His teaching interests and design practice focus on sustainable design, edible landscaping and the adaptive reuse of urban spaces. Michael is the creator of The Sustainable Garden, a new one-half acre demonstration garden within the department’s Teaching Gardens focusing on contemporary strategies and practices relating to responsible resource use, conservation and innovation, product development and food production. In 2013 SUNY designated this garden as one of “Six Big Ideas, With Unlimited Potential,” highlighting the garden as an example of the Power of SUNY.