Computer generated overhead view of a lush, green agricultural landscape dotted with trees and shrouded in morning fog; the sun is peeking above the horizon and a flock of geese is flying above the scene.

Biophilia Symposium 2025

Conference Announcement

02–03 March 2025

Bold transparent text reading: Biophilia – Designing for Animals


About

The Stuckeman School is excited to announce a groundbreaking research symposium titled “Biophilia: Designing for Animals.” This event will explore the critical role of animals in design and how our built and natural environments are shaped by more-than-human participants.

Penn State is an approved provider for the Landscape Architecture Continuing Education System (LA CES). This learning opportunity qualifies for 10.5 Health, Safety and Welfare (HSW) Professional Development Hours (PDH).

Details

Dates: 02–03 March 2025

Location: HUB-Robeson Center - Heritage Hall
Penn State University Park campus

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Thank you to all participants!

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A conference room with people sitting at circular tables facing a stage with a podium.
A man stands on a stage at right speaking to seated guests with an image of a caterpillar projected behind him
A woman standing in the center of a stage speaking to seated guests.
A man with glasses holds a microphone to his mouth with others seated in the foreground and background.
A woman stands on stage holding a microphone to her mouth while a man looks on at right
A woman stands at a podium with a microphone speaking
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A man with glasses stands behind a podium with a microphone
A man stands on a stage at a podium with guests seated before him
A man stands at a podium holding a microphone to his mouth.

Keynote Speakers

Doug Tallamy
Nina-Marie Lister

Doug Tallamy, T. A. Baker Professor of Agriculture in the Department of Entomology & Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware; Founder of Homegrown National Park

Nina-Marie Lister, Professor, School of Urban & Regional Planning & Director, Ecological Design Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University

02 March Schedule

Time Event Speaker
7:00am Registration
8:30am Introduction Andy Cole
9:00am Keynote: Nature's Best Hope Doug Tallamy
10:15am But how will we know if it is what they want? Alex Webb and Catherine Harris
10:35am Rewilding human habitat: Liminal space in the built environment Meghan Mick
10:55 am Supporting metropolitan biota with native plant polycultures David Hopman
11:15am But what about pests? Katherine Boles
11:35am Playfulness in place: World-making through biophilial design Benjamin Larsen
11:55pm Habitat for hard places Halina Steiner
12:15pm Lunch - provided
1:25pm Building with Birds: Tapping technologies to accelerate avian identification and habitat-based design learning Josh Cerra
1:25pm Exploring Great Lakes restoration work: Kevin Grieser
2:05pm Discussion
2:25pm Beyond the hive: A holistic landscape physiology approach to enhancing the health of stingless bees (Tetragonula biroi) and sustainable beekeeping practices in Bacnotan, La Union Frederick Delavin
2:45pm Student Video
3:05pm Considering One Health in the urban floodplain communities in Peru’s Amazon rainforest 2025 One Health Scholars: Tyler Atkinson, Alexis Coyle, Shanu Gopinathan, Rida Hamid, Ankita Karmakar, Isabelle Rodemaker
3:20pm Break/walk to Borland Building
4:00pm [in Borland Project Space] Expanding the Tres Comunidades Un Rio Exhibition: A workshop exploring how humans, animals, and ecosystems in the urban Amazonian floodplain can support each other’s One Health Leann Andrews, Rebecca Bachman, Ursula Valdez, Kathleen Wolf
5:00pm Exhibition Reception (Refreshments provided)

Exhibition

The symposium connects with the international exhibition, "Tres Comunidades, Un Río: Life within Peru’s urban Amazonian floodplains," with a reception in the Borland Project Space. The result of a collaborative research and advocacy project involving Peruvian and U.S. ecologists, photographers, landscape architects, social scientists, public health researchers, and community members, "Tres Comunidades, Un Río" reveals stories of relocation, biodiversity, One Health, connections to nature, and strength of community of those humans and animals under threat in the urbanizing Amazon Rainforest.

A man sitting on the edge of a rowboat on a river dotted with vegetation.

Reception

Date: 02 March 2025
Time: 5pm
Location: Borland Project Space
Borland Building

03 March Schedule

Time Event Speaker
8:00am Registration
9:00am Keynote Nina-Marie Lister
10:15am Changed beasts changing Katherine Boles
10:35am A framework for implementing burrowing crab communities into tidal wetland restorations to promote ecosystem development Shelby Rinehart
10:55am Integrating non-human habitats into architectural design: The case of bird nest facades in Louisiana Angelina Nguyen
11:15am Using archaeology to trace the ecological legacy of human-modified landscapes through time William Vuyk
11:40am Lunch - provided
1:10pm Place theory in the Chesapeake Bay watershed: Understanding human-animal-environment relationships in a One Health approach to pollution mitigation Jennie Ryan-Gisewhite
1:30pm A co-living habitat: Designing ecosystem for human and wildlife interaction at Cherry Springs State Park Yasaman Ghaffarian
1:50pm Living shorelines for coastal resilience and habitat enhancement in the Delaware estuary Jessica Klinkam
2:10pm The uninviting window: Bird-safe design and the ethics of deterrence Richard Fadok
2:30pm Vertical Climbing Textures: An alternative wildlife crossing solution for small animals Po-Ching Wang, Horng-Shiann
2:50pm Conclusion

Contact

Headshot of Charles Andrew "Andy" Cole

Charles Andrew "Andy" Cole

  • Director E+D: Ecology plus Design
  • Professor of Landscape Architecture and Ecology

cac13@psu.edu

814-865-5735