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

Penn State Faculty and Students...

Complimentary Registration Offer

Complimentary registration for the Biophilia conference is being offered to Penn State faculty and students who register by 11:59 m. on February 23. Contact Katrina Kasper (kpk5661@psu.edu) for the promotional code to complete your registration.


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.

Details

Dates: 02–03 March 2025

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

Register Now!

Keynote Speakers

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; Founding Principal of PLANDFORM

02 March Schedule

Time Event Speaker
7:30am Registration
8:30am Introduction Andy Cole
9:00am Keynote: Nature's Best Hope Doug Tallamy
10:05am But how will we know if it is what they want? Alex Webb and Catherine Harris
10:25am Rewilding human habitat: Liminal space in the built environment Meghan Mick
10:45 am Supporting metropolitan biota with native plant polycultures David Hopman
11:05am But what about pests? Katherine Boles
11:25am Playfulness in place: World-making through biophilial design Benjamin Larsen
11:45pm Habitat for hard places Halina Steiner
12:05pm Lunch - provided
1:15pm Building with Birds: Tapping technologies to accelerate avian identification and habitat-based design learning Josh Cerra
1:35pm Exploring Great Lakes restoration work: Kevin Grieser
1:55pm Wilderness in Cityscape: Southern bird sanctuary project Afrah Faheem
2:15pm 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
2:35pm Student Video
2:50pm 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
3:00pm 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 will connect 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 Register
9:00am Keynote Nina-Marie Lister
10:05am Changed beasts changing Katherine Boles
10:25am A framework for implementing burrowing crab communities into tidal wetland restorations to promote ecosystem development Shelby Rinehart
10:45am Integrating non-human habitats into architectural design: The case of bird nest facades in Louisiana Angelina Nguyen
11:05am Using archaeology to trace the ecological legacy of human-modified landscapes through time William Vuyk
11:30am Lunch - provided
1:00pm Place theory in the Chesapeake Bay watershed: Understanding human-animal-environment relationships in a One Health approach to pollution mitigation Jennie Ryan-Gisewhite
1:20pm A co-living habitat: Designing ecosystem for human and wildlife interaction at Cherry Springs State Park Yasaman Ghaffarian
1:40pm Living shorelines for coastal resilience and habitat enhancement in the Delaware estuary Jessica Klinkam
2:00pm The uninviting window: Bird-safe design and the ethics of deterrence Richard Fadok
2:20pm Vertical Climbing Textures: An alternative wildlife crossing solution for small animals Po-Ching Wang, Horng-Shiann
3:00pm Conclusion

Registration Details

  • Early Bird Registration (by Jan. 15, 2025): $300 for professionals, $150 for students. There are 20 free registrations for students (student ID required). FCFS.
  • Regular Registration (after Jan. 15, 2025): $350 for professionals, $175 for students
  • Registration Includes: Access to all presentations and conference materials.

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