Bob Grese serves as Director of the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum.

My teaching and research involve ecologically-based landscape design and management that respects and heightens awareness of the cultural and natural history of a region.  I am particularly interested in the restoration and on-going management of urban wilds and role such lands can play in promoting environmental literacy and in re-connecting children and families with nature.  I have long been fascinated by the work of early designers such as Jens Jensen and Ossian Cole Simonds who borrowed from the native landscape in their work, and I feel there is much to be learned about their designs today.  I have a growing interest in green roofs and other low impact design strategies and incorporate native vegetation and can borrow from an understanding of locally native ecosystems.

Awards and Grants:
Advisor of the Year Award, Michigan Leadership Awards, University of Michigan. April 2006; "Bob Grese Deep Roots Award," 2002 by the Ann Arbor Chapter of the Wild Ones

Research Interests:

My research interests have included:

• Restoration of urban wilds, especially prairie and oak savanna ecosystems at Nichols Arboretum, Ann Arbor, MI
• Social aspects of ecological restoration and volunteer stewardship programs and networks
• Documenting the work of early designers such as Jens Jensen and O. C. Simonds who advocated for native vegetation and developed a strong regional emphasis in their work

Current/Recent Research:

• Prairie/oak savanna restoration, Nichols Arboretum, Ann Arbor, MI 
• Cultural Landscape Report, Cranbrook Educational Community, Bloomfield Hills, MI  2003-2004. Cranbrook Educational Community/The Getty Foundation.
• National Landmark Nomination for Fair Lane, the Henry Ford Estate, Dearborn, MI  2000-2004, Midwest Region, National Park Service, Omaha, NE.

Teaching Interests:
My teaching emphasizes ecologically-based landscape design, ecological restoration, and community involvement.   

Current/Recent Teaching:
Ecological Restoration; Landscape Ecology Design Studio

Selected Publications:

• Grese, Robert E. and David Michener. 2005. “Ethics, Water and Conservation, and Sustainable Gardens,” Public Garden 20(4): 16-19.
• Ryan, Robert L. and Robert E. Grese 2005. “Urban Volunteers and the Environment: Forest and Prairie Restoration.” Urban Place: Reconnecting to the Natural World Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Gray, Donald, Robert Grese, and Tammy Orlow. 2004. “Saving School Girls’ Glen: Erosion control and watershed restoration in a University arboretum.” Erosion Control 11, (2)34-45.
• Grese, Robert E. and John R. Knott, editors. 2001. Michigan Quarterly Review Special Issue: "Reimagining Place" Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan.
• Grese, Robert E., Rachel Kaplan, Robert L. Ryan, and Jane Buxton. 2000. "Psychological benefits of volunteering in stewardship programs" Restoring Nature edited by Paul Gobster and Bruce Hull, Covelo, CA: Island Press.
• Grese, Robert E. 2000. "Introduction" Landscape Gardening by Ossian Cole Simonds (originally published 1920), Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
• Grese, Robert E. 2000. "The landscape architect as conservationist: Jens Jensen and the native landscape" Midwestern Landscape Architecture edited by William Tishler. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. pp. 117-141.
• Grese, Robert E. 1999. "The Landscape Art of Jens Jensen" To Recover a Continent edited by Robert Sayre. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 124-143.
• Grese, Robert E. 1995. "The prairie gardens of O. C. Simonds and Jens Jensen. " Regional Garden Design in the United States edited by Therese O'Malley and Marc Treib. Washington, D. C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. pp. 99-123.
• Grese, Robert E. 1992. Jens Jensen: Maker of Natural Parks and Gardens Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.