KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Friday Keynote Speaker
Robert France, PhD
Associate Professor of Watershed Management, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, in the Department of Environmental Sciences in the Faculty of Agriculture; Science Advisor, Harvard University, Center of Technology and the Environment.
Dr. France's work focuses on integrating watershed planning and management, with environmental restoration and the renewal of urban and cultural sites. Edited and authored books include: Water Sensitive Planning and Design, Handbook of Regenerative Design, and Integrated Urban Agriculture. Dr. France teaches courses focusing on the influences of landscape processes and development on aquatic systems, and on how the design of these systems can be used to mitigate watershed development pressures. He also teaches courses investigating the ethical relationships of humans to the environment. Dr. France was a contributor to a Alewife Reservation Master Plan, and is involved in many international planning projects including, recently, a national marine park system and an internationally nominated desert oasis heritage landscape for the country of Abu Dhabi. He was also a participant on the team that won a top international prize for planning a national wetland park in Taiwan. Dr. France is a series editor at CRC Press focusing on ‘Integrative Studies in Water Management and Land Development’, and is acquisition editor for environmental theory at Green Frigate Books, now part of Libri Publishing. He has authored over 200 publications in peer-reviewed international journals on topics ranging from ecology and conservation biology to environmental pollution, and has authored or edited 20 books on watershed management, landscape architecture, land-use planning, and environmental theory.
Saturday Morning Opening
Alexander Felson, MLA, PhD
Associate Professor, Yale University, School of Architecture and School of Forestry & Environmental Science
Dr. Felson is both a certified ecologist and a registered landscape architect. He teaches courses on urban ecology and design, and his scholarly research focuses on urban land systems, including green infrastructure, local and regional park design, community to landscape ecology, and climate change adaptation. Dr. Felson’s design work integrates basic and applied ecological research as a driver of the form, layout, and function of urban design, planning, and infrastructure projects. He integrates ecosystem services and public space into urban landscape-based projects. Some of Dr. Felson’s projects include acting as the principal investigator on a National Science Foundation grant researching vertical walls for active heat rejection, participating as a core team member on the Rebuild by Design project for the Resilient Bridgeport proposal, and developing a coastal resilience plan for Guilford, CT, in collaboration with Milone and McBroom, Inc. and The Nature Conservancy. He is also principal investigator with four years data on a large-scale ecological research project investigating carbon accumulation, sustainable management, and biodiversity.