Shari Edelson (they / them) joined the PARC lab after a two-decade career in the field of public gardens and arboreta, most recently as Director of Operations with the Arboretum at Penn State. Shari has also worked with a number of other horticultural institutions in the mid-Atlantic region, including Reeves-Reed Arboretum, the Delaware Center for Horticulture, the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College, and the Baltimore Parks and People Foundation.

Shari has long been fascinated by the interactions between people and landscape, and is focusing their PhD research on human impacts in parks and protected areas. Their current work examines the impacts of human fecal waste contamination in natural landscapes, focusing on strategies to effect behavior change.

Shari earned a BA in Philosophy from Goucher College, an MS in Public Horticulture Administration from the University of Delaware and Longwood Gardens, and a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from the University of Delaware.