School of Planning, Design and Construction

Mahsa Adib is an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture in the School of Planning, Design, and Construction at Michigan State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Architecture from the Pennsylvania State University in 2025. Adib also holds a Master of Science in Landscape Architecture from Penn State, a Master of Landscape Architecture from Iowa State University, and a Bachelor of Landscape Design from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran.

Adib’s research fills critical knowledge gaps in the fields of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), public education, and community engagement. Her research delves into the social and psychological factors influencing GSI adoption, evaluates real-world education materials for GSI development to identify areas for improvement, and explores best practices for hybrid community engagement methods to enhance the effectiveness and resilience of community engagement amid future uncertainties. The results of her work have been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Environment and Behavior, PLOS Water, and the Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture.

Adib has contributed to multiple interdisciplinary research projects, such as the Baltimore Social-Environmental Collaborative (BSEC), a $25-million U.S. Department of Energy-funded project (2022-2027) involving eight institutions, such as Johns Hopkins, Penn State, and Morgan State. As part of the community engagement and citizen science team, she collaborated with scientists and local stakeholders to co-produce the sciences needed to address climate challenges in Baltimore, a city facing aging infrastructure, flood risks, and inequitable pollution burdens.

Adib has extended her research beyond green infrastructure through collaborations, exploring topics such as prescribed fire management, thermal inequities in urban areas, and public perceptions of biodiverse landscapes. The results of her work have been published in highly recognized peer-reviewed journals, including Water, Urban Climate, and Fire Ecology.

During her time at Iowa State University, Adib has been affiliated with the Iowa’s Living Roadways Community Visioning, an Iowa State University Extension and Outreach program, where she utilized participatory planning techniques to collaborate with rural Iowan communities, private-sector landscape architects, and the Iowa Department of Transportation. Together, they translated community needs and desires into concept plans, identified potential funding sources, and initiated project development, creating impactful and sustainable design solutions.

Adib has received several awards, including the 2025 Penn State Alumni Association Dissertation Award, 2024 Penn State Stuckman School Excellence Award for Service, 2024 Stuckman School Diversity and Inclusion Fellow, 2019 Penn State Department of Landscape Architecture Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, 2019 ASLA Iowa Chapter Student Merit Award, and 2019 Landscape Architecture Foundation Olmsted Scholar.

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