Email: mmonsur@ttu.edu
Phone: 806.834.2994
Office: CASNR Annex 131
Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Monsur is an assistant professor in Texas Tech University's Department of Landscape Architecture. His teaching and research efforts are focused on advancing children's health, wellbeing, happiness, and learning by creating environments that support play, interactions, curiosity, and creativity. One of his primary goals at Texas 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 to childhood development by bringing more nature into children's everyday experiences.

Dr. Monsur is the lead of DoLA XR (Extended Reality) Lab; an advanced center for exploring effective applications of Extended Reality (XR) technologies – including Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) for advancing landscape architecture education and research. The lab currently leads several multidisciplinary and collaborative research projects focused on using immersive technologies to promote health, wellbeing, and learning.

Dr. Monsur is the PI (Primary Investigator) of multiple federally funded grants focused on healthy environments for children and advancing education/learning using interactive virtual tours. In his roles as the PI and Co-PI at Texas Tech, Dr. Monsur is engaged in grant projects worth $1.7 million.   

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. Prior to joining the Tech faculty, Monsur served as a postdoctoral research scholar with the Natural Learning Initiative (NLI) a NC State University. Earlier he was a lecturer at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology's Department of Architecture in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Monsur received his bachelor's degree and master's degree from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in architecture. His doctoral degree in design is from North Carolina State. His honors and awards include Best Poster Honorable Mention in CELA (2022), President's Emerging Engaged Scholarship Award, TTU (2020), the Gertrude Cox Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching and Learning with Technology (2018), NCSU Professional Development Award (2016), and the ARCC Consortium King Medal for Excellence in Innovation, Integrity, Scholarship in Architectural/Environmental Design Research (2015).

Recent Grants

USDA NIFA Capacity Building Grants titled Using Interactive Virtual Tours to Train Childcare Professionals and Future Leaders to Create Healthier Early Childhood Environments (2022-2025). Amount: $300,000. Role: PI.

PlayCore Inc. Private Grant titled PlayValuation: Creating Play Value Assessment Score Databases for Play Components. Amount: 35,000. Role: PI

USDA-NIFA Higher Education Challenge Grant titled iVisiT: Interactive Virtual Tours for Advancing Food and Agricultural Sciences (2021-2024). Amount: $750,000. Role: Co-PI.

Creating Active Outdoor Environments for Young Children of Texas – Phase 5, Texas Department of State Health Services (2021-2022). Amount: $121,000. Role: Co-PI.

USDA NIFA Capacity Building Grants titled Effectiveness of a Child Care Hands-on Gardening Component for Preventing Preschool Obesity in Different Climatic Zones and Demographic Areas (2020-23). Amount: $272,149.Role: PI. 

Creating Active Outdoor Environments for Young Children of Texas – Phase 4, Texas Department of State Health Services (2020-2021). Amount: $198,500. Role: Co-PI. 

Recent Publications

Beasley, D. E., Monsur, M., Hu, J., Dunn, R. R., & Madden, A. A. (2022). The bacterial community of childcare centers: potential implications for microbial dispersal and child exposure. Environmental microbiome, 17(1), 1-13. ) https://doi.org/10.1186/s40793-022-00404-6  

Trevino, J. E., Monsur, M., Lindquist, C. S., & Simpson, C. R. (2022). Student and Nature Interactions and Their Impact on Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(9), 5030.  https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095030 

Cosco, N. G., Wells, N. M., Monsur, M., Goodell, L. S., Zhang, D., Xu, T., ... & Moore, R. C. (2021). Research Design, Protocol, and Participant Characteristics of COLEAFS: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial of a Childcare Garden Intervention. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(24), 13066. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413066  

Monsur, M., Mansur, M., Islam Z. (2017) Are children living on dead-end streets more active? Near-home street patterns and school-going children's time spent outdoors in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Preventive Medicine, Elsevier http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.11.016  

Klein, C., Gaines, K., Brettmann, K., Anderson-Guerrero, M., Colwell, M., & Monsur, M. (2021). Outdoor Learning Environments Play Settings Notebook. Texas Tech University.

Klein, C., Gaines, K., Brettmann, K., Anderson-Guerrero, M., Colwell, M., & Monsur, M. (2021). Outdoor Learning Environments Workshop Kit. Texas Tech University.

Monsur, M. (2020) “Turning the Classroom Inside Out.” Place, Pedagogy and Play: Participation, Design, and Research with Children. Ed. Dr. Matluba Khan, Dr. Jenny Wood, and Dr. Simon Bell. Routledge, Taylor & Francis.

Monsur, M. (2019) “Learning in a Challenging Context”. Aspirations and Ideas: Designing with Context Paperback. Ed. Ar. Saimum Kabir and Dr. Zakiul Islam. The University Press Limited, Dhaka.