Student Profiles

CAPLA students come from a rich diversity of backgrounds and experiences.

View profiles of a few of our students, including undergraduate architecture, landscape architecture and sustainable built environments students and graduate architecture, landscape architecture, real estate development and urban planning students:

Xiaoqin (Heather) Shi

A Passion for Real Estate Finance: Xiaoqin (Heather) Shi ' 20 MRED

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.

Dionna In Guatemala

Coverdell Fellow Profile: Dionna Hatch '20 MLA

Dionna Hatch served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala before joining CAPLA's Master of Landscape Architecture program.

Transforming Urban Access to Natural Areas: Mario Nuño-Whelan '20 MLA

Mario Nuño-Whelan served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Peru before joining CAPLA's Master of Landscape Architecture program.

Sean Maccabe in The Gambia

Coverdell Fellow Profile: Sean Maccabe '21 MLA

Sean Maccabe served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in The Gambia before joining CAPLA's Master of Landscape Architecture program.

Jenny Nguyen

Rooted in the Spirit of Place: Jenny Nguyen ’20 B Arch

Jenny Nguyen, a fifth-year architecture student whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Vietnam before she was born, shares her experience as a CAPLA student, with a particular focus on how heritage, family and work ethic play a role in academic excellence, even in this time of pandemic.

Ramzy Bejjani

Coverdell Fellow Profile: Ramzy Bejjani '21 MLA

Ramzy Bejjani served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in northern Ethiopia before joining CAPLA's Master of Landscape Architecture program.

Brooke Sands

Curiosity Becomes Passion: Brooke Sands ’22 B Arch

Chicago native Brooke Sands, now halfway through the five-year CAPLA undergraduate architecture program, offers insight into the challenges and passions of studying architecture.

Rebecca Johnstone in The Gambia

Coverdell Fellow Profile: Rebecca Johnstone '20 MLA

Rebecca Johnstone served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in The Gambia before joining CAPLA's Master of Landscape Architecture program.

Ariel Fry

Making Public Spaces Matter: Ariel Fry ’20 MS Urban Planning

Ariel Fry ’20 MS Urban Planning recalls walking in downtown Tucson one day seven years ago, thinking about how unfriendly the landscape was. Not the Sonoran Desert landscape—being from the small town of Ajo, Arizona, she was familiar with the rugged and beautiful desert.

Community-Driven: Lena Porell '20 MS Urban Planning

Lena Porell served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia before joining CAPLA's Master of Urban Planning program.

Juliana Seymour

Opening Doors to a Bright Future: Juliana Seymour ’20 B Arch

Juliana Seymour '20 B Arch landed her internship at Swaim Associates thanks to the CAPLA Job Interview Fair.

Coverdell Fellow Profile: Hunter Lohse '22 MLA

Hunter Lohse served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines before joining CAPLA's Master of Landscape Architecture program.