analysis, and applications of information technology to planning and design. One of Chris' recent projects involves the development of a Land Use Change Early Warning System for the National Park Service. Dr. Ellis has also been involved in designing an environmentally sustainable educational facility for Texas A&M University next to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica.

Dr. Byoung-Suk Kweon joins us as Adjunct Assistant Professor from Texas A&M where she taught landscape architecture design and construction, hand-drawing and computer graphic communication, and design theory/research. Dr. Kweon has a PhD from the University of Illinois, a MLA from Cornell University, and Bachelor‘s degrees in both landscape architecture and horticulture. Her research focuses on "how the presence of nature-real, symbolic, or simulated-influences people's well-being."

Dr. Ines Ibanez joins the Terrestrial Ecology field of study from a post-doctorate position at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Ibanez completed her PhD from Duke University; her research focuses on the major challenges that natural communities face under global change that determine the distributional ranges of dominate plant species. Currently, she is developing and investigating predictive models of plant species invasions across the New England region.