Punita Koustubhan

Urban design integrated with biological systems unleashes the power of nature to sustain life. Punita aspires to harness ecosystem services by collaborating with a multidisciplinary team of experts in order to contribute to the creation of tranquil, mixed use environments that nurture thriving populations.

Punita has in-depth experience designing aquatic systems and managing aquaculture facilities for academic research. While working in the lab, she recognized that animal health, nutrition and water quality directly impacts research outcomes. This inspired her to retrofit existing systems to replicate the animals natural history and environment, author publications and protocols on regenerative biology, and a book chapter on research animal habitat design.

Prior to her lab work, she familiarized herself with the health and environmental indicators that need to be implemented to maintain balanced ecosystems while working at the Wetlands Institute in New Jersey and the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Florida. Recently, she began volunteering at the Wild Bird Fund of New York City, the first wildlife rehabilitation center in NYC which she sees as integral to changing the human culture of respect for urban ecosystems.

In 2013, she began her Executive Master of Natural Resources in Leadership for Sustainability at Virginia Tech which she plans to apply in order to create biologically active, healthy urban habitats integrating nature into the culture of the built environment.