Email: marinda@texastrees.org

Marinda Griffin is an Urban Design Associate for the Southwestern Medical District project with the Texas Trees Foundation, a private nonprofit focused on urban forestry, green infrastructure, and sustainable design. The Foundation’s strategic approach is based on research driven data to mitigate the environmental challenges and related public health concerns that trees can alleviate.

As a geographer and native Texan, Marinda brings with her a blended background working in various aspects of urban development, including aquatic habitat restoration, commercial and mixed-use real estate, and redevelopment projects. Successful at qualitative and quantitative research, she has experience in economic impact analysis, storytelling, data visualization, and map-making.

Marinda attended the University of North Texas, where she completed her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Geography while working as a teaching assistant for the Department of Geography and the Environment; teaching courses in Urban Geography, Earth Science, Geology, and Conservation & Resource Management. She also worked as a research associate for the Center for Economic Development and Research where she supervised a graduate research team and multiple economic impact studies for the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

Most notably, Marinda won the Terry Jordan Award for Cultural Geography for her thesis research. The thesis focused on theories and practice in place-making, and the ways in which encounters with nature can assist refugee communities in overcoming negative experiences associated with displacement and resettlement.

Marinda has also interned with the California Coastal Commission, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (at the Lewisville Aquatic Ecosystem Research Facility, or LAERF), and the North Central Texas Council of Governments. She is currently a member of the American Planning Association, the Congress for New Urbanism, and the Regional Center for Expertise on Sustainability (RCE North Texas).

She loves all things urban planning, “show me an article with smart growth or place-making in the title and I’m hooked!” On the weekends you will find Marinda hiking at a state park, crafting, or cooking a meal from scratch.