Grants & Scholarships

The annual prize is awarded to a landscape architecture student who submits “the most original proposal for study of a subject related to the field of landscape architecture that requires (international) travel.” The monetary prize is awarded in May and must be used during the following twelve months. Preference will be given to an individual who has had little international travel experience. Proposals should include:

• Description of the project;
• A proposed itinerary that supports the project intention;
• A tentative schedule and format for public presentation of the results of the project, the subsequent academic year.

The project description should be as comprehensive as possible indicating the intention of the travel through bibliographic references, and prior related research and any additional information that seems appropriate. Interested students should reach out to Kristie Milligan, Undergraduate and Graduate Field Assistant about the application process.

Housed in the Horticulture Section of the School of Integrative Plant Science, students should visit the Frederick Dreer Award page for more information about the application process and updates.

Eligible applicants include undergraduate students at Cornell University who have completed at least one year of study in the Department of Landscape Architecture and are enrolled in the Department upon completion of their summer internship. Applicants must explain how the internship will be used to further their practical education in landscape architecture. This award must be used to defray the costs of travel, housing or as supplemental income for low or unpaid internships. Prospective recipients will be required to provide:

• Proof of completion of an internship to the satisfaction of the employer;
• A presentation to the students and faculty of the Cornell Department of Landscape Architecture sharing your summer experience.

Application content must include the following materials:

• General Submission Information
  • Name
  • Local Contact Information
  • Permanent Residence Information
  • Date of Enrollment at Cornell
  • Anticipated Graduation Date
• Photo
  • Provide a 300 ppi (pixels per inch) color photo, size 4x6 inches in .jpg format. It should be a head shot with a plain background in which you are looking directly at the camera. Cornell University retains the right to use any photo submitted on our website and in materials promoting the Professor Mavin I. Adleman Fund.
• Resume
  • Provide your resume or CV in PDF format. It should include your education, professional experience, extracurricular activities, and honors and awards.
• 1 Letter from Prospective Employer
  • Letter must come from your prospective employer briefly outlining your anticipated role and responsibility. The letter should affirm that the summer experience is in the field of landscape architecture working with Professional Architects.
• Summer Internship Information
  • Provide details of your summer internship including: Firm, public entity or organization, location, duration, compensation, and any other relevant details.
• Essay (2 pages max)
  • Provide your original essay in PDF format. In 500 words or less, describe your professional aspirations, how this summer internship will help you achieve your professional goals, the financial gap you are trying to bridge, and how you will use the funds. The essay should be no more than two pages with margins of at least 1”, 10-point or larger font, and no images or graphics. Please include Applicant Name on each page.

Interested students should reach out to Kristie Milligan, Undergraduate and Graduate Field Assistant about the application process.

Named for the American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903), the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s Olmsted Scholars Program is the premier leadership program for landscape architecture students. One outstanding student from each accredited landscape architecture degree program across the United States and Canada is recognized annually in their respective Departments as an Olmsted Scholar for their exceptional leadership potential and ability to use ideas, influence, communication, service to advance sustainable design and foster human and societal benefits; these students are in turn evaluated by a national jury of leading individuals in the field of landscape architecture, with winners receiving a $25,000 (graduate) and $15,000 (undergraduate) prize.

Past finalists from the Department include:

• Barbara Kornak (BSLA '21), Undergraduate Finalist

Sponsored by the American Society of Landscape Architects, these awards are presented annually to outstanding students in their final year of every accredited landscape architecture degree program across the United States. Each year the Cornell Department of Landscape Architecture nominates a number of student finalists on the basis of high academic achievement and outstanding success in the completion of the program’s curriculum. These students are required to make public presentations of their work to a jury of local professionals, who determines the winners of these prestigious honor and merit awards.

Past recipients of ASLA Awards of Honor include:

• Kevin Han Kim (MLA/MRP '21)
• Yuhan Ji (BSLA '21)
• Xining Wan (MLA '20)
• Molly Davis (BSLA '20)
• Joyce Zhu (BSLA '20)
• Sarah Boutata (MLA '19)
• JiaMin Chen (MLA '19)
• William Gossett (BSLA '19)
• Lois Nguyen (BSLA '19)

Presented annually by the Upstate New York Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), this award recognizes one student from an Upstate New York Department of Landscape Architecture who has demonstrated exceptional leadership and service at their respective institutions or in other community activities related to the profession.

Past Cornell students who have received the ASLA Distinguished Student Award include:

• Molly Davis (BSLA '20)
• Lois Nguyen (BSLA '19)

Awarded by Cornell’s Clarence S. Stein Institute for Urban and Landscape Studies, this fellowship is awarded annually to one individual who is applying to the Master of Regional Planning (MRP) program in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning.

Past recipients include:

• Matthew Gosner (MLA/MRP '13), Mapping Stein's Edge Conditions

Established by Sadie Boulton Eidlitz in 1938, these awards are intended to assist recipients in supplementing their professional education through travel study. Eligibility is limited to enrolled seniors in Architecture; graduate students in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and History of Architecture and Urbanism; and well as alumni of these programs who graduated in one of the previous five academic years.

The Addison G. Crowley Prize provides an annual prize to be awarded by the faculty for the best presentation of a design project in the field of regional planning.

Past recipients include:

• Xinyue Liu (MLA '24) and Yuqing Guo (MLA '24)
• Gengjiaqi Chang (MLA '23) and Lingwei Wang (MLA '23)
• Kevin Kim (MLA/MRP '21), Jeanette Petti (MLA/MRP '21), & Nicole Nomura (MLA/MRP '22)
• Tim Dehm (MLA/MRP '21)
• Zilan Wang and Ziting Wang (BSLA '19)

The LandDesign Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Scholarship was established to assist students from underrepresented groups who are pursuing a degree in landscape architecture.

The scholarship is open to undergraduate landscape architecture students who identify as Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color (BIPOC) and are currently enrolled in a LAAB-accredited program in the United States.  Eligible candidates must be U.S. citizens, have a minimum GPA of 3.0, and cannot currently be in their final year of study. Candidates must demonstrate financial need and a passion for landscape architecture.

The Landscape Forms Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Scholarship was established as a small but meaningful step toward achieving that vision of a just and diverse community. The scholarship helps Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students advance in their education and career in landscape architecture.

This scholarship is open to undergraduate landscape architecture students who identify as BIPOC and are currently enrolled in a LAAB- or LAAC-accredited program in the U.S. or Canada. To be eligible, applicants cannot currently be in their final year of study. Candidates must demonstrate financial need, academic aptitude, and commitment to the discipline of landscape architecture.

The Rain Bird Intelligent Use of Water™ Scholarship recognize an outstanding landscape architecture, horticulture or irrigation science student. Eligible applicants are students in the final two years of undergraduate study (third-, fourth-, or fifth-year students) who have demonstrated commitment to these professions through participation in extracurricular activities and exemplary scholastic achievements.

The LAF Honor Scholarship was established in memory of Joseph J. Lalli, FASLA (1943-2014) and his 46-year career as a landscape architect, artist, philanthropist, mentor, and teacher. Joe was the chairman and former president of the firm EDSA and had more than 500 projects to his credit in 40 countries. He was a persuasive leader, well-known and admired for his modesty and generosity. Joe experienced great value in his master’s degree and wanted to help make the opportunity for graduate education accessible to others.

Eligible applicants are landscape architecture students currently enrolled in an LAAB- or LAAC-accredited master’s degree program (post-baccalaureate or non-baccalaureate) at a university in the U.S. or Canada. Students must have a minimum grade point average of 2.5 (on a 4-point scale.) Applicants should show commitment to some of the areas that Joe Lalli dedicated himself to, including drawing, artistic pursuits, the importance of travel, and giving back in service to one’s community and profession.

Candidates will be evaluated based on their demonstrated design ability, leadership, character/integrity, and service to others and to the landscape architecture profession. Financial need will also be considered.

This LAF Honor Scholarship was established in 2018 by Patrick Phillips, a visionary and leader in the responsible use, design, and transformation of land to support thriving and inclusive communities worldwide. Originally trained as a landscape architect, Patrick served as the Global CEO of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) from 2009 to 2018 and as president of the ULI Foundation. Patrick’s career spans over 30 years in the economic analysis of real estate and land use. He believes that landscape architects can play an important and distinctive role in the creation of cities and neighborhoods that are safe, healthful, economically productive, and beautiful.

Eligible applicants are landscape architecture students currently enrolled in an LAAB- or LAAC- accredited master's degree program at a university in the U.S. or Canada. Students must have a minimum grade point average of 2.5 (on a 4-point scale.) Applicants should show commitment to underserved urban communities and addressing community-scale design issues. Preference is given to candidates interested in pursuing a career in the non-profit or public sector.

Candidates will be evaluated based on their academic performance and demonstrated commitment and/or leadership in inclusive community design. Financial need will also be considered.

Scholarships

These $5,000 awards are available for graduate or undergraduate students.

• Daniel Zwier/Permaloc Innovation Scholarship
• EDSA Diversity Scholarships (2)
• Steven G. King Play Environments Scholarship

Scholarships for Undergraduates

These $5,000-$10,000 awards are available to undergraduate students only.

• ASLA Council of Fellows Scholarships (4)
• Courtland Paul Scholarship
• Landscape Forms Scholarship in Memory of Peter Schaudt, FASLA

Located in the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, the East Asia Program serves as the hub of a campus-wide network of specialists and as a forum for the interdisciplinary study of contemporary and historical East Asia. Drawing its membership of over 45 core faculty and numerous affiliated faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students from 8 of Cornell’s 12 schools and colleges, the EAP offers Cornell students a range of travel grants, graduate fellowships, and language study grants.

Launched in 2021, the David M. Einhorn Center for Community Engagement seeks to expand faculty and student community engagement and outreach through a number of funded initiatives including the Class of ’64 John F. Kennedy Memorial Award, the Community Partnership Funding Board Grants, the Maribel Garcia Community Spirit Award, and the Robinson-Appel Humanitarian Awards.

The Buttrick-Crippen Fellowship is open to candidates with an interest in undergraduate writing from any field within the Graduate School at Cornell. Intended for graduate students who have had substantial teaching experience, this award provide tuition, a financial stipend, and health insurance to prepare and teach a seminar for the John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines.

The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans program honors the contributions of immigrants and children of immigrants to the United States. Each year, these fellowships support the graduate education of 30 New Americans—immigrants and children of immigrants—who are poised to make significant contributions to US society, culture or their academic field. Each Fellow receives up to $90,000 in financial support over two years, and they join a lifelong community of New American Fellows.

The Imagining America consortium (IA) brings together scholars, artists, designers, humanists, and organizers to imagine, study, and enact a more just and liberatory ‘America’ and world. Working nationally across institutional, disciplinary, and community divides, IA strengthens and promotes public scholarship, cultural organizing, and campus change through their Publicly Active Graduate Education (PAGE) and Joy of Giving Something (JGS) Fellowships.

Founded in 1973 to help fund gold course research and help grow the game, the Foundation awards a number of scholarships annually to two college students or post-graduate students interested in the practice of golf course architecture.

Administered by Cornell University, the Federal Work Study (FWS) Program is a federally funded financial aid program designed to assist students in meeting the cost of higher education by promoting access to meaningful work experiences. For approved community-service eligible employers, the Federal Work Study Program may subsidize up to 75 percent of the wages paid to eligible student workers; wages paid to eligible student workers in non-community service-based positions are subsidized at up to 50 percent.