Landscape Architecture Scholarships

Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF)

LAF Student Scholarships - In 2023, LAF will award over $150,000 to students through 16 different scholarships. Eligible candidates are undergraduate or graduate students enrolled at colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada. Additional requirements vary by scholarship.

LAF Ignite - LAF Ignite is a comprehensive Scholarship + Internships + Mentorship program for BIPOC college students, providing participants with an annual $10,000 scholarship, annual paid summer internship, and access to mentors throughout their educational path. Each year, 3-5 students are accepted into Ignite and participate until they have completed their landscape architecture degree. For the 2022 and 2023 application years, eligible candidates must identify as Black/African American. In future years, LAF plans to expand the program to other Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) groups.

Eligible candidates are undergraduate or master’s students enrolled in an LAAB- or LAAC-accredited landscape architecture program at a college or university in the U.S. and Canada. Applicants cannot currently be in their final year of study. Candidates must be in good academic standing, demonstrate financial need, and demonstrate a commitment to landscape architecture and creating a healthier, more equitable, and sustainable world. All applicants must be able to commit to full participation in Ignite.

  • LAF Ignite
  • Applications accepted each year in August/September
  • Deadline: October 15

LAF Olmsted Scholar Program - The Olmstead Scholar Program recognizes and supports students with exceptional leadership potential who are using ideas, influence, communication, service, and leadership to advance sustainable design and foster human and societal benefits. Named for Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of American landscape architecture, the Olmsted Scholars Program with its $25,000 graduate and $15,000 undergraduate prize is the premier national award program for landscape architecture students. Now in its 11th year, the program recognizes one outstanding student from each accredited landscape architecture program in the U.S. and Canada, along with the jury-selected graduate and undergraduate national award winners and finalists. Students are both honored for past achievements and recognized for their future potential to influence the landscape architecture profession. 

Each university may nominate one student from each of its LAAB-accredited landscape architecture programs (bachelor's and/or master's). Eligible students are current master's students or undergraduates in their fourth or fifth year, who have made a commitment to the landscape architecture discipline.

 

Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA)

CELA Fountain Scholar Program - An endowed annual award in recognition and support of Black, Indigenous, and persons (students) of color in landscape architecture with exceptional design skills and who use their skills and ideas to influence, communicate, lead and advance design solutions for contemporary issues in a manner aligned with the original goals of Dr. Charles Fountain. A $2,000.00 scholarship is awarded for one graduate or undergraduate landscape architecture student each year. 

The student must be a graduate or undergraduate landscape architecture student from a CELA member institution. Undergraduate students must be in their final two years of study.

CELA Student Awards - These awards recognize students’ outstanding performance in Research or Creative Scholarship. The Award includes two main categories: The Research Award, and The Creative Scholarship Award. Students are encouraged to submit their best academic work, which may be based on a research paper, an outstanding studio design project, a thesis, a dissertation, a terminal project, or other acceptable formats for reporting research work reflecting a clear grounding in scientific inquiry and/or design investigation. 

Eligibility: All undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in The CELA member schools in good standing during the semester(s) in which the work was completed; All recent graduates (within one year of graduation date). Students may submit as an individual or as a team.

Sustainable CT Fellowship Program

The Sustainable CT Fellowship Program places highly qualified fellows across the state’s Councils of Governments (COGs) to help cities and towns become registered, certified, or recertified with Sustainable CT during the summer. The COGs serve as Connecticut’s regional planning organizations. Click here for more information on COG locations.

Fellows will assist cities and towns within the various COG territories and will assist on COG projects that align with Sustainable CT goals. Fellows may or may not be physically sited in a COG office; there may be opportunities for hybrid work locations.

Fellows will gain valuable experience working within a professional setting and will be directly engaged with cutting-edge sustainability initiatives, local government operations, and regional coordination and operation. Fellows will build a deep professional network that spans across local, state and regional government, as well as with nonprofits and organizations supporting sustainability initiatives in the state of Connecticut. Hear from former Fellows about their summer experience.

More information can be found here.

Deadline: February 10, 2025, by 5:00 p.m. EST

Apply by mailing all application materials to Dorothy Piszczek at dorothyp@sustainablect.org.

The Connecticut Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (CTASLA)

The Karen Ann Shopis-Fox Memorial Scholarship - The Karen Ann Shopis-Fox Memorial Scholarship is provided for students who are pursuing an education in the field of Landscape Architecture to defray the cost of tuition of their Fall 2023 semester. A minimum of one scholarship in the amount of $2,500 will be awarded. Through the generous support of our members and industry sponsors, along with a special contribution from UNILOCK, up to $10,000 is available to be split among qualified applicants.

Applicant must be a legal resident of the State of Connecticut and be enrolled in an accredited landscape architecture program (undergraduate or graduate). Graduating seniors may apply if they have been accepted into a qualifying graduate program for the following Fall. Prior award recipients may reapply.

Page updated 2/23/2024