Visiting scholar --- Dr. Byoung-Suk Kweon

2021-08-26

Dr. Byoung-Suk Kweon

Byoung-Suk Kweon, Ph.D., PLA, ASLA

Associate Professor

Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture

University of Maryland

kweonb@umd.edu

 

Biography

Dr. Byoung-Suk Kweon is a registered landscape architect and an associate professor in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture at the University of Maryland. She conducts interdisciplinary research that focuses on how natural and built environments influence people's behaviors such as environmental health, social integration, neighborhood satisfaction, physical activities, and active transportation. Her current research involves the link between environmental risks around public schools and their consequences on children’s school performance and health.  She uses GIS to measure environmental variables and study the educational and health effects of physical environments for school children. Her research on improving environments for school children was recognized with a national award from the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA). She is a principal investigator studying “The Effects of Green Schools on Children's Academic Performance and Well-Being” funded by the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF).  In 2011 and 2012, the foundation named her a LAF Research Fellow. She also served as a board member for the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA).

 

Areas of Interest

Environmental Behavior

Environment and Health

School and Children’s Environment

Landscape Performance

Urban Agriculture

 

Current Research

School Locations and Children's School Performance and Health
With the help of Kresge Foundation funding (over $1.5 million), my collaborator and I organized a task force made up of teachers, parents, state and local school board members, scientists, policy analysts, state legislators, environmentalists, and community residents. Our task force has been working to identify tools and best practices that can be used to facilitate healthy school siting decisions and the closure of unhealthy schools. To bring all stakeholders together, we organized conferences in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 where task force members discussed development of a statewide school siting policy in Michigan that takes into account environmental quality factors. The task force subcommittees consist of four groups: (1) Environmental Hazards and Human Health; (2) School Site Screening Criteria and the Environmental Review Process; (3) Capacity Building and Interagency Collaboration; and (4) Community Involvement. By August 2016, we plan to have combined the work of all subcommittees and produced a model school siting policy for the state of Michigan. I have presented the results of this research at numerous conferences, including the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture conference, the Environmental Design Research Association, and the Environmental Health Disparity Symposium for Maryland and Washington, DC. We published a related article, “Air Pollution around Schools Affects Student Health and Performance” in the prestigious Health Affairs Journal in 2011. Another manuscript stemming from this work, “Proximity of Public Schools to Highways and Industrial Facilities, and Students’ School Performance and Health Risks,” is under revision for Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design.

Landscape Performance: The Effects of Green Schools on Chilren's School Performance and Well-Being
Dr. Kweon is a principal investigator studying The Effects of Green Schools on Children's Academic Performance and Well-Being funded by the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF). Her work documented environmental, social, educational and economic benefits of design for three school environments: The Willow School, Sidwell Friends Middle School and Brent Elementary School. In 2011 and 2012, the foundation named her a LAF Research Fellow.

Nature Play Space/Stormwater management System
Dr. Kweon is working with New Hope Academy to design a nature play space and bioretention water quality management system. The goals of the project to build certified nature playgrounds/outdoor classrooms and to treat contaminated runoff from a residential street, the school parking lot and all adjacent properties. The Academy is committed to utilizing this project to provide educational focus for our environmental science program. It will provide opportunities and hands-on experience for students in the school (grades PreK-12th) to learn proper stormwater management techniques, use of rain gardens, bio-swales, organic gardens, terracing, stream restoration, and other ecologically sound practices. This project is funded by the Chesapeake Bay Trust.

 

Articles in Referred Journals

Kweon, B., Marans, R. W., and Yi, C.# (In press). Parks and quality of life: Differences among African American and white residents. Landscape Journal.

Kweon, B., Ellis, C. D., and Storie, M.# (2016). The scientific benefits of sustainable landscape design and its impact on education. Chinese Landscape Architecture, 62-74.

Ellis, C. D., Kweon, B., Alward, S.#, and Burke, R. B. # (2015). Landscape performance measurement and assessment of multifunctional landscapes. Landscape Architecture, 114, 32-39.

Mohai, P., Kweon, B., Lee, S. & Ard, K. J. (2011). Air pollution around schools affects student health and performance. Health Affairs, 852-862.

Kweon, B, Ellis, C. D., Leiva, P. I., & Rogers, G. O. (2010). Landscape components, land use and neighborhood satisfaction. Environmental Planning B, 37, 500-517.

Kweon, B., Ulrich, R. S., Walker, V., & Tassinary, L. G. (2008) Anger and stress: The role of landscape posters in an office setting. Environment and Behavior, 40(3), 355-381.

Lee, S., Ellis, C. D., Kweon, B., & Hong, S. (2008). The relationship between landscape structure and neighborhood satisfaction in urbanized areas. Landscape and Urban Planning, 85, 60-70.

Kweon, B., Ellis, C. D., Lee, S., & Rogers, G. O. (2006). Large-scale environmental knowledge: Investigating the relationship between self-reported and objectively measured physical environments. Environment and Behavior, 38(1), 72-91.

Ellis, C. D., Lee, S., & Kweon, B. (2006). Retail land use, neighborhood satisfaction, and the urban forest: An investigation into the moderating and mediating effects of trees. Landscape and Urban Planning, 74, 70-78.

Larsen, L., Adams, J., Deal, B., Kweon, B., & Tyler, E. (1998). Plants in the workplace: The effects of plant density on productivity, attitude, and perception. Environment and Behavior, 30(3), 261-281.

Kweon, B., Sullivan, W. C., & Wiley, A. R. (1998). Green common spaces and the social integration of inner city older adults. Environment and Behavior, 30 (6), 832-858.

 

Publications

Kweon, B., Mohai, P., Lee, S., and Marin, A. E. (2018). Proximity of public schools to highways and industrial facilities, and students’ school performance and health risks. Environmental Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 45(2), 312-329.

Kweon, B., Ellis, C. D., Lee, J., and Jacobs, K. (2017). The link between school environments and students’ academic performance. Urban 

Kweon, B., Marans, R. W., and Yi, C. (2016). Parks and quality of life: Differences among African American and white residents. Landscape Journal, 35(1), 97-108.

Kweon, B., Ellis, C. D., and Storie, M. (2016). The scientific benefits of sustainable landscape design and its impact on education. Chinese Landscape Architecture, 32, 62-74.

Ellis, C. D., Kweon, B., Alward, S., and Burke, R. B. (2015). Landscape performance measurement and assessment of multifunctional landscapes. Landscape Architecture, 114, 32-39.

Shin, WH., Kweon, B., and Shin, WJ. (2011). The distant effects of environmental variables on older African American women’s physical activity in Texas. Landscape and Urban Planning, 103, 217-229.

Mohai, P., Kweon, B., Lee, S., and Ard, K. J. (2011). Air pollution around schools affects student health and performance. Health Affairs, 852-862.

Maghelal, P., Natesan, P., Rosenblatt Naderi, J., and Kweon, B. (2011). Investigating the use of virtual reality for pedestrian environment. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 28 (2), 104-117.

Kweon, B., Ellis, C. D., Leiva, P. I., and Rogers, G. O. (2010). Landscape components, land use and neighborhood satisfaction. Environmental Planning B, 37, 500-517.

Ehsani, J. P., Bingham, C. R., Shope, J. T., Sunbury, T. M., and Kweon, B. (2010). Teen driving exposure in Michigan: Demographic and behavioral characteristics. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 42(4), 1386-1391.