SUPERFISKY is an urban ecologist, designer and educator who devotes their days, nights and dreams to transforming urban areas into more inhabitable places for people, plants, and other animals. After obtaining a Master of Landscape Architecture, Master of Science in Conservation Ecology and Teaching Certificate from the University of Michigan, SUPERFISKY moved 2,300 miles across the country for the Los Angeles River. SUPERFISKY sees LA—and its river—as the perfect laboratory to explore how to (re)design urban areas into more “symbiotic cities”. 

Prior to transplanting in LA, SUPERFISKY helped to spearhead ecosystem management efforts for 24,000 acres of parkland in Metropolitan Detroit, and developed an interactive environmental education program about sustainability in the built environment. In LA, SUPERFISKY has spearheaded ecological planning and design efforts at Studio-MLA—a landscape architecture and urban design firm; founded Grown in LA—a nonprofit that aims to plant seeds, power people, and transform a city; and is currently the City of Los Angeles’ first Urban Ecologist. 

SUPERFISKY carries their practice and perspective of urban ecology and socio-ecological systems into the classroom, teaching at institutions like UCLA, USC, CalPoly Pomona, and the University of Michigan. SUPERFISKY is a former Doris Duke Conservation Fellow and currently serves on the Ecological Society of America’s Board of Professional Certification, US Forest Service LA Urban Center’s Executive Oversight Team, California ReLeaf’s Board of Directors, City Plants’ Advisory Board, and the LA Biodiversity Index Expert Council and Interdepartmental Working Group.

Credentials:

• Certified Ecologist
  Ecological Society of America

• Master of Science in Conservation Ecology
  University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment

• Master of Landscape Architecture
  University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment

• Teaching Certificate
  University of Michigan

• National Environmental Education Certifications - Project Learning Tree, Project WET, Project WILD

• Wilderness First Aid Certified
  NOLS

Affiliations:

• City of Los Angeles Urban Ecologist

• Los Angeles Biodiversity Index Expert Council & Interdepartmental Working Group Member

• US Forest Services’ LA Urban Center Executive Oversight Team

• Ecological Society of America Member & Board of Professional Certification

• International Association of Landscape Ecology - North American Regional Chapter Member

• International Society of Arboriculture Member

• California ReLeaf Board of Directors

• City Plants Advisory Board

• Seed LA Member

Select Recognition:

• Doris Duke Conservation Fellow
  Woodrow Wilson Foundation (2010)

• Planning & Analysis Merit Award
  American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Southern California Chapter (2018)

• Outstanding Part-time Faculty Award
  California State Polytechnic University Pomona (2020)

• Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award
  Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan (2011)

• Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award
  Program in the Environment (PitE), University of Michigan (2011)