Alumni

What is your name, graduation year, and current career status.
Hi my name is Ryu Kim, December of 2012 (BLA), a Senior Project Manager at the Public Design Commission, NYC Office of the Mayor.

What was your experience like during the LARC program, both academically and personally?
The LARC program offered diverse opportunities to explore landscape and design with its studio curriculum, design competitions, and study abroad programs. Each studio project was grounded with a unique geographic context and program, helping us straighten our design and critical thinking skills. The program promoted a strong sense of freedom, autonomy, and ownership over our ideas and work. I especially appreciated the studio environment and the thoughtful pedagogy that our professors cultivated. Our cohort fully embraced hand drawn graphics. There was something deeply rewarding, intuitive and artistic about thinking through ideas and spatial relationships through sketching. It is something that I still carry with me to this day.

Personally, for me and to a lot of us, the studio lives were our personal lives. There was no boundary in between. We genuinely loved and enjoyed what we were doing. Talking about projects and plants continued outside the studios. We were really in it.

Could you share your professional path since completing the program and what you are doing now?
Since completing the program in December 2012, I worked at design firms and pursued a Master's degree at Harvard Graduate School of Design, all while asking the same question: What makes a design truly successful? As I visited public parks across NYC, I noticed that some Frederick Law Olmsted parks remain in a great condition, while others have fallen into significant disrepair. This contrast made me look beyond the design and toward what happens after a project is built. My times at Madison Square Park Conservancy deepend this perspective. I gained firsthand experience and understanding of park maintenance and operations - the ongoing, never ending but invisible work that begins once the ribbon cutting ceremony is over.

The same question still guides my career journey today. How can we better connect design and maintenance to ensure the long-term success of public spaces?

In my current role at the Public Design Commission, where I manage the review of New York City's public park portfolios with commissioners, I continue to explore this intersection and seek ways to incorporate operational and stewardship driven thinking into the design review process. 

What advice would you give to prospective students considering this program?
UMD's LARC program is accredited and offers a strong studio curriculum that helps build you a compelling landscape design portfolio, from urban to regional, whether that is art-focused or horticultural. Also, I cannot emphasize enough how impactful and well-structured the study abroad programs were, which were the highlights of my undergraduate experience, in Italy and Costa Rica.

Jonathan Gemmell '15 connection to the University of Maryland spans his time as a graduate student, professional landscape architect, and now faculty member in the Department of Landscape Architecture. 

Jonathan earned his Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Maryland, where his studies focused on children’s playscapes, environmental literacy, and the relationship between people and landscape. While in graduate school, he served as a teaching assistant for multiple courses in the department; that experience introduced him to teaching and remained an important influence as his career developed.

After graduating, Jonathan spent several years in professional practice working on projects throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. His work included K-12 and Higher Education campus design, transportation projects, community engagement, and environmental restoration. He worked on projects from early planning through construction, with a focus on planting design, stormwater management, and site-responsive solutions. Over time, he took on project management roles and led design teams for complex public and institutional work.

During this period, Jonathan had the opportunity to work on several projects at the University of Maryland. His professional work contributed to multiple landscapes on campus, including improvements associated with the Purple Line and the Big “M,” the Thurgood Marshall School of Public Policy, and the Lt. Collins Memorial Plaza. Participating in these projects allowed him to return to the campus in a new role, helping shape spaces that are used every day by students, faculty, and visitors.

Jonathan recently returned to the department as an assistant professor, where he now teaches courses in digital visualization and site design. His teaching emphasizes the connection between academic study and professional practice, with a focus on real world constraints, visual representation, and the technical skills needed to move ideas into built work. Having studied in the same program, he is especially interested in helping students understand how classroom exercises relate to real projects.

His path from student to practicing landscape architect to faculty member reflects the long-term relationships that often develop within the design professions. The University of Maryland played an important role at each stage, first as a place to learn the discipline, later as a client and project site, and now as the setting where he works with the next generation of landscape architects.