[Draft Bio]

Emma Mendel, Lecturer, School of Architecture, is a practicing landscape architect and lecturer at the University of Virginia School of Architecture, researching and writing on topics pertaining to socio-cultural materiality, infrastructure and representation. Mendel's project Access to safe drinking water for First Nations Communities in Ontario was published in the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects Journal which featured her sculptural pieces that captured mutable boundaries between materials. Her design was recognized in the Canadian wide competition, Future Legacies, that offered perspectives on the role of legacy as a driving force in the creation of a nation. She is a Graham Foundation grantee for her project Ephemeral Material Infrastructures: Expanding Intuitive Knowledge of Hydrological Systems. Her publications include the Princeton Architectural Journal, Kerb Landscape Architecture Journal, and the winning project (Coastal Paradox) published in University of Pennsylvania's LA+ journal.