Dr. Katherine Foo is a geographer and landscape planner who studies urban ecology, environmental governance, landscape design, and the visualization of society-nature relationships, with a special emphasis on social and environmental justice.

Her research examines the ways in which urban governance influence urban trees, asking questions such as: how do the political and economic conditions of cities influence the volume and distribution of urban trees? Which political and economic conditions are conducive to building a healthy, robust urban tree canopy? Dr. Foo also examines the visualization of society-nature relationships, asking questions such as: how do different social contexts envision or picture society and nature differently? How do different visual media influence what can be portrayed?

Dr. Foo is passionate about teaching and the ability for engaged, experiential learning to teach students about complex, wicked problems; connect them with real world efforts to address these problems; and give students an opportunity to engage meaningfully with them. Her experience with place-based learning and projects includes both international (Thailand, Cambodia, Bolivia, Guatemala) and domestic (Boston, Worcester, New York City) localities.