Li elected to lead landscape architecture organization

As a newly elected leader of the [Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture] (http://www.thecela.org/index.php) , Ming- Han Li, associate professor of landscape architecture at Texas A&M, plans to raise CELA’s national and global reputation, enhance service to its more than 120 affiliated institutions and strengthen its relationships to allied organizations.

The council advances education, research and outreach in landscape architecture by publishing research conducted in the profession through its refereed publication, [Landscape Journal] (http://uwpress.wisc.edu/journals/journals/lj.html) , hosting annual conferences focusing on recent research and scholarship in all aspects of the field and by sponsoring numerous additional programs.

“I look forward to the opportunity and welcome the challenge to contribute to CELA’s mission through the development of existing projects and support for new initiatives,” said Li, CELA’s first vice president/president-elect. “It will be a tremendous honor to continue working with and for the council’s members.”

Li, who will be inducted to his new position at the CELA national [conference] (http://www.cela2014.com) in Baltimore March 26-29, 2014, will serve a one-year term as first vice president in 2014-2015, followed by a one-year term as CELA president, then an additional one-year term as past president.

The council’s members include virtually all the programs of higher learning in landscape architecture in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Individual and institutional members from many other parts of the world also belong to the CELA family.

Li’s council leadership began in 2007 as a co-chairman of its design implementation group. “The post gave me critical insight regarding CELA’s research mission and direction,” he said.

From 2010-2012 he was CELA’s second vice-president, helping shape council operating procedures, awards revisions, communicating with regional directors and compiling items for [CELA Forum] (http://www.thecela.org/forums-archive.php) , a central digest of council member news.

During a 2012-2014 stint as CELA’s vice-president for research, Li helped lead the  launch of [Landscape Research Record] (https://www.thecela.org/pdfs/Landscape_Research_Record_No.1.pdf) , which details the council’s conference proceedings, and helped create a new conference track discussing landscape performance — the quantification of a project’s environmental, economic and social benefits.

HIs research topics include stormwater management, soil bioengineering, soil erosion and roadside vegetation management in projects associated with the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, Southwest University Transportation Center and the Texas Department of Transportation.

Li, who joined the landscape architecture faculty at Texas A&M University in 2003, earned a Ph.D in Urban and Regional Science at Texas A&M in 2002, a Master of Landscape Architecture in 1998 at Texas A&M and a Master of Civil Engineering degree at the University of Texas in 1995.