Faculty Profile
Aidan Ackerman
Associate Professor
Department of Landscape Architecture
259 Marshall Hall
Website and Vitae
Website: aidan-ackerman.com
Vitae: Aidan Ackerman CV
Education
D.Des, Florida International University College of Communication, Architecture, + The Arts
MLA, Harvard University Graduate School of Design
BFA, Alfred University New York State College of Ceramics
About Me
I am an Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, where my research and teaching focus on digital methods for modeling, visualizing, and critically examining landscapes. My work involves AI, GIS, parametric modeling, immersive virtual reality, and digital fabrication, with a particular emphasis on representing large-scale forest and ecological systems.
Drawing from landscape history, media theory, cognitive science, and more-than-human perspectives, my scholarship approaches visualization as a practice of attention. I develop computational workflows that translate non-visual ecological data (growth, succession, management, and change) into spatial and immersive representations that resist purely static or idealized outcomes. While I love creating scientifically accurate, hyper-realistic landscape visualizations, my research also examines the power and limitations of realism in landscape visualization. While contemporary digital tools can produce highly convincing images and simulations, these representations often smooth over time, uncertainty, disturbance, labor and maintenance, and social or ecological conflict. I study landscape visualization not simply as a technical exercise, but as a cultural, perceptual, and ethical practice, asking what our images foreground, what they omit, and how they shape expectations about landscapes and their futures.
I publish in peer-reviewed journals and am a recurring contributor to Landscape Architecture Magazine, where I write about digital practice, visualization culture, and emerging technologies. In parallel, I collaborate on cultural and historic landscape visualization projects through the ESF Center for Cultural Landscape Preservation and the National Park Service’s Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, working with students and professional partners to support interpretation, stewardship, and public engagement. I have twice been selected as a Landscape Architecture Foundation CSI Fellow, where I have worked with students and practitioners to evaluate the benefits of built landscape projects.
In my teaching, I encourage students to learn powerful digital tools, and then to slow down and interrogate them. How might representation invite care, curiosity, and responsibility rather than declare certainty? I aim to help students see themselves not just as image-makers, but as active participants in shaping how landscapes are perceived, valued, and acted upon.
Learn more about my research lab here: Ackerman Research Lab
Courses Taught
LSA 300/500 Digital Methods & Graphics 1
LSA 301/501 Digital Methods & Graphics II
LSA 326 Landscape Architecture Studio 1
LSA 423 Landscape Architectural Design Studio IV
LSA 625 Construction Documentation Studio
LSA 496/696 Modeling & Visualization of Landscape Processes
LSa 496/696 Digital Fabrication
LSA 696 Virtual Environments
LSa 496/696 Parametric Modeling and Computational Landscape Design
Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications
Ackerman, A. (2025). Landscape visualization as a practice of attention and time. Journal of Landscape Architecture, (3), 42–50.
Ackerman A, Cooper L, Esch E, Gadoth-Goodman D, Constantineau S*, Malmsheimer R, & Volk T (2024). Virtual Forests as a Creative Medium for Community Co-Creation and Collaboration. Ground Works: Creating Knowledge in Common.
Ackerman A, Foulds F, Page B, Auwaerter J, Robinson E (2023). Cultural Landscape Visualization: The Use of Non-Photorealistic 3D Rendering and Digital Repeat Photography at Statue of Liberty National Monument. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 62, 396-403.
Ackerman A, Koudelka, C., Hirsch, P., & Zaengle, O*. (2023). Problematizing Realism: Confronting Colonial Perspectives and Engaging Complexities of Landscape Through “Ghost Textures”. PRESENCE: Virtual and Augmented Reality, 20 85-98.
Ackerman A, Tien G, Liu Y (2023). LiDAR-Based Digital Modeling and Comparative Analysis of Urban Street Tree Form and Dimensions. Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture: 476-485.
Ackerman A, Cooper L, Volk T, Malmsheimer B, Esch E, Gadoth-Goodman D, & Constantineau S. (2022). Virtual Reality Visualization of Sustainable Management Practices for Forest Carbon and Climate Change. Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture: 392-401.
Ackerman A, Crespo A, Auwaerter J, & Foulds E. (2021). Using Tree Modeling Applications and Game Design Software to Simulate Tree Growth, Mortality, and Community Interaction. Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture, 163-170.
Ackerman A (2020). Where Have We Come From, and Where Are We Headed? A Comparative Review of Themes in CAD and BIM/LIM Adoption. Journal of Chinese Landscape Architecture, 1000-6664.
Ackerman A, Wang Y, Bryant M (2020). Animation of High Wind-Speed Coastal Storm Events with Computational Fluid Dynamics: Digital Simulation of Protective Barrier Dunes. Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture: 498-509.
Ackerman A, Cave J, Lin CY, Stillwell K. (2019). Computational Modeling for Climate Change: Simulating and Visualizing a Resilient Landscape Architecture Design Approach. International Journal of Architectural Computing 17: 125-147. Impact factor: 1.04
Ackerman A, Cave J, Stillwell K. (2019). Computation and Visualization of Coastal Sea Level Rise Mitigation Strategies: Digital Applications of Scientific Data to Formulate Design Workflows for Climate Change. Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture, 4: 10-20.
Ackerman A, Cave J (2018). Modeling Coastal Sedimentation and Erosion for Design Applications Within the Fields of Landscape Architecture and Architecture. In: Gobster, Paul H.; Smardon, Richard C., eds. 2018. Visual Resource Stewardship Conference Proceedings: Landscape and Seascape Management in a Time of Change: 262-269. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-183. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station.
Ackerman A, Glekas E (2017). Digital Capture and Fabrication Tools for Interpretation of Historic Sites. ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences 107-114. Impact factor: 1.34
Other Publications
Magazine Articles
Ackerman A. “The Spec Stops Here.” Landscape Architecture Magazine, January 2025: pp pp. Print.
Ackerman A. “Mirror Mind.” Landscape Architecture Magazine, October 2023: 60-68. Print.
Ackerman, Aidan. “Small Firm, Big Leap.” Landscape Architecture Magazine, July 2021: Print. LINK
Ackerman, Aidan. “The BIM That Binds.” Landscape Architecture Magazine, June 2019: 50-60. Print. LINK
Ackerman, Aidan. "Bona Fide BIM." Landscape Architecture Magazine, December 2019: 36-42. Print. LINK
Book Chapters
Ackerman A & Hoffman R. "Between the Rendered and The Real: Photography as a Comparative Analysis Tool." In Active Landscape Photography: Diverse Practices, by Godfrey, A. Routledge, 2023.
Ackerman A. "Disrupted Digital Futures: The Rise of Speculative Digital Landscape Simulation in Conceptual Design." In Conceptual Landscapes: Fundamentals in the Beginning Design Process, by Bussiere, S. London: Routledge, 2023.
Dale L. Travis Lecture Series - Virtual Forests: The Gateway to a More Sustainable Future
Research and Fellowships
2026 SUNY AI Platform Award
A Global Dataset for Landscape Design AI: Tools, Training, and Prototyping
State University of New York
2025 SUNY ESF Center for Artificial Intelligence, Society, and the Environment Fellow
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY
2023 Virtual Reality at the United Nations Forum on Forests
American Forests, Washington, DC
2023 Virtual Reality Forest Experience
TED Countdown Summit, Detroit, MI
2023 Datacenter Community Development Urban Forest Tree Visualization
Microsoft Corporation
2023 Virtual Reality at the Upward Ground Summit
American Forests, Baton Rouge, LA
2022–2027 Roots of EAB Recovery: Detroit, Michigan’s Tree Equity Partnership
Association of State Foresters & USDA Forest Service
2021-2023 Preservation Technology and Training Grant
A Digital Tree Growth Modeling and Visualization Toolkit for Historic Landscape Representation
National Center for Preservation Technology & Training, Natchitoches, LA & the U.S National Park Service
2019-2022 ESF Discovery Challenge Seed Grant, Core Team Member
Pathways to a Net-Zero Carbon Future: Landscape Design for Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Mitigation
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY
2019-2021 Center for Cultural Landscape Preservation Senior Research Scientist
Statue of Liberty National Monument Modeling and Visualization
Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, Boston, MA & the U.S National Park Service
2019-2021 Center for Cultural Landscape Preservation Senior Research Scientist
Flight 93 National Memorial Grove Modeling and Visualization
Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, Boston, MA & the U.S National Park Service
2019 Case Study Investigation (CSI), Research Fellow
Case Studies: Block Island Wind Farm, New Shoreham, RI & Hardscrabble Wind Farm, Fairfield, NY
The Landscape Architecture Foundation, Washington, DC
2017 Educational Research Fund Grant, Recipient
Student-Defined Curriculum and a Competency-Based Approach to Learning
Board of Trustees, Boston Architectural College, Boston, MA
2014 Landscape Performance Education Grant, Recipient
Landscape Performance Integration Within the Landscape Architecture Design Studio
The Landscape Architecture Foundation, Washington, DC
2013 Case Study Investigation (CSI), Research Fellow
Case Studies: Waltham Watch Factory, Waltham, MA & Erie Street Plaza, Milwaukee, WI
The Landscape Architecture Foundation, Washington, DC
Current Graduate Advisees
Marty Benzinger
[email protected]
- Degree Sought: MLA
- Graduate Advisor(s): Ackerman
- Area of Study: Landscape Architecture
Chris Koudelka
[email protected]
- Degree Sought: PHD
- Graduate Advisor(s): Ackerman and Mikulewicz
- Area of Study: Policy, Planning, Communication and Society (PPCS)
Personal Statement
Chris Koudelka is a PhD Candidate in the Graduate Program in Environmental Science (division) at SUNY-ESF.
Research Interests
My doctoral research examines how immersive virtual environments shape perception, presence, and meaning, with a focus on design, realism, and disruption in digital spaces. My work draws on interdisciplinary methods from environmental studies, experimental research, and cultural theory, with broader implications for virtual heritage, interpretation, and ethical design.
Methods & Approaches
My work uses mixed methods that combine experimental design, physiological signals, behavioral patterns, and self-report measures to examine perception and disruption in immersive virtual environments.
Geri Mae Tolentino
[email protected]
- Degree Sought: PHD
- Graduate Advisor(s): Ackerman and Dann
- Area of Study: Environmental Science
Personal Statement
Geri is from the Philippines. She is a faculty member at the College of Agriculture of Southern Luzon State Universitys (SLSU) Forestry and Environmental Science Department (FESD) where she teaches Environmental Ethics and Policy, Environmental Communication, Education and Advocacy, Science Communication, General Ecology, Research Methods, and Introduction to Environmental Science. She obtained her Master in Asian Studies, MS Environmental Science, and BS Development Communication, major in Science Communication (magna cum laude) degrees from the University of the Philippines. Her research interests revolve around environmental education, knowledge management in Science Education, and the cultural and political aspects of environmental issues in Asia.
Yuhao Zhang
[email protected]
- Degree Sought: PHD
- Graduate Advisor(s): Ackerman
- Area of Study: Environmental Science