Victoria Chanse, PhD
Assistant Professor

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 B.A. Biology, Oberlin College; M.C.P. City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley; Ph.D. Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, University of California, Berkeley

Specializations in civic engagement approaches to watershed planning, stormwater design and sea level change; transdisciplinary action research; community design; environmental justice

 As a researcher and community planner/designer, Dr. Chanse’s research and teaching arenas link cross-disciplinary design and planning approaches to civic engagement across multiple scales in the built environment. Her current research includes advancing the understanding of transdisciplinary approaches to sea level change design and planning responses on Maryland’s Eastern shore and community-based participatory research along the Anacostia River. She serves as an officer for the Environmental Design Research Association’s Board of Directors.

She has been and is a co-principal Investigator for several U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 3-year grants. Her most recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant involves for community-based participatory research for watershed planning and design for the Anacostia. As a primary investigator, Dr. Chanse has received grants from the University of Maryland’s National Science Foundation’s ADVANCE Seed Grant program and the Maryland Agricultural Extension seed grant program. As one of the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s Case Study Investigation Fellows, she has worked on assessing landscape performance metrics.

Recent and current projects include collaborations with Architecture Assistant Professor Luis Diego Quiros and doctoral students Kevin Adams and Jennifer Salazar. Past collaborative projects include the Sand River Restoration project and the Sand River Headwaters Green Infrastructure project in Aiken, SC while teaching at Clemson University, SC. This latter project was accepted into the 2010 Sustainable Sites InitiativeTM Pilot Program. At Clemson, Dr. Chanse developed projects that include civic engagement and service learning in the neighborhoods of North Charleston (SC). This work with the Low Country Alliance for Model Communities in North Charleston was part of an award-winning collaboration that was recognized by the 2009 U.S. EPA Environmental Justice Achievement Award.