graduate student bios

Eric Anderson

Eric hails from Salt Lake City where he attended the University of Utah and received a bachelor’s degree in both Philosophy and English Literature. For ten years before coming to Utah State, he worked as a bike messenger in SLC where he met his beautiful wife Kaleo (pronounced Kah-lay-oh) and enjoyed life, but didn’t make any progress in choosing a profession. Eric was unsure of what he wanted to be when he grew up, until he and Kaleo bought their home and he landscaped the yard; in the process he fell in love with gardening, plants and landscape design. Eric’s educational focus is urban design, historic preservation and community planning...upon graduation he would like to work in a multi-disciplinary architecture firm.

Betsy Byrne

Betsy received a BA in Film Studies from the University of Utah in 1998. After spending ten years working as a video editor for a news monitoring company, she decided she wanted to pursue a career that would allow her to be more involved with the outdoors. She began exploring landscape architecture while volunteering for the Salt Lake City Open Space program, and is interested in using the concepts of this field to enhance and promote recreational opportunities. Her first love is biking, but she also enjoys hiking, cross country skiing, and river running.

Dayton Crites

Dayton comes to USU’s MLA program after several years spent working within the bicycle industry and searching for a more creative and fulfilling career. In 2008, while working at Alta Planning + Design – a firm specializing in the planning and design of non-motorized transportation networks – he experienced firsthand how landscape architecture plays a vital role in developing more sustainable, more human, and more beautiful lands. Coinciding with his work at Alta, Dayton co-founded SF Urban Riders – a non-profit branch of the International Mountain Biking Association tasked with improving off road cycling opportunities in San Francisco. These experiences, coupled with a desire to gather the skills needed to create and preserve more recreational trail systems, led Dayton to study at USU.

Kathryn Knight

Kathryn graduated from the University of Utah with a BA in English and a BS in Environmental Studies. While studying abroad, she developed a fascination with the psychology behind the aesthetics of living spaces and their restorative properties. She spent the last few years studying park and open space designs especially conducive to children with disorders such as ADHD, autism, and depression. She is also interested in sustainable design, community building, and enhancing the public’s awareness of the values and benefits of well-designed green space.

Marleny Santana

Marleny Santana finished her undergraduate studies in Architecture in the Dominican Republic in 2008. After graduation, she worked for two years at Sal Studio (a Dominican architecture firm), and learned designing and work scope framing, project planning scheduling and legal procedures. Marleny’s interests include open space planning, green sustainable design with built and un-built landscapes, particularly the relationship with residential development and recreation open spaces that converge at urban and rural spheres. She finds mixing disciplines such as engineering and environmental sciences, site planning and design exciting because of the impact and future potential all these areas can have on her country.

Joel Warren

Joel grew up in Midvale, Utah before going to BYU. He has a B.S. in Geography with an emphasis in Urban/Environmental Planning. Joel has worked as an intern for the Central Utah Water Conservancy District and as a research assistant for various projects in Historical Geography. His interests include hiking, bicycles, music, and history. He is married to Megan from San Antonio, Texas.

 
Ryan White

Growing up in Southern Utah, Ryan developed a love for the scenic rock formations as well as the resilience of plants in arid climates. As an undergraduate at Brigham Young University, he spent two years as a music major (trumpet) before discovering a hidden passion for landscape design while experimenting with designs in his parent’s yard. Ryan switched majors to landscape management where he studied the design, construction, and maintenance facets of the green industry. Desiring to further his education, Ryan, with the support of his wife, Rosa Lee, chose to pursue a degree in landscape architecture. One of Ryan’s primary research interests is how to change or enhance perceptions of low-water landscapes in the Intermountain West.

Kimberly Cloward-Drown

Kim Cloward-Drown was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii where she grew up hiking in the Ko'olau mountains and playing in the ocean off the South Shore of O'ahu. In 2007, she graduated from Pitzer College in Claremont, California with a bachelor's degree in both Environmental Studies and Studio Art . Interested in combining both disciplines, she was attracted to landscape architecture when a landscape architect told her he was "making a living making art." Kim comes to Utah State from Cal Poly Pomona where she just finished the first year of the MLA program. Kim hopes to have a positive impact by creating distinct and transformative spaces that increase livability and work towards environmental, economic, and social sustainability.

Matthew Coombs

Matthew Coombs received a Bachelor of Business degree from the University of Idaho in 2003. He has worked as a Project Coordinator for the Orange County Land Trust in Orange County New York and been involved with several organic community farms (CSA’s) as a farm manager and grower. Matt was involved with the Peace Corps for 3 year leading training sessions with community members in Ecuador to improve agricultural practices. Matthew received a Vice Presidential Fellowship for 2011-12.

Zachary Maughan

Zachary Maughan grew up in Cache Valley and received dual major Bachelor of Arts degrees in American Studies and German from Utah State University in 2009. He worked for 10 summers as a Forestry Technician with the US Forest Service working on the design, layout and construction to improve trails within the Logan Ranger District. Local hikers in Dry Canyon, Green Canyon and Providence Canyon are benefiting from Zac’s work. In joining the MLA program he hopes to focus on healthy landscape design and healthy communities with interests in alternative energy and historic development.

Mike Pace

Mike Pace was raised in Salem, Oregon. He has twenty years of landscape, nursery and construction industry experience. For six of those years he owned and operated OregonNatural Landscapes, Inc., a maintenance and landscape contracting venue. Mike currently holds an All-Phase Landscape Construction Professional License in the State of Oregon. For the previous year Mike was the primary instructor for Hort. 331, Landscape Plant Installation and Management at Washington State University.

Aaron Smith

Aaron Smith received his bachelor’s degree in History with a minor in Art from Utah State University in 2007. He is interested in cultural and historic landscapes which will use his training in history and apply his interest in creative work. He has always had an interest in the aesthetics of the land how human-designed and natural features can work together in his drawing and paintings. “The effect of man and nature can be a train wreck of egos, or it can be a sublime beauty of rational thinking and compromise,” Aaron wrote. Aaron wishes to work in disturbed areas and aid in the reclamation of its historical beauty and cultural significance.

Graydon Bascom

Graydon graduated from the University of Utah with a BS in Urban Planning in May of 2012. His original intention was to study architecture, and missed the design elements in the planning field of study. He has enjoyed landscaping work throughout the years, and has a love for the outdoors. Throughout his studies, Graydon has had many great experiences, from design workshops, to a semester in Heidelberg Germany. He is excited to study in beautiful Cache Valley. He comes to Logan with his wife Katrina and their three sons.

Chris Binder

Chris Binder comes to USU with professional experience as an educator and as a construction crew leader designing and constructing recreational trails for several non-profit conservation organizations. As a student in the MLA program he hopes to explore creative and resilient solutions to issues related to water cycling, waste management, energy, and food production. His interests include long distance backpacking, bicycle touring, permaculture, nutrition, and organic agriculture. Chris believes that good design will play an essential role in shaping a more desirable future for our communities.

Grant Hardy

Native to Seattle, Grant understands "green" in a way many have never seen. A natural ability to design and a love for landscaping led him to study Landscape Management and Business Management at BYU. There he excelled in digital and hand rendering. While in school Grant has done freelance landscape design, TA'd design courses, interned with the BYU Planning department, and worked as a landscape designer in Chicago. He enjoys researching water-wise plants, green roof tops, rain water harvesting, and gray water usage whenever he can find the time for it. He also enjoys reading, carving, and wants to learn how to paint with watercolor. Grant is looking forward to his years at USU to further hone his skills within design and horticulture.

Carly Klein

Carly grew up in Salt Lake City and graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in Urban Planning in 2010. In the summers while finishing her undergraduate degree, she worked for the Bureau of Land Management as a wildland firefighter. After graduating, she spent six months teaching English and traveling in the Chilean Patagonia. Her love of open spaces brought her back to school to study landscape architecture. Her experiences outside the classroom have helped focus her interests in natural resource management and open space design.

Stephen Peaden

Nick Tanner

Nick recently graduated from BYU with a BS in landscape management. During his undergraduate education he focused his elective courses on design to satisfy his curiosity in landscape architecture. To further explore this interest he spent three months in Tonga on a mentored research project documenting the local function and design of residential landscapes. His current interests in landscape architecture are urban planning and development. Having lived in various parts of the world, Nick has a difficult time defining where he grew up. However, with the most consecutive time spent in Utah this is where he calls home.

Jennifer Wiseman

Jennifer has been involved with the green industry for the past nine years, working various positions from horticultural technician, to residential landscaping, to working as an assistant for both the Horticulture Director and the Curator at Red Butte Garden. She graduated from Utah State University with her Bachelors of Science in Ornamental Horticulture in 2009. She looks forward to utilizing her education and experience gained in this program to create sustainable urban designs along with open space planning and restoration.