November 2, 2015 Landscape Architecture’s Collett Named Fulbright Scholar
The Fulbright Program is a prestigious international exchange initiative that awards about 1,100 grants to American scholars each year.
Funded by the U.S. government, Fulbright Scholars are chosen based on their leadership and academic merits and their abilities to teach, conduct research and contribute to solutions for shared international concerns.
Collett will head to Slovenia in February to teach at the University of Ljubjana for the 2016 spring semester. His project title is “Low Impact Development: Opportunities for a Society in Transition.”
“The argument for development practices and infrastructure approaches that steward the health of shared water resources is as resonant abroad as it is here in the United States,” Collett said. “Much of the damage done to watersheds here and resultant development patterns can be avoided in Slovenia, one of Europe’s youngest democracies. During my time abroad, I hope to increase awareness of these imminent challenges and about the role landscape architects may play in addressing them through their design, planning and advocacy efforts.”
Collett is a core faculty member in the UT School of Landscape Architecture, an intercollegiate partnership between CASNR and the CAD. He teaches advanced design studio and professional practices in addition to fundamentals of landscape design in the Plant Science program’s undergraduate landscape design concentration.
During my time abroad, I hope to increase awareness of these imminent challenges and about the role landscape architects may play in addressing them through their design, planning and advocacy efforts.
Collett’s research interests include landscape performance, specifically watershed stewardship through low-impact development, and sustainable planning and design in the context of professional practice. Community-engaged service-learning opportunities are offered under his leadership through UT’s Smart Communities Initiative and the Environmental Design Lab.
“The Fulbright opportunity will help me understand how different social, political and cultural contexts affect attitudes toward water resource stewardship and performative design practice,” Collett said. “I’m also optimistic that my time abroad will help build bridges for future faculty exchanges as well as student study abroad opportunities.”
Click here for Brad Collett’s bio.
Patrick Biddix, an associate professor of educational leadership in the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, is currently in Montreal conducting research at Concordia University as the visiting research chair for person and society. His work focuses on how college students learn, individually and in groups, with technology. He is especially interested in how students use mobile technology in and outside the classroom and what this might mean for how they will learn and perform as future workers.
Joseph Bozell, a professor of biomass chemistry in UT’s Center for Renewable Carbon, is currently in Belgium conducting research at Ghent University. His research includes catalyst design for the sustainable production of chemicals and fuels from renewable feedstocks.
Brendan McConville, an associate professor of music theory and composition, will lecture and research in Pescara, Italy, beginning February 2016 at the Luisa D’Annunzio Conservatory of Music. His lectures will focus on recent American compositional and analytical trends. His project will include conducting research on the poet Gabriele D’Annunzio, collecting sound samples from locations that inspired D’Annunzio and integrating the sounds into the fabric of a new musical setting of the poem “La Pioggia nel Pineto.”