Ellen is a licensed landscape architect working, exploring, and researching in Los Angeles since 2017. A Tennessee native, she is drawn to landscape architecture for its implicit mission to reconcile built and natural systems through a human lens. Ellen’s work focuses on amplifying and acting on community needs across sites and scales. She is currently working as an associate at Kounkuey Design Initiative in Los Angeles, where she works on design and planning projects in and around the Salton Sea, in Mar Vista, and in San Fernando. Ellen is a lecturer at the UCLA Luskin School of Urban Planning, and has served as a guest gritic at the GSD, USC, UCLA, UT Knoxville, and UW Eugene. Previously, she worked as a Designer at SALT Landscape Architects. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Anthropology and Photography from the University of Tennessee and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.