{"id":245039,"date":"2026-04-30T08:32:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T12:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=245039"},"modified":"2026-04-30T08:33:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T12:33:50","slug":"uconn-seniors-win-awards-for-landscape-architecture-projects-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/04\/uconn-seniors-win-awards-for-landscape-architecture-projects-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Seniors Win Awards for Landscape Architecture Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seven students in the landscape architecture program in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources<\/a> (CAHNR) received awards from the Connecticut Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (CTASLA).<\/p>\n

Matthew Enright \u201926 (CAHNR) received the Honor Award in the Site Design category; Monika Mihok \u201926 (CAHNR, BUS) and Xiaoyu (Simba) Zhang \u201926 (CAHNR) received Merit Awards in the category. Taghreed Hussein \u201926 (CAHNR) received the Honor Award for Planning & Analysis; Paola A. Luna Castro \u201926 (CAHNR), Daniel Hand \u201926 (CAHNR), and LillyBelle Doyle \u201926 (CAHNR) received Merit Awards in the category.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a testament to our faculty and the development of the curriculum that the students are able to complete such meaningful work, are proud of it, and want to submit it,\u201d says Jill Desimini, director and associate professor of landscape architecture<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re really proud of the students. We know how great their projects are, but it\u2019s exciting to see them recognized by others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Entries are judged by other ASLA chapters. This year the judges were from the Pennsylvania\/Delaware chapter. Two other UConn students, Charlotte Simari \u201926 (CAHNR), president of the student CTASLA chapter, and Agatha Michalska \u201927 (CAHNR) presented the awards.<\/p>\n

Enright\u2019s project developed a plan for the Brooklyn neighborhood of Waterbury including native trees and other plants for shade and beautification, a grocery center, community access to the riverfront, erosion control, and bio-retention ponds and swales.<\/p>\n

Mihok developed a plan for the area surrounding the Brookside Farm Museum in East Lyme. Mihok\u2019s plan adds native plant life that can be eaten or used for other purposes, like dyeing, to draw people who walk past the site in, to interact with it and the museum more substantially.<\/p>\n

\"Schematic
Mihok’s design depicting the slide of the playground implemented into the hill of the berm, along with stepping logs for children to enjoy. (Contributed photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201c[The idea was] to invite not only humans, but also pollinators into the site and having everyone welcome to interact with the elements,\u201d Mihok says. \u201cI really wanted to emphasize the importance of human-nature connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zhang\u2019s project introduced a waterfront deck, overflow parking lot, small forest path, and playground to the same museum site. These features aim to encourage more community engagement including events such as weddings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI received a lot of inspiration from my professors and classmates [who encouraged me to submit the project for the award],\u201d Zhang says. \u201cIt felt incredible. I was very honored to receive this award.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hussein\u2019s project focused on revitalizing the riverfront area in Brooklyn to support community activities and address longstanding pollution issues from industrial waste, fertilizer, sewage, agricultural runoff, and littering.<\/p>\n

Castro\u2019s plan transforms abandoned areas in Brooklyn into pocket gardens with native plants that support native pollinators.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really wanted to see what else I could learn from the project because when you submit it, the jurors give you feedback,\u201d Castro says. \u201cIt was really interesting to see what other professionals thought about the idea that I had…It was really rewarding to see that something I did was recognized by someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hand\u2019s project also crafted a plan for Brooklyn that converts the aging highway that separates the neighborhood from the rest of Waterbury into a quieter boulevard with local businesses alongside, as well as increased public transportation without displacing current residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea was really big,\u201d Hand says. \u201cSo having the acting body of your profession recognize a project as legitimate and award it is pretty rewarding because it shows that it could be possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doyle\u2019s plan includes transforming abandoned buildings and vacant lots into public green spaces and community buildings, and additional public transit connections between the neighborhood and nearby towns. The plan also includes rezoning industrial areas for other uses to encourage economic growth.<\/p>\n

The projects were completed as part of the students\u2019 junior and senior year studio projects, advised by Mariana Fragomeni and Sohyun Park. Two students won awards last year.<\/a><\/p>\n

This work relates to CAHNR\u2019s Strategic Vision area focused on\u00a0<\/em>Fostering Sustainable Landscapes at the Urban-Rural Interface<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Follow\u00a0<\/em>UConn CAHNR<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on social media<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seven students in the landscape architecture program in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR) received awards from the Connecticut Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":245042,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2224,2303,2712,2225],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2140],"class_list":["post-245039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cahnr","category-plant-science-landscape-architecture","category-student-success","category-uconn-storrs"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 06:27:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245039"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245046,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245039\/revisions\/245046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/245042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245039"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=245039"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=245039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}