Muntazar Monsur, an expert in measuring environment-behavior relationships in children's environments, has been named an assistant professor within Texas Tech's Department of Landscape Architecture, according to College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources officials. He officially steps into his new teaching and research post on Sept. 1.

The Bangladesh native indicated that he is interested in continuing his teaching and research efforts to enhance the quality of children's lives by improving/modifying environments with special emphasis in schools, preschools, and childcare centers.

One of his primary goals here at Tech is to collaborate with different departments and units of the university and the city/state to develop a long-term research plan focused on a holistic approach of childhood development by bringing more nature in children's everyday experience to promote health and well-being.

Monsur is also an expert in distance education and online course development in the fields of design. He is trained in Quality Matters (QM), a nationally recognized, faculty-centered, peer-review process that certifies the quality of online courses. He was involved in the development of the first officially certified QM course for the College of Design at North Carolina State University and would like to bring that experience to Tech for the advancement of quality online education.

Prior to joining the Tech faculty, Monsur served as a postdoctoral research scholar with the Natural Learning Initiative (NIL) in the College of Design at North Carolina State University-Raleigh. In NLI, he worked as the project coordinator of a multi-year USDA AFRI grant investigating the role of gardening on physical activity (PA) and consumption of fruit and vegetables (FV) among preschool-age children. Earlier he was a teaching assistant in North Carolina State's College of Design, and lecturer in Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology's Department of Architecture in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Monsur received his bachelor's degree and master's degree from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) in architecture. His doctoral degree in design is from North Carolina State. He also received a graduate certificate in Geographic Information System from North Carolina State.

Monsur's recent honors include receiving the Gertrude Cox Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching and Learning with Technology as part of a research team for creating a 360 Environment and Behavior lmmersive Tool (2018), NCSU Professional Development Award (2016), and the 'Architectural Research Center's Consortium King Medal for Excellence in Innovation, Integrity, Scholarship in Architectural/Environmental Design Research' at North Carolina State-Raleigh (2015).

CONTACT: Eric Bernard, Professor and Chairperson, Department of Landscape Architecture, Texas Tech University at (806) 834-3482 or eric.bernard@ttu.edu

0821NM19