OIGP Spring Reception Speakers
2025 Spring Reception Speakers
The 16th OIGP Spring Reception will place on Wednesday, May 7th, 2025 in the North & South Ballrooms in the Purdue Memorial Union. We will be having two different panel discussions focused on academic and industry career path experiences followed by a closing keynote from past MOIPA winner, Dr. Fuschia Ann Hoover.
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Fushcia-Ann Hoover is an interdisciplinary researcher specializing in social-ecological urban systems. She employs a range of approaches and perspectives that include environmental justice, green infrastructure performance and urban planning, evaluating the impacts of green infrastructure planning in the context of racism, justice and place-making.
In her current role as an assistant professor of environmental planning in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte (UNCC), she researches the impacts of green space planning practices and decision-making using a variety of mixed methodologies. Dr. Hoover served as a co-author on the Ch. 8 Ecosystems, Ecosystem Services, and Biodiversity for the Fifth U.S. National Climate Assessment, and was a postdoctoral fellow first at the Environmental Protection Agency in Cincinnati, Ohio, and then at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) in Annapolis, Maryland. She is the founder of EcoGreenQueen LLC, a company dedicated to teaching and expanding the knowledge and use of environmental justice frameworks and methods across research and practice, and runs the EcoGreenQueen Blog where she distills important connections between people, place and the environment.
Dr. Hoover earned her master's and doctorate from the Interdisciplinary Ecological Sciences and Engineering program in Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue University, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of St. Thomas, MN. Dr. Hoover is a faculty affiliate with the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability’s Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research site at Arizona State University, and most recently one of two inaugural 2023-2024 Radcliffe-Salata Climate Justice Fellows at Harvard University.
Moderators:
Academic Panel:
Yiwei Huang is an assistant professor of landscape architecture at Purdue University. She has a multidisciplinary background in landscape architecture, urban design, and geography. She is the recipient of the Richard L. Kohls Outstanding Early Career Teaching Award (2023) and the John T. Taylor Award for Excellence in Teaching Innovation (2024) from the Purdue University College of Agriculture. She currently serves as the co-chair of the Climate Action Committee of the Indiana Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. To know more about her research topics, read her recent book entitled "Outdoor Environments for People: Considering Human Factors in Landscape Design" published by Routledge.
Industry Panel:
Rooney Kim Lazcano earned her PhD in Agronomy in 2019 and is an alum of the Ecological Science and Engineering program. Shortly after graduation, she joined Procter & Gamble, where she currently serves as a Senior Environmental Scientist. In this role, Rooney specializes in environmental sustainability, focusing on the responsible sourcing of materials for consumer products. She is passionate about mentoring and developing new hires at P&G. Rooney resides in Cincinnati with her husband, their five-year-old twin daughters, three cats, and six backyard chickens. She enjoys outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, and gardening, and has recently taken up baking and indoor plant collecting as new hobbies.
