Landscape architecture faculty honored by international education organization

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Several faculty members of the Stuckeman School’s Department of Landscape Architecture in the College of Arts and Architecture at Penn State were honored by the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) at the international organization’s annual conference in St. Louis in March.

Chingwen Cheng, Stuckeman School director and professor of landscape architecture, was celebrated for her “outstanding service” as the 2023-24 CELA president. Cheng’s accomplishments as president include: signing off on the memoranda of understanding with the Landscape Architecture Foundation and the International Federation of Landscape Architects to strengthen partnership with CELA; issuing a joint statement with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning and the Interior Design Educators Council in support of diversity, equity and inclusion in design education; continuing the organization’s support of the Dean’s Equity and Inclusion Initiative; launching a five-year strategic planning process for the organization; and maintaining the financial sustainability and legal status of CELA.

Eliza Pennypacker, professor of landscape architecture and former department head, was elected to the CELA Academy of Fellows, which represents the highest level of achievement within the organization. She was previously awarded the organization’s Outstanding Administrator Award in 2022.

“Becoming a CELA Fellow means a great deal to me. I'm particularly proud to achieve this award recognizing my professional contributions to the academic side of landscape architecture,” Pennypacker said. “Many of the people I respect most — idols, mentors and friends — are CELA Fellows. I'm truly honored to join them.”

A faculty member in the landscape architecture department since 1982, she twice served as department head: from 1994–2000 and from 2014–20. As such, she assisted in the establishment of two endowed research centers within the Stuckeman School: the Hamer Center for Community Design and the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing.

She also served as the inaugural director of the Division of Campus Planning and Design at Penn State during a period of extensive growth and improvement of the University’s Physical Plant.

Pennypacker’s research focuses on “artful rainwater design,” which is stormwater management that not only manages rain runoff but also celebrates rainwater in a design that educates or entertains visitors. She co-wrote “Artful Rainwater Design: Creative Ways to Manage Stormwater” on the topic with Stuart Echols, professor of landscape architecture, which was published in 2015 by Island Press.

As an instructor, Pennypacker has taught a wide range of courses, including the "History of Landscape Architecture, First-Year Seminar" and all levels of design studio, including the semester abroad in Bonn, Germany. 

Hong Wu, associate professor of landscape architecture, won the Best Paper Award for an article she co-authored that investigates the acoustic indices that scientists use to study biodiversity in protected areas.

Titled “Selecting Appropriate Acoustic Indices for Biodiversity Assessments in Different Acoustic Environments,” the paper is a result of a collaboration with Xiaoqing Xu, associate professor in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University in Shanghai, China; Baojing Pu, a graduate student at Tongii University; and Yuze Li, a graduate student in the School of Architecture at Harbin Institute of Technology.

The team’s study compared seven acoustic indices in Jiuzhaigou, China, and found discrepancies in the biodiversity assessments. The team found that abiotic sound sources, such as tour buses and water, can greatly affect certain acoustic indices’ performance. In addition, some of the indices were more robust than others for assessing environments with strong abiotic sources.

“While this study begins to address the significant literature gap in assessing acoustic indices’ validity as biodiversity proxies in various environments, future work should continue to evaluate indices beyond those selected here to identify robust combinations of indices and environmental conditions to ultimately enhance the effectiveness of long-term acoustic monitoring for biodiversity conservation,” said Wu, who is a researcher in the Ecology plus Design Research Center.

This year, 364 abstracts and 36 full-text submissions were received to be considered for inclusion in the CELA conference proceedings publication, “Landscape Research Record” (LRR). After a rigorous double-blind peer review, one outstanding paper is selected for the Best Paper Award by a vote among the conference’s track co-chairs. A total of 15 papers were accepted for publication in the 2023 LRR.

CELA is comprised of nearly all the programs of higher learning in landscape architecture in the United States and Canada. Its mission is to "support educators to advance the profession of landscape architecture."