The Dredge Research Collaborative is an independent 501c3 nonprofit organization which investigates human sediment handling practices, through publications, events, and other projects. Our mission is to improve sediment management through design research, building public knowledge, and facilitating transdisciplinary conversation.
CURRENT MEMBERS
Sean Burkholder (@seanburkholder) is the Andrew Gordon Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design. As a member of the DRC, Sean’s work has focused particularly on the Great Lakes region, and with Brian Davis, he co-coordinated Dredgefest Great Lakes in 2015. Since then, he has participated continually in the ongoing collaborative work as part of the USACE Engineering with Nature program. In addition to his work with the DRC, Sean is also the co-founder of the Environmental Modeling Lab at the Weitzman School of Design, which works with local state and federal agencies to model, monitor, and design dynamic coastal landscapes. With fellow DRC member Brian Davis, Sean also co-directs both the Great Lakes Protection Fund-supported Healthy Port Futures Project and the office Proof Projects, both established to investigate novel methods of coastal research and design that place sediment and sediment-based processes as central agents in the design process
Brian Davis (@faslanyc) is an associate professor of landscape architecture at the University of Virginia School of Architecture. For the DRC, he co-coordinated Dredgefest Great Lakes in 2015 and has helped lead collaborations with the Engineering with Nature program of the US Army Corps. With Sean Burkholder, Brian directs both the Great Lakes Protection Fund-supported Healthy Port Futures Project and the office Proof Projects. At UVA, he co-directs the Natural Infrastructure Lab, where his research focuses on ports, rivers, and cities, and their formal interrelations through time. Prior to joining UVA, he was an Assistant Professor at Cornell University and has practiced landscape architecture in Buenos Aires and New York City; he is also a registered landscape architect. In 2019 he was the American Academy Rome Prize recipient in Landscape Architecture.
Rob Holmes (@rbhlms) is an associate professor and chair of the undergraduate landscape architecture program at Auburn University. With the DRC, he co-organized the DredgeFest event series, participated in the Resilient By Design Bay Area Challenge as part of the Public Sediment team, and, since 2017, has been engaged in a range of collaborations with the US Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineering With Nature program. Other current projects include study of landscape infrastructure designs for coastal communities in Mobile Bay, funded by NOAA’s Effects of Sea Level Rise program, and “Feral,” an investigation of unruly designed landscapes with David Hill. He is also organizing a Gulf Adaptation Design Studio with the Auburn landscape architecture program’s Alabama Lab, funded by the National Academies’ Gulf Research Program.
Justine Holzman (@justineholzman) is a landscape researcher, designer, and educator with a background in landscape architecture. Holzman is currently training as an historian of science at Princeton University where her doctoral work focuses on how knowledge is produced about environments and how landscapes are designed and transformed for scientific research. With the DRC, Holzman co-organized DredgeFest California, was a member of the Public Sediment Team, and has led and progressed funded research and collaboration with the US Army Corps of Engineers. Outside the DRC, Holzman’s interdisciplinary scholarship and creative works have contributed to conversations surrounding climate adaptation, green infrastructure, and environmental monitoring. Holzman is co-author of Responsive Landscapes: Strategies for Responsive Technologies in Landscape Architecture (2016), and has previously taught in departments of Landscape Architecture, Architecture, and Urban Design at Columbia University, the University of Toronto, the University of Tennessee, and Louisiana State University.
Brett Milligan (@freeassocdesign) is associate professor of landscape architecture at the University of California, Davis. With the DRC, he developed and co-organized the DredgeFest event series, was a core member of the Public Sediment team for the Bay Area Resilient by Design Competition, and consults on projects with the USACE Engineering with Nature program. At UC Davis, he is the director of the Metamorphic Landscapes Lab, dedicated to advancing multi-benefit adaptations to accelerated landscape change through design research. Recent projects include Franks Tract Futures, a transdisciplinary effort funded by California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife to restore tidal marshes, attenuate salinity intrusion, and create new recreational opportunities in California’s Delta; and Delta Island Adaptations, which is piloting landscape strategies to capture and store carbon, reverse land subsidence, restore terrestrial and aquatic habitats, and create new opportunities for recreation, eco-cultural restoration and co-stewardship with indigenous tribes on reclaimed lands in the central Delta.
Gena Wirth (@genevawirth) is a partner and design principal at SCAPE Landscape Architecture. With the DRC, she co-organized the Dredge Fest event series, led the DRC intern-collaborator program, participated in the Resilient by Design Bay Area Challenge as part of the Public Sediment team, and is an advisor to the US Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineering with Nature program. At SCAPE, Gena translates research into practice, leading the design and implementation of complex, multi-stakeholder landscapes—including public and private waterfronts, regional trail systems, parks, plazas, and climate adaptation plans. Her portfolio includes Living Breakwaters, a 2,400 linear foot necklace of nearshore breakwaters designed to reduce risk to coastal communities and regenerate aquatic ecosystems in Staten Island, and the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail, a 7.5-mile walkable, bikeable linear park connecting people with the sublime landscapes of the Hudson River. Gena has taught at Harvard University, Columbia University, Syracuse University, and Rutgers University.
INTERN-COLLABORATORS
Past intern-collaborators are:
Michael Biros
Michelle Benoit
Alex Hill
Kate Lenahan
Nathalie Mitchell
Gena Morgis
Inwa Park
Nicholas Shannon
Crystal Xing
Gavin Zeitz
INACTIVE MEMBERS
Stephen Becker (@stphnbckr) does real estate design and development in New York City. His work and research are focused on the complex relationships among aesthetics, performance, finance, bureaucracy, and culture in the design and construction of buildings and infrastructure.
Tim Maly (@doingitwrong) is senior lead of Strategic Design & Communications at RISD’s Center for Complexity. Tim is working on designing institutions suitable for managing existential threats and providing care beyond stigma. A writer and critical designer, Tim teaches in the Master’s of Industrial Design program at RISD, helping students understand the role that communication plays in explaining and exploring ideas. Tim is also a co-founder of Capybara Games, and Tim’s work has appeared in Wired, Fast Co.Design, The Atlantic, Medium, Works That Work and Urban Omnibus. Tim and Emily Horne co-wrote The Inspection House: An Impertinent Field Guide to Modern Surveillance, published by Coach House Press.