Faculty

Alison Hirsch, PH.D., FAAR, LJI Director

Associate Professor + Director, Landscape Architecture + Urbanism

(she/her) Alison is a socially and politically engaged scholar working across landscape architecture, cultural landscape studies and landscape history. Her writing and design-research is most focused on landscape and cultural meaning with particular emphasis on communities historically marginalized, as well as environmental and spatial justice. As an educator and academic, she strives to maximize opportunities for applied research, service-learning and forms of community-student co-creation. Alison is currently deeply immersed in research on the working landscapes of the San Joaquin Valley as a landscape of extreme inequality and risk.

Research Associates

Nina Weithorn

MLA + U (’24)

(she/her) Nina Weithorn graduated with a Master of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism student from USC. In her final year, she won a National ASLA Student Honor Award in both the Student Collaboration and Community Service Categories, the latter for her thesis project on Allensworth, a project that emerged out of work she originally completed with LJI. She continues to be a partner in the work LJI is doing in Allensworth. After receiving her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from NYU, Nina moved back to her home city of Los Angeles where she worked on a variety of urban farming projects. Nina is passionate about working at the intersection of food justice, community engagement, and design, and runs her own urban farm. She is currently a designer at Terremoto.

Jade Orr

MLA + U (’18)

(she/her) PhD Student in Geography, Planning, and Design at the University of Colorado Denver.

Current Students

Shuyi Zhang

MLA + U (’25)

(she/her) Shuyi Zhang is a student in the Master of Landscape Architecture + Urbanism program at the School of Architecture at USC. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of California, Davis. After graduating, she worked as a landscape designer in the professional field of landscape architecture before going to graduate school. She is deeply committed to building sustainable urban environments and creating a landscape that adapts to the development of the cities

Kavya Gudihal

MLA + U (’25)

(she/her)Kavya Gudihal is a student in the Master of Landscape Architecture + Urbanism program in the School of Architecture at USC. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from BMS School of Architecture, Bangalore, India. After graduating she worked in the professional field for 2 years before continuing her education. Kavya’s interest lies in exploring the profound effects of urbanization on habitats, people, and plants. Her upbringing in Bangalore has played a pivotal role in shaping her passion for combating urbanization’s negative impacts and advocating for ecological restoration.

Previous Contributors

Students

Ana Mangino (MLA + U ’22)
Andrea Binz (MLA + U ’22)
Daniela Velazco (MLA + U/MHC ’23)
Eliana Ramirez (MLA + U ’23)
Hannah Michael Flynn (MLA + U/MUP ’23)
Hector Covarrubias Del Cueto (MLA + U ’21)
Jared Edgar McKnight (MLA+U ’21)
Leslie Dinkin (MLA+U/MHC ’23)
Mark Reid (MLA+U ’25)
Nehali Doshi (MLA + U ’22)
Robert Andrade (MLA + U ’21)
Sarina Vega (MLA+U ’25)
Yuliang (Julian) Yang (MLA+U ’20)
Zehra Rizvi (MLA + U ’22)

Faculty and Associates

Aroussiak Gabrielian, Assistant Professor, Landscape Architecture + Urbanism (2020-2023)
Esther Margulies, Associate Professor of Practice, Landscape Architecture + Urbanism; School of Architecture Diversity + Inclusion Liaison (2020-2023)
Farre “Faye” Nixon, Lecturer, Landscape Architecture + Urbanism (2022-2023)
Hyunch Sung, Landscape Designer, Studio Moonya (2021)
Jennifer Toy, Lecturer, Landscape Architecture + Urbanism (2023)
Jerome Chou, Senior Planning Principal, Kounkuey Design Initiative (2020)
Katy Foley, Senior Associate, Studio Supernatural (2021)
Lauren Cubacub, Design Associate, Konkuey Design Initiative (MLA+U ’21; LJI Associate 2021-2022)
Lauren Elachi, Design Principal, Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI) (2023)