School of Landscape Architecture & Planning Student Profiles

Master of Landscape Architecture student Irene Pineda is from La Puente, California, located 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. She earned her BA in Communicative Disorders from San Francisco State University and served as a public school teacher before falling in love with the Sonoran Desert and joining the MLA program.

Ash Avila, a Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Built Environments student from Nogales, Arizona, who will graduate in 2023, has been awarded an acclaimed Transportation Research Board (TRB) Minority Student Fellowship for 2022. Avila is one of 24 students selected by TRB.

Master of Landscape Architecture student Christian Aguilar Murrieta is from Ciudad Constitucion, Baja California Sur, Mexico, a small city surrounded by agricultural fields and chirinolas. She moved to Tucson in 2013 after earning her undergraduate degree in sustainable tourism at the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California Sur.

Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Emma Nakpairat came to CAPLA and the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture program in Tucson to be inspired by the Sonoran Desert—and to combine her love of the outdoors with her thirst to improve the environment in which we live.

Carla A. Campos is a fourth-year architecture undergraduate student at UPC Lima in Peru. Through CAPLA’s innovative microcampus program, she’s also pursuing her BS in Sustainable Built Environments program at the University of Arizona.

Isabelle Loh entered CAPLA's BS in SBE (Sustainable Communities Emphasis) after moving from Penang, Malaysia. “It’s a small island in the northern region of the country,” she says. “Fun fact: the island is only half the size of Tucson with almost double the population!”

Paola Ortez, who is from Tucson, entered CAPLA's BS in Sustainable Built Environments program (Sustainable Building Emphasis) following a series of unexpected physical and mental challenges, testing her but demonstrating her resilience and commitment to sustainability.

Cordell Lee, who is originally from Hong Kong, entered CAPLA's BS in Sustainable Built Environments program after completing his high school career in the United Kingdom.

Anthony Van Dao, who grew up in Tucson, entered CAPLA's Sustainable Built Environments program after coming to UArizona first as a B.Arch student. After taking time off and realizing his passion was sustainability, he returned to UArizona for the SBE program.

Suzanne Ries, who is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, entered CAPLA's Sustainable Built Environments program after coming to UArizona first as a B.Arch student. After a car accident that required an intense recovery process, she made the difficult decision to switch majors—igniting a passion for sustainable buildings and much more.

Originally from China, Junlu Ouyang entered CAPLA's on-campus Master of Real Estate Development program in Fall 2019 after earning her undergraduate degree in geography from the University of Arizona. Here, she's found that working on actual projects in the field is very rewarding.

Heather Shi entered CAPLA's on-campus Master of Real Estate Development program in Fall 2019 after earning her undergraduate degree in computer science and technology in China. Here, she's found real estate development finance to be particularly fascinating.