birth_place nationality birth_date article_title name occupation
brooklyn , new york united states january 29 , 1945 steven handel
 steven handel professor , rutgers university
steven handel

steven handel is a restoration ecologist .
for two decades , he has researched , designed , and overseen the restoration of damaged parts of the environment such as landfills , brown fields , and strip mines , restoring them to native woodlands , meadows , areas which support native plants and animals , and parklands .
handel is the director of the center for urban restoration ecology -lrb- cure -rrb- , an academic unit at rutgers .
he was the lead ecologist for the orange county great park restoration in california and is working on the fresh kills landfill project in new york .
his other projects include the brooklyn bridge park , the duke farms foundation holdings in new jersey , the landscape for the 2008 olympic games in beijing , and a public park in dublin .
he is a professor of ecology , evolution , and natural resources at rutgers university .
much of his restoration work is done in collaboration with his graduate students .
previously he was a professor of biology and director of the marsh botanic garden at yale university .
in 2009 , he received the national honor award for research from the american society of landscape architects .
in 2013 he was awarded the theodore sperry award by the society for ecological restoration .
this is their highest research award , only given every other year .
