The Permaculture Research Institute of Australia

Ryan Harb, a Certified Permaculture Designer, Instructor, and LEED Accredited Professional, received his BBA in Business Management and his M.S. in Green Building from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

In 2010, he created a job for himself as the first Sustainability Manager for Auxiliary Enterprises at UMass Amherst. He then began developing one of the first university permaculture initiatives in the nation that supplies locally grown produce and hands-on sustainability education to the UMass campus and local community.

In just a few months, UMass Permaculture went viral and began receiving international attention for its unique ability to engage an entire campus around ecological regeneration and cultural sustainability. To date, the initial ¼ acre Franklin Permaculture Garden has engaged over 1500 volunteers, 10,000 visitors, and has won 7 national awards including the first White House Campus Champions of Change Challenge.

In 2012, Harb was invited to the White House to meet President Barack Obama after UMass Permaculture was voted 1st out of 1400 university projects that are changing the world for the better. He has spoken internationally about converting underused or abused landscapes into edible, resilient ecosystems and has a passion for shifting our culture toward more sustainable ways of living. Harb is the first person in the nation to hold a Master of Science degree in Green Building and he currently lives at Sirius Ecovillage in Western, Massachusetts.