2022 Selection Committee

Department Head and Associate Professor in Practice, University of Minnesota

Joe has over 25 years of professional experience in both private practice and academia. His teaching and practice interests are focused on the intersection of creative design of landscapes, the implementation process of built work, and the cost/material/performance implications of design. He is interested in how emerging technology impacts these areas and alters the design of important space and material typologies like the public street and the college campus. Joe teaches design studios and landscape technology and systems courses, with a particular expertise in earthwork grading, stormwater and college campus design. Joe maintains a limited practice through the Minneapolis-based firm O2 Design. He has been Head of the Landscape Architecture Department since 2015 and an Associate Professor in Practice since 2011. Prior to that Joe worked as an Adjunct Assistant Professor and a licensed landscape architect with several Minnesota firms.

Principal and Co-Founder, Ten x Ten Studio

Ross’s work is grounded in a cross-disciplinary philosophy. He combines the logic of architecture with the art and temporality of landscape. Having led the completion of numerous cultural, campus and public realm projects, Ross has an exceptional ability to facilitate, envision and design enduring places for his clients.

Ross teaches across disciplines of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at University of Minnesota’s College of Design where he was a 2014-2015 Cleveland Fellow. Ross has a BS in Architectural Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a MARCH and MLA from the University of Virginia where he studied subterranean Paris as a Nix Fellow. Prior to co-founding TEN x TEN he was the Director of Landscape Architecture at HGA where he led an innovative landscape practice. As an associate at Coen + Partners he helped build the residential, public realm and cultural portfolio. His work has won awards and recognition from ASLA National, ASLA Minnesota, GSA Design Awards and the Graham Foundation. His past projects include the U.S. Capitol Complex Masterplan, Saint Louis Art Museum, Warroad LPOE and Speckman Residence. He was the 2012-2013 Rome Prize Fellow in Landscape Architecture at the American Academy in Rome where he explored infrastructure and myth in the contemporary Rome.

Design Director, Coen + Partners

Influenced by extensive travels to different parts of the world, Wanjing is intrigued by the way unique cultures and ecologies shape people’s approach in place-making. She enjoys bringing philosophical thinking to a project and believes beauty combined with rich analysis and research leads to meaningful design.

With a Bachelor of Architecture from Tsinghua University and a Masters of Landscape Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design, Wanjing seeks common ground between architecture and landscape through spatial, geometrical, and proportional alliances. Her experience at a design-build firm in scenic Southwest China built close connections with the rich local culture of craftsmanship, detailing and planting design.

Founding Principal and Executive Drector, Tlalli Collaborative

Ana is a landscape architect, urban designer and planner, and the founder of TLALLI Collaborative, LLC. She was born and raised in Mexico, where she began her professional career as an architect. Ana's unique blend of landscape architecture, urban design, and architecture has led to 20 years of work with several communities and clients across the country on a diversity of project types and scales. Her planning and implementation expertise has been instrumental in ensuring design ideas become built realities. Throughout her career, she has practiced with the main focus on adapting design research, context-sensitive, collaborative, and engagement processes to the unique needs and equity goals of the communities she serves and responding with innovative ideas that respect our natural resources.

Principal and Director of Design, O2 Design

Tom graduated from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and is principal of O2 Design with offices in Minneapolis and Chicago. His work has been recognized by the American Society of Landscape Architects, American Institute of Architects, and in 1992 he was a fellow at the American Academy in Rome in Landscape Architecture. As founder and design director, Tom’s role is very interactive to ensure that the functional, practical and aesthetic elements of the design are achieved. Tom’s interest in art and his passion for design is fueled by a commitment to excellence and innovation. Tom brings over 20 years of experience at a variety of project scales from 800-acre master planning efforts to a 5000-square foot rooftop garden. His belief in the collaborative process of working closely with clients, architects, engineers, fabricators and artists have yielded positive results and international recognition as an innovator when it comes to solving complex site design challenges.

Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota

Jessica Rossi-Mastracci is an Assistant Professor in Landscape Architecture at the University of Minnesota, and the Kusske Design Initiative (KDI) Co-Principal for 2021–2023. From 2010–2019, she gained professional experience in award-winning landscape architecture and urbanism firms, including TEN x TEN in Minneapolis, MN; Bionic Landscape in San Francisco, CA; TLS Landscape Architecture in Berkeley, CA; and West8 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Jessica is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architecture, Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, and is a licensed Landscape Architect.