Welcome to Fall 2020!

Student Spotlight

Sep 8, 2020

Student Spotlight

Sep 8, 2020

It’s always so exciting and inspiring to welcome a new set of students to our MA in Sustainable Design program! It is joy to learn about each one, what they bring to the program, and what they envision for the future.

This fall we’re welcoming 15 new students to the program:

Raven Bellefleur, Frank Brooks, Maren Butenhoff, Kaitlin Hollister, Emily Hunziker, Max Lyons, Haida May, Kelsey Nelsen, Molly Nemer, Jennifer O’Connell, Luxme Patel, Stefan Peterson, Natalie Potts, Samanta Segalas-Shaw, and Brad Wignall.

You can read about each of them, as well as all of our returning students, on our STUDENTS page.

We’re also celebrating two new babies (mom’s are taking the semester off).

Diving into a Masters degree — especially while working, navigating a pandemic, social unrest, and an upcoming presidential election — is a big commitment. We’re so proud of all of our students — an alumni — who have not only committed to pursuing graduate school, but also to changing their perspectives, changing their designs, and changing our world. We are all very lucky to have them in the program.

If you’re curious if this program might be right for you, please join one of our upcoming informational webinars. We also invite you to explore the other blogs on this site as well as our YouTube channel.

Denise DeLuca / Former Director

Denise DeLuca is the Director of MCAD’s Sustainable Design program. She was co-founder of BCI: Biomimicry Creative for Innovation, a network of creative professional change agents driving ecological thinking for radical transformation. Denise is author of the book Re-Aligning with Nature: Ecological Thinking for Radical Transformation, which was illustrated by MASD alum Stephanie Koehler. She also teaches with the Amani Institute.

Denise’s previous roles include Education Director for the International Living Future Institute, Project Manager for Swedish Biomimetics 3000, and Outreach Director for The Biomimicry Institute. Denise is a licensed civil engineer (PE) and holds a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering with a focus on modeling landscape-scale surface and groundwater interactions.  In addition, Denise is a Biomimicry Fellow and a member of the Advisory Council of The Biomimicry Institute,  Board Member of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP), on the editorial board of the Journal of Bionic Engineering, and an Expert with Katerva. Denise is based in Oregon.

contact:  [email protected]